| Abstract |
In the early Qing dynasty, Neo-Confucianism initially flourished, yet scholarly practice gradually shifted from the investigation of moral principle and Metaphysical Inquiry toward evidential studies of the classics. Within this transition, the transformation of scholarship among Zhu Xi-oriented scholars played a pivotal role. This paper focuses on Jiang Yong, a native of Wuyuan（婺源）—the hometown of Zhu Xi—and examines his intellectual trajectory through his correspondence with fellow Wuyuan scholar Wang Fu. Although Jiang Yong upheld “investigating things and exhausting principle” (格物窮理) as the foundation of scholarly endeavor, his personal inclinations led him toward a textually grounded, evidential approach to classical learning. Consequently, the meaning of “Investigating Things”in Jiang Yong’s discourse was reconfigured, even diminished: what he sought to probe was no longer Zhu Xi’s metaphysical principles of Heaven and human nature, but rather the objects themselves. Jiang Yong’s scholarly orientation is reflected in the interpretive framework of his “Collected Annotations on the Reflections on Things at Hand”（《近思錄集註》）, which anticipates the Qianjia-era Han Learning tendency to “study the classics through the classics.” Moreover, the appended “Critical Examination of Zhu Xi’s Family Records”（《考訂朱子世家》）, with its emphasis on verifying historical sources and distinguishing the genuine from the spurious, further underscores the evidential scholar’s commitment to factual accuracy. Together, these works exemplify the transformation of Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism as it evolved into new modes of scholarship in the Qing intellectual landscape. |
