Many scholars and students of Chinese intellectual history have recently been fascinated by the discussion of the influence and significance of the concept of Utopia in contemporary Chinese thought. Nevertheless, the possibility and significance of Utopian-like concept in traditional Chinese political thought seems to attract much less attention in discussions of traditional Chinese intellectual history. This thesis, therefore, attempts to explore an important aspect in traditional Chinese utopian-like thought, the model of " Great Plan " Hong fan, willing to provide with a better and different understanding of the nature and characteristics of traditional Chinese political thought in a comparative perspective....[ Read more ]

Many scholars and students of Chinese intellectual history have recently been fascinated by the discussion of the influence and significance of the concept of Utopia in contemporary Chinese thought. Nevertheless, the possibility and significance of Utopian-like concept in traditional Chinese political thought seems to attract much less attention in discussions of traditional Chinese intellectual history. This thesis, therefore, attempts to explore an important aspect in traditional Chinese utopian-like thought, the model of " Great Plan " Hong fan, willing to provide with a better and different understanding of the nature and characteristics of traditional Chinese political thought in a comparative perspective.

In the light of utopianism, this thesis tries to investigate how the utopian-like nature of the model of " Great Plan " is interpreted and what kind of its intellectual structure of the utopian nature is specifically revealed in the commentaries and explications on the "Great Plan" chapter of the Book of Documents among the Song Dynasty Confucian scholars.

This thesis is composed of four parts, including an introduction, two chapters and a conclusion. The introduction explains the reason for choosing this topic and deals with the definition of Utopia and relevant concepts in general. The latter can be regarded as a logical starting point of the later discussion. In short, Utopia can be defined as an extremely ideal human society that in nature is impossible to be realized in term of practicability.

Chapter One is a literature review that introduces related scholarship on the topic focused on Utopian-like concept in Chinese traditional thought. The temporary outcomes and insufficiency are pointed out and the direction and emphasis of the thesis is put forward.

Chapter Two first gives a brief description of the content and a short history of the study of the " Great Plan" from the Han Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, then elaborates the ideal world constructed in the Song scholars' intellectual explications. The ideal world is embodied into three main aspects, the ideal individual, social order and universe.

In the last part, the conclusion is drawn from the examination of the utopian nature in the above ideal world. Three theoretical principles are pointed out from the utopian structure of the model of " Great Plan." They are the unity of human and heaven, the governing of sage king, and the great way of the mean. In the end, the thesis suggests that the model of " Great Plan" is characterized with instructive and constructive purport, the demonstration centered on essence of the whole world, and social solution by means of sage king (human extremity).