UGFH1000/Sep2011

Study Questions intended to guide you through the reading.

**This is optional.**
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Waiting for the Dawn: A Plan for the Prince (Ming-I tai-fang lu)
Preface
Huang always uses the Three Dynasties as a role model of ideal political order. What does the
Three Dynasties refer to?
Why does Huang say that since the Three Dynasties there has been no order but only disorder?
Huang compares Waiting for the Dawn with a book by Wang Mien modeled on the Rites of
Chou. What was Wangs purpose of writing this book? Did he achieve this goal?
Do you know the reason for Huang to quote the story of Chi Tzu who was visited by a prince?
The sentence dawn is just breaking and the light is still quite faint provides some hints of the
meaning of the book title. Do you know the meaning of the term Ming-I?
On the Prince
Why does Huang say that in the Three Dynasties, being a ruler was certainly not what most
people in the world desire?
After the Three Dynasties, how did the rulers treat all-under-Heaven and ordinary people?
Why does Huang think that it is not possible for latter-day princes to preserve all-under-Heaven
as their personal estate for long?
On Ministership
Does Huang think that ministers should treat the prince as they treat parents? Who does Huang
think the ministers should serve?
What does the metaphor of the hauling of great logs mean?
According to Huang, what is the ideal relationship between the ministers and the prince?

On Law
What is the fundamental difference between laws for the sake of all-under-Heaven in the Three
Dynasties and laws for the sake of one family after the Three Dynasties?
Huang says that the Law of the Three Dynasties safeguarded the world for the sake of allunder-Heaven (with reference to Chapter 2, The Great Ancestral Teacher, Zhuangzi). How
would you interpret this idea?
Why were laws tightened after the Three Dynasties? What were the consequences?
Explain the meaning of only when we have governance by law can we have governance by
men.
Schools
What responsibility does Huang think that an ideal school should have, apart from training
scholar-officials?
According to Huang, what was the standard of right and wrong in the world after the Three
Dynasties? What is the relation between this and Huangs view towards Chinese history,
especially the changes of the ruling system?
Why were there (private) academies besides (public) schools?
How could you relate Huangs views on schools and students to his personal experience?
In the latter half of the text, how can we see that Huang highly values knowledge and scholars?
What standard does Huang propose on the production and circulation of publications?