Waiting for the Dawn (Mingyi daifang lu)

A short political treatise written by Huang Zongxi in the early 1660s, after the Ming dynasty had fallen to the Manchu Qing. The title joins the name of a hexagram from the Book of Changes, meaning light concealed, to the hope of being consulted by a future enlightened ruler. Its opening essay, 'On the Prince', argues that in ancient times the people were the host and the ruler the guest, but later rulers treated the empire as their private property. 'On Law' contrasts the laws of the sage kings, made for everyone, with dynastic laws made to protect one family, which Huang calls 'unlawful laws', and insists that good laws must come before good governors. Other chapters call for a strong chief minister, for schools that serve as forums where right and wrong are publicly debated, and for reforms of land, taxes and the army. Late Qing reformers reprinted it as a case against absolutism, though scholars disagree over how far it anticipates democracy, since it never rejects monarchy itself.

It is one of the sharpest Confucian critiques of autocracy, and its arguments about law, public debate and the ruler as servant of the people still matter in debates about Chinese political thought.