Chinese History

The Spring and Autumn period in China was marked by great intellectual fervor leading to the flowering of a “hundred schools” of thought.

Confucianism which was founded by Confucius and later promulgated by his disciples, the most prominent of whom is Mencius, is only one of the many schools.

Arising around the same time as Confucianism is Taoism, represented by Lao Zi and Zhuang Zi, Mohism by Mo Zhi and Legalism by Xun Zi, Shang Yang, Sheng Bu Hai, and Han Fei Zi. Sun Wu, Pang Juan and Sun Bin are Fa Jia or militarists, Zhang Yi, Su Qin are the “Zhong Heng Jia” which belong to neither schools.

The most influential school of thought during this period will turn out to be Legalism and not Confucianism.

During 330BC, the state of Qin under Duke Xiao appointed Shang Yang as its Prime Minister. Shang Yang is a strict legalist who change the entire Qin bureaucracy along the principles of legalism - the aristocracy lost their place and power, rewards were given to those who contributes to the state, harsh punishments were meted for offenders, the King is regarded as above all - the reforms Shang Yang introduced into Qin transformed it from a weak backward state in western China into a military powerhouse in less than 3 decades - not quite unlike the Meiji Restoration Japan were to experienced centuries later.

Shang Yang was subsequently put to death by Duke Xiao’s successor, King Xiaowen on false charges of formenting rebellion. His body was torn apart by 5 chariots, ironically a punishment which he introduced himself. However, by then, Qin was arguably the strongest feudal state in China. Further expansion and consolidation by King Xiaowen, King Zhaoxiang and King Zhuangxiang (Lee Buwei was his premier) lay the foundation for the unification of China under Emperior Qin Shi Huang.

So to say that Emperor Qin Shi Huang united China was not entirely correct for by his reign, Qin became so powerful that it was only a matter of time before the remaining six states are wiped out. If Qin adopted Confucianism as the state idealogy, it will never have grown strong, let alone unite China!

After Qin was overthrown by the Han, the early Han Emperors Wen Di and Jin Di are Taoists. They adopted Lao Zi’s “Wei er bu zhi” doctrine to rule China, leading to the golden era of “Wen Jing Zi Zhi”, a rare period of stability and prosperity in China’s tumultuous history.

Confucianism is only adopted as a state idealogy and governance during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han - “Ba4 Chu2 Bai3 Jia1, Wei2 Zhun1 Kong3 Shu4″ and Confucianism became the sole dominant philosophy in China subsequently and even then there were periods where it was displaced by Taoism (Ming’s Jiajing) and Buddhism (Northern Wei’s Xiaowen Emperior).

In short, Confucianism led to much stagnation in the intellectual progress of China especially during the Ming and Qing dynasties which saw the West catching up and exceeding China. The industrial revolution could never have happened in China then because of the rigidity and dominance of Confucianism. Western ideas and inventions were looked upon with scorn by Confucianists who advocated that the Emperor is the “Son of Heaven”, China is the center of the universe and did not need playtoys of the western barbarians. This would prove to be fatal as China was reduced to a semi-colony status with its treaty ports and foreign settlements by the western powers towards the end of the 19th century.