A code of proper conduct regulated each of these relationships. For example, rulers should practice kindness and virtuous living. In return, subjects should be loyal and law-abiding.
3 relationships of 5 were based upon the family. Confucius stressed that children should practice filial piety (respects for parents), which meant devoting oneself to one’s parents during their lifetimes. It also required honoring their memories after death through the performance of certain rituals.
Confucius wanted to reform Chinese society by showing rulers how to govern wisely. Impressed by his wisdom, the duke of Lu appointed him minister of justice. According to legend, he so overwhelmed people by kindness that almost overnight, crime vanished from Lu. When the duke’s ways changed, however, Confucius became disillusioned and resigned. Confucius spent the remainder of his life teaching. His students later collected his words in a book called the Analects. A disciple named Mencius also spread his ideas.
Confucius said education could transform those born humbly into gentlemen. He laid the groundwork for the creation of a bureaucracy, a trained civil service. Confucius said a gentleman had 4 virtues: in private conduct he is courteous, in serving his master he is precise, in providing for the needs of the people he gives them even more than their due; in exacting service from the people, he is just. Education became important to career advancement in the bureaucracy.
Confucianism was never a religion, but an ethical system, based on principles of right and wrong, and became the foundation for government and social order.
Other Ethical Systems
In addition to Confucius, others developed ethical systems with very different philosophies. Some stressed the importance of nature, others the power of government.
For a Chinese thinker named Laozi, who may have lived during the 6th century B.C., only the only natural order was important. The natural order involves relations among all living things. His book Dao De Jing (The Way of Virtue) expressed Laozi’s belief. He said the universal force, Dao (meaning “the Way”), guides everything. Of all animals, only humans fail to follow the Dao. They argue about questions of right and wrong, good manners or bad. According to Laozi, such arguments are pointless. His philosophy was known as Daoism. Its search for knowledge and understanding of nature led its followers to pursue scientific studies. They made important contributions to the sciences of alchemy, astronomy, and medicine.
In sharp contrast to Confucianism and Daoism, was a group of political thinkers called the Legalists. They believed that a highly efficient and powerful government was the key to restoring order in society. They got their name from their belief that government should use the law to end civil disorder and restore harmony. Hanfeizi and Li Si were among the founders.
Legalists taught that a ruler should provide rewards for people who carried out their duties well Likewise, the disobedient should be harshly punished. They stressed punishment more. For example, anyone caught outside his own village without a travel permit should have his ears or nose chopped off.
They believed in controlling ideas as well. They suggested a ruler burn all writings that might encourage people to criticize government. After all, it was for the prince to govern and people to obey. Eventually, their ideas gained favor with a prince of a new dynasty replacing the Zhou. He soon brought order to China.
People with little interest in the philosophical debates of Confucians, Daoists, and Legalists found answers to life questions elsewhere. Some consulted a book of oracles, the I Ching (The Book of Changes), to solve ethical or practical problems. They used it by throwing some coins, interpreting results, then reading the appropriate oracle. The book helped people lead a happy life by offering good advice and simple common sense. Others turned to the ideas of ancient thinkers, such as the concept of yin and yang. It helped the Chinese people understand their place in the world; the harmony between two powers that make up the natural rhythms of life. Yin represents cold, dark, soft, and mysterious things. Yang represents warmth, bright, hard, and clear. Calls for a balanced government focused on harmony with nature. Puts power in the hands of the politicians and in that of the people, or a democratic theocracy.
The Qin Dynasty Unifies China
In the third century B.C., the Qin Dynasty replaced the Zhou Dynasty. It emerged from the western state of Qin. The ruler employed Legalist ideas to subdue warring states and unify his country. In 221 B.C., after ruling for over 20 years, the Qin ruler assumed the name Shi Huangdi, meaning “First Emperor.” The new emperor had begun his reign by halting the internal battles that sapped China’s strength. Next, he turned his attention to defeating invaders and crushing resistance within China to his rule. Shi Huangdi’s armies attacked the invaders north of the Huang He and south as far as what is now Vietnam. He doubled China’s size, and was determined to unify China.
Shi Huangdi acted decisively to crush political opposition at home. To destroy the power of rivals, he introduced “strengthening the trunk and weakening the branches.” He commanded all the noble families to live in the capital city under his suspicious gaze. This uprooted 120,000 families, according to tradition. He seized the land and divided it into 36 districts, where he sent Qin officials to control them.
To prevent criticism, him and his prime minister, legalist Li Su murdered hundreds of Confucian scholars, and ordered books to be burned, works of Confucians. Practical books of medicine and farming, however, were spared. Huangdi established an autocracy– a government with unlimited power used in an arbitrary manner.
His sweeping program of centralization included the building of a network of more than 4,000 miles. He set the same standards throughout China for writing, law, currency, and weights and measures (even to cart axle length). This made sure all vehicles could fit into the main roads.
Under this rule, irrigation projects increased farm production. Trade blossomed, thanks to the new roads, and pushed a new class of merchants into prominence. Despite these advances, harsh taxes and repressive government made the regime unpopular. He unified China at the expense of human freedom. Scholars hated Huangdi for his book burning, poor people hated him because they were forced to work on a huge defensive wall. Earlier, Zhou rulers erected smaller walls to discourage attacks by nomads. Huangdi determined to close the gaps and extend the wall almost the length of the border. Enemies would have to gallop halfway to Tibet to get around it.
The Great Wall of China arose on the backs of hundreds of thousands of peasants. The did not work for wages or for love of empire. Punishment for refusing to work was death. Many workers died anyway, victims of hard labor or harsh winters.
The Qin Dynasty lasted only a short time. Though as cruel as his father, Huangdi’s son was less able. Peasants rebelled only 3 years after the second Qin emperor took office. One of their leaders from the land of Han marched into the capital city. By 202 B.C., the Qin gave way to the Han Dynasty, one of the longest in Chinese history.