Wu Yubi undertook his intense inward turn toward self-perfection and sagehood in a political atmosphere of severe intellectual repression when it had become impossible for any thinker to venture outside the state-sanctioned Neo-Confucian orthodoxy. Wu found that the orthodoxy itself could be taken to furnish effective guidelines to making oneself a better person. His diary shows how demanding, frustrating, and ... Read moreunending such a quest might turn out to be. . . . Kelleher has beautifully accomplished the demanding job of addressing the needs of specialists, students and general readers. She has placed Wu Yubi in historical and cultural context and has made him humanly accessible.
John Dardess, University of Kansas Show Less