The passages below are from two of Ming Neo-Confucian scholar Qiu Jun’s works, the Shishi zhenggang (A Correct Outline of World History, 1481) and Daxue yanyi bu (Supplement to the Extensive Meanings of the “Higher Learning”, 1487).

The Shishi zhenggang, an annotated chronicle of Chinese history from the Qin dynasty to the founding of the Ming, has as its main theme the denial of legitimacy to all barbarian-ruled dynasties, especially the Mongol Yuan. Like Hu Han (see source 2.15), Qiu Jun insists that civilization’s continuity depends on maintaining sociopolitical hierarchies among the Chinese and strict separation between Chinese and barbarians, as well as Chinese supremacy over barbarians. But his theory of yin and yang also strongly resembles the Da Song xuanhe yishi (see source 3.11), suggesting influence from that text or from a common source.

For information on the Daxue yanyi bu, see source 2.19. The Daxue yanyi bu excerpt translated here bears similarities to Han Yu’s “Yuanren” (see source 3.1), Fan Zuyu’s Tangjian (see source 2.11), and Hu Yin’s ethnocentric moralism (see source 3.8), in addition to qi-based theories of Chinese superiority.

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From Shishi zhenggang (A Correct Outline of World History)

(From the Preface)

The division between Hua and barbarians is based on territorial boundaries. It is proper for the Hua to be Hua and for the barbarians to be barbarians. If the Hua cease to be Hua and the barbarians cease to be barbarians, then the human race will get mixed up in a confused mess. The world cannot survive unless it rectifies this.

The moral duty between rulers and ministers is embodied in the imperial court. When rulers behave like rulers and ministers behave like ministers, that is proper. If rulers do not behave like rulers and ministers do not behave like ministers, then the norms of human relations will collapse. The state cannot survive unless it rectifies this.

The love between fathers and sons is manifested in the transmission of titles and property from one generation to the next. When fathers behave like fathers and sons behave like sons, that is proper. If fathers do not behave like fathers and sons do not behave like sons, then the Way of humanity will be subverted. The family cannot survive unless it rectifies this.

One takes the family as the root for establishing a state. One rectifies the state to maintain order in the world. All this ultimately depends on the human mind-heart (xin). When the moral duty of the Way is kept right, then human morality can continue to stand and heaven and earth remain in their proper places. The barbarians will not dare to bring disorder to the Hua, and animals will not dare to infringe upon the human world….

Heaven lies above and earth lies below, and those that are born and live between heaven and earth are things. There are three kinds of animate things: human beings, barbarians, and animals. Heaven produces human beings and mandates one of them to rule and be the lord of all human beings. He promulgates teachings to establish human morality and cultivates governance to bring peace to all human lives. Only when [human beings] live in peace can human morality be established. What are the things that harm human lives and prevent them from living in peace? Barbarians and animals. Thus, he who is ruler of all human beings must repel the barbarians and drive out fierce animals, so that the people of the world can live out their lives without suffering harm from them….

The Hua must rule over the barbarians, and the barbarians must never be allowed to infringe upon the rulership of the Central Lands. Rulers must rule over ministers, and ministers must never harbor improper ambitions [for the throne]. Men must rule over women, and women must never hold positions meant for men. Unless a minister is as sagely as Shun or Yu, there should never be talk of the ruler abdicating the throne to him. Unless a ruler is as tyrannical as Jie or Zhou, his subjects should never speak of overthrowing him.

