作为现代中国知识分子最重要的精神遗产，儒学自十九世纪以来，已经变成一种文化保守主义。在晚清思想中，保守主义更多是一种习惯和特权，而不是信念问题；它意味着支持绅士阶层和官僚由来已久的特权，因而也支持维护这种特权的帝国制度。 As the most important spiritual legacy of modern Chinese intellectuals, Confucianism has become a kind of cultural conservatism since the 19th century. In late Qing thought, conservatism was more of a habit and privilege than a matter of conviction; it meant supporting the long-standing privilege of the gentry and bureaucracy and thus supporting the imperial system that preserved that privilege.