Overview

This study examines the historical transformation of Song Neo-Confucianism, particularly Zhu Xi’s teachings, from philosophical doctrine to state orthodoxy during the Ming-Qing period, and its implications for social governance, clan organization, and educational reform. Challenging conventional dynastic periodization, the analysis employs a longue durée approach to trace how Song Neo-Confucian ideals—originally conceived as ethical frameworks for scholar-officials and grassroots social reconstruction—underwent systematic institutionalization and distortion under later imperial regimes. The study demonstrates that while Song thinkers like Zhang Zai, the Cheng brothers, and Zhu Xi developed comprehensive systems for lineage reconstruction, communal living, and moral cultivation, their visions diverged significantly from Ming-Qing implementations, particularly regarding virtues such as chastity and filial piety, which became rigid instruments of state control and social oppression. Through examination of the patriarchal clan system, offering halls, sacrificial fields, community compacts, and family rituals, the analysis reveals that Neo-Confucianism’s most enduring legacy lay not in its metaphysical abstractions but in its practical frameworks for grassroots social organization, which demonstrated remarkable resilience despite official ambivalence. The study concludes that the bifurcated legacy of Neo-Confucianism—its progressive social critique versus its co-optation as ideological apparatus—reflects a broader pattern in Chinese intellectual history, suggesting the need to distinguish original philosophical intentions from later institutional appropriations when assessing the tradition’s historical significance.