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 The Eastern Zhou (770 - 256 BC) The
Spring and Autumn Period (700s BC - end of the 400s BC)
 Confucius
(551 - 479 BC)
 Legalism
 Laozi
(or Lao tzu) and Daoism (or Taoism) (500s - 300s BC?)
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brief period around 800 BC the Zhou Dynasty recovered its real
political authority under the capable and long-reigning Zhou King Xuan
(827-782 BC). But his successor, King You, faced both stiff
political resistance from the feudal states and a series of natural
disasters and omens... that to the Chinese read as the displeasure of
Heaven. In 770 he was attacked and killed, his capital at Fenghao
burned to the ground ... and the Zhou family effectively stripped of
all real political power. The Zhou family remained on the throne as "supreme rulers" of China ... relocating themselves to their their Eastern capital at Louyang (and thus the new designation as the "Eastern Zhou": 770-256 BC). But his marked more than simply a transfer of power to the East. Rather it began a new period in Chinese history in which the ruling Zhou Dynasty exercised only very limited symbolic authority - whereas real social power belonged to the many quite independent states that operated in name only under the Zhou authorities. |
China - during the "Eastern
Zhou" period
Miles Hodges
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| Historians
would divide the five centuries of the Eastern Zhou "rule" into two
time periods: The "Spring and Autumn" Period (ca. 770-480 BC) and
the 'Warring States' Period (ca. 480-221 BC)... termed by the
historical collections or annals of the same names: the Chungqui
(The Spring and Autumn Annals) and the Zhanguoce (The Warring States
Annals) covering those two distinct time periods. Despite the pleasant sounding name for the first period, it too was a time of warring – not only among the Zhou dukes themselves (who were beginning to call themselves ‘king’) but also from the invasion of the Qin from the Northwest. At first the effective divisions were so numerous (over a hundred different states) that the conflicts were rather limited in scope. But little by little over time the wars eliminated the smaller states and left about 30 larger ones still standing toward the end of the Spring and Autumn Period. As the states became fewer in number the stakes grew higher with each round of new competition. Thus China moved into the Warring States Period ... where there were seven major states ... then there were three. And the fighting thus grew more intense ... and destructive of Chinese society. The Hundred Schools of Thought
Nonetheless it was during these troubled times that the highly scholarly, highly philosophical, "Hundred Schools of Thought" finally developed: most notably Confucianism, Legalism and Daoism ... among many others. There has been much speculation as to why in time of such terrible turmoil China would find the way to one of its most creative cultural periods. Probably this is because cruel necessity forces more creativity from a society than is required when everything is running smoothly. Interestingly, this tendency would repeat itself again during another time of great cultural turmoil when another great dynasty, the Han, lost their grip on society and the country fell into massive civil confusion. |
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Confucius
Confucius (Kong Fuzi or Kung Fu-tzu, meaning "Master Kong") was a Chinese moral and social philosopher who taught that personal and governmental virtue is the proper foundation for a just society. Confucius lived in Lu (or Li), one of the feudal states of the Eastern Zhou dynasty – during the declining days of the Zhou Dynasty when a number of competing independent Chinese feudal rulers were the defacto governors of a chaotic China. He was born of a noble – but very poor – family and worked his way to prominence within the Lu government by his obvious intellect – and by hard work. He assembled a whole body of teaching on justice and social responsibilities – recorded in the Analects. Eventually he left the service of the Duke of Lu, disappointed in the moral behavior of the Duke, and moved around from state to state (Wei, Song, Chen?) within the domain of the Eastern Zhou (northeastern and central China). He tried to get these states to implement his moral instructions – but was greatly disappointed in the results. Finally he returned home and gathered a group of disciples in order to pass on his ideas. Confucianism
We do not have any direct evidence of his ideas, since his writings were ordered burned by the anti-Confucianist Qin Emperor (late 200s B.C.). The Analects is supposedly a collection of his teachings or sayings, though how many of these may have been the work of his disciples themselves can not be known. We are fairly certain that the final editing came from the hands of the disciples of Zengzi, one of Confucius' most important students. His disciples – such as Mencius (Meng Zi or Meng Tzu) and, long after them both, Xun Zi (or Hsün Tzu ) – also developed and expanded his teaching greatly, eventually cultivating the huge body of teachings we know as Confucianism. The quest for political morality. Confucius was deeply concerned about restoring the Mandate of Heaven to China – through a combination of correct religious observance and just or moral social behavior. He used history (the Annals) as the source of his teachings on correct thought and behavior – fortifying the idea that correct standards are long-standing and do not change over time. Only human behavior changes. Confucius taught that the highest goal of human life was to live in accordance with the ancient standards. Confucius’ Golden Rule was: "never do to others what you would not want done to yourself." More specifically, he taught the importance of strong family loyalty and a deep respect for the elders of a family and clan – including the departed ancestors (ancestor worship). Likewise the role of the head of the family was one of enacting justice, of moral instruction and example set out before those in his charge. Personal moral obligation. Thus Confucianism’s social or political philosophy was modeled on Confucius’ teachings about the family: all Chinese owe to their local magistrates, their dukes, their kings, their emperors, the same obligations they owe the heads of their families. And the heads of government are under the same obligation as the head of a family to live by high moral example. Political greed and expediency bring only corruption and the loss of the Mandate of Heaven. Indeed, violation of these ancient moral standards by a ruler will bring him the loss of the loyalty of his people – who are entitled to join a challenger to his rule and rise up against him in order to replace him with a moral ruler who possesses the Mandate of Heaven. Inspiring leadership. Confucius taught that the good society would be one in which the virtue or morality of its leaders would inspire virtue in their followers. This would be prefereable to society in which outward behavior of the people was strictly enforced by the imposition of laws. Ritualized behavior. Also, to