The Tours, Thought and Course of Learning of the Late-Yuan Confucian Scholar Zhao Pang.

One's ideas and acts are not only influenced by his education background and scholarly orientation, but also by the intellectual environment he is exposed. Most of the researches on Zhao Pang (1319-1369), a prominent Confucian scholar of Huizhou in the late Yuan dynasty, focus on his thoughts of fusion of Zhu Xi (1130-1200) and Lu Jiuyuan (1139-1193), as well as his contributions to the study of Chunqiu. Focusing on Zhao's studying tours, his thought and scholarly life, this paper examines the characteristics of his thought and its relations with the late Yuan Zhu Xi School of Huizhou, and the significance of his devotion to the study of Chunqiu in the Yuan dynasty. It shows that Zhao left his birthplace Huizhou in his youth to the provinces Jiangxi and Zhejiang in search of competent classical teachers because the Zhu Xi School which once flourished in Huizhou was declining. His encounters enabled him to reflect and criticize the deficiencies of the intellectual trends of Huizhou, and, after having completed his study tours, he advocated the doctrine of weiji (learning for one's own self) and fanji (reflecting upon one's own self) as a prescription of the intellectual deficiencies of the locality. It also shows that Zhao, being a staunch admirer of Zhu Xi throughout his life, actually argued with Lu Jiuyuan in favour of Zhu Xi in the essay "Duiwen Jiangyou Liujunzi ce", which researchers usually consider as evidence of his intention to fuse Zhu Xi and Lu Jiuyuan into one thought. Finally, the paper shows that Zhao and his teacher Huang Ze (1259-1346), the eminent Chunqiu scholar, not only had followed Zhu Xi's methods in researching the Classics, but also kept perfecting the deficiencies of Zhu Xi's classical scholarship, especially that on Chunqiu, thereby confirming the importance of Zhu Xi's learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]