Harrison - The Man Awakened from Dreams

Question 1

Liu locality background

Answer 1

Resident of Chiqiao in the Shanxi province of China

Question 2

Liu ideology background

Answer 2

Firmly wedded to his role as the Confucian gentleman, whilst the country abandoned them in favour of nationalism
Lamented the rise of those who held the new philosophy

Question 3

Shanxi province overall decline

Answer 3

Was gradually excluded from Western prosperity and its political power
Mongolian independence, Russian revolution and refocusing of security and trade transformed it from a major trading corridor to an isolated and inaccessible province
Transformed 1900-1980 from prosperous centre of commerce to an impoverished and largely agricultural area

Question 4

Liu as a source

Answer 4

One man through which larger themes are conveyed, such as the growing gulf between urban and rural populations and the changing ideology of China
Was not normal - keeping a diary for 50 years is not- but his economic situation was (comfortable family to poor one)

Question 5

Guofan’s rules

Answer 5

Had a set for everyday life which Liu copied down and followed - included instructions like keep a diary, do not get angry, do not talk too much, practice calligraphy every morning before breakfast

Question 6

Purpose vs reality of Liu’s diary

Answer 6

Hoped that it might be published some day like Guofan’s, but it ended up mapping his downwards social mobility

Question 7

Liu’s justification of agricultural work

Answer 7

Gave it value by relating it to loyalty to the fallen dynasty

Question 8

The Man of Wohu Mountain

Answer 8

Based on the ancient ideal of a hermit (ignores Liu’s 10 years of teaching and his family as they do not fit the image)
Liked to imagine himself as rejecting public office when really it was never offered to him - he was really a farmer who imagined himself as a member of the ruling class

Question 9

The Man Awakened from Dreams

Answer 9

Man is a compulsive dreamer, who dreams he is rich and successful, but on his awakening Lu Dongbin (a Daoist immortal) tells him that all worldly achievement is merely an empty dream
Liu imbues this story with Confucianism, and it is his expression of his exclusion from power, but also the complexity and fragility of the Confucian moral order

Question 10

Moral value of early education

Answer 10

Education was seen as a form of moral indoctrination due to memorisation of textbooks like ‘the Classic of Filial Piety’, which were recited continuously
Liu’s tutor emphasised the moral value, teaching pupils to judge themselves and others based on the values learnt from the texts
Confucian classics ‘deeply ingrained’ by adulthood

Question 11

Moral tension of early education

Answer 11

Liu’s father stated he was sending him to school to learn morals
Set up a tension between education as a means to social mobility and education as a form of moral indoctrination that would plague Liu for many years to come

Question 12

Degree levels

Answer 12

Licentiate, Provincial and National

Question 13

Initial drought

Answer 13

Occurred as Liu was revising for the 1877 exam - very dangerous in Shanxi, with the market for paper collapsing and grain prices rising

Question 14

Famine of 1877

Answer 14

Whole families died of hunger in the mountain villages
Although many in the plains survived famine, disease took over after being weakened by 2 yeas of famine, killing 70% of the villagers by the end of summer

Question 15

Government response to famine

Answer 15

Men were refused aid from magistrate - he eventually gave a small amount of millet
Famine as a national disaster was the government’s responsibility, but officials failed to understand local conditions, presuming villages irrigated by the Jin river needed no aid

Question 16

Licentiate pass

Answer 16

Liu passed the county examinations in Taiyuan city aged 21

Question 17

Move to Taiyuan city

Answer 17

Liu moved there aged 24 and attended the Chongxiu Academy to prepare for the provincial exams

Question 18

Social differences at Chongxiu

Answer 18

Surrounded by people whose lives were focused around the structures of the state rather than family

Liu’s father was far less wealthy than the fathers of many men who Liu studied with - since his education was a far greater financial commitment, he had far more pressure to succeed
Others joked around more as they had other opportunities open to them, and teased Liu for his frugality

Question 19

Moral commitment at Chongxiu

Answer 19

Became more morally committed to the texts, however saw a choice between literary studies geared towards examinations and practical studies that would prepare him for life as an official

Question 20

Liu’s situation by 1891

Answer 20

He had sat and failed the exams 5 times, having spent 10 years in the academy
He was 34 and had spent 25 years of his life studying for a career that he feared he had no chance of entering

