Table of Contents
A
B
C
D
E
F
The Big Picture ...................................................................................................................... 2
1
Time ..........................................................................................................................................2
2
Space and place ........................................................................................................................2
3
Identity ......................................................................................................................................3
4
China’s history mapped ............................................................................................................4
Origin Stories ........................................................................................................................ 5
1
Introduction ..............................................................................................................................5
2
How We Tell Our Stories: Artifacts vs. Texts.............................................................................5
3
Culture Heroes and Sage Kings .................................................................................................5
4
What Archaeology Tells Us .......................................................................................................6
5
The History of the Two Stories..................................................................................................6
Legitimation of Power in Antiquity ........................................................................................ 7
1
Introduction ..............................................................................................................................7
2
The Shang System and its Sources ............................................................................................7
3
Sources of Shang – how to read a Bronze vessel? ....................................................................7
4
Sources of Shang – origin of writing .........................................................................................8
5
The Zhou system and its sources ..............................................................................................9
6
Zhou bronzes.......................................................................................................................... 10
7
Conclusion – Zhou moves east............................................................................................... 10
Discussing One Interpretation of the Nature of Chinese Civilization .......................................10
1
Early Civilization in China: Reflections on How It Became Chinese ....................................... 10
2
Discussion of David Keightley article “What makes China Chinese?” ................................... 10
Confucius and Confucianism .................................................................................................11
1
The Many Faces of Confucianism .......................................................................................... 11
2
Confucius and the Analects.................................................................................................... 12
Competing Schools and Warring States .................................................................................14
1
The Hundred Schools of Thought .......................................................................................... 14
2
Strategies for Doing Good...................................................................................................... 14
3
Strategies for Survival ............................................................................................................ 15
4
Strategies for Gaining Control................................................................................................ 16
A
The Big Picture
1
Time
2

Dynasty = ruling house, empire, rule of an imperial family, great hierarchy, assumption of
a temporal limit = name of a country = period of time = territory = government. Dynasty
<> name of the ruling family, refers to some quality, in early times to a place.

Order of Dynasties (the song!):

Shang Zhou Qin Han

Sui Tang Song

Yuan Ming Qing Republic

Mao Tse Dong (People’s Republic)

Emperor is a baby? Emperess Dowager, a regent, question of succession is always at the
center. Male succession. One emperess: Wu Zetian, Zhou Dynasty. Empress Dowager
Cixi late 19th century had a horrible reputation.

All dynasties have come to power by struggle and conquest, usually military. Maintain
power also through military, bureaucracy, common ideologies, study of classics.

Field administration: leading officials are appointed centrally.

Other kinds of periodization: archaeology; feudal-capitalist-socialist societies.

Dynasties = cyclical <> progressive change ideology.

Social time: how do people live their lives? This is mainly circular = agriculture = solar
calendar.

Lunar calendar. Leap month every 7 years.

Sexagenary cycle (a set of 10x12 years). 60th birthday is a time of accomplishment as one
cycle has finished.
Space and place


ChinaX map. GIS system. Job: memorize the names of the provinces and major cities.
Also river systems.

Mountain = shan; River = he (in the south), jiang (in the north); Lake = hu

N = bei; S = nan; E = dong; W = xi
Physical geography: uplift of the Tibetan plateau (continental drift = India hits the
continent).
3

Tibet is very different from China proper = East. All the rivers in China flow east because
of the Tibetan plateau. Northernmost: the Yellow River. Middle: Yangzi River from
Sichuan to the Lower Yangzi basin. South: Pearl River.

North China Plain: drainage by the Yellow River from the Loess Plateau. Silted up and was
populated.

Sichuan Basin; Lower Yangzi Region; Middle Yangzi; Far South

9 Macro regions of Cores and Peripheries. (looks like a tic-tac-toe).

Distinction between north and south – just north of Shanghai. Different weather,
monsoon, temperatures, cropping patterns (rice <> wheat).

Climate: Dry north=wheat, humid south=rice. Warm and cold periods in Chinese history.
Consequences: shorter growing seasons if colder. Colder in the south, not as important:
actually increasing productivity as winter wheat was possible to grow.

