Background
Qianzhi was born in 1899, in Fuzhou, Fujian, China.
朱谦之
Qianzhi was born in 1899, in Fuzhou, Fujian, China.
Peking University and in Japan.
Jinan University and Zhongshan University, Guangzhou, Professor and Head of Philosophy Department, Peking University. Professor, World Religion Reseach Institute, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Zhu Qianzhi was a figure of comprehensive scholarly knowledge. He took part in the May Fourth Movement as a student at Peking University and formed an early enthusiasm for socialist revolutionary thought. He also cultivated an interest in Hegel, which shaped his concern for cultural influence.
His mature work was devoted to the history of philosophy, particulary the influence of Chinese philosophy in the West and in Japan, the influence of Western culture in China, and the history of Japanese philosophy. In a famous study, he examined how missionaries interpreted Chinese philosophy and culture to the West and how Western culture had influence on China. He later wrote about European interpretations of Confucius in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He was an authority on cultural relations between China and Japan, and his work is highly appreciated by Japanese scholars. He examined the response in Japan to the great twelfth-century neo-Confucian synthesis of Zhu Xi and to the sixteenth century neo-Confucian idealism of Wang Yangming. These philosophers dominated Chinese philosophy to modern times and have continuing influence in attempts to revive neo-Confucian philosophy. Zhu’s studies recognise the great importance of Chinese thinkers for Japanese philosophy. His painstaking study of Laozi is highly regarded.