Qiushu 訄書

Qiushu 訄書 "The book of urgent matters" is a collection of 63 essays written by the philosopher Zhang Binglin 章炳麟 (also known as Zhang Taiyan 章太炎, 1869-1936) in the very late 19th century.

It was first published as a book in 1900, including published and unpublished essays Zhang wrote from 1897 on. A second, more widespread, edition with two chapters more was brought out in the same year. In 1902 and 1903, Zhang enlarged this version with some more articles, some of which revised one or other of his earlier opinions. This is particularly true for a change in Zhang Binglin's thoughts from the reformist ideal to his conviction that China could only fare better by way of revolution. This "revolutionary" edition was published in 1904 by the Shōransha 翔鸞社 in Tōkyō, with a reprint in 1906. In 1914, during his imprisonment under the rule of the dictator-president Yuan Shikai 袁世凱 (1859-1916), Zhang Binglin made further fundamental additions and deletions to the text. He also arranged the book in 9 traditional juan instead of in chapters. This revised edition was published in 1915 by the Youwen She 右文社 in Shanghai with the title Jianlun 檢論 "Discussions on investigations", as part of the series Zhangshi congshu 章氏叢書. The series was published again in 1919 by the Zhejiang Sheng Tushuguan 浙江省圖書館 with corrections of the text. The most widespread modern and stand-alone edition of the Qiushu was published in 1958 by the Gudian Wenxue Chubanshe 古典文學出版社 and the Zhonghua Shuju 中華書局. It is also part of Zhang's collected writings Zhang Taiyan quanji 章太炎全集, published in 1982 by the Shanghai Renmin Chubanshe 上海人民出版社.

The Qiushu is written in a very antiquated style difficult to understand. In terms of content, it covers a wide range of fields, including academic thought, language and literature, history, philosophy, social customs, ethnicity, politics, economics, and jurisprudence of various periods and schools of ancient China. Among them, the chapters "Theory of Heaven" (Tianlun 天論), "Public words" (Gongyan 公言), "The fundaments of learning" (Yuanxue 原學), "The fundaments of man" (Yuanren 原人), "The fundaments of transgression" (Yuanbian 原變), "Definitions of practical knowledge" (Ding shizhi 訂實知), and "General prophesies" (Tongchan 通讖) are based on some new results of modern natural sciences and elaborate Zhang's philosophical views in a focused manner by including concepts like materialist theory of reflection, evolution-based views of nature, and exposure and criticism of religious beliefs. The revised edition of the Qiushu criticises the reformists from a political point of view, propagates the democratic revolution and calls for the overthrow of the "reactionary" rule of the Qing government 清 (1644-1911). The essays had a certain impact on the bourgeois-democratic revolutionary movement of that time.

In the field of epistemology, Zhang believed that the source of knowledge was the objective world. He points out that cognition of the objective world was inseparable from feelings, which are not subjectively generated but are reflections of the objective world; in order to acquire knowledge, one must first come into contact with the outside world through one's senses, one's brain, and the outside world. Zhang also stressed that understanding cannot be limited to perceptual experience, but must also use rational thought to judge. Zhang, educated in traditional ways, regarded religious philosophy as a rational kind of understanding. He was deeply influenced by Buddhist thought and eventually embarked on the path of idealism, mixing it with modern concepts of materialism.