Pastoral people in the north: when climate cools, those would be pushed to the south,
trying to raid the north China plane (beyond Beijing).

People and Geography: landscape is man-made to large degree. Water managementirrigation has a long tradition. Canals of the transport of goods. Natural transportation
corridors between the mountains. Old highways and modern railway systems are pretty
much the same.

Manmade features: Great Wall (was never an effective border between Central State and
Tribal Peoples. Grand Canal from 589 CE connected the capital in the north to the ricegrowing area in the Southeast.

Population movement was a common thing in China for a long time. Chang’an (Wei river
basin) on the silk road. Sea routes connected China to Japan and Southeast Asia.
Identity

Ethnicity? People’s Republic of China holds a lot of identities. But all “citizens” of the
PRC. 90% = Han Chinese, but lots of differences amongst them.

National minorities? Within a matter of months there were 56 national minorities – and
the same number remains today. Hakka (guests) <> Bandiren (locals).

Confucius time: Central States (‘Zhongguo’) having a common civilization. Surrounded by
tribes ‘Yidi’).

Ethnicity and Nationality go close together for the government of the PRC. Not correct for
the people of Taiwan…

Ye Shi: assumption with the role of the Central State comes morality and values that
others should want to share.
4

Society in China is not organised on equality, but on hierarchy. Outside the zong guo is by
definition inferior.

Language: a diverse set of languages in what is the PRC. National language <> spoken
language. This is a modern development. The national written language was shared for a
long time. Language and politics and culture have been intricately connected throughout
history. > written vernacular Chinese is a way to change.

Only refers to the literate elite. Chinese script appears all at once in a fully developed
system in 1200 BC on the oracle bones of the Shang kings (devination).

Normally phonemic as a norm. Each sound is represented by a character. Seems weird as
all early writing was hieroglyphic or cuneiform = representing things, not sounds.

Writing = sounds only happened in Mediterranean civilisations. Based on Egyptian images
started to represent sounds. Not in China, though. No alphabetisation in China. The
notion of a hieroglyphic writing system could be shared by everyone. Independent of
language. (Taiwan: use Roman alphabet to cut the bonds to China through the written
language).

Chinese has a lot of homophones. Early Chinese writing uses characters for words with
similar sound value. It is unknown how it evolved. No history at all. Chinese spread to
Japan, Korea, etc. but not to the Tribal Peoples (who developed their own scripts),
because they wanted to retain their independence from China, common writing =
common culture.

Writing is fundamental to Chinese identity.
China’s history mapped
Three conclusions with regard to Chinese history, based on the maps:

After an initial period of assertion in the core areas (corresponding to the most populated
areas today south of the line from Yunnan to Beijng), a waxing and waning movement
seems to characterise the development.

Invasions of tribal peoples (I’m assuming that the red areas indicate ‘barbarian’ dynasties)
is always followed by a reassertion of the ‘locals’ within a short-ish period of time and the
removal of the foreign dynasty over time.

China seems to have had a consistent taste for a route to the west, along the silk route.
This might be a wish to control that trade for their own benefit, or simply a way to secure
proper use of the trade route.
An addendum based on the second set of maps:

The simplification of map one has been augmented with overlapping territories. This
probably indicates some kind of diplomatic relationship or control over other groups of
people.

There is also an obvious ‘shoving away’ movement that usually starts from the fertile
central areas and gradually pushes out ‘barbarians’ in order for the ruling dynasty to
(re)occupy the fertile lands.
B
Origin Stories
1
Introduction
2
3

Peking man: 1.000.000 BC; Modern Humans: end of Paleolithic ear (100.000 before
today); Neolithic era (10.000)

Yangshao, Longshan (black pottery), Hongshan, Hemudu cultures
How We Tell Our Stories: Artifacts vs. Texts

Artefacts: archaeology = study of human past based on material remains. Reconstruct the
behaviours from material objects. Technology. Decorations. Symbols. Identity.

Function of objects. How to determine? Context. (Burials, living houses, palaces,
religious surroundings). Reconstructions of rites, wealth, status. Comparison of different
artifacts. Definition of a “culture”. How civilisation begins.

