Re-examining the Spiritual World of Han-Yu: Discussion on The Criticisms of Han-Yu from the Period of late Qing to early Republic China

The aim of this dissertation is to comprehend and analyze the phenomenon of the “degradation of Han-Yu” and through this degradation, explore the inner world of Han-Yu. This study will be focusing on the collection, integration and analysis of the documents in order to create and grasp a clear image of Han-Yu during the late Qin and early Republic periods. Furthermore, this essay will be reviewing the original text and doing a comparison with the image of Han-Yu at the time. The low popularity / bad reputation of Han-Yu during the late Qin and early Republic periods revealed that the meaning of “Dao” changed in people’s minds. When Democracy became the new ideal polity and people embarked on the pursuit of the “western knowledge,” Han-Yu served as the paradigm in order to differentiate the ideas and teachings of the ancient times with the modern new ones and was used in order to compare the Chinese and Western ideologies. This dissertation will be firstly exploring the way in which politics, society and literature affected people and continue with issuing the details of Han-Yu’s criticism. The study will conclude with the revealing of his sentiments/feelings/spirit and the characteristics of his life by replying to this criticism. The controversy of Han-Yu is in truth the complexity of humanity, so the reasons for which he had been degraded tend to reveal his forthright, sincere and passionate personality. This is the reason why, although there are various reviews which either admired or degraded him, he still holds a principal position throughout history.