ABSTRACT
The period between Zhuxi and the 1911 Revolution is too long a period to be covered under one chapter and one rubric. Commenting about China’s ‘contact’ and ‘encounter’ with the West, there have been three discerning phases. China’s intellectuals received them with awe, curiosity and wonder. China’s anxiety as well as curiosity was aroused. The controversy between the upholders of the Old Text and the New Text was one of the defining features of Confucians for several centuries. Forget that Kang’s utopia was impractical. After all utopias are not meant to be implemented. According to Kang’s vision each community will be equally represented. In such a democratic world, there will be no place for monarchs and emperors. The sanctity of family life and of filial piety had been the bedrock of Confucian social life. In a stroke, Kang is striking at the very roots of Confucian philosophy.
