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The influence of confucianism upon the Chinese people
The influence of confucianism upon the Chinese people
Confucianism and its influence upon Chinese society
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Not everyone in Medieval China sported the same lifestyle. The Peasant class, for example, spent much of their day in the fields. They harvested crops with their bare hands, and often persevered regardless of the weather. Their lives were difficult, as they were frequently impoverished and could not afford any luxuries. Similarly, the merchants’ lives were also strenuous. They, however, faced a different problem: constant stigmatization and disrespect. Although they were generally penniless, the peasants were still esteemed for providing nutrition to China’s populace. The merchants, on the other hand, were affluent, but infamous; as they were judged by the ancient Chinese belief that those who derived their wealth off of others are …show more content…
By the Song dynasty, the imperial family had destroyed all traces of Buddhist teachings--whether it be by temples or scrolls--in favor of Confucianism. Soon after, Confucianism became China’s official religion, with Taoism being the alternative. Additionally, it was during this time that Confucianism became a crucial aspect of Medieval China. Without Confucianism, there would have been no set method of choosing government officials. This is consequent of the fact that Confucianism served as the basis for the civil service exams, which was a series of tests that the Chinese were required to pass in order to become a government worker. Aspirating officials had to be well-versed in Confucian ideals, much of which were based off of traditional family values. These values, for example, stated that subjects should unconditionally obey their masters--such as in child to parent and student to teacher relationships. Infractions against masters would often be punished with death, while treason against subjects would generally face lighter penalties. This superfluous respect would continue even after the master was dead, as subjects frequently brought the deceased offerings and …show more content…
For the written language, it was their homographs; for the spoken language, it was their homophones and homonyms. Instead of phonetic complements, however, the spoken language relied on voice inflections. Factors such as the amount of stress, the speaker’s tone, and the context all go into consideration when determining the meaning of these words. Nevertheless, these inflections (and, to an extent, pronunciations) differed depending on whether the individual was from the North or the South--much like
There are little to no direct accounts of how individuals’ lives were a couple thousand years ago in Ancient China. With a wealth of information on the rise, decline, and fall of empires, Michael Loewe, a sinologist who specializes in oriental studies and theology, writes an imaginary story about a hero named Bing set around 70 BCE. Bing: From Farmer’s Son to Magistrate in Han China is Loewe’s fictional portrait of life during the Han Empire. It is by no means a comprehensive historical account of Han times, in fact, it was written with those readers who are not familiar with Chinese in mind, however through the life of Bing we can gage how the lives of laborers, those involved in military service, merchants, and government officials might
P’u shamelessly addresses the fact that despite preaching honor and virtue, the nobility were the most lawless, yet only an idealized account would be recorded in history, as has always been. The author mocks this relinquishment in his own stories, as the moral is driven to immorality as rebels receive little to no punishment for their flagrant abuse of others and adultery against virtue. He describes the turmoil as “the ways that misery spawned recklessness and sudden, unreasoning violence that were almost impossible to deal with” (Spence 79). Laws themselves proved to be as wicked and depraved as their creators. For example, a horrific clause even encouraged men to take advantage of widows for profit. While the peasant class resisted their struggled by simply trying to survive, the upper nobility fought their problems by making the existence of those below them harder to bear. Enforced laws were done so with no due process, yet were made flexible by their own creators. Therefore, Spence exhibited the lawlessness and the government and its constant effort to contain this disorder. By hand-selecting the sources and settling on rural China, Spence felt the format effectively depicted his purpose. He effectively detailed history in relation to the average person of 17th century China and created a personal perspective that imbued the historical events with meaning. He most fully and accurately captures the greed, vision of morals, unaltered by elite preference and ironically one can draw parallels to our modern times. His purpose results in a richness of detail seldom observed in Chinese history. The principles of the time are captured through the poverty within the peasant class as every moment of their lives was set forth
From 100 CE to 600 CE the Chinese had many cultural and political life changes and continuities. A political change was in the end of the Classical Chinese period when the Han Dynasty fell. A cultural change during 100 CE to 600 CE was the paper invention that led to passing down cultural rituals. Not only were there changes but there was also continuities in the Chinese political and cultural life. An example of a cultural continuity is the increasing power of Buddhism. A political continuity is the ruler of the Chinese wanting the people to be protected with for instance The Great Wall of China.
