Early Chinese Values

A time of strife and conflict, the conditions the early Chinese lived through during the Warring States period were hazardous enough to produce philosophies which would shape and mold Chinese development across the rest of its history. Numerous classical works were released during this time, including Huang Di’s Inner Classic, Chunqiu fanlu yizheng, and the Mawangdui Medical Manuscripts—all of which offer perspectives on how the body functions. These medical texts lay the foundation for not just how to stabilize oneself as an individual, but simultaneously larger steps through which a ruler could create order in such a politically chaotic period. This begs the question, what early Chinese values—if any—do these texts reflect? What do they tell

Early Chinese scholars interpreted the body as the main resource for interacting with the world. In Huangdi Neijing, a medical text from the warring states period, the advisor to the emperor, Qi Bo, gives a lecture on why people no longer have long lifespans, “The fact that people of today are different is because they take wine as an [ordinary] beverage, and they adopt absurd [behavior] as regular [behavior]. They are drunk when they enter the [women’s] chambers”. Here Qi Bo is commentating on how poor habits, exhaustion, and overindulgence leads to the short lives that modern people are living. The solution which he recommends therefore involves looking back to their ancestors for guidance; Qi Bo believes that through embracing a certain set of rules reminiscent to that which the ancients followed that not just better health, but immunity to disease is possible. He tells the yellow emperor exactly what methods need to be employed in order to achieve these results: “…they were with the Way. That by which all of them were able to exceed a lifespan of one

Following the Way is simple, according to Qi Bo; live like the perfect ancestors and success will come easily to any ruler. As this is written during the chaotic time of the warring states period, it would not be a stretch to assume that Huang Di wants this knowledge of immortal life so that he can rule long and prosperously. Qi Bo capitalizes on this, and insinuates that a person who lives long is one that is following the Way. Following the Way leads to a good life, and thus a happy population is one ruled by a monarch who accepts the Way and is an example for his people on how to follow the Way. Opposing this viewpoint is Dong Zhongshu, a contemporary of Qi Bo, who argues that the body is the consummation of heaven and earth’s energies. Because the body is a microcosm of heaven and earth’s energies, fulfilling one’s duty to heaven by clinging to the Way is beneficial, but must be met with equal dedication to one’s duty to earth, which is fulfilled by nourishing their ability to follow the Way. In other words, to properly follow