Zhu Xi and East Asian Confucianism

With the aim of strengthening the study of Confucianism in Vietnam in an in-depth direction, on August 24, the Center for Chinese Studies, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, organized the scientific conference "Zhu Xi and East Asian Confucianism".10 papers are the results of in-depth research on Chu Hi presented by researchers from the University of Social Sciences and Humanities (VNU) and Thanh Cong University (Taiwan) at the Conference. The papers mainly focused on the influence of Chu Hi - a philosopher, educator, writer, poet of China during the Southern Song Dynasty - on the East Asia region in general and Vietnam in particular in the fields of literature, history, classics, philosophy, ethics, etc. Associate Professor, Dr. Dinh Khac Thuan in his paper "Chu Hi's works were imported and circulated in Vietnam"said that Chu Hi's works on classical thought and commentary were introduced and had a profound influence in Vietnam during the Le - Nguyen period (15th - early 20th century). The paper presented incomplete data on about 30 names of works and documents about Chu Hi that are still in Vietnam, including Chu Hi's works printed and copied in Vietnam, along with works collected by Vietnamese people, citing Chu Hi's works or researching, commenting, and annotating in Nom script. Associate Professor, Dr. Dinh Khac Thuan gave his opinion: It is necessary to promptly collect all of Chu Hi's works in Vietnam and at the same time classify and compare similar texts of Chu Hi and Vietnamese scholars, as well as the influences of Chu Hi's thoughts and book compilation methods in Vietnam during the Le - Nguyen period. Master Pham Van Dung in the paper "From Complete Book of Zi Zhu's Elementary School to Brief Compilation of Zi Zhu's Elementary School and the influence of Zhu Xi through the reception of Vietnamese Confucian scholars in the 19th century" then analyzes in detail the influence and reception of Zhu Xi's system of Confucian classic commentaries in Vietnam through the introduction and survey of two books, Zi Zhu Zi Xiaoshu Complete Book and Zi Zhu Zi Xiaoshu Brief Edition, one compiled by Zhu Xi and one compiled by Vietnamese Confucian scholars. In addition, a number of other reports also highlight Zhu Xi's influence in many fields through a number of typical works and documents, specifically: "Characters and events of the ideological process of Chu Hi and Song Confucianism influencing Vietnam in the 14th - early 15th century - positioning and analysis"– Nguyen Kim Son;Chu Tu's studies in Vietnam: From the Four Books Chapters and Verses to the Four Books Commentary- Nguyen Tuan Cuong,“The concept of “image” and the “interpretation” of Chu Tu's “image” in the Xi Jing Li Trac”- Bui Ba Quan, “Study the evaluation of Chu Hi - Luc Cuu Uyen through the works of Le Quy Don- Le Phuong Duy,“The Cultural and Artistic Rites - From “The Five Costumes” examines the influence of the Cultural and Artistic Rites on the Tho Mai Family Rites”- Pham Thi Huong,“The trend of combining Cheng-Zhou Yi studies in East Asian Classics”- Nguyen Phuc Anh. Delegates Lam Trieu Thanh and Tran Ich Nguyen (Cheng Kuang University, Taiwan) presented papers on "On ethics in the context of the hexagrams and lines of the book of Changes by Zhu Xi" and "Famous Vietnamese Confucianist Ly Van Phuc and the preface "Exhibition of Tu Duong Library and Tinh Tu". Affirming the need for objective research to show the true face of Chu Hi's influence on Vietnam, Associate Professor Dr. Nguyen Kim Son - Vice Principal of the School - emphasized: "Chu Hi is the second greatest figure after Confucius in terms of contributions to the development of Confucianism in China and other countries in the region. We cannot deeply understand Vietnamese Confucianism without thoroughly understanding Confucius, Mencius, and Cheng Chu. Research on Chu Hi is first of all to serve the research on Vietnamese Confucianism. In Vietnam from the 14th century to the end of the 19th century, Chu Hi's thoughts always dominated the academic world and had a great influence." The conference on Chu Hi and East Asian Confucianism on a larger scale with the participation of more domestic and foreign researchers is expected to continue next year.