Asia 411 whole term knowledge summary PDF

Title Asia 411 whole term knowledge summary
Course Chinese Political Thought And Institutions
Institution The University of British Columbia
Pages 17
File Size 255 KB
File Type PDF
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Summary

Spring and Autumn periodEastern Zhou critical period: Spring & Autumn and warring state Records about things happened in certain year, day  Spring and Autumn Annal (events taking place year by year...) State of Lu was established by eldest son of Duke of Zhou Confucius (came from Lu) teach mora...


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Spring and Autumn period Eastern Zhou critical period: Spring & Autumn and warring state Records about things happened in certain year, day  Spring and Autumn Annal (events taking place year by year…) State of Lu was established by eldest son of Duke of Zhou Confucius (came from Lu) teach moral lessons to regional rulers how to behave Confucius edited annal of Lu plus another four called Confucius classics  Chinese traditional Canon every educated Chinese to read ideology 春秋:transitional period (role in ancient China) Fengjian system transits to multi-states system Zhou king has no power and cannot control the situation: regional state  Ba system (hegemon) formed to control the situation Features of this 春秋: 1. Decline of the center, new independent power center emerged, but states still pay lip service to Zhou king 2. Conflicts between regional states became more and more frequent 3. New elements joined: Chu/Wu/Yue state: they are not Zhou Chinese people Chu want to compete with Zhou and join Chinese world, but they don’t have written language to write down to become an advanced civilization Six arts: ritual 礼, music 乐, archery 射, writing, charioteer, counting  shared curriculum  links among different centers among aristocratic members  same cultural background  form great cultural traditions  single unified culture Cultural China: political regions doesn’t matter much as long as we have culture passing on generation after generation. Culture will always stay. Politically, culturally, Spring and Autumn was dominated by aristocratic groups. Major states of 春秋 晋: 西安, founding father is the younger brother of Western Zhou’s founding father 齐: fish industry, Shang people come from this place 宋: Confucius ancestor come from this place 燕: Beijing, different culture from Zhou 秦: 221 BCE, be looked down up, culturally backward Fight  swallow each other  403 Warring State started States still pay lip services to Zhou because: China was invaded by non-Chinese people, in order to resist the invasion, they needed to figure out to fight together with non-Chinese people. Regional rulers: Begin to use certain rules/rituals that should be only used by Zhou king  Don’t respect Zhou king

Within their own states, all aristocratic families also started to ignore their regional rulers. (what happened in the big world also happened in the small states). The rise of the Shi class 仕 Shi was educated (6 arts) but occupied the lowest lineages in Zhou, because: Zhou king has established most of the regional states. Many of the states were secondary states (established by non-Zhou Chinese people), attaching to major states. There was no land left to establish new states. So Shi served as stewards/book keepers in their big regional states. Ba system (hegemon): fight with non-Chinese people Suffer invasions from Non-Chinese people Duke of Qi (Duke Huan) asked many states to a meeting, decided Duke Huan should be the leader to fight against Non-Chinese people to serve as the Ba 春秋 was not yet a territorial state, they don’t have legitimacy, so they have the slogan: in the name of Zhou king Zhou king give gifts – two pieces of meat taken from sacrificial meat from temple of Zhou  to recognize the Duke Huan’s leadership as Ba Ba: 1. Unite Zhou Chinese people to fight against non-Chinese people and still honor Zhou king 2. Keep the Fengjian order 3. In reality, Ba became political games for large powerful states to rely on the competition of the leadership. They could control small states and swallow small states Ba system actually subverted Fengjian system Small states follow leaders Song state (one of the small states) contact with powerful states to have a meeting, they agree to stop fighting, to have truce, peace conference. Significance of Ba: It is most probably the earliest historical record that we have in terms of inter states disarmament not just in Chinese history but also in the world history. Meng (盟): meeting to reach agreement, pact Swear oath: smear the blood on lips from animals as a sign of the oath 歃血为盟 Function of Ba: 1. lead the Chinese people to fight with the non-Chinese people 2. has the power to interfere the internal affairs of regional states If state want to give his position to the son of concubine, the Ba could interfere, could restore the eldest son to be the successor The successor is not faliuw to his father, Ba could remove him prevent the regional rulers to allocate the status of concubines 二奶

