YAN Hui and ZI Gong in the Analects of Confucius and Zhuangzi

Both YAN Hui and ZI Gong in the Analects of Confucius touched the problem of human nature and natural law,but differed from each other in learning methods and realms of life.YAN Hui worshipped virtue,while Zi Gong concentrated on consulting and learning.Zhuangzi belittled ZI Gong,praised YAN Hui and discussed human nature and natural law at a deeper level.Though,on the issues of fate and life,ZHUANG Zi approved of the spiritual pursuits of Confucius and YAN Hui,he switched away from Confucianism,which believed in that an individual can improve his fate by phylanthropizing and working hard;instead,ZHUANG Zi advocated gas ontology.On the issues of human nature and history,ZHUANG Zi reflected the alienation of human being,and the humanistic ideal he re-established was quite similar to that of Confucianism,but his humanity hypothesis and erratic political concept of non-interference were evidently different from the viewpoints of four-virtue cultivation and ethic education initiated by Confucianism.