Archaeology is fairly recent. In the past, other ways were used to understand history and
knowledge of previous times. Documents. Depictions of benevolent rule of a Sage king
(Yao). Public institutions were created. Virtues embodied in the leader. Contemporary
political norms. Documents cannot be taken at face value, but they contain a true base
about history. Discussion about historical value in se.

We have to pull together two traditions of knowledge in order to understand history
correctly: archaeology (science) AND study of historical documents and traditions.

Emperor Yao: textual story created about 500 BC, but set 2000 years before that =
beginning of civilisation. Figures are NOT gods, but humans doing things beneficial to the
world. Culture heroes are transforming humankind from animals to humans. From
hunter/gatherers to fishermen/farmers. Civilisation exists to improve the life of people.
Culture Heroes and Sage Kings

Yao, Shun and Yu. Yao appears and invents government (abt. 2400 BC) > calendar (solar =
agriculture, lunar = counting the months). He delegates authority, he harmonises.

does NOT transmit his power to his son, but he tries to find a desirable ruler: Shun. He
comes from a horrible family and he still stayed with them and brought them to peace.
Yao gave him his two daughters as wives. Rule by the worthy. Not family. Shun
elaborates on Yao: ceremonies/rituals, insignia to rank people. Moral models, law and
punishment (not imprisonment, that is modern). He does inspection tours. He
understands that political system also organises society.
4
5

He grows old and meets many challenges: also a flood. Yu is in charge of assisting with
the flood and eventually receives the power. The flood interrupts the connections and
Shun drains the rivers and rebuilds. Noah is passive: Yu is active and achieves. Man
overcomes nature.

Yu gives it to his son, etc. > dynasty = Xia dynasty. That is eventually overthrown by the
Shan dynasty.

Yao, Shun, Yu: government of the worthy. One king rules all, single line of development.
Government is meant to improve the human condition. Why was this such an appealing
story in 500 BC? Because it was a time of warring kingdoms and those stories were a
vision they were trying to create.
What Archaeology Tells Us

Modern archaeology also has political meaning in contemporary China. Starts in 1920s,
started by Gunnar Andersson (a Swedish geologist): he finds a set of fossils of Peking man
(homo erectus), and remains of the Yangshao Culture (Neolithic culture. Dated 1200 BC:
that seems to start relatively late) . Maybe Chinese civilisation did not develop in China,
but came from outside?

Animal flutes: 9000 before present. So older than thought.

Peking man: 500.000 years ago – north china, hunter/gatherer, stone tools, his bones
were lost in 1941.

Homo Sapiens: 40.000 BP: “out of Africa” thesis > successive waves, early ones do not
survive.

16.000 BP > migration to North America.

11.000 BC > post-glacial peak : beginning of the Neolithic in China (Yangshao). Pottery
artefacts (brown, clonky pottery) to determine the linear development. Single origin.
Both those are not correct. Already at 5000 BC there are differences between north (pit
dwellings) and south (pole buildings). Different plants and fruits. Northern and Southern
cultures are still widely different.

Late Neolithic: interaction between the multiple origin cultures. =Longshan period (black
pottery, thin, wheel-made), Jade objects = shamanism? Rammed earth buildings.
Organised government, religion, are in place.
The History of the Two Stories

Confucian story: single origin, linear story. Archaeology story: multiple origin. Confucian
story served a purpose of showing an alternative to the warring states. Archaeology story
is also a story about what China COULD be: all interests should be accommodated.

China today is uncertain how to teach origin: the Confucian stories have been taken into
the history lessons, but not as stories, rather as historical figures.

Xia dynasty is being looked for: no evidence is forthcoming until now, but it is urgently
searched for in China.
C
Legitimation of Power in Antiquity
1
Introduction
2
3

Xia > Erlitou? Until king Jie; Shang Dynasty historically attested 17th-11th c BC (Tang, first
Shang king) > capital Yin > ruins of Yin, Yinshu > Bronze vessels with inscriptions. Last King
Zhou = violent; new dynasty: Zhou, King Wen, but only his son king Wu at -1050, founding
of the Zhou dynasty 1050 – 256 BC.