Warring State Why called Warring State? Constant warfare This period most of the states delicate all their time to the military extension Major differences between 战国&春秋 1. 春秋 regional states pay lip services to Zhou king. But 战国 no more lip service Actual center of power resided in 7 most powerful regional states The most symbolist change: the rulers of 7 states started to call themselves “king”. In 春秋, Ba only call themselves duke or lord, but not king 2. Further decline of aristocracy and the rise of the Shi class. In 战国, China was no longer dominate by people who are in in aristocratic families Dominated by people whose status was depending on their talent and skills Zhou gradually developed from aristocracy to meritocracy (精英) 3. Second Bureaucracy took place. (官僚主义) Bureaucracy replace aristocracy at this period of time 4. Technological break throughs – iron technology occurred Iron use  make a breakthrough  Cast iron (original wrought iron which contain little carbon) contain more carbon  break easily  produce not only agricultural tools but also many weapons  engage in warfare fighting against enemies  enter a new stage of technology 猜测: Shang people has already know how to produce bronze  depend on the skills to produce iron Zhou king formally recognized the position of Jin state In 403, 3 aristocratic families in Jin state divided Jin into 3 parts, Han 韩, Wei 魏, Zhao 赵. These names were originally their family names in the Jin state. They defeated other aristocratic families. They cannot wipe out each other in the end. They each became an independent state. 3 of 7 states of Warring states. 赵 have more opportunities to interact with non-Chinese people. 赵 was the first one learning how to wear trousers, short shirts (because that will allow them how to fight with other states). 赵 was the only one who was the arrival to 秦. 7 powerful states: 燕: most of population were not Chinese people, most were related to Korean and mentrolies Military strong, defeated and wiped out Qi and helped Qin to wipe out other states 齐: militarily and economically powerful, fishing industry 楚: be looked down upon, culturally backward. Continued to be strong. Ruler of Chu is the first one to call himself king. 秦: unify and centralize China in 221. Be looked down upon. Discipline their soldiers  military force

Features of 7 states 1. Centralization of power in one’s hand Rulers wants to concentrate power in their own hands. They no longer wanted to rule through delegated power but monopolize power in their own hands. All the states eventually became centralized administration. They appointed directly people who have no blood relationships to rule newly conquered land, no longer appointed their families. 2. Bureaucratization Shi people were directly appointed by the rulers to serve as bureaucrats. Rulers appoint Shi to help them govern the state. Rulers no longer rely on their family members to be the bureaucrats. They developed a new structure – bureaucracy, which was an administrative system, in the system, they established a very clear goal and personnel standards  to recruit, promote, and evaluate people working in the system. Those who entered into the system not because their blood and family background but relied on their skills and talents. Once entered into the system and served as an official, they could never again like the aristocratic family that those government positions were not hereditary. Shi began to regard themselves as the best people: they believe they are the most rightful people to help the rulers run the government. New centralization-bureaucracy state came into being because of the merging of the interest of the Shi class and the interest of the rulers. For the rulers, he got the best talents to help them run the government. For the Shi class, they gained an upward social ability and social hierarchy because they entered into the government. 3. Militarization New centralized states solve problems through military power instead of negotiation. Warfare increased in frequency and severity based on the iron weapon appearance. Ordinary life was impacted severely. Military theory: The art of warfare 孙子兵法. It was composed from Chunqiu to warring state. 4. All those states have a clear goal: To enrich the state and strengthen the military power They all have a concrete goal: make their states rich and military strength powerful. (19 世纪 again begin the goal to deal with western and Japanese power)  conquer other states 5. Interfere the life of their people in all subjects, economic & intellectual life All these new states began to interfere the economic and intellectual life of the ordinary people. Several measures to control people: a) Made written law widely known to their people. They wanted to make everyone be treated equally under the law. The law applied equally not only to the ordinary people but also to the members of remaining aristocratic families. The king is the only person who was not restricted by the law. (In 春 秋, law never made it known to ordinary people since aristocratic members think ordinary people will try to argue with you and invade the legal rules.) b) Established household registrations. They established census. They know exactly how many members in one household and could tax them.  tax political control Once the tax political control established, the king no longer relied on the aristocratic families to collect tribute goods from ordinary people.