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(Commentary on the founding of the Ming dynasty)

Heaven lies above and earth lies below, and human beings live in between. The space where human beings live is called the world (shi). The way of Heaven is a matter of alternating yin and yang. The state of the world is a matter of alternating order and chaos. The balance of order and chaos in the state of the world are rooted in the balance of yin and yang in the way of Heaven. Each thing responds to its own kind. Therefore, in the yang category are the Central Lands, noble men, and cosmic principle. In the yin category are the barbarians, inferior men, and human desires. When yang and light are in the ascendant, the Central Lands are respected and at peace, noble men hold positions of authority, and cosmic principle operates freely. This results in an age of order. When yin and darkness are in the ascendant, then barbarians usurp power and cause chaos, inferior men gain power, and human desires run rampant. This results in an age of chaos. Heaven gives birth to sages who are naturally endowed with pure moral authority and can assume responsibility for the state of the world. When a sage rules the world, he always employs noble men, never inferior men; he always preserves cosmic principle, unadulterated by human desires. By such means alone, he establishes a standard to serve as the foundation for good governance within the subcelestial realm and is strict in defending against external threats.

Even when a man of the Central Lands rules over the Central Lands, he will fail to control the barbarians if he employs inferior men and indulges in human desires. How much more so with a barbarian who rules over the Central Lands? When a barbarian rules over the Central Lands, that is like heaven and earth trading places, or a person’s head and feet trading places. If earth is above heaven, then heaven is no longer heaven; if a man has feet where his head should be, then he is no longer a human being. Alas! When heaven is not heaven and humans are not human, what kind of an age is that? What kind of world is that?

… Since heaven and earth came into being, the Central Lands had never lacked a politically legitimate ruler for even a day. Even when the five Hu (barbarian) peoples brought chaos to the Hua lands¹, the [Eastern] Jin dynasty endured. The Liao and Jin illegitimately used the imperial title [in the north], but the Song dynasty did not come to an end. There was never a time like the Yuan when the lineage of political legitimacy was completely broken and the whole world was under the rule of barbarians. The three bonds (ruler-minister, father-son, and husband-wife) thus collapsed, and the means of good governance were also lost. Heaven and earth traded places, the sun and moon were darkened, and the power of yin and darkness was in the ascendant. This lasted for ninety-three long years. The people of the Central Lands gradually became steeped in [Mongol] customs and were transformed by them day by day. They adopted [Mongol] surnames and names, spoke their language, and intermarried with their kind (lunlei 論類). Eight or nine out of every ten households forgot that they were Hua. If a sage had not arisen, responding to Heaven’s disgust [with such changes], and driven their kind (lei 類) out, washing their influence away, would the Central Lands still have been the Central Lands? If the Central Lands were no longer the Central Lands, then everyone in the subcelestial realm would now be of the kind that stinks of mutton and speaks barbaric gibberish; everyone would be hideous, wicked, fierce, and violent. In this world, among our people, there would no longer be robes and caps, rites and music, humaneness and moral duty, and the moral authority of the Way. Judging from that perspective, our sagely ancestor (Ming Taizu) accomplished an immensely great thing for the people, for heaven and earth, and for the past kings and emperors throughout history!

[Translator’s note: For more of Qiu Jun’s polemics against the Yuan and the Chinese who served it, see Chapter 8.]

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From Daxue yanyi bu (Supplement to the Extensive Meanings of the Great Learning), Chapter 156, “Managing the barbarians: The error of raiding, deceiving, and waging unrestrained warfare [against the barbarians]”

Of the animate beings living between heaven and earth, there are three kinds: human beings, barbarians, and animals. Human beings are fortunate to live in the center of heaven and earth and to be endowed with the correctly balanced qi of heaven and earth, as people of the Central Lands. How much more so when one is a ruler of the Central Lands, occupying a position of legitimate authority between heaven and earth? One should nurture all the people with humaneness and extend one’s love even to the barbarians and animals. Attacking them would be unacceptable in itself, let alone doing it via treacherous deceit! One who does such a thing is nothing less than a real barbarian! How could he just be someone who lives in the Central Lands but behaves like a barbarian?

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1. “The five Hu peoples” was a stock expression for five ethnic groups—the Xiongnu, Jie, Xianbei, Dī, and Qiang—who founded states in north China after the collapse of the Western Jin in 311-316. ↩︎