Confucianism

Examples of Confucianism in the following topics:

• Chinese Philosophy

  • Confucianism, Daoism, Legalism, and Mohism all began during the Zhou Dynasty in the 6th century BCE, and had very strong influences on Chinese civilization.
  • Being a good and virtuous human in every ordinary situation was the goal of Confucianism.
  • Confucianism remained prevalent in China from the Han Dynasty in 202 BCE to the end of dynastic rule in 1911.
  • It was reformulated during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) as Neo-Confucianism, and became the basis of imperial exams.
  • This opposed the ideas of Confucianism, which said that love should be greater for close relationships.

• The Literati

  • The scholar-officials were schooled in calligraphy and Confucian texts.
  • The scholar-officials carried out social welfare measures, taught in private schools, helped negotiate minor legal disputes, supervised community projects, maintained local law and order, conducted Confucian ceremonies, assisted in the government's collection of taxes, and preached Confucian moral teachings.
  • The entire premise of the scholarly meritocracy was based on mastery of the Confucian classics.
  • However, even though the examination-based bureaucracy's heavy emphasis on Confucian literature ensured that the most eloquent writers and erudite scholars achieved high positions, the system lacked formal safeguards against political corruption, besides the Confucian moral teachings tested by the examinations.
  • Moreover, the relatively low status of military professionals in Confucian society discouraged similar efficiency and meritocracy within the military.

• The Rise of the Han Dynasty

  • Confucianism was banned during the Qin, but resurrected during the Han.
  • The Han were more interested in the lives and well-being of their subjects, and they modified some of the harsher aspects of the earlier dynasty's rule with Confucian ideals of government.
  • Emperor Wu experimented with socialism, and made Confucianism the single official philosophy.
  • The Confucian classics were reassembled and transcribed.
  • The Confucian ideal of each person accepting his social position helped legitimize the state and made people more willing to accept its power.

• Religion Under the Tang Dynasty

  • In an age before Neo-Confucianism and figures such as Zhu Xi (1130–1200), Buddhism began to flourish in China during the Northern and Southern dynasties, and became the dominant ideology during the prosperous Tang.
  • This situation also came about through a revival of interest in native Chinese philosophies, such as Confucianism and Taoism.
  • Although his contemporaries found him crude and obnoxious, he foreshadowed the later persecution of Buddhism in the Tang, as well as the revival of Confucian theory with the rise of Neo-Confucianism of the Song dynasty.

• The Mongol Invasions

  • He sought the counsel of Chinese Buddhist and Confucian advisers.
  • Kublai built schools for Confucian scholars, issued paper money, revived Chinese rituals, and endorsed policies that stimulated agricultural and commercial growth.
  • However, Kublai rejected plans to revive the Confucian imperial examinations and divided Yuan society into three, later four, classes, with the Han Chinese occupying the lowest rank.
  • Khublai evoked his public image as a sage emperor by following the rituals of Confucian propriety and ancestor veneration, while simultaneously retaining his roots as a leader from the steppes.

• Culture Under the Song Dynasty

  • Although women were on a lower social tier than men (according to Confucian ethics), they enjoyed many social and legal privileges and wielded considerable power at home and in their own small businesses.
  • Song intellectuals sought answers to all philosophical and political questions in the Confucian Classics.
  • This renewed interest in the Confucian ideals and society of ancient times coincided with the decline of Buddhism, which was then largely regarded as foreign and as offering few solutions for practical problems.
  • However, Buddhism in this period continued as a cultural underlay to the more-accepted Confucianism and even Taoism, both seen as native and pure by conservative Neo-Confucians.

• Rise of the Ming Dynasty

  • Widely seen as a defender of Confucianism and neo-Confucianism among the predominantly Han Chinese population in China, Zhu emerged as a leader of the rebels that were struggling to overthrow the Yuan dynasty.
  • There was also a distribution of Neo-Confucian ritual manuals and a new civil service examination system for recruitment into the bureaucracy.

• The Qin Dynasty

  • In contrast, in line with his attempt to impose Legalism, Qin Shi Huang strongly discouraged philosophy (particularly Confucianism) and history—he buried 460 Confucian scholars alive and burned many of their philosophical texts, as well as many historical texts that were not about the Qin state.

• Origins of the Song Dynasty

  • Philosophers such as Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi reinvigorated Confucianism with new commentary infused with Buddhist ideals, and emphasized a new organization of classic texts that brought out the core doctrine of Neo-Confucianism.

• The Eastern Han Period

  • Taxes were reduced, Confucian ideals were encouraged, and the emperors appointed able administrators.