(in 春秋, the ruler had to rely on the lineage members who lived in the surrounding settlements to collect harvest goods to themselves and they would save part of them and sent the surplus to the regional rulers, and the regional rulers saved part of them and sent the surplus to the Zhou king. 井田制 well field system  land system during Feng Jian era: 8 families live in each plot, each family cultivate their own land, all the families will have to cultivate the central land. The product from the central land will be sent to the regional rulers. And the regional rulers will be sent to the central government. From their own land, each family will save part of the harvest, and then give the rest of the harvest to the aristocratic families in their village. The aristocratic families would save part of them and sent the rest to the regional ruler.) But during Warring State, no longer exist because part of the harvest would not be sent to the capital.  county was directly appointed by the king and household registration established. Collapse of well field system and the emergence of land grant to individual ordinary people. people have private land to deal with.  for the purpose of tax registration and have sufficient male to serve as military power. c) All the new states went through a period of reform. And they relied on the reformed measures to control their general public.  to change all the laws and institutions that has been existed for a long time  秦 performed the best reform 秦 reform: 商鞅 helped the ruler to reform putting forward certain measures: 1. Collective responsibility The law applied equally to everyone. Each individual household would be group with another 4 individual households. 5 individual households would constitute a small unit, which is Bao. 10 Bao constitute Jia. Everyone in the system have to watch over each other and were responsible for reporting any crime in the Bao to immediate official, or you and your whole family would be severely punished. 2. Grant a noble rank system to any adult who had established military deeds. Kill people and chop off their ears and bring back their ears. You will receive a noble rank and have a piece of land as a gift.  encourage soldiers and promote new opening land 3. Offer pieces of land to ordinary people Increase agriculture activity To enrich the states (open up new land cultivate tax them more  agriculture  enrich) For 商鞅, two kinds of people are the most useful for the states: 1. Peasants: the main forces to help the government increase the agriculture activities and so enrich the state. 2. Soldiers: help the government fight the enemies Two kinds of people disliked most: 1. Businesspeople/merchants: they did not really produce anything

2: Scholars: they were educated, and they had their own ideas so they would argue with you Shang Yang Abolish Well field system, because they are granted land. If you want to leave any region governed by Qin, you have to show your identification card 县 establishment of county The appearance of county was only in the frontier region in Spring & Autumn 楚 first established county. They don’t want to send their families to rule the newly conquered area. Not all those states have county in 春秋. So county was not that significant in 春秋. But in warring state, those land areas in 7 states were much larger by swallowing other small states. They increased the population and land size. They wanted to have a clear boundary cut with neighbor states. They all started to establish a clear boundary cut with their neighbor states. Within the land areas, there were a large territorial unit, there was a capital and all power concentrated in the capital by the king.  emergence of territorial state  they all have centralized administration and bureaucratized administrative structure. Significance of county: it served as the basic geographic and administrative unit of the new centralized state and replaced the settlement. We call it a new state because it became a new centralized and bureaucratic states: 1. County gradually replaced the settlement. The basic geographic unit of the territorial state became county. No longer delegatory 2. Shi replaced aristocratic groups; they became bureaucrats. 3. Lineage were no longer social and political unit in Warring state