Neolithic to Bronze age. = advent of the Shang dynasty. Single king is lord over many
peoples. How did he legitimate his rule?

Artifacts: a) Bronze vessels, b) dragon bones = oracle bones = first attested form of writing
in China.

Text: evidence about early legitimation. Shangshu has a book for Shang, Zhou (Zhoushu):
it says why Zhou was legitimated to take over the rule from Shang. Chinese can legitimate
overthrowing a ruler, while in Japan this is not possible (Emperors descending from the
gods!).
The Shang System and its Sources

Burials: sacrificial victims, jade and bronze ceremonial daggers, Bronze pots (some with
victims in it)

Capitals move around: last one in Anyang (Henan)

Royal lineage created new lines to move to new capitals, the new units become part of
the Shang apparatus = feudal system with nobles, their own territory, ancestors, but
linked to the capital.

Ceremonies served to keep connections: often vessels were given = material culture
supports the kinship ties.
Sources of Shang – how to read a Bronze vessel?

Shang vessels have been looked for throughout Chinese history.

They often have signs that might be clan insignia somewhere. Highly abstract pattersn,
with mid-level and background level patterns.

Bronzes are the most important artifacts, beside weapons, horse implements, etc. ; daily
live, relatively few. These are ritual vessels, especially the ding (round vessel with
handles, fangyi (square, house shaped), gong/guang (animal shaped). Some have very
delicate decorations.
4

Early period: often animal shaped, early: often simple, geometric decorations. 10/11th
century: often strong relief – animal mask patterns, but also geometric abstractions.
Early: relief, later: protrusions from the vessel itself.

Décor <> technology. The change is related to technology. Once the bronzes lost their
importance, the production process was simplified.

Geographical differences: different from today. Always related to central plains. In Shang
times, they were different, but heavily influenced by the central plains. The differences
widened in the 10th century as the central power diminished.

Other objects than bronzes with the same decorations? Also animal mask patterns on
bone objects. Some social meaning attached, but impossible to interpret.

Bronze casting in China: unique method: piece mold technique = model in clay > small
pieces are molded separately. Decoration was cast, not chiselled etc.

Mediterranean bronzes are hammered, then put together. Not much bronze is used =
expensive.

Structure: High God (Shangdi) > other gods > dead ancestors > Living King >>> ritual use:
offerings of the living kings to their ancestors < access to information and help. Oracles!!!
Foreknowledge. Religious structure is basically animistic, with a hierarchy of gods.

About man’s place in the world we cannot control, but would like to control. The Shang
kings kind of erased the boundary between the living and the gods, by having their
ancestors living in the realm of the gods. Feeding the ancestors was fundamental for the
Shang to be successful. This meant the need for resources and success > they had to keep
conquering. For peace and harmony in the world, WE have to control and conquer, so
that our ancestors and the gods stay in power. LEGITIMATION Dragon/oracle bones bring
the answer to HOW the information was brought from the god realm to the human realm.

Where does the ore come from? (flat plains and north west mountains) Where are they
found? (in graves, used as vessels of great significance, reflecting social status; also
ceremonial use = offering to the dead) How where they used? Who paid for them? Who
owned them?
Sources of Shang – origin of writing

Oracle bones indicate the origin of writing. What is their significance?

Bones are usually ox shoulder blades or turtle underbellies. Mostly partial, but some are
complete. Usually, the bone was levelled and the irregularities were used for divination.

Heat forms cracks, the form and sound (character ‘bu’) could be interpreted.

There is also ‘writing’ on the bones. Very early characters: terse divination statements:
preface (cyclical dates, diviner, location), charge (topic of the divination) crack number
(auspicious or not), prognostication, verification.
5

Questions are often found in pairs.

Questions to the ancestors: what kind of sacrifice to you want.

The last 200 years of Shang dynasty history has been reconstructed from oracle bone
records, in coincidence with the textual record for this period!

