Waiting for the Dawn (Mingyi daifang lu)

Introduction

Huang Zongxi wrote the book in 1662–63, after the fall of the Ming dynasty, whose cause he had served in the resistance against the Manchus. The title combines hexagram 36 of the Book of Changes, “brightness hidden”, with the hope of being visited by a future ruler seeking advice. In about twenty short essays he argues that the ruler exists for the people, not the realm for the ruler, that law should serve all under Heaven rather than the dynasty, and that schools should be places where public questions are debated. Banned under the Qing, the work was taken up by late Qing reformers and has often been compared with European constitutional thought.

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• Mengzic. 300 BCE · Mengzi (Mencius)