The revival

Introduction

For two thousand years almost nobody read the Mozi. After the Han the Mohists vanished; the book was never made a classic and nobody wrote a commentary on it. It survived by accident: when the Daoist canon (道藏) was compiled in the Ming, the Mozi was included. A book against lavish funerals and fate, full of logic and siege engineering, was kept alive in a Daoist library.

In 1783 Bi Yuan published his annotated Mozi, the first systematic edition, which let readers see the book's shape again. In 1893–94 Sun Yirang completed the 墨子间诂, clearing two thousand years of corrupt characters, misplaced strips and gaps one by one. Liang Qichao later wrote: "Only after this book appeared could everyone read the Mozi." The Canons in particular, unreadable before, became a text that could be studied.

In the early twentieth century two scholars brought Mozi back into public discussion. Liang Qichao wrote on Mozi's teaching in 1904 and published 墨子学案 in 1921, arguing that all ten doctrines flow from impartial care and none can be dropped, and comparing impartial care with Western utilitarianism and with Christianity. Hu Shih, in his 1917 doctoral dissertation and the 1919 Outline of the History of Chinese Philosophy, split Mohism into a "religious" part, 天志 and 明鬼, and a "scientific" part, the three tests and the logic of the Canons. He read the three tests as pragmatism: a claim's meaning lies in its effects.

In 1993 the Mozi Memorial Hall opened in Tengzhou, Shandong; around the same time the China Mozi Society was founded with Shandong University. On 16 August 2016 the world's first quantum communication satellite was launched and named Micius, 墨子号, for the pinhole passage in the Canons, China's earliest optical experiment. In the last twenty years "New Mohist" discussions of every kind, academic and popular, have appeared online.

In 2026 墨门 / The Mohist Community was founded. We are not the first to want Mozi back. We stand on Bi Yuan, Sun Yirang, Liang Qichao, Hu Shih and countless unnamed readers. Trace that line clearly this week, then ask: what is different this time?

The three tests

The disagreement between Hu Shih and Liang Qichao is itself a 三表 problem. By the first test, Liang is closer to the text: Mozi never sorted the ten doctrines into two groups. By the third test, Hu's division is handier today: drop the spirits, keep the method. The Community's practice lies between them. We do not drop 天志 and 明鬼; we read them as "objective standard" and "accountability," because without them the three tests lose their root, the answer to "why care about the people's benefit at all." Does that reading pass the tests? Examine it seriously this week, and do not wave it through because it is the Community's position.

For families

• "The book hidden in a Daoist library": why would people preserve a book that argued against them? Ask the children whether they keep anything they dislike but cannot throw away.
• Sun Yirang: one person spent decades correcting the characters in one book. Have a child find one misprint in a book at home.
• Micius: why name a satellite after someone from two thousand years ago? Let the children name a satellite and give their reason.

For chapters

• 20 min reading · 20 min 墨辩 · 10 min 三表 review · 10 min 职 reports.
• 墨辩 motion: "The Community should follow Hu Shih and keep only 'scientific Mohism.'" One side cites Hu Shih; the other cites Liang Qichao and the Community's reading of 天志 and 明鬼.
• 三表 review: each Mohist tells how they came to hear of the Community, through whom, which book, which thread. Record these as part of the lineage (学脉) report for the 兼爱大会.