Zhuang Cunyu 莊存與

Zhuang Cunyu 莊存與 (1719-1788), courtesy name Fanggeng 方耕, style Yangtian 養恬, from Wujin 武進, Jiangsu, was a philosopher and Confucian scholar of the high Qing period 清 (1644-1911). He was a representative of the Changzhou School (Changzhou xuepai 常州學派). He obtained the jinshi degree in 1715, was appointed junior compiler in the Hanlin AcademyHanlinyuan bianxiu 翰林院編修), then expositor-in-waiting (shijiang 侍講), Grand Academician of the Grand Secretariat (neige xueshi 內閣學士), Vice Minister of Rites (libu shilang 禮部侍郎).

Zhuang was highly skilled in the Gongyang tradition 公羊 of interpreting the "Spring and Autumn Annals" (Chunqiu 春秋). Zhuang's Chunqiu zhengci 春秋正辭 was the first major work of the New Text school (jinwen 今文學) of classical studies within the Changzhou School. Zhuang himself stated that the inspiration for this work came from reading Zhao Fang's 趙汸 (1319-1369) Chunqiu jizhuan shuci 春秋集傳屬辭. In Zhuang's view, Zhao's work aimed to investigate Confucius's editorial decisions in revising the historical records of the regional state of Lu 魯 and to explore the Sage's ideas for governing the world and putting principles into practice. Following Zhao's method of interpreting the Annals, Zhuang changed the expression "rhetoric" (shuci 屬辭) to "correct terms" (zhengci 正辭) to better elaborate on the Annals' "subtle words and great meaning" (wei yan da yi 微言大義), and he advocated for their application in statecraft.

Zhuang developed Confucius' idea of criticizing the hereditary aristocracy, arguing that hereditary nobles had monopolised political power for generations, thereby blocking the path of the worthy and becoming parasites that obscured the virtuous. He supported strong centralized authority and believed that "just as there are not two suns in the sky, there should not be two masters for a scholar, two kings for a state, or two patriarchs in a family — there must be unity in governance" (tian wu er ri, shi wu er zhu, guo wu er wang, jia wu er zun, yi yi zhi zhi ye 天無二日，士無二主，國無二王，家無二尊，以一治之也). He also believed that the Gongyang Commentary's core doctrine of the "Great Unity" (da yitong 大一統) centered on revering the ruler and supporting the royal house. For this reason, he won the appreciation of the Qianlong Emperor 乾隆帝 (r. 1735-1796).

Zhuang Cunyu devoted himself to the study of the Gongyang tradition of the Spring and Autumn Annals, yet he did not confine himself to the sectarian divisions between Han 漢 (206 BCE-220 CE) and Song 宋 (960-1279) scholarship (Hanxue 漢學, Songxue 宋學). He rejected the pedantic and overly detailed approach of exhaustive textual annotation, and was even able to integrate elements of the Zhouli 周禮, a text associated with the Old Text (guwen 古文) classical tradition, into his New-Text interpretation of the Gongyang Commentary. For example, in his works Shangshu jixian 尚書既見 and Shushuo 書說, Zhuang made no distinction between Old- and New-Text versions in terms of their script or wording. This indicates that his research into the Gongyang tradition had not yet fully broken free from the influence of contemporary Han learning on his scholarship.

Zhuang's writings are assembled in the series Weijingzhai yishu 味經齋遺書. They include Chunqiu juli 春秋舉例, Chunqiu yaozhi 春秋要旨, Tuanzhuan lun 彖傳論, Cici zhuan lun 系辭傳論, Bagua guanxiang ci 八卦觀象辭, Guaqi jie 卦氣解, Shangshu gaijin 尚書概今, Shangshu shuo 毛詩說, Zhouguan ji 周官記 and Zhouguan shuo 周官說.