If one had to sum up the millennia of East Asian civilization in a single word, you can hardly do better than li 理, whose many facets are variously translated as “Principle,” “Pattern,” and “Coherence.” Wang Hui argues that Chinese modernity is characterised by the world view of Universal Principle (gongli 公理), as opposed to pre-modernity’s Heavenly Principle (tianli 天理),[1] while Brook Ziporyn traces the development of li 理 all the way back to antiquity.[2]
This two-year course seeks to understand East Asia (roughly: China, Japan, and Korea) as a meaningful cultural sphere through its primary sources. Readings come from Wm. Theodore de Bary’s two-volume Sources of East Asian Tradition, though additional material may be included depending on student interest. Ebrey and Walthall’s East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History serves as a supplementary textbook.
Attention will be paid to the development of li 理 from its earliest roots, its elaboration in East Asian Buddhism, its canonical formulation by the Neo-Confucians, its interaction with Western thought, and finally to its relevance in the present day. However, this is meant primarily as a framing device rather than an overarching narrative, and students are welcome to pursue other directions of their interest.
To consider East Asia as a unit is to bridge conventional boundaries, national and disciplinary. At the same time, East Asia is itself a porous boundary—it is impossible to tell the story of East Asia without including Buddhism (from India), Christian missionaries (from the West), and the Silk Road (sprawled across the Middle East). This course ultimately hopes to sketch an East Asia that is meaningfully its own, yet profoundly embedded within the wider, interconnected world.
[1] Wang Hui 汪晖, The Rise of Modern Chinese Thought 现代中国思想的兴起 (2008). The first two volumes were translated into English in 2023.
[2] Brook Ziporyn, Ironies of Oneness and Difference (2012) and Beyond Oneness and Difference (2013).
Textbooks
Wm. Theodore de Bary, Sources of East Asian Tradition
[Supplementary] Ebrey and Walthall, East Asia: A Cultural, Social, and Political History (Third Edition)
Course Instructor
Your course instructor will be Wang Xing Hao. Xing Hao majored in philosophy at Yale-NUS College, studying Classical Chinese and early Chinese classics with Scott Cook. His capstone thesis was on how Daoism influenced the Chinese reception of Buddhist thought. He received the Special Prize (For Buddhist Studies) and was a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship. Xing Hao then completed a Master of Arts at the University of Chicago on a Dean’s Fellowship, where he studied Chinese philosophy with Brook Ziporyn and Japanese Buddhism with Stephan Licha. He also studied Confucian classics at the International Chinese Language Program at National Taiwan University.
At Chicago, Xing Hao taught the core class East Asian Civilization I under Kenneth Pomeranz. Xing Hao has presented on Confucianism and Buddhism, and has forthcoming book reviews in Philosophy East and West and the Journal of Buddhist Ethics. He currently works on Neo-Confucianism and East Asian political theory, with interests in Korean philosophy and East Asian historical writing. He also runs a YouTube channel on East Asian languages.
Schedule
This course is divided into two years (excluding the summer months of July to September), one year for each volume of Sources of East Asian Tradition. That is, we will cover Volume 1: Premodern Asia from October 2025 to June 2026, and Volume 2: The Modern Period from October 2026 to June 2027. Each year, excluding the summer, is divided into three academic quarters of 12 weeks each, with a week of break after each quarter. A more detailed schedule, subject to revision, is here.
The specific class time will be confirmed after gathering initial interest, but will likely be at 9AM (Chicago time) on Saturdays. The first session will then begin on 4 October 2025. Each session is expected to last an hour, but may extend longer if necessary.
While students are encouraged to commit to completing the entire course, it is possible to enroll on a quarterly basis.
If there is sufficient interest, the summers will cover Sources of Vietnamese Tradition from the same series, divided similarly into Premodern and Modern periods.
Attendance & Class Participation
While each class will begin with a short lecture to provide more context for the readings, the classes will be centered around discussion. Therefore, students are expected to complete the readings before class, attend the weekly sessions, and participate in discussions.
However, it is understood that emergencies arise, especially across such a long period of time. Every class will be recorded and shared with class participants, to be used for revision and catching up on missed classes.
Guest lecturers may occasionally be invited, either during or outside of usual class time.
All classes are held online on Zoom.
Assignments
Students are free to write an optional, short research paper at the end of each quarter to explore a topic of their own interest. The topic should be related to the texts and time period covered in the quarter. The instructor will give comments, and no grades will be given.
Price
The course will be US$330/quarter, for a total of US$1980 for all six quarters. The fee is paid quarterly, and it is to be paid by week 2 of each academic quarter.
(Detailed weekly syllabus here)
