本文探討東亞遺民儒者的兩個兩難式，第一是儒者個人在亡國之後出處進退之際，所面臨的「仕」與「隱」的抉擇，第二是遺民儒者亡命異鄉，在精神上雖然「政治認同」與「文化認同」仍合而為一，但是在現實上他們或遠託異國，息影離群如朱舜水，或堅貞志節，不仕異族如劉因與黃宗羲，或寄寓孤島，弘揚儒學如一九四九年以後的當代新儒家學者，他們都以儒學為他們精神上的移住地，終不能免於精神世界與現實世界撕裂之悲劇，但是遺民儒者生命的光輝，卻也在精神世界與現實世界的張力之中大放光芒，使他們名留青史。

This paper attempts at an analysis of the two predicaments in Confucianism as formulated by the leftover subjects in East Asia. The first dilemma appeared when the alien peoples such as the Mongols and the Manchus ruled over China. Many a Confucian scholars suffered from the tension between royalism and eremitism. The second was the tension between political identity and cultural identity of the leftover Confucian scholars who exiled from his homeland. All of these leftover scholars regarded Confucianism as their spiritual diaspora. It was in this very tension between the spiritual and the real worlds that the leftover Confucians left their footprints in history.