Eccentricity and Dissent: The Case of Kung Tzu-chen - Johns ...

Eccentricity and Dissent: The Case of Kung Tzu-chen
   Dorothy V. Borei

   Ch'ing-shih wen-t'i, Volume 3, Number 4, December 1975, pp. 50-62 (Article)

   Published by Johns Hopkins University Press

       For additional information about this article
       https://muse.jhu.edu/article/398556/summary

[ This content has been declared free to read by the pubisher during the COVID-19 pandemic. ]

-50-

                     ECCENTRICITY AND DISSENT:     THE CASE OF
                                  KUNG TZU-CHEN

                                 Dorothy V. Borei
                                 Haverford College

        The tendency of traditional Chinese historiography to stereotype
individuals according to certain familial and societal "roles" has
hindered our appreciation of the diversity and complexity of China's
past.     Perhaps this is due as much to our own cultural shortsightedness
as it is to the deficiencies inherent in the Chinese biographical
approach.     It may be that the significance some of these roles had for
the historian has been overlooked.        This would seem to be the case for

the role of "eccentrics", those individuals whose behavior and/or thought
were categorized as abnormal and unacceptable.        Eccentricity connoted
something more than simply odd behavior.        Because unusual conduct and
ideas constituted a threat to rigid social and ideological conventions,
they were interpreted as forms of dissent.        Eccentricity, like remon-
strance and eremitism, may thus be decoded as one mode of protest.
        Eccentrics have appeared in various periods of Chinese history ,
particularly in times of serious crises.        The most famous were the

Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove who revolted against the sterility and
meanin^lessness of the mid-third century A.D. by Intentionally acting

like "madmen."      The Mad Ch' an philosophers o£ the late Ming, also noted
for their unconventional behavior, have been characterized as icono-

clastic in their approach to philosophy and as "zealous reformers."            This
same correlation between eccentricity and dissent is evident in the tra-

ditional biography and works of Kung Tzu-chen (1792-1841).        This paper

will attempt to explore the nature of Kung's eccentricity and the extent
to which, it can be considered dissent in Ch'ing history.

-51-

     In many ways Kung Tzu-chen was an orthodox member of the Chinese
elite.   He was born in Hangchow, the cultural center of the Ch'ing, to
a well-established family with connections among both the political and
intellectual circles of Peking.     In addition to his fame as a poet, Kung
earned his chln-shih degree and served in the capital for some twenty
years as a minor official.     Yet both contemporaries and later historians
                                          3
found him odd, irrational, even mad.          Kung's eccentricity manifested
itself in various forms—his personal behavior was erratic, his prose
style was bizarre, his essays protested the sterile conventions and values
of his day, and his classical studies deviated from the mainstream.
     An unusually short man with a misshapen head, Kung compensated for
such physical deficiencies with a forceful personality.        His artistic
temperament accounts for some of his eccentricities, but political
impotence was probably equally important in explaining his unconventional
behavior and ideas.   Despite his reputation as a poet, Kung remained until
his death dissatisfied and frustrated by his failure to achieve a high
position in the bureaucracy.     He considered himself a superior man whose
exceptional talents were unappreciated by his contemporaries.        Ego and
circus tsnccs thi.£ üli¿i.aíxd hin· îï'ûuî thé majority of officials whom he
considered to be his intellectual inferiors.        His activist spirit, unful-
filled in govsrnuerit service, found au outlet in eccentric behavior which
not only attracted attention to himself but also to the evils of his day.
     Examples of the unconventionality of Kung's personality are found in
                                    4
various collections of anecdotes.         He took great pleasure in associating
with all classes of society, becoming friends with nobles, eminent govern-
ment officials, merchants,     Buddhist priests, as ','ill as prostitutes.     Ke
was totally unconcerned with such social amenities as proper dress and

