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Reevaluating Jiao Hong’s Position in Intellectual History: A Book Review of Yumin Dai’s On Jiao Hong and Ming-Qing Confucianism



Author(s)

WANG Rongjiao

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DOI:10.17265/2159-5313/2025.01.005

Southeast University, Nanjing, China

Yumin Dai’s book On Jiao Hong and Ming-Qing Confucianism represents a significant advancement in recent Confucianism research. The book comprises two parts: the first three chapters delve into Jiao Hong’s “intellectual shift” in reconstructing mind teaching through the lens of “name-reality” and “thought”, integrating textual research into moral cultivation and using Buddhist and Taoist ideas to soften the metaphysical aspects of religious syncretism. The final three chapters situate Jiao Hong within the Ming-Qing Confucian transformation, bridging the Ming Dynasty’s revised mind teaching with Qing Dynasty’s Qi-oriented teaching, and paving the way for Qianlong-Jiaqing textual research. The author introduces the dual-track transformation theory, breaking the traditional single-track framework, emphasizing dual changes in doctrines and methodologies during the Ming-Qing Confucian transformation. Methodologically, it blends a macro perspective with micro-analysis, overcoming intellectual history fragmentation. Theoretically, it highlights Jiao Hong’s pivotal role in connecting the Confucianism in Ming and Qing dynasties, objectively assessing his incomplete thoughts and historical limitations, and revealing tensions between intellectual rationality and value beliefs. This research redefines Jiao Hong’s place in intellectual history and offers a fresh interpretation of Ming-Qing Confucian transformation.

Jiao Hong, Confucianism, mind teaching, intellectualization

WANG Rongjiao. (2025). Reevaluating Jiao Hong’s Position in Intellectual History: A Book Review of Yumin Dai’s On Jiao Hong and Ming-Qing Confucianism. Philosophy Study, Jan.-Feb. 2025, Vol. 15, No. 1, 42-44.