This seminar, a reflection on author’s tetralogy The Rise of Modern Chinese Thought, focuses on three sets of antithetical concepts—empire and nationstate, rational bureaucracy (junxian zhi) and feudal system (fengjian zhi), rites/music and institutions—“continuity and rupture” in history and idea of trends of times (shishi); and the question of scientific outlook and national knowledge. It argues the importance of liberating the historical world of thought from the position as an object for our observation and transforming it into a perspective from which we can reflect on and observe the modern world of ours.