-52-

cleanliness.     When he felt tired, he would simply fall asleep in his court
dress and cap.     Several days would pass before he would remember to wash
even his face.     Frugality, one of the traditional Confucian virtues, was
spurned by Kung who spent money carelessly and eventually bankrupted his
family with his excessive gambling.       Kung often acted irrationally.
During a vieit to a Buddhist temple to pray for a son, he became delirious
and imagined seeing a human form with dragon's head.
     Kung further refused to respect an individual simply on the basis of
age and position.     He was extremely critical of his uncle, who served as
president of the Board of Rites from 1838 to 1844.       In one instance Kung
is reported to have been eavesdropping on his uncle who was talking with
a recent appointee to the Hani In Academy.      The uncle urged the man to

continue practicing his calligraphy, since the correct style of hand-
writing would guarantee him political success.       Kung, clapping his hands,
burst Into the room shouting, "So this is what Hanlin scholarship Is like!"
After a severe scolding by his uncle, Kung refused to have anything more
to do with him.      This Incident shows Kung' s lack of respect for the
person of his uncle as well as for the ceremony and institutions of the
state      It is no wonder that many of Kung's contemporaries, especially
those :'.n the capital, regarded him as an eccentric and failed to take him
seriously.

        In addition to his behavior, Kung's writing style was as unusual as
it was forceful.     Although some of his writing is simple and direct, the
language in some of his essays is flowery and obscure.       Archaic terms and
a convoluted syntax make many phrases difficult, if not impossible, to
translate.     The comprehension problem is compounded by the fact that Kung
disguised his criticisms of contemporary society with the cloak of

-53-

sntiquity, perhaps because of his fear of government censorship.     Never-
theless, the unique forcefulness and vitality of his style made Kung's
essays appealing to both his contemporaries and later Chinese readers.

     Kung's essays reveal the resentment he harbored against evils in the
contemporary political and social scene.   Portents, governmental adminis-

trative techniques, the tax structure, footbinding, the judicial system,

opium smoking, and the continuance of trade with Western barbarians all

came under attack.   Kung's most vehement and bitter protest was levelled
against decadent Ch'ing officials, the examination system, and the unequal
distribution of wealth.   In his search for the causes of Ch'ing corruption
and weakness, Kung placed much of the responsibility on the shoulders of
scholar-officials.    Ch'ing bureaucrats, he asserted, were a corrupt,
greedy, and mediocre lot with no sense of public duty or of shame.     Syco-
phants and conformists filled the rungs of the bureaucratic ladder, and
those few who were men of talent and integrity were soon crushed by the
"system." One of the causes of official occuption, according to Kung, was
that official salaries were so low that officials exacted excessive fees

and participated in "squeeze" in order to maintain an adequate standard of
living.   Court rituals like the kowtow were senseless and demeaning to
ministers who, he felt, should be concerned instead with substantive

issues.   The throne disregarded the views of officials and treated them
with contempt.   Finally, Kung felt that the initiative of officials was
impeded by bureaucratic "red tape."    Energetic, gifted young men were
prevented from contributing to the government because the principle of
seniority kept them from positions of real power, while older officials,
whom Kung called "stone-lions" and "corpse-like dawdlers," dominated the
bureaucracy.     Kung's views clearly represent an assault on long-standing

-54-

institutions and cultural values.

     The second major target of Kung's criticism was the course of study
required for passing the civil service examinations as well as the
                             9
examination system itself.        Exclusive focus on the Confucian canon,
memorization of classical and historical texts, and emphasis on writing
rhyme schemes and the eight-legged essay did not constitute "real
learning." Young boys might be forced to parrot other's viewe , but the
true goal of study was the development of individual abilities or self-
cultivation.   Kung's emphasis on free expression was directly linked to
his attacks on conformity.       A non-conformist himself, Kung encouraged
this trait in others.   Kung Tzu-chen also perceived this dichotomy
between form and content in the civil service examinations .       Candidates

were judged, not on the substance of their essays, but or. their poetic
compositions and calligraphy.       The bitter sarcasm of Kung's essays on
the examinations is partially explained by his own experiences.          He
had failed once in the provincial examinations and had had to males four
attempts before earning his chin-shih degree. The final frustration
came during the palace examination when the content of his essays v:as
highly praised by the ey^mirter« , but poor calligraphy ^ad* hi- ir-Cligitlc
for a position in the Hanlin Academy, the post       he most fervently desired.

Personal difficulties »»i th the examinations th'^s ;ddcd rencor to his

views .

