1. Liang Shuming, born Liang Huanding, courtesy name Shouming, was a Chinese philosopher, politician, and writer in the Rural Reconstruction Movement during the late Qing dynasty and early Republican eras of Chinese history.
28 Facts About Liang Shuming
1. 2.
Liang Shuming's family were ethnic Mongolians of Guilin and Guangxi origin.
3.
Liang Shuming was the son of a famous intellectual who committed suicide apparently in despair at the state of the Chinese nation.
4.
Liang Shuming had a modern education and exposure to Western writings.
5.
Liang Shuming displayed the influence of Henri Bergson, then popular in China, as well as Buddhist Yogachara philosophy.
6.
Liang Shuming nonetheless believed that reform was needed to make China equal to the rest of the world.
7.
Liang Shuming was famous for his critique of Marxist class theory, stating that, despite obvious disparities of wealth, Chinese rural society could not be unambiguously classified along class lines.
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Henri Bergson 8.
Liang Shuming's theory was based in his definition of the formation of distinct cultures.
9.
Liang Shuming says that since knowledge starts with applying reason to your surroundings the first orientation is the most formative.
10.
Liang Shuming maintained that the West held the first orientation, while China held the second and India held the third.
11.
Liang Shuming did this by exploring the relationship between the social structures in the two regions.
12.
Liang Shuming said Social structure is heavily influenced by cultural viewpoint, which in turn is defined by the social foundation of the society.
13.
Liang Shuming believed society had three forms: communities, families and individuals.
14.
Liang Shuming believed that while China had stressed the importance of family, the West focused on the relationship of the individual to the community.
15.
Liang Shuming said this led China down a path dedicated to an ethics-based society, while the West produced an individual-based society instead.
16.
Finally, Liang Shuming brings up his three cultures theory and China's position in it.
17.
Rather than suggesting China go back to the first cultural stage, Liang Shuming suggests the introduction of Western science and democracy into Chinese society to promote development in those areas.
18.
Liang Shuming believed that the rural village was the most important aspect of Chinese society and that for the last hundred years Chinese history had been characterized by its destruction.
19.
Between the years of 1931 and 1937 Liang Shuming was instructing the rural reconstruction in Zouping County of the Shandong Province.
20.
Liang Shuming, appointed by Han Fuju to engage in rural reconstruction in Zouping County, was convinced the most effective method would be to integrate county and village schools and the local government.
21.
Between 1931 and 1933 Liang Shuming trained 800 people to run schools all over Shandong and in 1932 the Guomindang said that every province should have one of these rural research reconstruction institutions.
22.
At the age of 89 in an interview with Guy Alitto, Liang Shuming proclaimed himself a Buddhist.
23.
Liang Shuming had been interested in Buddhism since his youth, which he often attributed to his feelings that many of the mistakes of the past had been made due to a focus on the external world for answers that come from within.
24.
Liang Shuming wrote an "Introduction to Indian Philosophy" where he explored many of the key concepts in Buddhism to reveal what he saw as its foundations.
25.
Liang Shuming maintained that people only get an illusory image through observations and opposed the idea of logical inference on the basis that it only explains conceptual questions.
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Henri Bergson 26.
Liang Shuming believed that it was too primitive to allow society to reach a high level of socialization, while at the same time promoting conservatism that impeded social development and promoted low moral standards and selfishness.
27.
Liang Shuming felt that Confucianism was China's answer to religion as it provided a way to harmonize with the cosmos instead of being isolated from that which you worship.
28.
Liang Shuming was often considered a beacon of intellectual freedom as well as China's conscience.