To begin, Confucianism is a system of philosophical and ethical teachings founded by Confucius. Confucianism was the code of ethics accepted as the certified religion of most of the immense empires in the territory since the Han Dynasty. Confucianism provided an outline of ethical and religious beliefs that most of the Chinese expanded to make other religions such as Daoism and Legalism. To expand, Confucianism was founded by Confucius and his beliefs on the political and social order of China. Confucius believed that everything would fall into place if children had respect for their parents and if the rulers were honest. In Confucianism, specific roles were followed by each person in the family. The head of the family, the father, was the one primarily in control and then it was the oldest son that was next in line. Confucius had the belief that a ruler has to be everything he wants
Daily life was influenced in both Ancient India and China because of religion and philosophies. Their well being, their beliefs, and their caste system were affected by religion and philosophies.
Buddhism and the Chinese government, along with the strict Confucianists, did not have promising results. The Chinese government was unstable and had complications during the coming of Buddhism, it was threatening to them and to the strict Confucianists who had these new, unknown ideas coming at them. The two sides had completely different views on Buddhism and both were stuck with the positives and negatives. After 570 C.E., China’s imperial structure was restored due to the shrinking influence of Buddhism.
Timothy Brook’s book, The Confusions of Pleasure: Commerce and Culture in Ming China is a detailed account of the three centuries of the Ming Dynasty in China. The book allows an opportunity to view this prominent time period of Chinese history. Confusions of Pleasure not only chronicles the economic development during the Ming dynasty, but also the resulting cultural and social changes that transform the gentry and merchant class. Brook’s insights highlight the divide between the Ming dynasty’s idealized beliefs, and the realities of its economic expansion and its effects. Brook describes this gap through the use of several first hand accounts of individuals with various social statuses.
Confucianism became popular during the Han Dynasty as it was the state religion and had a great impact on East Asia (Confucianism 1, pg. 7). Born in 551 BCE in the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, Confucius himself absorbed the teachings of Mahavira and the Buddha (Confucianism 1, pg. 2) He had a set of virtues that he believed a functioning society should stand by such as benevolence, love and rites. Confucius wanted China to return to the old days when people were loyal to their rulers and rulers were polite and caring towards their people. He believed rulers s...
Confucianism is a philosophy and way of life formed in China by Confucius, an early Chinese philosopher. It began as a simple concept with ideals of personal virtue, simple filial piety, and basic gender distinctions and social inequalities. But, over time with the emergence of Neo-Confucianism it began to transform into a way of life that was degrading towards women with certain hostilities towards rivaling religions. In its early period, from around 500 B.C.E to the Common Era, Confucianism changed in that it became the leading belief system and a major part of Chinese tradition. From the transition into the Common Era to the end of the Classical time period, Confucianism was altered because of a loss of popularity following the collapse of the Han dynasty and the corruption in the governing political system. In its ending period, the post-classical era, Confucianism underwent perhaps its biggest adjustments with the emergence of Neo-Confucianism. The ideas and virtues presented in the “rebirth of Confucian philosophies” of intolerance of foreign religions and extreme filial piety...
