'To change' or 'to be changed': the dialectics of a decaying empire and the political philosophy of Wei Yuan (1794–1857). Issue 3 (20th October 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Man, Li
• Is Part Of: Global intellectual history. Volume 1:Issue 3(2016)
• Page Start: 261
• Page End: 274
• Publication Date: 2016-10-20
• Subjects: Change -- non-change -- Wei Yuan -- Yi -- Qing Empire -- political philosophy; Intellectual life -- History -- Periodicals; 001.09005
• DOI: Https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23801883.2017.1332872
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2380-1883

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The First Opium War (1839–1842) created a crisis in the late Qing Dynasty (1644–1911). Wei Yuan (1794–1857) was one of the few who had a complete theoretical and strategic proposal to transform the dying Qing Empire into a strong political entity. This article aims to analyse Wei Yuan's political philosophy of government and 'state construction' based on the principle of 'change'. Through the analysis of four aspects, i.e. the nature of Change, the agent of Change, the direction of Change and the scale of Change, this article tries to reveal Wei Yuan's thought on Change from the angle of the theoretical and political hindrances it had to face. From this, one can hopefully understand why Wei Yuan did not live to see any significant influence of his works in the political situation of his home country, but instead his works greatly inspired China's future competitor Japan in its modernisation. We can also see the complexity and even seeming contradictions in his thought, as well as historic limitations, and the posthumous impact of his thought on the westernization movement in late nineteenth century.