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Unit 7 the Confucian Tradition

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Unit 7 the Confucian Tradition Political Traditions UNIT 7 THE CONFUCIAN TRADITION Structure 7.0 Objectives 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Emperorship 7.3 Scholar-Officials 7.3.1 Examinations and the Structure of Bureaucracy 7.3.2 Divided Loyalties: Family vs. Emperor 7.4 The Dynastic Cycle 7.5 The End of Confucian Imperial Ideology 7.6 Let Us Sum Up 7.7 Key Words 7.8 Some Useful References 7.9 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises 7.0 OBJECTIVES Chinese empires, it has been said, used to stand on three legs: – the monarch, – the scholar-officials, and – the officials’ Confucian ideology. These entities have to be considered separately with each other, and in relation to China’s horse-riding, nomadic neighbours in the northern steppe. That will help us understand something of the pattern of China’s several dynasties and their fall. When at their peak, several Chinese empires commanded territory greater than anything else known to history; and when they broke up, there could be widespread disorder. This cycle of the rise and fall of empires can be seen, repeatedly, for more than two thousand years in the history of this great civilisation. This unit concerns itself with the following questions. • What were the principal ideas in the Confucian tradition, and what was its role in the Chinese imperial rule? • What was the relationship between the Chinese and the horse-riding nomads of the northern steppe? • How could the Chinese polity return, repeatedly, to a particular set of institutions and ideology? • Why did complex, spectacularly successful empires disintegrate repeatedly? 7.1 INTRODUCTION Historical knowledge... is always knowledge of processes, not learning about the sequence of incidents but of the logic of structures (Sudipta Kaviraj). Confucianism is a part of China’s history; and in trying to grasp that complex past, we begin with the facts of geography. The vast Himalayan and related ranges separate China from the Indian subcontinent to the west and the south-west; the great central Asian steppe stretches out in the north; the Pacific Ocean lies to the east; and the Indo-Chinese peninsula to the south. Despite the isolation, China’s great wealth has attracted horse-riding conquerors from the north as well as merchants from far and wide, over land and sea, down the millennia. 20 The Confucian Tradition China: Ecological Parameters 21 Political Traditions The massive snow-capped mountains feed great rivers which meander through the country, flooding the lands, especially in their deltas. Hwang Ho, or Yellow River, and Yangtze are the biggest and the best known. Hwang Ho brings down masses of silt, depositing it downstream, and is therefore not navigable inland as the Yangtze is; but the rivers were supplemented by a maze of canals, which were built in bursts by hard-driving emperors since the 3rd century B. C. Transport along waterways was economical, and much more important than on roads, until the 20th century. Between its warm south and cold north and west, China offers a wide array of ecologies. The floodplains of Yangtze delta have been a key region of the world for producing rice; and China’s historically important produce has included wheat, tea, silk and salt. A range of minerals has also long been exploited to produce coal, iron, copper, tin, silver, jade, and mineral oil. Technologically, China led the world until the 14th century. The Chinese people lived under imperial states for over two millennia, from the 3rd century B. C. to the early 20th. Regional powers asserted varying measures of autonomy and independence. Chinese historians used to regard these periods as moments of disorder, resulting from monarchical incompetence. Such periods could end only with the rise of a new dynasty, endowed with the “heaven’s mandate” for ruling. The imperial state re-emerged time and again, for China, and its adjoining Central Asian steppe, have carried between them certain enduring configurations of ideologies, resources, practices, and motivations. For founding a new dynasty, ambitions men could arise within China, but as often they came from the north too. Repeatedly, in China as in India, new dynasties were established by horse-riding nomadic conquerors of the north, or their empire in China too (1276-1367). However, governing China- with its complex society, economy, polity, ecology, and technology - was not a task for the horse-riding conquerors. This needed special skills and these were provided by a class of literati, who were learned in the teachings of Confucius and the other ancient masters, and who carried a tradition of governing – under a emperor. Box 1 Dynastic Chart Note: In writing Chinese words, including names, in the Roman alphabet, this unit follows the system known as Wade-Giles but leaves out diacritical marks. dynasty/ period persons and noted in this unit 11th to 5th Chou Ideas about ruler being the Son of Century BC Heaven, with the mandate of heaven to rule. In its later phase, numerous more of less independent kingdoms 403 - 221 BC Warring States 221 - 207 BC Chin Shin Huang-ti, China’s first Emperor Legalist regime 206 BC- 8 AD Former Han Tung Chung-shuh, c179 BC-c104 BC formulates imperial Confucianism 25 - 220 AD Later Han 221 - 580 AD Various dynasties 589 - 617 AD Sui Examinations for selecting scholar- officials introduced. 