The Daoism and the Confucianism in Han Dynasty
The Daoism and the Confucianism in Han Dynasty
Yang Yu
History 135: Imperial Chinese History
Professor: Robert J. Culp
Paper I
March 4th, 2011
The Daoism and the Confucianism in Han Dynasty As the dominant philosophical school for around two thousand years in Chinese imperial history, Confucianism is always regarded as the most representative ideology of China, associated with numerous books, poems, artworks and stories that glorify Confucianism’s permeation into every corner of Chinese society. However, before Han Wudi, Confucianism was only one of those competing philosophical schools founded in Spring and Autumn period. During the Warring States period and Qin dynasty, Legalism took place of all other philosophical schools and helped King Zheng, the First Emperor, to unify China for the first time. Why Confucianism defeated Legalism as well as other philosophical schools in Han dynasty and thrived thereafter is a very interesting and important topic in Chinese history. This essay focuses on the transition from Legalism to Confucianism and elaborates the adaptation of Confucianism in the period of Han Wudi. When Han was first established by Gaozu, the country was in a mess due to the lasting wars. The industries were devastated severely, the population decreased, the peasants were in exile, the economy was backwards and the national treasury was empty. What was worse, Gaozu made a mistake by “rewarding his old comrades with large territories to govern as vassal states”, because “dispersed power proved a danger to the emperor” (Ebrey 64). Under this kind of unfavorable circumstance, the first several emperors of Han, e.g. Gaozu and Wendi, chose to govern the country without imposing too many harsh policies and consolidate the regime in a more Daoism way rather than a Confucianism way. Ebrey describes Gaozu’s and Wendi’s ideas of ruling class as the following: The first Han emperors, although prudently avoiding the harsh policies of
Yang Yu
History 135: Imperial Chinese History
Professor: Robert J. Culp
Paper I
March 4th, 2011
The Daoism and the Confucianism in Han Dynasty As the dominant philosophical school for around two thousand years in Chinese imperial history, Confucianism is always regarded as the most representative ideology of China, associated with numerous books, poems, artworks and stories that glorify Confucianism’s permeation into every corner of Chinese society. However, before Han Wudi, Confucianism was only one of those competing philosophical schools founded in Spring and Autumn period. During the Warring States period and Qin dynasty, Legalism took place of all other philosophical schools and helped King Zheng, the First Emperor, to unify China for the first time. Why Confucianism defeated Legalism as well as other philosophical schools in Han dynasty and thrived thereafter is a very interesting and important topic in Chinese history. This essay focuses on the transition from Legalism to Confucianism and elaborates the adaptation of Confucianism in the period of Han Wudi. When Han was first established by Gaozu, the country was in a mess due to the lasting wars. The industries were devastated severely, the population decreased, the peasants were in exile, the economy was backwards and the national treasury was empty. What was worse, Gaozu made a mistake by “rewarding his old comrades with large territories to govern as vassal states”, because “dispersed power proved a danger to the emperor” (Ebrey 64). Under this kind of unfavorable circumstance, the first several emperors of Han, e.g. Gaozu and Wendi, chose to govern the country without imposing too many harsh policies and consolidate the regime in a more Daoism way rather than a Confucianism way. Ebrey describes Gaozu’s and Wendi’s ideas of ruling class as the following: The first Han emperors, although prudently avoiding the harsh policies of
Cited: Patricia Buckley Ebrey, The Cambridge Illustrated History of China, New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010