Economic attitudes of a Chinese muslim literatus in the middle Period: Wang Daiyu’s formulation of the concept of Filial Piety within the framework of Confucian Cultural beliefs

Document Type : Original Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD Candidate, Department of History, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

2 Professor, Department of History, Faculty of Humanities, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran

10.22035/isih.2026.5718.5285
Abstract
The concept of filial piety, as one of the foundational concepts of traditional Chinese thought, has long been a source of political and economic debate due to its conceptual ambiguity and multiple layers of meaning. Drawing on an interdisciplinary approach and employing the framework of Conceptual History, inspired by the work of Reinhart Koselleck, this study examines the following question: How did Wang Daiyu, in the context of the political and economic crises of the late Ming dynasty, understand economic life through the conceptual relationship between filial piety and its counter-concept, loyalty? The findings demonstrate that Wang Daiyu appropriated the Confucian concepts of filial piety and loyalty and incorporated them into Islamic religious discourse as well as the social and political life of Chinese Muslims. While he did not adopt every dimension of the Confucian understanding of filial piety, he reconfigured the relationship between these concepts by placing loyalty and obedience to God above obedience to the ruler and to one's parents. At the same time, he accepted the Confucian conception of political authority and the emperor's status as the "Son of Heaven." Like Confucian thinkers, Wang regarded the state, with the emperor at its apex, as responsible for regulating economic affairs and securing the livelihood and material welfare of the people. In his thought, therefore, filial piety was not merely an ethical virtue but also a fundamental politico-economic concept. His political-economic outlook substantially converged with the Confucian understanding of economic governance and with the broader premodern Chinese conception of the relationship between politics and the economy.