Not all oracle bones have inscriptions/writing. The vast majority did not! The bones
started in late Neolithic times, mostly with shoulder bones from all kinds of animals, but
the tradition become more specialised with removing of spines of the scapula, polishing,
etc. to get a more predictable type of result. At some time the turtle plastrons come into
play.
The Zhou system and its sources

They come from the west to overthrow the Shang dynasty, while the last two kings of
Shang were starting to see themselves as more than human, but god-like, they started
doing their own divinations. The Zhou – on the other hand – needed legitimation to
overthrow the Shang and this was achieved by using writing in a way that goes beyond
divination: they used writing to persuade people, thus elevating writing to something that
has its own power.

King Wen: he shines in Heaven = Zhou god. Has a mandate from heaven. Same as Di, the
Shang god, has the same mandate. He is also the start of a long line of family, he has
officials / a government. He takes comfort in the many officials of his kingdom. King Di
gave his mandate to Zhou, and the Shang bowed down to Zhou. “Think always of your
ancestors” – the mandate is not easy to keep, may it not end with you.

We cannot know heaven, but we can make King Wen our pattern. (someone we can take
as our model) A switch from the heavens to a more worldly view of a physical person in
the form of King Wen.

The Zhou system and its sources: “God in his might … examined them and hated the laxity
of their rule and turn his gaze to the West and here made his place.” Move from Shang to
Zhou. Shang: God and the ancestors are together. Zhou: the god is not just with you, he
can take the mandate away if the rule is not good quality. No such thing as eternal
mandate.

Heaven has a mandate. Di used to be a Shang god, but it has now been turned into a
universal god that is also the Zhou god.

Zhou’s god is call tian (heaven) tienxia (under heaven). God has decided that Shang was
unworthy and Zhou was worthy. The populace are the eyes and ears of god. The sky
today is not the sky the Zhou saw. 1059 BC: conjunction of the 5 visible planets. In 1058
the Zhou adopt the Shang calendar. Universal claim to control the calendar. = First year
of the Zhou claim to a mandate. Exactly 12 years later King Wu conquers the Shang = one
cycle of Jupiter. Orders from up high > Zhou goes into action.
6
7

If we misbehave, we lose our mandate. At first, this is about performing the rituals
correctly.

Is this the beginning of a sense of morality? Do we act according to the rules and rituals.
Attention was shifted from the dead (offerings) to the living (the way we make the
offerings). This is something WE share and it applies to all. = part of a larger community
of the civilised. Those who do not share it, are the outsiders.

World of the central states, Zhongguo <> surrounded by tribal people, yidi = barbarians.
Zhou bronzes

Inheritors of the Shang tradition. Same casting technique and some of the same styles.
As times progresses, the decoration includes more and more subjects: birds, elephants ,
etc. Also bone carvings with the same subjects. Also rhinoceros, hunted for food and
their hide (armour). Longer inscriptions appear on vessels etc.

The designs on the vessels appear to be much bolder and less angular than Shang vessels.
They have been given a pedestal in addition to the actual vessel. Probably for
presentation purposes. = an altar?

Also more 3D aspect of the decoration, not just relief, but actually articulated digurines
jutting out of the vessel itself. Openings in the surface appear.
Conclusion – Zhou moves east

1200>800 BC: Writing, organised religion, heaven’s mandate, morality.

Emergence of history as a way of thinking: looking back and deciding to be or not to be
just like the people before us.

The Yidi grew more eager to share in the Zhou’s wealth. The capital was moved. The
vassals of the Zhou turned out to become more powerful than the Zhou themselves.

Confucius appears into this particular world.
D
Discussing One Interpretation of the Nature of Chinese Civilization
1
Early Civilization in China: Reflections on How It Became Chinese

2
Re: inscriptions on oracles bones to determine the history of the Shan dynasty. What are
typical Chinese cultural characteristics? Some of them are based on Neolithic society.
Discussion of David Keightley article “What makes China Chinese?”

Those reasons can be found in the Shan dynasty already, according to Keightley.

