Title: Zhou Dunyi’s Philosophy and a Research on the Translations of His Works

Abstract: Zhou Dunyi is an epoch-making philosopher, owning the credit of breaking the darkness of Confucian inheritance for more than 1,500 years from the time of Confucius and Mencius to the early Song Dynasty. Zhou is not only a practitioner of orthodoxical Confucianism with such core ideas like “sincerity” and “human life beings in a highly virtue with nature”, but also blends Taoist and Buddhist philosophies of the laws of yin and yang and the existence of the dialectical relationship. By himself, Zhou reshapes the folk value of traditional Confucianism. Zhou, for his whole life, has practiced the same code of conduct, being faithful both inside and outside. His real soul has won the recognition and respect from future generations of philosophers, exerting a profound influence on the present international communication of the fine traditional Chinese culture.

Keywords: Zhou Dunyi, translation of ancient Chinese classics, neo-confucianism, Huxiang culture, translation and dissemination of Chinese culture

Author: Hongxin Jiang, Professor, Foreign Studies College, Hunan Normal University, Changsha, Hunan, China.