618-906 AD Tang 22 The Confucian Tradition 907-959 AD Five dynasties and ten kingdoms 960-1126 AD Northern Sung A stronger bureaucracy, more dependent on emperor than its predecessors. In 1126, forced to leave northern capital, re-established imperial capital at Hangchow on the Yangtze. 1127-1275 AD Southern Sung (and Chin in north) 1276-1367 AD Mongol/ Yuan 1368-1644 AD Ming 16th century: Europeans begin to come. 1645-1911 AD Manchu/ Ching 19th century: China’s weaknesses in face of European pressure become obvious. The body of ideas which came to be known as Confucian ideology (Box 1), continued to evolve through the centuries as its bearers, the scholar-officials, coped with their circumstances: (1) in running the state, and (2) in managing their lives even when they were not employed by the state. All this would be seen as “Confucian” – on the principle that Confucianism was whatever the followers of Confucius thought and did. That covered a great deal, but a core body of ideas remained to define Confucianism. These included: a) ideas supporting the monarch’s authority: it committed them to obedient service to the monarch and, through such service, effort to spread Confucian values (see Box 1 and ‘c’ below) in society; b) complex rituals, admitting of virtually infinite elaboration; c) an influential of ideas and ideals about the learned man. The ideology laid great stress on a sense of hierarchy, on filial piety, and on virtue. These were general values, applicable to both the state and the family. The emphasis on virtue was reflected in the idea that an exemplary ruler should be able to govern through the power of the example he set, without needing to take recourse to coercion and violence. In practice, such exemplary rulers, whose virtue would secure orderly behaviour all round, were hard to come by, and the use of coercion and violence in various settings was common enough. Box 2 Emergence of Confucian Ideology Confucius was a Chinese thinker and scholar in the 6th and 5th centuries BC. His teachings, and those of other ancients (including Mencius, c. 372-289 BC), have moulded the Chinese tradition of governance: as revered guides, for social and political practice, and for creating complex, spectacular rituals of empire. Confucianism advocated the importance of morality in statecraft, and such values as harmony, humanity and sincerity. As an ideology for governing an empire, however, the Chinese tried Legalism first. Shih Huang-ti, the founder of the first Chinese empire, the Chin, in 221 BC, rejected the Confucian tradition with its moralism, indeed he ordered its books burned. He relied, instead, on legalist thought, which supported the idea of a stern and effective state, with inflexible laws, carrying out the emperor’s will, and tolerating no resistance. It ended in revolt fourteen years later, a source of lessons on what a dynasty must avoid in order not to court failure. It was 23 Political Traditions remembered as a bad example among Confucians ever after, even though the functioning of a vast empire, beset with complex and often predatory neighbours, could not really rest on Confucian morality alone. Legalist attitudes in managing the empire were common, though no one would call himself a legalist. The Chinese maintained a large army, and the imperial state was never shy about using force – internally or externally. The Confucian tradition has by no means been an inert, unchanging body of ideas. Quite the contrary. It was about four centuries after Confucius that ideas associated with him began to be incorporated, gradually, into a doctrine of imperial legitimacy. About an earlier kingship, the Chou (11th to 5th centuries BC), it was propagated that its kings were Sons of Heaven, who had the mandate of heaven to govern. Following the Chou disintegration, later centuries (fourth and third), known as the ‘Warring States’ period, saw several small states, and considerable conflict between them. None of these could sustain the Chou kind of claim to exclusive heavenly favour – and the idea went out of circulation. Confucius worked and taught during this period of disunity, lacking a central authority. Such an authority was established only with the short-lived Chin empire (221-207 B.C.) The Chou, The Warring States, the Chin: this was the background for the Han dynasty. Its political arrangements were similar to those of the Chin.
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