Liao Ping (1852 - 1932) in the historiography of modern neoconfucianism

Abstract
The article describes the perception of the legacy of the neo-Confucian philosopher Liao Ping (1852-1932) in modern historiography. Soon after his death in China, Qian Mu and Feng Yulan called him "the last Confucian canonologist." From time to time there was a discussion about the degree of interaction between the systems of thought of Liao Ping and Kang Yuwei, there were accusations of plagiarism even. After the 1980s Sichuan scholars have done a lot to research Liao Ping's intellectual heritage; in 2015, the complete compilation of his works was published. In Western historiography, the reference attitude was laid down by Joseph Levenson in the 1950s: the Sichuan scholar was the last representative of a dying Confucian culture, and in this he was completely opposed to Confucius. The first researchers of Liao Ping in the PRC repeated the same judgments. The fact that Liao Ping's legacy is in demand in modern China refutes Levenson's thesis of "ossification" of Confucianism, which in his understanding marked the disappearance of the Chinese cultural-historical type.

Keywords: Chinese Studies, History of China, Qing dynasty, Liao Ping, Joseph Levenson.

For citation: Martynov D.Ye., Martynova Yu.A. Liao Ping (1852 - 1932) in the historiography of modern neoconfucianism. Modern oriental studies. 2021; 3(4): 582-590.