Waiting for the Dawn
From kwharrison13.com · Anti-library
Waiting for the Dawn
| Full title | Waiting for the Dawn: A Plan for the Prince |
|---|---|
| Author | Huang Zongxi, translated by Wm. Theodore de Bary |
| Recommended | Once |
| Buy | Amazon |
| Why it’s on the list | Huang Zongxi, a Ming loyalist writing after the dynasty fell, diagnoses what went wrong with Chinese rule: the realm treated as the ruler’s private property. Against it he sets law above the emperor’s will, a prime minister with real authority, schools as a standing forum for criticising government, and taxes built for the people — a constitutional critique from within China’s own canon. |
Waiting for the Dawn
Where I heard about it
- Li Lu — on Li Lu’s Recommended Book List, in the Chinese-civilization section, the part of the list that treats China as a continuous intellectual tradition rather than a recent economic event. He lists it under de Bary’s name (Columbia University Press, 1993).
About this edition
Huang completed the Mingyi daifang lu in 1662-63; it circulated in manuscript for two centuries before it was printed and read widely, and late-Qing reformers reached for it precisely because it argued for limits on power from inside the tradition. Wm. Theodore de Bary’s translation supplies a long introduction placing Huang in the Confucian tradition rather than outside it.
Connections
- Li Lu’s Recommended Book List — the list this came from.
- China — the tradition the book argues from inside.
- Institutions — the book’s own answer: rules above rulers.
What links here
Curated by Kyle Harrison. Organized by Claude. Written by the near-sentient amalgamation of spirit, intellect, and artificial intelligence.