Is it a branch of Confucianism? Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties is also called Taoism. Refers to the dominant Confucian philosophy system in Song and Ming Dynasties (including Yuan and Qing Dynasties). Philosophical thoughts of Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties. Confucian scholars in the Han Dynasty attached great importance to exegesis of famous things, while in the Song Dynasty, they mainly explained righteousness and talked about life, so they called it. At the beginning of the Northern Song Dynasty, Hu Yuan, Sun Fu and Shijie were called "the Three Masters of Neo-Confucianism". However, the actual founders of Neo-Confucianism were Zhou Dunyi, Shao Yong, Zhang Zai and Cheng Brothers, all of whom came together by Zhu in the Southern Song Dynasty. Established a relatively complete system of objective idealism. Putting forward that "reason" exists before heaven and earth will take a general position. He advocates "that is, poverty" as a learning. Contrary to Zhu, Lu Jiuyuan's subjective idealism put forward the proposition that "the universe is my heart". In the Ming Dynasty, Wang Shouren further developed Lu Jiuyuan's theory, holding that there is nothing outside the heart and that it is unreasonable outside the heart, and asserted that the clarity of the heart is the foundation of all things in the universe. For Xueba, it is "clear mind and body" and "to conscience". In addition, the theory of Qi monism put forward by Zhang Zai in the Northern Song Dynasty is completely different from that of Cheng Er. Wang Tingxiang in Ming Dynasty, Wang Fuzhi and Yan Yuan in early Qing Dynasty all opposed Zhu Cheng and Lu Wang. In Dai Zhen's A Brief Introduction to Mencius, he came to the conclusion that "reason lies in desire", pointed out that "post-Confucianism killed people with reason" and strongly criticized "Neo-Confucianism".

Neo-Confucianism was first named in the Southern Song Dynasty. Zhu once said that "Neo-Confucianism is the most difficult", and Lu Jiuyuan also said that "Neo-Confucianism in this dynasty is far better than Han and Tang Dynasties". In the Ming Dynasty, Neo-Confucianism became a concept that specifically referred to the academic system formed since the Song Dynasty.

Neo-Confucianism has broad sense and narrow sense. Neo-Confucianism in a broad sense refers to the dominant Confucian philosophical system formed since the Song and Ming Dynasties, including: (1) Taoism dominated by Luo studies in the Song Dynasty, and the ideological system with "Li" as the highest category, which reached its peak in the Southern Song Dynasty and was later used to referring to his ideological system with "Li". (2) The ideological system with "mind" as the highest category came into being in the Song Dynasty and dominated in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. The Theory of Mind and Nature represented by Lu Jiuyuan and Wang Shouren. Neo-Confucianism in a narrow sense refers to the Zhu Cheng School.

Representative figures: Northern Song Dynasty: Zhou Dunyi, Zhang Zai, Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi and Shao Yong. That is, the five sons of the Northern Song Dynasty; Southern Song Dynasty: Zhu and Lu Jiuyuan; Ming Dynasty: Wang Yangming. As far as the dominant ideological trend is concerned, the representative of Neo-Confucianism can be summarized as "Zhu Cheng Lu Wang".

Main schools: According to the usual practice of modern academic circles, the Neo-Confucianism system in Song and Ming Dynasties can be divided into four schools: Qi (represented by Zhang Zai), Mathematics (represented by Shao Yong), Neo-Confucianism (represented by thought) and Mind (represented by thought).

The issues discussed by Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties are different due to different periods and schools. An important difference between Neo-Confucianism and Confucianism before the Tang Dynasty is that the four books have become the main classics of respecting faith. The value system and the kung fu system are all in the four books. Six classics are coarse grains, and four books are cooked rice. The main basis of Neo-Confucianism and the issues discussed are closely related to The Analects of Confucius, Mencius, Daxue and The Doctrine of the Mean. The main issues discussed in Neo-Confucianism are generally: regulating qi, mind, respecting things, knowing, respecting calmness, self-restraint, knowing and doing, developing without development, virtue and mind, and the nature of destiny.

The Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties was another peak of China's cultural and philosophical development. Because the main representative form of China's philosophy in Song and Ming Dynasties was Neo-Confucianism, people used to refer to the philosophy of this period with the concept of Neo-Confucianism.

Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties is a historical statement of Confucianism, and it is the transformation of Confucianism from Buddhism to Taoism after the transformation of metaphysics in Wei and Jin Dynasties. Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties is a powerful revival of Confucianism, which has gradually declined since Sui and Tang Dynasties. This movement to revive Confucianism was initiated by Wang Tong in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, followed by Han Yu, Li Ao and Liu Zongyuan after the mid-Tang Dynasty, which became a grand spectacle in the Song Dynasty and formed a huge and far-reaching Confucian movement. In terms of time, this Confucian movement lasted until the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and its influence continued until the present age. In space, this Confucian movement is not limited to the hometown of Confucianism, but also involves East Asian countries influenced by Confucianism, so that in these countries, the so-called Confucianism is mainly Neo-Confucianism (or Neo-Confucianism); Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties was a positive response of ambitious and thoughtful academic groups in China at that time to real social problems and cultural challenges from foreign Buddhism and local Taoism. On the basis of digesting and absorbing Buddhism and Taoism, they launched a so-called cultural offensive against Buddhism and Taoism similar to Mencius' "opening ink", trying to solve the extremely serious crisis of faith and morality in China society since the end of Han Dynasty.

Neo-Confucianism in the Song and Ming Dynasties reflected the philosophical wisdom of thoughtful and knowledgeable China people in the later period of China ancient society, and profoundly influenced the social development and civilization trend in the later period of China ancient society. Modern China people still have to face its social and cultural consequences. However, it is this intellectual achievement that successfully responded to the Buddha's later years and made Confucianism regain its orthodox position. At the same time, it changed the positive spirit of pre-Qin Confucianism and led the national spirit to a certain extent, so its intellectual speculation also had a negative side in terms of its consequences.

We study the philosophical wisdom of Neo-Confucianism not only to understand how it answered and solved the social and cultural problems at that time, but also to help us think about some philosophical problems that are still of great significance to the present age, such as "What is the spirit of the Chinese nation", "How to correctly deal with foreign cultures" and "How to correctly face and deal with the common crisis of faith and morality among members of society". It is the significance of the wisdom of Neo-Confucianism to inspire and draw lessons from this kind of thinking. [Edit this paragraph] How to evaluate Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties? Negative: maintaining feudal autocracy with the three cardinal principles and five permanents, suppressing and strangling people's natural desires.

Positive: it is conducive to shaping the personality characteristics of the Chinese nation: attaching importance to subjective will, paying attention to moral integrity, self-regulation, restraining strength with anger, emphasizing people's sense of social responsibility and historical mission, and highlighting human nature. Adapted to the needs of the ruling class, it became the official philosophy that occupied the dominant position for a long time after the Southern Song Dynasty, and effectively safeguarded the feudal autocracy.