| dc.description.abstract | The history of thought and culture of Malayan Chinese is a topic worth to be studied. This thesis focused on ＂Confucianism＂ which involves thoughts and culture, and discussed the origin and historical development of Confucianism in Malaya. Centering the period from 1673 where Cheng Hoon Teng Temple in Malacca was established until the rise of the Malaya’s Confucian movement in 1899. As much as possible, primary sources are used as references, especially the early Malayan Chinese newspapers and periodicals, such as Singapore′s Lat Pau（叻報）, Sing Po（星報）, Thien Nam Shin Pao（天南新報）, Penang’s Penang Sin Poe（檳城新報）, Kuala Lumpur’s Kong See Boo Poe（廣時務報）and etc. This research studied how the focus on ideology in Malayan Chinese has shifted from Neo-Confucianism to Confucian religion, as well as the development of Confucianism in the Chinese society of Malaya, influence to its education, race, religion and other cultural aspects.
Before 1881, Malayan Chinese were self-reliant and free from China political influence. The early development of Confucianism mainly followed the customs of Fujian and Guangdong in China. In the form of cultural awareness, Confucianism had been scattered in temple-centered autonomy model, local identity, ancestral halls, funerals and sacrifices, Confucian classic education, inscription writing, Confucius birthday, moral values, etc. After 1881, promoted by the cultural and educational policies of Tso Ping Lung（左秉隆）and Huang Tsun Hsien（黃遵憲）, the Chinese Consul from Qing Dynasty, coupled with the influence of public opinion from local Chinese newspapers, the recognition of Chinese culture and Confucianism in the Chinese community was promoted, and the foundation for the development of Confucianism in Malaya was laid.
This research also focused on the history of Confucianism in Malayan Chinese’s newspapers as newspapers are important source to explore the ＂inner logic＂ of Confucianism in Malaya. First, this research restored the identity background of the editorial groups of each newspaper and revealed that, in addition to the well-known academic Yeh Chih Yun（葉季允）, there were also editors such as Lu Ci Pu（陸慈普）, He Ying Yuan（何應源）, Xu Ji Jun（徐季鈞）, and Wang Dao zong（王道宗）. From 1881 to 1897, Neo-Confucianism was the mainstream of press and public opinion during that period, and the editors generally adopted Neo-Confucianism to judge thoughts and life problems among Nanyang Chinese. In 1897, the Kong See Boo Poe founded by Kang You Wei′s disciples Cui Tong Yue（崔通約）and Xu Shao Ping（許紹平）, opened the Confucian religion in Kuala Lumpur, breaking the Confucianism atmosphere dominated by Neo Confucianism for a long time in Malaya. In 1898, Khoo Seok Wan（邱煒萲） launched Thien Nam Shin Pao in Singapore, flaunting the protection of the country, religion and ethnicity, and set off a trend of respecting Confucius and protecting Confucian religion in Nanyang. Since then, the Confucian ideology of the Malayan Chinese society, centered on Confucian religion, has become the ideological basis for the rise of the Confucian Movement in 1899. Influenced by newspapers and public opinion, Chinese in various parts of Malaya launched the Confucian movement one after another, with the establishment of schools, Confucian temples and the celebration of Confucian birthday as the core content of the movement. | en_US |