Yongjia School of Thought () was a Chinese

school of thought A school of thought, or intellectual tradition, is the perspective of a group of people who share common characteristics of opinion or outlook of a philosophy, discipline, belief, social movement, economics, cultural movement, or art movement. ...

that advocated for

privatization Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

, market economy,

pragmatism Pragmatism is a philosophical tradition that considers words and thought as tools and instruments for prediction, problem solving, and action, and rejects the idea that the function of thought is to describe, represent, or mirror reality. ...

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econ ...

tax cut A tax cut represents a decrease in the amount of money taken from taxpayers to go towards government revenue. Tax cuts decrease the revenue of the government and increase the disposable income of taxpayers. Tax cuts usually refer to reductions i ...

, and challenged

Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or a ...

. It became one of the three dominant schools of thought during the

Song Dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

along with "Li School of Thought" led by

Zhu Xi Zhu Xi (; ; October 18, 1130 – April 23, 1200), formerly romanized Chu Hsi, was a Chinese calligrapher, historian, philosopher, poet, and politician during the Song dynasty. Zhu was influential in the development of Neo-Confucianism. He con ...

and "Universal Mind School of Thought" led by

Lu Jiuyuan Lu Jiuyuan (; 1139–1192), or Lu Xiangshan (陸象山; Lù Xiàngshān), was a Chinese philosopher and writer who founded the school of the universal mind, the second most influential Neo-Confucian school. He was a contemporary and the main ri ...

. Particularly, it was a leading force that gave rise to the economic prosperity of

in China and has close ties to the prosperity of market economy and private economy during the period.

Background

The Yongjia School of Thought emerged in response to the social and political crises in southern Song, specifically the attempt on the part of

and

to establish their authority over

Confucian Classics Chinese classic texts or canonical texts () or simply dianji (典籍) refers to the Chinese texts which originated before the imperial unification by the Qin dynasty in 221 BC, particularly the "Four Books and Five Classics" of the Neo-Confucian ...

and was aggravated by the military threat from the north and the corruption in the government. The school itself was named after Yongjia, now called

Wenzhou Wenzhou (pronounced ; Wenzhounese: Yuziou �y33–11 tɕiɤu33–32 ), historically known as Wenchow is a prefecture-level city in southeastern Zhejiang province in the People's Republic of China. Wenzhou is located at the extreme south east ...

, and composed mainly of scholars from

(then Yongjia). It began with the need to contend with the changing intellectual climate and was initiated by the Yongjia scholars such as Zhou Xingji and Xue Jixuan. It was further promoted by the materialist thinkers

Ye Shi Ye Shi (, 1150–1223), courtesy name Zhengze (正则), pseudonym Mr. Shuixin (水心先生), was a Chinese neo-Confucian of the Song dynasty. A native of Wenzhou, Zhejiang, he was the most famous figure of the Yongjia School, a neo-Confucianism ...

and Chenliang, who elevated the social status of those people who engaged in commercial and merchant activities. Ye Shi is noted for amending the mainstream Confucian ideology by focusing more on business, rejecting the ideas such as the giving of high priority to justice and low priority to profit. The school finally evolved into a unique school of thought in Chinese history, advocating for the importance of

commerce Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, nation ...

, market economy,

currency market The foreign exchange market (Forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. It includes all aspe ...

while China by tradition values

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

, concepts, and thoughts that were distinctly different.

References

{{Reflist Classical Chinese philosophy Song dynasty Pragmatism