Question 21

Time as a tutor

Answer 21

Spent 11 years tutoring, gradually making friends with other tutors and growing closer the family as the children got older

Unhappy due to his original ambitions clashing with his position as a tutor in a society where jobs in commerce and banking made far more money and had higher status

Question 22

1893 dream

Answer 22

Dreamt of a divine figure who told him that the only important thing was to be sincere and respectful
Became determined to pass the exams (matter of fate) and concentrate on living out the Confucian values he had learned

Question 23

Becoming the man awakened from dreams

Answer 23

In 1893, he decided to become the man who rejected the institutions as dreams and placed himself in a real, if unrecognized, world of Confucian values

‘Powerful conversion experience’ which made sense of his internal conflict, but alienated him further from his peers, who did not share his brand of personal Confucianism which emphasised self-improvement as the purpose of education

Question 24

Passing provincial exams

Answer 24

On sixth attempt - Confucian commitment had paid off

Strengthened his new sense of identity, laying even heavier demands on him to behave as a model Confucian gentleman

Question 25

1895 exam

Answer 25

Travelled to Beijing for national exams
Honoured on the way, but ultimately disappointing; he saw the customs displayed in the capital as an empty show, concerned only with adopting the correct form

Question 26

Difficulty of national exam

Answer 26

Not transcribed, so there was a massive emphasis on calligraphy, which was not a strength of Liu’s
Also Liu had limited knowledge of statecraft texts and Western learning, which required years of study

Question 27

Beijing in 1895 and 1898

Answer 27

Both times of high political drama
1895 - just defeated in war with Japan for Korea, disastrous settlement for Qing
1898 - shortly before Hundred Days’ Reform

Liu was mainly interested in how changes would affect his own prospects

Question 28

Centrality of filial piety to Confucianism

Answer 28

It is the moral duty that requires all children to repay the love and affection shown to them by their parents

Men were expected to take three years off from the bureaucracy if either parent died; Zeng Guofan was widely admired for going into retirement at the height of his political career after the death of his father

Question 29

Tension in filial piety

Answer 29

Tension for Liu between emotional and ritual (funerals and worship) obligation - depicts everyday affection and companionship between him and his parents

Question 30

Story with father

Answer 30

When Liu made a point and his father agreed, he said ‘I respectfully accept your teaching’ - forced to subordinate himself despite superior education

Question 31

Marriage for Liu

Answer 31

He was married three times - although affectionate towards his wives, they did not feature much in his life
9 surviving children, with the expectation that daughters in law would have a very close relationship with parents

Question 32

Imperfect nature of filial piety

Answer 32

Due to it being expressed in relationships between individuals - disputed generated intense feelings of sin and guilt in Liu
Central to Liu’s guilt was his failure to live up to his parents’ expectations by making money or passing the civil service exams

Question 33

Women and filial piety

Answer 33

Women often died of childbirth, due to poor diet and because of time spent inside due to having bound feet - Liu attributed any death and illness to a lack of filial piety
One friend divorced his wife due to her lack of respect with his mother

Question 34

Liu’s Confucianism and popular opinion

Answer 34

Liu had to balance his Confucianism with popular opinion
He was always known and respected, with his behaviour admired as it related to shared values - however admiration did not mean the people imitated Liu

Question 35

Filial piety after death of parents

Answer 35

Transformed - Liu had a nightmarish sense of abandonment, which eventually transitioned into a general justification for doing good

Question 36

Attack on Confucianism

Answer 36

Intensified attack in the 1910s and 20s on Confucian morality and particularly its core value of filial piety
Condemned as feudal by modernizers
However Chiqiao’s family structures changed little, as support for Confucianism was gradually withdrawn and it became more associated with rural areas

Question 37

Use of Liu’s Confucianism

Answer 37

Respect for his values meant that opportunities were open to Liu even when the modernizing state declared his classical education irrelevant

Question 38

1901 dream

Answer 38

Liu dreamt that he passed the national examinations and his ideas were greeted warmly - unrealistic as conservatives at court had been overthrown and reformers were in the ascendancy

Question 39

Conservative collapse at court

Answer 39

Fuelled by their support of the disastrous Boxer uprising, which was extremely violent (killing 100 people in a nearby village)

Question 40

Aftermath of Boxers

Answer 40

Liu horrified by taxes raised to pay for the indemnity, and was angry with the government for abandoning its values, the very principles that justified its existence

