Wang Defeng and Yang Peng, where did they go wrong?

By: What Is the Meaning of Life?

Wang Defeng (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Defeng) says that attributing China’s ignorance and backwardness to Confucius and Mencius is the biggest mistake.

He says this is certainly correct, because Confucius and Mencius focused on ethics and morality, on the humanities. China’s ignorance and backwardness actually refer to its hard power in science and technology, in the natural sciences.

Why attribute China’s ignorance and backwardness to Confucius and Mencius? Wang Defeng says it’s mainly because China was badly defeated by Western gunboats in modern times, especially during the New Culture Movement, which began to overthrow Confucianism. Yang Peng (https://ctexp.substack.com/p/yang-peng-the-social-and-natural) also made this point in a video, saying that since China was beaten, it had to seek true knowledge.

This is the biggest mistake made by contemporary Chinese intellectuals, a mistake that has continued from the May Fourth Movement (https://radiosinoland.com/2019/05/05/may-4-1919-is-the-day-the-world-changed-forever-and-the-chinese-will-never-forget-china-rising-radio-sinoland-190504/) era to the present.

Wang Defeng has already found that attributing ignorance and backwardness to Confucius and Mencius is wrong, and he knows the main reason is technological defeat, but he hasn’t followed this line of thought. He says that Confucius and Mencius in China were not backward; later, the Lu-Wang school of thought developed, which is not backward, but newer.

What the hell does this have to do with anything? Was China attacked because Confucian and Mencian philosophy wasn’t updated? No, the fundamental reason was technological backwardness. He forgot this crucial point.

Of course, this wasn’t unique to him; his predecessors made the same mistake, such as Chen Duxiu’s (one of the founders of the Communist Party of China) criticism of Taoism during the New Culture Movement.

In the later stages of the May Fourth Movement, Chen Duxiu realized that criticizing Confucianism might have been a mistake; the root of China’s ignorance lay in Taoism. In an article in *New Youth*, he stated that Chinese practices like shamanistic rituals, rain-seeking, spirit-writing, and ghost worship all belonged to Taoism and had nothing to do with Confucianism. He specifically wrote that while Confucianism had some less practical aspects compared to modern life, such as its attitude towards women, its overall principles were still largely applicable. He argued that the root of China’s millennia-long ignorance and backwardness lay in Taoism—its supernatural and mystical practices.

Lu Xun wrote a letter to Xu Shouchang, who asked if he had written “Diary of a Madman.” Lu Xun confirmed it, explaining that “China’s foundation lies entirely in Taoism; viewing history from this perspective, many problems are readily solved.” He then used this viewpoint to read the *Zizhi Tongjian* (Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government), only to discover that China was still considered a “cannibalistic” society (Qing Manchus practiced cannibalism). He remarked that few knew this issue, yet its implications were profound.

Unfortunately, this was already in the late stages of the New Culture Movement. Their criticism of Taoism had lost momentum because, in the later stages of the movement, various ideologies had entered the scene, creating a chaotic and confusing environment that overshadowed the core theme. The momentum of the campaign to overthrow Confucianism was lost, leaving a lasting negative impact. Even now, patriotic bloggers, when discussing the reasons for the Qing Dynasty’s backwardness, still attribute it to either isolationism or the discovery of advanced technology in the *Yongle Encyclopedia* by the West.

The root cause of this absurdity lies in the fact that during the New Culture Movement, intellectuals were led astray. Wang Defeng is not immune, nor are ordinary patriotic bloggers in China.

Where did Wang Defeng’s claim of China’s ignorance and backwardness begin? Wasn’t it revealed by the stark contrast with the defeats suffered after 1840?

And what does this ignorance refer to? It refers to the superstitious and mystical practices of daily life. And backwardness? It refers to being defeated—in both technology and military terms. So, combined, it becomes ignorance and backwardness.

This has nothing to do with Confucius and Mencius, because Confucius and Mencius spoke of loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness—ethics, not science.

The problem lies in epistemology, that is, how to acquire reliable knowledge in the mundane world.

China has always lacked in this area; it hasn’t delved deeply into it, although there have been sporadic mentions, but without real depth.

For at least two thousand years, China completely overwhelmed the West in every aspect. Only after the rise of empiricist epistemology, represented by John Locke, in the early Enlightenment did the West find a way to obtain reliable and credible knowledge in the mundane world—empirical epistemology.

Toynbee said that the ultimate destination of human civilization lies in Confucianism and Mahayana Buddhism. Why didn’t he say it was Chinese science and technology? Because that wasn’t their forte. Wei Yuan’s proposal to “learn from the barbarians to control the barbarians” referred to learning Western science and technology. But simply learning the surface isn’t enough; you need to understand that behind it lies empiricist epistemology—an attitude towards the mundane world. You need to learn this attitude, this way of thinking.

What is empiricist epistemology? Simply put, it’s “seeing is believing.” Even if you can’t directly observe something, you need to use logical reasoning and experiments to obtain indirect evidence.

For example, magnetic field lines are invisible. How do you prove their existence? You put iron powder in a magnetic field; the shape formed by the iron powder simulates the shape of magnetic field lines. In other words, even if you haven’t seen magnetic field lines with your own eyes, you can still prove their existence indirectly.

This principle, the principle of “seeing is believing,” is called empiricist epistemology. Only knowledge that conforms to empiricist epistemology is reliable and credible. All the so-called scientific and technological things we use today are based on this.