Wang Mang’s rise to power, through possible murder and treachery, did not follow the Confucian values of Yi and the Confucian basic beliefs of ethics. Wang Mang was born in 45 B.C into a wealthy family. From a young age, he was a known scholar and vigorously practiced Confucianism. As a young man, Wang Mang used his family’s influence to become a regent for many short-lived emperors. After the death and (likely murder) of the current king, Wang Mang seized the thrown from the Liu family, which had ruled for years. The fundamental goal of Confucianism is to create ethical ways in which to behave. Wang Mang’s abrupt overstep of power and aggression was a violation of this ethical standard. In his violent overthrow, Wang Mang disregards the Confucian value of Yi, which calls for sound judgment and teaches right from wrong. Yi, specifically, “may require people to forgo personal advantages to do what’s right.” Wang Mang chooses to ignore what is right in order to gain, “personal advantages”, and thus disregarded the law of Yi. Another important aspect of Confucianism is the five core relationships. These relationships served as a larger model for society, “If fathers are father and son...
Confucianism and Daoism are two influential schools of thoughts that have existed in ancient China around the 6th century BCE. The former, led by the politician and philosopher Confucius, proposed that humans live in society according to a set of predefined rules and that they transform society through political action. Whereas the latter, led by the philosopher Lao-Tzu, promoted the idea of inaction; people should go with the flow instead of taking action to control their lives and dominate their surroundings. Although, at first glance Daoism and Confucianism seem to be two opposing philosophies, a more in depth analysis of two of their key ideas –filial piety and education—reveals that they do share some similarities.
Confucian culture has persistence, so it does not disappear with the annihilation of the old system. Confucian culture, formed under two thousand years of feudal autocratic rule, not only exists for a long time, but also still has important influence on Chinese contemporary political life and political culture with its strong vitality. The theme of moderation is to educate people consciously to self-improve, self supervise, and self educate, and train themselves have the ideal personality. Fundamentally, the Confucian thinks that the root of governing revolution lies in the will of people, therefore, it should govern from the will of people if it wants to achieve the social governance, which has its profound meaning (Chan, Cho, 2014). The emergence of a lot of social problems, in the final analysis, is due to the lack of governance...
Confucianism was the official philosophy of China. Confucius himself was not very interested in the ideas of a God, an afterlife, heaven, and other ideas that we associate with religion. However, when Confucianism became the official philosophy of China, religious functions were incorporated into it. Confucius, together with his ancestors and famous followers, became objects of worship. Confucian temples were built all over China and sacrifices and rituals were performed.
Confucianism is build up by Confucius which vales the moral conduct, and the ethical living. Confucius explained Confucianism as an ethical system rather than a religion. The basic primary principles and goal Confucius tried to reach are “the golden rule which is also known as Jen, the peaceful arts which is known as Wen, the ideal standards of conduct which is known as Li, the proper playing of society’s role which is known as Cheng-Ming, the gentlemanly man of virtue which is known as Chun-tai and the power of virtue which is known as Te” (Zacharias). These are the principle Confucius lives with and tries to pass on to all his students. Confucius believed that people need to improve themselves to create a harmony along with other people: “The faith in the possibility of ordinary human beings to become awe-inspiring sages and worthies is deeply rooted in the Confucian heritage, and the insistence that human beings are teachable, improvable, and perfectible through personal and communal endeavour is typically Confucian” (Religion Facts). People need to be more educated and behave in order to run the country. Confucius believes that in order to improve the country, people have to improve first. In addition, Confucianism has a unique view of how government leader should behave and how a government should be function: “Confucius’ political
For many centuries, Confucianism has been widely revered by the Chinese for its emphasis on morality. Confucius, who lived from 551 to 479 BCE, is different to most philosophers in that he showed no interest questioning his existence, the possibility of a God, or the reality that he seemed to live in; instead he focused on the human relations side of philosophy as it was his belief that people should “give (themselves) earnestly to the duties due to men … (and) keep aloof from (spiritual beings)” (Confucius 195). By negating the metaphysical side of philosophy, he was able to devote himself to mold his disciples into ideal gentleman who were morally righteous, and were able to benefit society. He believed in the importance of individuals who knew their roles in an well-structured society, that was a feudal system. In his opinion, the ideal gentleman should be obedient to his elders, have humanness and be morally righteous. Through his teachings, he was able to reform an entire country; the Chinese found Confucianism to embody practices of humaneness that they could apply in their daily lives through his religion.