Persuasive: if you look at pottery (Greek: individuals, Shan: harmonious) afterlife (Greek:
problem, Shan: no division between living and dead) cities (nicely laid out in China),
society (Greek: competitive, China: heros are models), individuality (Greek: yes, China:
no). In general, the article seems to be correct, but…

E
1
Stereotypes: China has a society that is communal, harmonious, defined by conceptions of
harmony that are more enduring than those in the West. Does not explain how China
keeps reinventing itself, or how science and politics are always flexible. A very simpleminded concept of culture that is unchangeable.
Confucius and Confucianism

771: the Zhou king was killed and the capital was moved > beginning of the Eastern Zhou
period = constant warfare. First few centuries: String and Autumn Period, from 481:
Warring States Period till 221.

About 200 vassal states were left to fight for themselves. One of these states: Qin, was to
eventually win.

Iron technology started to find their way during the Warring States period. The Zhou
court only had a tiny area.

This time also started a lot of discussion on the intellectual level. Travelling thinkers, one
of which was Kungze or Zhongni = Confucius.
The Many Faces of Confucianism

“This culture of ours resides here” from the Analects of Confucius. The founders are long
gone, but is not their culture still with me here?

Even today, even in a foreign place, participating in this culture is important to us.

“Can you learn how to be a sage?” The answer is YES. They are talking about Confucius, a
man who is a model to be learned from.

Confucius has remained an important figure in Chinese history from his life until today.

Confucius the sage, the philosopher, the paragon of education, but also the Confucius of
the Anelects, saying that he wrote down.

The Analects have been read in many countries and commented in many languages,
indicating its huge popularity and application in different settings.

How to approach Confucius: someone who lived in a certain place and time, responding
to the events of the time and place. States were competing for wealth and power.

States need revenues for large armies and start to employ specialists: These people were
called ‘zhi’. He could have been anything, but he chooses to devote his life to learning.
The useless kind of learning! “The learning of today is to please others”. He was loyal to
the Zhou dynasty, which is weak at that time.

The founding of Zhou is seen as a model.
2
Confucius and the Analects

Confucius wants to serve. He wanted to decide his own worth. Do what’s right, not what
is advantageous. He always makes a distinction between devotion to oneself and the
family, and the demands of the state.

He defines the problems of the time: “We have lost the way”. His job is to say what the
right path should be, how to find the right path.

Plato says that the ideas of the form can never be the same as the real form.

For Confucius sees that there is a gap between IS and OUGHT, but that we will have an
opportunity to change the path we are on, if we act in the right moment to achieve a
proper and moral life.

I know the problem, and we can solve it. How does he know what the right way is? He
says that there is a source that tells us how the way should be today: the Zhou dynasty
foundation. “I like antiquity and am good at seeking it”. He takes something from the
past and brings it to the present.

His answer is: “ritual”. Very much in the sense of ceremony. Everyone has roles they
practice = carrying out the ritual they change the situation. Also modern ceremonies.

Everybody carries out the role in harmony in order to complete something. Each person
has roles to play and by daily practice of the rituals keeps us out of harm’s way in
relationships to others.

Good government: let the ruler act as a ruler should act, a father as a father should act,
etc.

The magic in Confucianism: you can make things happen. One person receives
instructions, and carries them out. Just by using the ritual, you can make people behave
in a (civilised) way. This only works if both participants have virtue. Things happen by
command.

Ritual with attitude. Confucius talks about the Ji family: “they use 8 rows of dancers in the
courtyard, if this can be allowed, what cannot be tolerated?”. This indicates that they
used a prerogative of the royal family (8 rows!, how dare they). If you cannot get
everyone to act according to their role, there is no hope.

Why don’t we make ritual into laws and force people to follow them? Confucius says NO,
we need an attitude to follow them: it’s called “Ren”. You cannot have ritual without Ren,
you cannot make music without Ren, etc.

Ren is different: method of Ren (benevolent humaneness). To want others to advance to
the degree that you advance yourself. Not self-sacrifice. About the ability to look at
others and see their interest as well as your own.

To be a person of Ren, is to bring to bear an attitude of concern for others.

He redefines the role of a noble person: Junzi (son of a noble) = to be a (morally) noble
person. He tries to moves the political right towards the notion of moral person.