build the internal correctness of thought and thus behavior, ritualized behavior would be essential. In other words, every deed would be the result of a well-studied and well-trained sense of etiquette – which required the individual to act in a very precise way. If everyone were to live closely according to these social rituals, a non-forced peace would prevail in the land. Social hierarchy. All of this ritual would underpin a properly structured social hierarchy – which itself would be the foundation of the social peace and prosperity that all seek. Everyone would know 'his place' and act accordingly. Great deferrence was to be paid to those in authority – beginning in the home, and extending from there to all of society, and ultimately to the king or Emperor. Likewise those in positions of authority would be under the strictest obligation to rule virtuously those under them or in their care. Failure of rulers to act this way would in effect break the covenant between the leaders and the led. The Mandarin bureaucracy. Most significantly for the way in which Chinese society developed after him, Confucianism left the moral or political legacy of a society that would be directed by a corps of philosopher-administrators (the Mandarinate) highly trained in his formal moral system. From their appointed positions in the countryside they would assist the king (later, the Emperor) in seeing that Chinese society was not only well led but also well taught – by their own virtuous example. Political placement by scholarly testing. The members (the Mandarins) of this administrative corps would be selected not by the privilege of birth but by an examination in the memorized and ritualized virtues of Confucius, an examination open to all Chinese men (but requiring extensive educational preparation and thus in fact largely attainable only by young men born to wealth). Overall impact on Chinese society
It is important to note that Confucianism stressed that personal perfection was to be found not, as Western culture seems to stress, on personal salvation or "self-realization," but rather in its ability to find a dignified place in the social scheme of things ... at whatever place or position one happens to occupy in the larger social context (father, mother, older or younger brother, neighbor, etc.). Confucius stressed the absolute importance of always acting with the idea in mind of how one’s speech and behavior would affect the surrounding world of others. Personal shame would come not in failure to excel above the competition, but in failure to serve honorably according to one’s place in the social scheme of things. Yet – perhaps because of a reaction to the brief ascendancy of very strict "legalism" (next section) – Confucianism would allow room for minor human failures in performance ... as long as the person’s heart was sincere in the effort. Sincerity became the premium virtue in the performance of one’s duties. But this liberal allowance for mistakes and failures – as long as sincerity was displayed – all too easily led to flaws in the social system, especially the tendency for corrupt practices to insert themselves in the practical operation of this Confucianist idealism. Also it is also important to note that Confucianism was suited more for an agrarian society where families lived in close relationship with their neighbors ... rather than with urban society where relationships were bound to be more abstract and readily changing ... such as on the street or in a large workplace. An impersonal "civic culture" thus did not come so easily to a Confucianist society. |
A portrait of Confucius by
Wu Daozi (685-758) from the Tang Dynasty
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| Another school of thought developed in China at about the same time as Confucianism – a philosophy which moves in a direction counter to Confucianism. Legalism taught that social and political obligation of the subject to the ruler was not subject to review by anyone, but was an absolute duty. The good order of the State depended on the strict observance of duty by all. Therefore the laws or rules of the State must be clearly stated – and clearly observed. And it is the duty of the head of state to be a strong ruler, enforcing the laws for the good of the society. A weak ruler will bring troubles and hardship to his people. |
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| Laozi (or Lao Tzu) literally: 'Old Master.'
Another philosophy to gain strength during the Axial Age (or as it is
called in Chinese history, the Spring and Autumn Period of the Hundred
Schools of Thought) was the "Way" or Dao (or Tao). The philosopher Laozi (or Lao Tzu) is credited as being the writer of the Dao De Jing (or Tao Te Ching),
and thus the formulator of Daoism (or Taoism) – although it would
appear that the philosophy had deep roots in Chinese thinking and
behavior well before him. What is known about the man was from sources who wrote very much after the time period he was supposed to live in – a time period which itself varied widely in tradition. Some say that he was a contemporary of Confucius – thus living around 500 B.C. Others have him as a court philosopher and astrologer during the reign of Duke Xian of Qin, and thus living in the early 300s B.C. According to tradition he became disenchanted with Chinese court life and moved West into the Chinese interior to live the life of a simple hermit. The Dao. There are several traditions concerning his authorship of the Dao De Jing. There is also some considerable modern scepticism about how much he actually authored of the Dao – many scholars believing that the Dao was actually assembled by Daoists centuries after Lao zi's death. The Dao was viewed actually as some kind of unseen or transcendant spiritual force or being that formed the foundation of all visible things. The Dao produces a natural harmony among all things – all things except man, who has a free will and is thus able to act against this harmony if he desires. This willfulness of man produces an imbalance in the natural harmony of things. Harmony with nature. Basically Daoism teaches the importance of ‘going with the flow’ of nature, of life itself. It believes life should be lived ‘naturally’ – with as few artificialities as possible. Nature is a well balanced flow of energy – and should not be resisted or constrained by human action and programs. The strength and energy of life, the very virtue of life itself, comes not through fighting nature but in working with it. Human quietism. In even its more rigorous form, the Dao seeks to restore man to the natural harmony of life largely through a form of quietism which leads a person to withdraw from the formal and legal social demands of life into a humble and simple existence, an existence stripped of social ambition and even personal cravings. The Dao is to lead to a state of wu wei - where the human soul is stilled to the point of attaining a perfect peace or oneness with all nature. Daoism did not gain importance by its own right but by the way it affected the other Chinese philosophies – including even Buddhism (which entered China during the last couple of centuries BC). |
Miles
H. Hodges
