Confusianism and Ancient Chinese Culture: How it Shaped the China of Today

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Recommended: The influence of Confucianism

It cannot be denied that a country’s philosophy plays a big part in its method, direction and time of progressing as a nation. It is important to note as well that these ideologies shaped not only countries as a whole, but also their citizens and their livelihoods.

The given principle holds true for the history of ancient China and its influence on the modern China we see today. Chan (1901) states in his book that Confucius (551-479 B.C.) can truly be said to have molded Chinese civilization in general [through his teachings and his ideologies]. While there are many textbooks today that explain the background of Confucianism, it is difficult to find one that definitively explains a particular aspect of its history: how it initially failed to be adopted by China before it claimed the renowned success the world knows today. While history cannot provide the true events that led up to Confucianism’s failure at this point, it does provide several contexts and reliable references that help in explaining the phenomenon. Given this, I believe that Confucianism’s early failure can be attributed to several factors such as the conflict between China’s ancient philosophies and Confucianism, the culture practiced in ancient China, as well as the perceived inconsistencies presented in the Analects of Confucius. This paper will elaborate on these three aspects of China’s history and relate them with the early history of Confucianism to explain the failures it faced before becoming widely accepted.

The first aspect that led up to Confucianism’s initial failure is the conflict present between China’s ancient philosophies and Confucianism. While Confucianism revolved around humanism and the qualities of a good government, Schwartz (1985) stat...

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Bibliography

Berling, Judith. “Confucianism.” Focus on Asian Studies 2.1 (1982): 5-7. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.

Sprunger, Meredith. “An Introduction to Confucianism.” The Urantia Book Fellowship. n.p.,

n.d. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.

Schwartz, Benjamin. The World of Thought in Ancient China. Massachusets: The Belknap

Press of Harvard University Press, 1985. Print.

Liu, Shu-hsien. Understanding Confucian Philosophy: Classical and Sung-Ming. Westport:

Greenwood Press, 1998. Print.

Chan, Wing-Tsit. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. New Jersy: Princeton University

Press, 1901. Print.

Smith, D. H. "Chinese Religion in the Shang Dynasty," Numen, Vol. 8, Fasc. 2 (July 1961):

142-150. Web.

Tang, Xiaobing. “Lu Xun’s “Diary of a Madman” and a Chinese Modernism.” Modern

Literature Association 107.5 (1992): 1222-1234. Web. 30 Apr. 2014

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