Chinese Political Thoughts Chinese political thoughts emerged around 6-5th century BCE, because we see reflective thinking occurred, 1000 years later than the formation of civilization. The formation of the state is the earliest formation of Chinese political thoughts Formation of Chinese civilization occurred from Shang (1600) The emergence of intellectual thought represented philosophical breakthrough – reflective thinking on questions like what should an ideal a community be? Human condition? Axial civilization – because they all produce their reflective thinking, start to ask questions, what should an ideal a community be? Human condition?  philosophical breakthrough Han 汉: there were at least 10 schools of thoughts, competed with each other. Among them, 5 of them were considered to be the most important ones: Confucianism, (Daoism), Moism, Legalism, School of Yin & Yang Confucianism defines what Chinese means Confucius: Analects 论 to select 语 sayings– text full of sayings collected from Confucius by students The most reliable text to understand Confucius. The contents in Analects could be believed to reflect tradition that went back to Confucius Confucius came from state of Lu (son of Zou) Confucius came from the lower aristocratic class –Shi class –scholars –serve as scribes/ stewards Confucius was a ritual expert First teacher in China. He served as a steward when he was young in Lu. He wanted to spread knowledge to the commoners. He never refused any students because of his social status.  educational idea very revolutionary subverting the Feng Jian order Ideal picture in his mind: He tried to restore the ideal Feng Jian order established by Duke of Zhou. Preserve the hierarchical social structure and didn’t want to change the basic institution. He considered Feng Jian hierarchy as a given fact of life. (the hierarchy was not based on the blood but based on your skills.) Education can change a person’s social statis and hierarchy. Central ideas: Reinterpret 君子: Before Confucius: used as the sons of lords. After Confucius: more complicated meanings: morally superior person/ a person with high moral character. 君子 was no longer defined by your blood, but by nobility and your moral character.  revolution Ren 仁 Before Confucius: Ren simply mean manliness

After Confucius: Ren refers to all moral virtues and moral values, which would make a person essentially human being. Ren translated as humanity/Good/humanness/love…  depending on the contexts Li 礼 rites/rituals Before Confucius: There was no moral content about Li. During Shang, Li simply means rituals. Li had been existing from Shang. Shang relied on sacrificial rituals to communicate with the dead ancestors and god. These li had magical significance. Rituals were important instruments through the regional rulers, they could deal with the gods/deities. Gods bring good harvest to them. Keep them from disasters. After Confucius: Li refers to various meanings. 1. It refers to the specific ritual regulations. 2. It refers to political principles, social norms or reasonable codes of behavior (proper individual behavior). 3. Li was regarded as culture, representing civilization. Ren is the inner substance behind Li. Li really represent people’s outward behaviors of Ren. A perfect and ideal 君子: Ren and Li behave in a balance manner for a person to become a morally superior person. Ren is inside us, it is up to ourselves to realize Ren in our life. Confucius political vision Restore Feng Jian order created by Duke of Zhou The most important goal of a political situation: achieve civilized and cultured society. In the society, Ren & Li would be both realized. Rely on the moral examples of the ruler to realize the ideal this situation “if the ruler himself went right, all will go well without orders. If the ruler doesn’t behave properly, even though he gives orders, his orders will not be obeyed.” The moral behavior of the ruler is the key for the society The relationship in the hierarchy is reciprocal. 互惠 Let the ruler be ruler, the minister be minister, the father be father. The relationship between them is reciprocal. If the ruler function properly, then the minister function properly. This relationship was reinterpreted during 汉. Confucius pointed out that economic conditions were important. Confucius wanted to make people be rich first, after that, make them civilized. You cannot make an ordinary people who has nothing to live to behave properly.先有面包在谈文化 君子 should endure poverty Provide education to his student and help them to serve in the government and let them help the ruler to create the idealized political order, and so he create the role of state advisor/official.

孟子 Master Meng/Mencius 5th generation Confucius scholar

Mencius didn’t have great influence during his period. Through Mencius, Confucius’s teaching continuously become the vital thoughts. Mencius thoughts—two parts: Moral & Political 1. Political: a) common people/ordinary Chinese people 民 The Feng Jian order completely collapsed, and the commoners were suffering terribly. The concrete idea of Min became the primary concern in Chinese society. Mencius then concerned about protect interests of ordinary people. He asserted that. It was people rather than the ruler to be the reason why there should be political state. If there was no Min, then there was no state. Mencius was the first one who made a clear distinction between people, state, and the ruler. People are the most important, and then the state, and last the ruler. (Confucius had never made this distinction) b) Mencius also made distinction between two types of governances: - Kinley rule 王道 Consider material well-being and morally well-being of Min as the first priority. The government make itself strong, you would win genuine support by ordinary people even from other states to your own state. Kinley rule is to practice a human way of rule. Human government should be based on moral virtues of Ren 仁& Yi 义(moral obligation/ strong sense of duty ) go together (孔子...


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