      Kung's feeling that the examination system was an inadequate mecha-
nism for the recruitment of talented ministers was a criticism which had

been voiced many times over the centuries .      In the early Ch ' ing , Huang
Tsung-hsi and Ku Yen-vu had previously noted the lack of correspondence
between examination success and administrative know-now.        Early nineteenth-
century intellectuals like Kung, faced with the challenges of dynastic

-55-

decllne, again pleaded for a revltalization of the examinations to
ensure their relevance to practical problems.     In this respect Kung
Tzu-chen was part of a larger trend.     His uniqueness lies in his bitter
condemnation of the part calligraphy had recently come to play in the
examinations      and in his advocacy of alternative selection procedures.
     In addition to attributing Ch' ing decline to corrupt scholar-
officials and the ineffectual examination system, Kung Tzu-chen blamed
the economic system.     His primary concern, like many of the Chinese
                                                                 12
reformers of his time, was the unequal distribution of wealth.        Govern-
mental decay and peasant rebellions were the direct result, Kung main-

tained, of unequal distribution of national wealth.     The greater the
gulf between the "haves" and the "have-nots," the more quickly the state
would collapse.     The role of government, therefore, was to restructure
the economy in such a way that there would be neither excessive accumu-
lation of wealth nor extreme privation.     Land reform, he contended,
should be periodically instituted by the emperor who would take surplus
land from large landowners and distribute it to the landless peasants.
In his analysis of the land question, Kung utilized a rhetorical technique
common to Chinese reformers.     By visualizing remote antiquity as an
idealized historical age in which p'ing-chtin or "equalization" was fully
realized, Kung believed that utopia was not an unattainable vision lost in
the past, but an ideal future stage of development which the present
government could inaugurate.     The term "equalization" should not, however,
be taken literally, for Kung assumed that the upper classes were entitled
to a greater share of the wealth than the common people.     In this respect
he was less radical than Huang Tsung-hsi and Yen YUan, early Ch'ing advo-
cates of the ching-t'len ("well-field") system.     Kung's concept of "equali-
zation" was more closely related to hslen-t 'len ("limiting the fields")

-56-

tban it was to ching-t'ien because its goal was the prevention of a
disproportionate imbalance between rich and poor rather than the creation
of economic equality. Kung Tzu-chen, as a member of China's gentry class,
interpreted land reform merely as the restructuring of the traditional
economic system in order to promote social harmony.
      Like most of the educated men of his culture, Kung was involved in
classical studies and current scholarly issues.     His essays reflect this
interest.   Having been educated as a youth by his maternal grandfather
Tuan YU-ts'ai, a prominent member of the School of Empirical Research,
Kung attached considerable ieportance to philology and etymology.         Such
research, he maintained, led to a better understanding of the Tao.         In
this respect Kung's scholarship was part of the dominant intellectual
trend of the early nineteenth century.   But for Kung classical studies
alone were not enough—he harshly criticized those scholars who did not
                                                                     13
apply the principles found in the Classics to practical problems .          He
felt strongly that learning was meaningless uniese extended to government
service.    For Kung the ultimate responsibility of the Confucian scholar
was political Involvement.    Ks thus shsrsd with the aero rsform-oiudad of
his contemporaries an ardent concern with statecraft (chlng-shih) .        Many
of his essays dealt with the social issues of the period, such as north-
                                              14
west border problems and the silver crisis.        Opposed to gradual change,
he favored the immediate reform of Ch'ing institutions because he believed
China to be on the verge of collapse.       And although he was sufficiently
traditional to see the necessity of self-cultivation in affecting change,
he went even further by emphasizing institutional change.      Since the
examination system was ineffective, new procedures should be instituted.
Salary increases should be implemented to encourage bureaucratic honesty.

-57-

He also recommended the strict enforcement of already-existing laws and
advocated harsh punishments as means by which corruption could be
eliminated.

