A priori centrality in Classical China

In explaining the emergence and persistence of Chinese awareness of centrality, researchers have focused almost exclusively on external factors such as semi-geographical isolation, political coercion, moral persuasion, and spiritual control. This essay attempts at a phenomenological account and explores the more primordial consciousness of centrality, that which has enable the so-called political, ethical, and spiritual centralities to be perceived as such. The author first argues for the early existence of an a priori central consciousness in Classical China by examining the fundamental meaning of the classical philosophical concept of Zhong (centrality). He then discusses the role of this concept in shaping the structure of Chinese consciousness during the Classical periods.