陈焕章早年受学于康有为，后入哥伦比亚大学攻读政治经济学，他一生的事业多致力于弘扬孔教，是民国前后孔教运动中的重要人物。陈焕章身处晚清民国的大变局中，又辗转于大陆、美国和香港等地，在时代激变中思考中国文明的走向，对我们今天依然有借鉴意义。目前关于陈焕章的研究，主要集中于孔教思想和《孔门理财学》中的政治经济思想。然而，在不同的时期，陈焕章孔教思想中的人伦观有较大变化，关于这方面的现有研究尚不充分。从陈焕章不同时期的不同著作来看，在1910年付梓的《孔门理财学》中，陈焕章根据康有为的三世说，认为大同世不存在人伦，在历史进化观念的基础上，追求独立、平等、自由，认为人类社会发展的目标是大同世，并尤其注重理财在社会发展中的作用。辛亥革命之后，国体变为共和制，按照康有为三世说的理论，当时已步入升平世，陈焕章在1912年所作的《孔教论》中，强调夫妇、君臣、父子等人伦适用于当时，反对在当时破除人伦的家庭革命，同时仍坚持大同世不存在人伦的观点。陈焕章在1916年的《孔教经世法》中，关于人伦的观点发生了明确转向，即认为大同世存在人伦，并对康有为大同说中否定人伦存在于太平大同世的观点进行了纠偏。陈焕章从“人为天生”的观念出发，进一步提出了与康有为不同的苦乐观和性情观。在孔教运动中，民初陈焕章主要追求将孔教定为国教，具有政制方面的含义。国教运动失败后，陈焕章继续大力弘扬孔教，试图将孔教变为民间宗教，并认为人伦在其中具有重要的意义。陈焕章三部著作时间相距不远，但已经跨越了晚清和民国，体现出了三次变化，表明他在风云际会和古今中西的冲突中，意识到了康有为所设想的大同社会中去除人伦的潜在危险，尤其是每个人都成为独立的个体所伴随的种族灭绝的危险。陈焕章通过重新强调大同世依然存在人伦，试图修补康有为理论中的潜在危险，达到保教、保国以及保存种族的目的，最终希望的是找到中国文明在历史转关时刻的出路。
Chen Huan-Chang studied under Kang Youwei in his early years and later attended Columbia University to study political economics. His career was devoted to promoting Confucianism throughout his life, and he was an important figure in the Confucian movement before and after the Republic of China. Chen Huan-Chang was in the midest of great changes in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, and traveled to the mainland, the United States, and Hong Kong, reflecting on the direction of Chinese civilization in the turbulent times, which is still relevant for us today. Currently, research on Chen Huan-Chang mainly focuses on Confucianism and the political and economic ideas in "The Confucian Financing Science". However, there have been significant changes in Chen Huan-Chang's view of human relations in his Confucianism in different periods, and existing research on this aspect is not sufficient.From Chen Huan-Chang's different works in different periods, in the "Confucian Finance" published in 1910, Chen Huan-Chang believed that there was no human relations in the Datong world based on Kang Youwei's theory of the Three Ages. On the basis of the concept of historical evolution, he pursued independence, equality, and freedom. He believed that the goal of human social development was the Datong world, and he particularly emphasized the role of finance in social development. After the Revolution of 1911, the national system changed to a republican system. According to Kang Youwei's theory of the Three Ages, at that time, it had entered the era of peace and prosperity. In his "Confucianism" written in 1912, Chen Huan-Chang emphasized that human relations such as husband and wife, monarch and minister, father and son were applicable at that time, and opposed the family revolution that abolished human relations at that time. At the same time, he still insisted that there was no human relations in the Datong world. In his "Confucianism Law" written in 1916, Chen Huan-Chang's view on human relations had a clear shift, that is, he believed that there were human relations in the Datong world, and corrected Kang Youwei's view that there was no human relations in the peaceful Datong world. Chen Huan-Chang further proposed a different outlook on happiness and temperament from Kang Youwei's view based on the concept of "humanity is born". In the Confucian movement, Chen Huan-Chang mainly pursued establishing Confucianism as a national religion in the early Republic of China, which had implications for political system. After the failure of the national religion movement, Chen Huan-Chang continued to vigorously promote Confucianism and tried to turn it into a folk religion, believing that human relations played an important role in it.The three works of Chen Huan-Chang are not far apart in time, but have spanned the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China, reflecting three changes. They show that in the midst of the conflicts between the ancient and modern worlds, he realized the potential dangers of removing human relations in the Datong world envisioned by Kang Youwei, especially the danger of genocide that comes with everyone becoming independent individuals. Chen Huan-Chang tried to repair the potential dangers in Kang Youwei's theory by reemphasizing that there are still human relations in the Datong world, in order to protect the religion, the country, and the race. His ultimate hope is to find a way out for Chinese civilization at a turning point in history.