Keywords

Subjects

Anderson, N. A. (2015). Reinhart Koselleck on the history of concepts. In Heidari et al. (Eds.), Theory and reality. Tehran, Iran: Tisa Publications.
Baishouyi. (1992). Baishouyi minzu zongjiao lunji [Collected essays on ethnicity and religion]. Beijing Shifan Daxue Chubanshe. [In Chinese]
Bayani, S. (1992). Religion and state in Iran during the Mongol period: From the formation of the regional Mongol rule to the establishment of the Ilkhanid state (Vol. 1; Hadi Alamzadeh & Reza Farrokhfal, Eds.). Tehran: University Publishing Center.
Ben-Dor Benite, Z. (2005). The Dao of Muhammad: A cultural history of Muslims in late imperial China (Vol. 248). Brill.
Ben-Dor Benite, Z. (2008). The Marrano emperor: The mysterious bond between Zhu Yuanzhang and the Chinese Muslims. In S. Delivré (Ed.), Long live the emperor: Uses of the Ming founder across six centuries of East Asian history (pp. 275–308). Harvard University Asia Center.
Broomhall, M. (1910). Islam in China: A neglected problem. Morgan & Scott.
Chan, A. K. L., & Tan, S.-H. (Eds.). (2004). Filial piety in Chinese thought and history. RoutledgeCurzon.
Chen, H. (1911). The economic principles of Confucius and his school. Longmans, Green & Co.
Constant, F. (2013). The mandate of Heaven and the Great Ming Code.
Du, S., & Chen, J. (1998). Huihui tianwenxue shi yanjiu [A study of the history of Hui astronomy]. Ningxia Renmin Chubanshe. [In Chinese]
Elman, B. A. (2000). A cultural history of civil examinations in late imperial China. University of California Press.
Farmer, E. L. (Ed.). (1995). Zhu Yuanzhang and early Ming legislation: The reordering of Chinese society following the era of Mongol rule (Vol. 34). Brill.
Jiang, Y. (2005). The Great Ming Code (Da Ming lü). University of Washington Press.
Jinbo, L., & Huihua, N. (2012). Confucian filial piety, economic growth and divergence among civilizations. Social Sciences in China, 33(4), 69–88. https://doi.org/10.1080/02529203.2012.731802
Koselleck, R. (2022a). Conceptual history: Foundations of the new theory of history (Isa Abdi, Trans.). Tehran, Iran: Farhaneh Publishing.
Koselleck, R. (2022b). Introduction to fundamental historical concepts: The history of the transformation of the concept of crisis (Bahram Joodi, Trans.; 1st ed.). Tehran, Iran: Gam-e Now Publishing.
Li, Q. H., Ma, Y. H., Wang, N., Hu, Y., & Liu, Z. Z. (2020). Overview of the plague in the late Ming dynasty and its prevention and control measures. Traditional Medicine Research, 5(3), 136–144. https://doi.org/10.12032/TMR20200222166
Lin, C., Peach, T., & Fang, W. (Eds.). (2014). The history of ancient Chinese economic thought. Routledge.
Mills, J. V. G. (2020). Ma Huan’s travel account: Wonders of the Silk Road from China to Iran based on the Fengqingchun manuscript (Saeid Karimpour, Trans.; 2nd ed.). Tehran, Iran: Qoqnoos Publishing.
Murata, S. (2000). Chinese gleams of Sufi light: Wang Tai-yü's Great Learning of the Pure and Real and Liu Chih's Displaying the Concealment of the Real Realm, with a new translation of Jāmī's Lawā'iḥ by William C. Chittick. State University of New York Press.
Murata, S. (Ed.). (2017). The first Islamic classic in Chinese: Wang Daiyu's Real commentary on the true teaching. State University of New York Press.
Murata, S., Lee, C. Y., Liu, Y., Ma, M., & Yang, G. (2023). The Islamic-Confucian synthesis in China. Bloomsbury Academic.
Petersen, K. (2013). The heart of Wang Daiyu's philosophy: The seven subtleties of Islamic spiritual physiology. Journal of Sufi Studies, 2(2), 177–201. https://doi.org/10.1163/22105956-12341254
Petersen, K. (2018). Interpreting Islam in China: Pilgrimage, scripture, and language in the Han Kitab. Oxford University Press.
Radice, T. (2017). Confucius and filial piety. In A. K. L. Chan (Ed.), A concise companion to Confucius (pp. 185–207). Wiley Blackwell. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118783863.ch9
Ramharmazi, N. S. (1969). The wonders of India (M. Malekzadeh, Trans.). Tehran, Iran: Iran Culture Foundation.
Rawski, T. G., & Li, L. M. (Eds.). (2018). Chinese history in economic perspective (Vol. 13). University of California Press.
Reid, A. (1993). Southeast Asia in the age of commerce, 1450–1680: Vol. 2. Expansion and crisis. Yale University Press.
Ricci, M. (2008). The China book (M. Zaman, Trans.; Lu Jin, Introduction, Editing, and Comparison with earlier Chinese, English, and Italian translations; Mozafar Bakhtiar, Foreword). Tehran, Iran: Center for Research on Written Heritage.
Robert Andre LaFleur. (2016). Books that matter: The Analects of Confucius. The Great Courses.
Rossabi, M. (2015). From Yuan to modern China and Mongolia: The writings of Morris Rossabi (Vol. 6). Brill.
Rowe, W. T. (2009). China's last empire: The Great Qing. Harvard University Press.
Sima Qian. (1994). The Grand Scribe's Records (Vol. 7). Indiana University Press.
Steinhardt, N. S. (2018). China's early mosques. Edinburgh University Press.
Wain, A. (2016). Islam in China: The Hān Kitāb tradition in the writings of Wang Daiyu, Ma Zhu and Liu Zhi, with a note on their relevance for contemporary Islam. Islam and Civilisational Renewal, 7(1), 27–46.
Wang, D. (1999). Qingzhen daxue [The Great Learning of Islam]. Ningxia Renmin Chubanshe. [In Chinese]
Wang, D. (1999). Zhengjiao zhenquan [A true explanation of the orthodox teaching (Islam)] (Y. Zhengui & T. Dajun, Trans.). Ningxia Renmin Chubanshe. [In Chinese]
Yuxiu, M., & Feng, C. Q. (2013). The study of Islam and Islamic economic thought in China. World Journal of Islamic History and Civilization, 3(1), 21–27. https://doi.org/10.5829/idosi.wjihc.2013.3.1.3103
Zhang, C. E. (2020). Performing filial piety in Northern Song China: Family, state, and native place. University of Hawaiʻi Press.
Zong, Y. (2016). Between praise and prohibition: How the Ming state coped with extreme filiality. Ming Studies, 73, 30–50. https://doi.org/10.1080/0147037X.2016.1142178
Send comment about this article
Enter Name.
Enter a valid email address.
Enter a vaid affiliation.
Enter comments (At leaset 10 words)
CAPTCHA Image
Enter Security Code Correctly.

  • Receive Date 01 August 2025
  • Revise Date 31 December 2025
  • Accept Date 13 February 2026