      Kung Tzu-chen was not entirely satisfied, however, with prevailing
intellectual trends, for he branched out into New Text (chin-wen) studies.
The Ch'ing New Text movement, which arose in the late eighteenth century
as an extension of the School of Empirical Research, brought to light the
neglected New Texts of the Former Han dynasty, especially the Kung-yang
commentary to the Spring and Autumn Annals.    Kung and Wei YUan, both
students of the New Text scholar Liu Feng-lu, applied the principles of
textual criticism to these New Texts.   Many chin-wen theories and terms
are consequently found in Kung's essays. He preferred Tung Chung-shu's
explication of the Annals to that of other Han commentators.     Although

he did not reject the Tso and Ku-liang commentaries, he felt that the
Kung-yanR interpretation was superior in certain respects.     He also stressed
Ho Hsiu's approach to the Classics, known as "the elucidation of great
principles hidden in obscure words" (ta-yi wei-yen) .    In his view the
knowledge of principles and their practical application were more beneficial
to society than textual criticism for its own sake.     He also derived some

of his terminology, such as the concept of san-shih ("three ages"), from the
New Texts.    In applying this theory to his view of history, Kung saw the
past developing through three distinct epochs —chaos, ascending peace, and
universal peace.      Since he believed China to be in a period of decline,

Kung's essays dwell on descriptions of the age of chaos. He nevertheless
did discuss the Utopian stage as one in which the ideal of "equalization"
would be attained.    Unlike K'ang Yu-wei, however, Kung Tzu-chen did not
fully develop these chin-wen ideas as a rationale for sweeping institutional
reforms.

-58-

         Kung's intellectual curiosity also led him to go beyond the Confucian
canon and investigate the non-Confucian philosophers of the Chou period.
The ideas of Mo Tzu, Yang Chu, Lieh Tzu, and Chuang Tzu were considered by
Kung an important although secondary branch of classical learning.      And
he agreed with Kao Tzu's thesis that human nature is neither good nor
        18
evil.        As far as he was concerned, Confucianism was simply one philo-
sophical school among many. His attraction to the philosophical and
religious tenets of Buddhism further reflects this catholic attitude which
Kung's contemporaries no doubt found unusual.
        Kung Tzu-chen's role as an eccentric was an implied rejection of many
aspects of nineteenth-century Chinese politics and aociety.      He refused to
accept tradition at face value.      His extraordinary prose style, unlike that
of the majority of his contemporaries, was freer and more emotive.      His
attack on some of China's most characteristic institutions, such as the
examination system and land tenure, helped draw attention to these probleas.
His scholarly interests went beyond the usual fields of study and caused
him to assert that Truth was not embedded solely in the Classics and the
orthodox commentaries.      Kung thus paved the way for further intellectual
experimentation.      Bhile some of his contemporaries ignored him because ef
these eccentricities, others were attracted to him precisely because of
the unconventionality of his character and thought.      Kung's eccentricities
became a symbol of dissent for future generations of Chinese who easily
identified with his passionate pleas for reform.
         Kung's significance lies more in his act of protest than in his pro-
posed reforms.      His thoughts on statecraft problems were neither detailed
nor entirely consistent.      Unlike some of his contemporaries, he failed to

offer a coherent vision of a new society and an analysis of the steps to

-59-

achieve it.   A dilettante, Kung admitted that his interests were too
broad to allow him to concentrate on any one in depth.   Furthermore,
the fact that he never occupied a real decision-making position deprived
him of the opportunity to put his ideas into practice.   But this does
not in any way diminish Kung's significance or his role in protesting
the abuses of China's traditional political and social system.     Kung's
essays show that at least some intellectuals were aware of China's
weaknesses even before the tragic consequences of the Opium War.     His
death in 1841 places him with the so-called pre-modern period of Chinese
history.   His essays, though occasionally concerned with foreign trade,
dealt predominately with internal problems which were later compounded
by Western imperialism.   The fact that Kung Tzu-chen was already conscious
of these evils suggests that the traditional interpretation of nineteenth-
century Chinese history as a "response to the West" is a simplification.
The history of the period must be reconsidered in the light of domestic
as well as foreign events.   A restructuring of Ch'ing intellectual history
is necessary in order to show that the tradition of reform and revolution
in China preceded the reform movements of the T'ung-chih period and of
1898.   Kung Tzu-chen, as eccentric and dissident, should be included in
any such restructuring.

-60-

                                   Footnotes

    Etienne Balazs, "Nihilistic Revolt or Mystical Escapism," in his Chinese
    Civilization and Bureaucracy (New Haven:   Yale University Press, 1964),
    pp. 236-242.

