Abstract

By quoting “The rites do not go down to the common folk, and punishments do not go up to the great officials,” Fu Sinian (1896–1950) discussed the class distinction in Confucian culture. Because Confucian classics were losing their practical power to guide the daily lives of the lower classes, the local society was left with a void at the ruling, ideological, and cultural levels, or what Fu referred to as “the unstable layer of Confucian culture.” When exploring the “unstable layer,” we must first admit that we do not know the “locale” well enough. If we start from a different perspective, our view of many things would probably change. There were many linking figures between the local society and the national stage, who spread the activities and information from the core area to the local area, thus changing the ideological atmosphere of the local society. Yet regarding the way information and knowledge flew, there was an upward diffusion force in addition to the top-down penetration. There was perhaps an omnipresent “signaling mechanism” at work in the silent local community. If we focus only on the overall historical framework, we tend to ignore the plurality and uniqueness of local societies, but we should not be confined to local views either, and the two should be viewed circumferentially and repeatedly in order to enrich our vision of research.

摘要

傅斯年（1896-1950）通过引用“礼不下于平民，刑罚不上于大官”来论述儒家文化中的阶级差别。由于儒家经典正在失去指导下层日常生活的实践力量，当地社会在统治、思想和文化层面上出现了空白，也就是傅所说的“儒家文化的不稳定层”。 ” 在探索“不稳定层”时，我们必须首先承认我们对“语言环境”不够了解。如果我们从不同的角度出发，我们对很多事情的看法可能会改变。当地社会和国家舞台之间有许多联系人物，他们将活动和信息从核心区域传播到当地，从而改变当地社会的思想氛围。然而，关于信息和知识的传播方式，除了自上而下的渗透外，还有向上的扩散力。在沉默的当地社区中，可能有一种无所不在的“信号机制”在起作用。如果只着眼于整体的历史框架，往往会忽略地方社会的多元性和独特性，但也不应该局限于地方性的观点，而应该对两者进行循环和反复观察，以丰富我们的研究视野.