Philosophy, philology, and politics in eighteenth-century China

This book explains the general intellectual climate of the early Ch'ing period, and the political and cultural characteristics of the Ch'ing regime at the time. Professor Huang brings to life the book's central characters, Li Fu and the three great emperors - K'ang-hsi, Yung-cheng, and Chien-lung - whom he served.

Li Fu rose from poverty to become top graduate in the examinations, a distinguished scholar-official, and author of several important philosophical works; he was also involved in such practical affairs as the troubled relations between the state and non-Han minority peoples in Kwangsi. Li Fu's turbulent relationship with three of China's most active emperors led to repeated banishments, loss of office, and in one case to death sentence and a last-minute reprieve.

. The book culminates in a discussion of the hero-emperor K'ang-hsi's appropriation of the 'tradition of the Way' from his intellectual officials, which denied them their traditional role as moral censors and critics of the emperor's exercise of authority. This depiction of the Ch'ing period's activist management of the world of ideas will broaden our understanding of the historical relationship between intellectuals and the state in China.