2
    Nelson I. Wu, "Tung Ch'i-ch'ang (1555-1636):   Apathy in Government and
    Fervor in Art," in A. F. Wright and D. Twitchett, eds., Confucian
    Personalities (Stanford:   Stanford University, 1962), p. 280.

3The Ch'ing-shih kao Jj| \i fé , chUan 486, states that "his behavior
    did not follow the regular pattern." Yao Ying j$¿ f (1785-1853)
    described him as ch ' i-p ? ^ ^| ("odd," "extraordinary") [See Wang
    Chia-chien $_ '^. $£ , WeI Yuan nlen-p'u ^ ;^ ^- ^ (Taipei:
    Academia Sinica, 1967), p. 22]. A later biographer referred to him as

    Kung Tai-tzu ^ ^ S- or "Kung the Fool" [Chang Tsu-lien ^.-^J. ¡$l ,
    "Ting-an hsien-sheng nien-p'u uai-chi" 1J^. ^ % %. ^- ^ fy- /gj
    in his ChUan-chlng lou ts'ung-k'o vtë -|á ?# ^ -£i] (Shanghai, 1921),
    vol. 4, chuan 1, p. 16].   The term most frequently used by both Kung
    himself and his biographers was k'uang ^jJ. ¦ meaning "madness."

4In addition to Chang Tsu-lien' s previously mentioned work, see Wei Chi- tzu
    ^Li % l· . "ïU-Ung shan-min i-shih" ^ $£- ? % J^ ^ , in Ku-hsUeh
    hul-kan "$t if? 'jl·. -fJ (Taipei: Kuo-ts'ui hsUeh-pao she, 1964),
    vol. Ill, 1593-1599 (la-3b) and Ch'iu YU-lin £_ J$o 2§L Ch'ing-tai 1-wen
     '% ?"£ Pk. fin (shanehal: Chung-hua Publishers, 1915), chUan 5,
    pp. 25-29, 52-S4.

5Ch1Iu YU-lin. p. 28.
6IbId., p. 25.

-61-

     The following discussion on the scholar-officials is taken in large

     part from "Ming-liang lun" Q)^ & "g^" , I-IV, in Kung Tzu-chen
     ch'Uan-chi |t \? Yi ^i %  kf\ jg- , Ch'ing-tai k'o-ch(l k'ao-shlh shu-lu
 >% ft M ? i U '¿^(Pek1^. "58), p. 112, and Teng Ssu-yU
     &j «¿J ^ , Chung-kuo k'ao-shih chlh-tu shih ?. |j j) ^ |^ ^j £_ £__
     (Taipei:   HsUeh-sheng shu-chll, 1967), p. 233.   This verifies Chang Chung-li's
     view that the examination system worked well up until the early nineteenth
     century when it began to decline because of overformalization [The Chinese
     Gentry (Seattle:   University of Washington Press, 1967), pp. 178, 203].

11KTCCC, p. 344.
     "P'ing-chlln p'ien" -? ^ fhfL , KTCCC, pp. 77-80.
13
      "I-ping chih chi chu-i" Z1 \%> ¿- Y& % ^A , XXV, KTCCC, p. 12.
14
     Fourteen of Kung's statecraft essays were included in the Huang-ch'ao

     chins-shlh wen-pien ^ ^ /^ &_

-62-

15
     See, for example, "I-ping chih chi chu-i" VI, KTCCC , pp. 4-5, and
     "Tsun-yin" >* f^ , KTCCC, pp. 86-89.
16"Ch'un-ch'lu chUeh shih pi tzu-hsU" ^f- ¿¿L %l í§i ü¿> $ $ >
     KTCCC, pp. 233-235.

17"I-ping chih chi chu-i," IX, KTCCC , pp. 6-7.

18"Ch'an Kao Tzu" ^j) & J- , KTCCC, pp. 129-130. According to YU T'ung
     '¦J fSJ , Kung was the only important figure in Chinese thought to accept
     Kao Tzu's thesis concerning human nature. See Chung-kuo che-hslleh wen-t'l

     shlh V^ || ijj