Daoxue Academy (Daoxue xuetang 道學學堂) is modeled on traditional xuetang 學堂, literally “learning centers,” which historically taught the Confucian Classics and Classical Chinese. Our distinction is that we are transmitting East-to-West into English, and by means of modern technology. As for the first part of our name, daoxue 道學 is a Confucian term from the Song Dynasty which means “the learning of the Way.”

Our academy humbly follows the English lineage of translation developed and perfected by Wing-tsit Chan (1901-1994) which was pioneered by James Legge (1815-1897). The Chan-Legge lineage has the distinguishing characteristic of generally following orthodox Confucian transmission—that of Zhu Xi (1130-1200) which formed the basis of Chinese education from 1313 to 1905. Both men shared the intention of East-West cultural transmission and thus focused on the traditions that most shaped East Asian civilization. Both men lived in the late Qing Dynasty when Confucian education was still the standard, Chan attending a Confucian academy from age five in Guangdong Province, and Legge working in Hong Kong for almost thirty years. And both men spent their lives producing translations of the Classics which are both scholarly and good reading. Given such accomplishments, some of which cannot be reproduced today, and the benefits of continuing an established English lexicon with which readers are familiar, we honor lineage while daring to make well-considered refinements.

To further the pursuit of correct transmission of the Classics to the English world, our ambitious project is to translate Zhu Xi's entire Four Books with Collected Commentaries 朱熹《四書章句集注》. As Chan said, this has “exercised far greater influence on Chinese life and thought in the last six hundred years than any other Classic.” This influence extends to Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and Singapore. Yet, inexplicably, it has not yet been translated. Of course the stand-alone verses of the Great Learning, the Analects, the Book of Mengzi, and the Doctrine of the Mean have been translated numerous times, but that is not how these texts have been traditionally studied in East Asia. The “Four Books” is actually a single classic published in 1190 by Zhu Xi which acts as an introduction to Confucian thought. Here the learner reads from a great concert of ancient and medieval Confucian thinkers who come together in a single text, what is referred to as “the Great Synthesis” (集大成). The book had a widespread effect on billions of people, and deserves to exist in its proper form in English.

For this quite serious task we have budgeted eight years and 16,000 hours to translate the 804 verses with commentaries. In the first phase we will complete a translation of the 284 most influential verses by April 2028, following the same selections Chan made in his textbook, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. From there it will be a matter of working through the 520 more obscure and less quoted verses for completion by June 2033. During this time verses will be distributed monthly through the Four Books App (coming to iPhone, iPad, and macOS). Zhu Xi himself lived in a time in the Song Dynasty when new printing technology made widespread distribution of the Classics possible. As his teacher Cheng Yi said, “Are not the Classics the way by which to enter the Way?” We ask, are not apps the way by which to enter the Classics?

For correspondence on the Four Books, the life and works of Zhu Xi, the scholarship of Wing-tsit Chan and James Legge, or ideas for the digital humanities, feel free to reach out by email.

— Sol 솔
Daoxue Academy 2025