Question 41

1905

Answer 41

The examination system was abolished, transforming channels for social mobility and eliminating all hope of Liu and his friends holding government office

As education was transformed, many lost their jobs as teachers, with an emphasis on Western learning and science demanding more resources from fewer schools

Question 42

Change in aims of state

Answer 42

Had gone from attempting to reproduce a Confucian state to attempting to mobilise wealth for the state to compete internationally

Government pursued modernization, completely abandoning Confucianism, and any resistance to policies played into the hands of the most radical modernizers who planned to overthrow the dynasty

Question 43

1911

Answer 43

Revolution looked more like a military coup - many governors were overthrown or murdered, and general lawlessness ensued

Question 44

Republican government ideals

Answer 44

Based its legitimacy on its commitment to modernity and democracy, ideals that were profoundly in conflict with Confucian values

Question 45

Yuan Shikai as president

Answer 45

Shikai wanted to become Emperor, so decided to hold a referendum to change the constitution at the same time that a new National Assembly was being elected

Question 46

Liu in Shikai election

Answer 46

Participated, identifying voters in various villages, and being elected as a representative
All voters were coerced to make Shikai president

Question 47

Post-1905 routes to power

Answer 47

All legitimate routes destroyed - top officers came to power due to military connections, with elections consisting of bribery which went against Confucian principles of only appointing upright men as officials

Question 48

Liu politics 1912

Answer 48

Liu attempted to adapt to modern politics by making speeches and taking part in elections - in 1912 he was elected head of the county assembly

Question 49

Liu politics decline

Answer 49

Clear that the political value of his moral capital was declining - failed to spend effectively on Jinci temples, and prosecuted by Niu Yujian, ending his participation in local government

Question 50

Liu later identification

Answer 50

As his degree was virtually worthless, Liu began to identify more with his neighbours than officials and local leaders

Question 51

Liu 1913 status

Answer 51

Left unemployed with a family of eight adults and six children to support

Question 52

Liu coal business

Answer 52

Able to enter due to his reputation - managed mines such as the Shimen mine, sorting out problems

Question 53

Liu’s presentation of the mines

Answer 53

Began writing about them as an alternative world where ancient values were still respected, with their inhabitants leading a simple pastoral life

Question 54

Liu coal resignation

Answer 54

Resigned after restrictive government registration legislation aimed at putting the mine out of business

Decided to live off the small family plot of land

Question 55

Liu’s farm

Answer 55

6 acres, but rented all but 1.5 which Liu and his two grandsons tended

Question 56

Farming in Liu’s intellectual tradition

Answer 56

Key part - the Classic of History contains a story emphasising the importance of an understanding of the painful toil of sowing and reaping

Question 57

Metaphor of farming

Answer 57

One of the central metaphors of the neo-Confucian school

Fixing one’s determination was like sowing the seeds; the reverential attention needed for self-cultivation was like watering the plants

Question 58

Liu’s agricultural income

Answer 58

Family typical as agricultural income made up an ever increasing proportion of their income

Recession in Shanxi, where prices dropped, exacerbated by good harvests across the north which could be imported along the new railway

Question 59

Liu’s outdatedness

Answer 59

Confused by children in shorts and skirts

By the 1930s his Confucianism generated as much amusement as respect

People laughed at him for picking up cigarette wrappers (as all writing was sacred)

Question 60

War outbreak

Answer 60

In 1937, when Liu was 80 years old

Question 61

Abandonment in war

Answer 61

Magistrate and staff abandoned their posts and nearly everyone fled to the mountains

Liu refused to go - climbed onto the roof of house and made sure family made it safely

Question 62

Liu’s role before occupation

Answer 62

Asked to draft a declaration of surrender to the Japanese by the prison warden

Question 63

Waiting for the Japanese

Answer 63

Barricaded the main door of his house and waited

Japanese threatened to burn the house down, so the villagers opened the doors and the Japanese beat Liu

Question 64

Status by death

Answer 64

Had lived his life on the basis that his education gave him the right to be heard on local matters, but it was clear that he was now a ‘relic of an earlier age’

Question 65

Failure of filial piety

Answer 65

By 1940 his 3rd and 4th sons were both drug addicts, ruining the prospects of his other offspring

Filial devotion and brotherly love were supposed to bind the family together, but they did not