Like a scholar encountering a soldier, reason is useless. Even the most enlightened sages like Confucius and Mencius were powerless against Western barbarians wielding machine guns. This is called backwardness, but it has nothing to do with barbarity.

What is related to barbarity? It’s the lack of a scientific epistemology, and the resulting attempts to understand and transform nature inevitably involve barbaric behaviors. These are things like the worship of gods, rainmaking, various supernatural phenomena, rope skipping, spirit writing, and divination that Chen Duxiu described—these are barbaric practices.

But these are entirely within the realm of understanding and transforming the mundane world; they have nothing to do with the humanistic, moral, and ethical doctrines of our ancient Chinese people.

Let’s look at Yang Peng. He claims that the Western Zhou Dynasty in China was the closest to the Bible because it had a concept of the Mandate of Heaven. He says that at that time, China still had the concept of “Haotian Shangdi” (the Supreme God of Heaven), and if that had been maintained, China could have followed the same path as the civilized and prosperous West, as he believes.

He says the West’s “civilization and prosperity” stemmed from their adherence to the principles of the Bible.

His mistake is essentially the same as Wang Defeng’s: neither recognizes that the so-called Western prosperity and China’s backwardness have nothing to do with faith or culture. On the contrary, China’s highest level of civilization, which can be called the “ultimate destination of human civilization,” is precisely because China did not follow the path of the Bible.

Yang Peng speaks with such confidence because he shares the same level of understanding as Wang Defeng; he also believes China is barbaric and backward. However, neither of them recognizes that the fundamental reason for China’s barbarity and backwardness lies in its flawed epistemology, not in its moral ethics, belief system, or understanding of ultimate truth.

People like Wang Defeng and Yang Peng, who have studied some intellectual history, should know that the West’s transformation from “barbaric to backward” began with the Enlightenment. What did the Enlightenment enlighten? It enlightened anti-religion.

Everyone says Newton believed in God, but what god did he believe in? Newton wrote to John Locke, directly pointing out that the Gospel of John was a forgery and that the “Trinity” was nonsense.

The West’s escape from its barbaric and backward state began with anti-religion. But they entered into Deism, and what is Deism? Deism is our Taoism, our Dao in its essence.

However, to be realistic, neither Wang Defeng nor Yang Peng intentionally did evil; they were simply foolish. But foolishness is a moral deficiency; frankly, foolishness is true immorality. They haven’t grasped this point. They still blame China’s technological backwardness on Chinese ethics and morality, on China’s understanding and comprehension of ultimate truth.

Yang Peng gives the impression of being a missionary, but he’s different from other ordinary missionaries. He’s a cultural Christian, meaning he only endorses certain aspects of the “neurotic” religion in principle, such as the ultimate truth that God is love and that people must keep the Ten Commandments. This is principle-based endorsement, not the kind of self-destructive, psychotic so-called faith. This is what a cultural neurotic is.

Does he believe a cane can split the Red Sea? Does he believe in virgin birth and resurrection? Absolutely not. He never dares to discuss the details in “The Neurotic,” (the Christian Bible) because he himself doesn’t believe them.

However, the harm lies in using these long-standing Chinese principles of goodness, such as “Does Heaven speak? Yet the four seasons proceed, and all things are born,” to attract countless people. These people inevitably end up in churches, studying the details in the book. This is what Coconut Su meant by “bringing people into religion, only to send them to their graves,” because it’s a belief in superstition and supernatural phenomena.

Yang Peng is like that. He forcibly attaches universal human morality to that cult, trying to drag all the Chinese people with a bit of goodwill and education into that religion. That’s what makes him so malicious.

References

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/EzGoI4RMm04xGKEBuW9Y1g

Jeff J. Brown’s ever-expanding collection of living libraries and catalogues. Many years and 1,000s of hours of writing+podcasting. Take advantage of them. Radio Sinoland 2026 Year of the Fire Horse!

https://radiosinoland.com/2026/01/04/a-canadian-friend-living-in-china-sent-me-a-handful-of-stats-talk-about-accountability-and-meritocracy-the-usurious-occupied-colonized-weimarized-warmongering-judeo-west-is-so-sino-screwed-with/

China calls and the world’s finance heavyweights come to listen – for obvious reasons: no communist-socialist China = global economic collapse. Radio Sinoland 251216

https://radiosinoland.com/2025/12/16/china-calls-and-the-worlds-finance-heavyweights-come-to-listen-for-obvious-reasons-no-communist-socialist-china-global-economic-collapse-radio-sinoland-251216/

CHINA IS COLLAPSING! How do I know? Because the Wall Street Journal says so and they’re the experts, right? China Rising Radio Sinoland 250109

https://radiosinoland.com/2025/01/09/china-is-collapsing-how-do-i-know-because-the-wall-street-journal-says-so-and-theyre-the-experts-right-china-rising-radio-sinoland-250109/

Westerners’ delusions about their economic superiority keep them from making changes for the better, and only make their futures worse. Walk down a Chinese street to see why. China Rising Radio Sinoland 240801

https://radiosinoland.com/2024/08/01/westerners-delusions-about-their-economic-superiority-keep-them-from-making-changes-for-the-better-and-only-make-their-futures-worse-walk-down-a-chinese-street-to-see-why-china-rising-radi/

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