Waiting for the Dawn (book)

Waiting for the Dawn: A Plan for the Prince[2] (translation by William Theodore de Bary for "Ming Yi Dai Fang Lu";[3] simplified Chinese: 明夷待访录; traditional Chinese: 明夷待訪錄) is a political work written by Huang Zongxi (1610-1695), known as "The Father of Chinese Enlightenment".[4] This radical text openly criticises the absolute monarchy prevailing in China, and is interpreted by contemporary authors as a precursor of theories of civil rights and calls for a democratic political system. Huang first began writing the book in the eighteenth year of the reign of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1661), and completed it in the first year of Kangxi (1662), about a century before The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau.[5][6] It would become highly influential during the late Qing’s Wuxu Reform and other attempts at establishing a constitutional monarchy in China.[7][8]

Waiting for the Dawn: A Plan for the Prince
AuthorHuang Zongxi
Original title明夷待訪錄
CountryQing Dynasty
Published in English
1993[1]
Waiting for the Dawn
Simplified Chinese明夷待访录
Traditional Chinese明夷待訪錄

The English edition of Ming Yi Dai Fang Lu, translated by Wm. Theodore de Bary as Waiting for the Dawn, was published by Columbia University Press in 1993.[9]

Evaluations

Liang Qichao compares the book to Rousseau's On the Social Contract, arguing that it was written "decades before On the Social Contract was published, and that it could be considered a noble product of human culture".[10]

A Chinese political science researcher argues that we do not necessarily have to agree with the view that the Waiting for the Dawn "containing spirit of democracy", but we must acknowledge the fact that the book has become an internal trend in foreign democratic thought.[11]

Cai Yuanpei described the Waiting for the Dawn as "the harbinger of free thought".[12] Hou Wailu considered the book to be 'similar' to the ancient Chinese Declaration of Human Rights.[13]

It is also argued that Huang Zongxi's Waiting for the Dawn is not at all comparable to Rousseau's On the Social Contract or Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws.[14]

References
  1. Dieter Kuhn (15 October 2011). The Age of Confucian Rule: The Song Transformation of China. Harvard University Press. pp. 320–. ISBN 978-0-674-06202-3.
  2. S. Shmuel Noah Eisenstadt, Björn Wittrock (2005). Axial Civilizations And World History. Brill Publishers. pp. 523–. ISBN 90-04-13955-9.
  3. Jun-Hyeok Kwak; Leigh Jenco (13 November 2014). Republicanism in Northeast Asia. Routledge. pp. 105–. ISBN 978-1-317-75350-6.
  4. Liu Junning (July 6, 2011). "The Ancient Roots of Chinese Liberalism". The Wall Street Journal.
  5. Daniel A. Bell (March 13, 1997). "An Asian Democracy For the 21st Century". The Wall Street Journal.
  6. Feng Tianyu; Xie Guian (2003). Deconstructing Dictatorship. Hubei People's Publishing House. ISBN 978-7-216-03727-3.
  7. Jing Wang (8 January 2021). High Culture Fever: Politics, Aesthetics, and Ideology in Deng's China. University of California Press. pp. 82–. ISBN 978-0-520-32600-2.
  8. A book to understand Chinese classics. Compilation and Translation Bureau. 4 June 2015. pp. 51–.
  9. Joseph Runzo; Arvind Sharma; Nancy M. Martin (1 October 2014). Human Rights and Responsibilities in the World Religions. Oneworld Publications. pp. 265–. ISBN 978-1-78074-681-4.
  10. Wang Yuguang (1990). 30 books that influenced Chinese history. Wuhan University Press. pp. 186–.
  11. Tong Dezhi (3 August 2018). Introduction to Comparative Political Culture: The Theoretical Reflection on the Plurality of Democracy. Springer. pp. 293–. ISBN 9789811315749.
  12. Wu Zhongxi (2004). A Brief History of Chinese Human Rights Thought: Cultural Tradition and Contemporary Practice. Xue Lin Publishing House. pp. 72–. ISBN 978-7-80668-713-0.
  13. From People-based to Democracy: Proceedings of the International Symposium on Huang Zongxi's People-based Thought. Zhejiang Ancient Books Publishing House. 2006. pp. 391–. ISBN 978-7-80715-199-9.
  14. On Academic Studies in Eastern Zhejiang. China Social Sciences Press. 1995. pp. 234–. ISBN 978-7-5004-1617-3.
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