Learning is not “study”. It has a larger meaning of self-transformation, adding experience,
attitudes, et.c

Confucians in history want to be part of the system, but as moral actors. If things go
astray, they are willing to withdraw. They want to be a part, but not sell out.

Only the officials serving government can be real Confucians, according to him.

“I thread everything on a single strand”. What single strand theory can we derive from
the analects.

All those sayings are not necessarily coherent. How could we live by those?

Overcome yourself with ritual and you will become humane. <> What use is ritual if you
are not humane, you have no ren.

Nothing is easy or obvious. You have to think about things to figure out what the meaning
is supposed to be.

Is there a single thread? There is NO overall view, but he is doing in practice what he talks
about.
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Why was it important for him to live his life this way? Is there a “philosophy”? Is he sure
himself that he has one?
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Philosophy as seen by Confucius: a way of life where humans can become better able to
inspire those around us to be better beings.

Confucius had a number of desciples: the most important ones where Mencius and Xunzi.

Mencius lives when Confucianism has fallen under attack: “Why should we be good?” was
a question of his time: he answers with a mind experiment: a mother and toddler at a
road, the toddler runs into the street. Do you feel anything? You do not have to act, but
do you think you would feel anything?
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If you do, because it is instinctive to you. We prefer to care rather than not. Answer: you
should be good because it is your instinct, because you want to be what you already are.

This quality has to be cultivated though. Imagine a photographer next to the scene,
taking pictures. It seems as if he does not care, and that appears morally reprehensible.
How would Mencius solve that problem?

Continuum: Sages, Worthies, Humans, Barbarians, Animals. If you do not feel anything,
Mencius says that maybe you are not “human”.

“If we deny morality in us, then we are not human” is Mencius’ definition. Harsh!

Another follower is Xunzi, after Mencius. The wars have gotten worse. He writes a piece
“Human nature is evil”. He points out all the ways human nature is evil. Xunzi is very
intellectual, where Mencius is more about intuition and feeling. Xunzi is more about
theory and explanation.

How can both Mencius and Xunzi consider themselves as true followers of Confucius?

Xunzi was written out of the Confucian canon over time. But both say to cultivate the
virtues, be they natural or not. There is a spirit of “people can transform themselves”. If
those in government can learn to act morally, the world could be a better place.

Apart from those three, many other schools has appeared. Confucius: 6th BC, Xunzi: 3rd
BC. By the time of Xunzi, Confucianism had already fallen out of favour to a large degree.
F
Competing Schools and Warring States
1
The Hundred Schools of Thought
2
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People start to see the power of ideas and there is a sense of discovery about having an
idea.

We regard this proliferation as interesting and good, because we see the example of the
Greeks > civilization is moving from one order to another. In the Chinese tradition, this is
not a period regarded as “glorious”, but rather one of decline because people could not
agree = something was wrong with the world.

2 Core issues: ethical (how do I act?, see Mencius and Xunzi).

Political: how should the ruler act? Lots of different ways, but we will look at strategies:
how can we survive? How can we do good in the world we live in? How can I gain control
over the situation in a world of chaos and warfare?

Where did those thinkers get their ideas from? Classical text? Looking at the natural
world = natural philosophers?
Strategies for Doing Good

Mozi = Master Mo. Anti-Confucian because he did not like the focus on ritual
(background on craftsmen), pro-technology.

Offers a test of validity of a proposition! A standard by which to measure things: Did the
ancients think it was right? Does it accord with what people in general know to be so?
Does it bring benefit to the people?

It all three standards are met, the proposition is right.

He is the first thinker interested in universal ideas. Political: rule by the worthy? Worthy
people ought to hold positions; combined with conformity to your superiors. Problem:
the one position not based on talent is the RULER (heredity). The ruler is the son of
heaven, so the ruler is conforming to heaven. That is: heaven covers everything, brings
light, nurtures, predictable, regular. The natural world. There are certain values that a
ruler should follow.
On an ethical level: family: “we should love universally”. Take the emotions you feel
towards your father, extend those to all fathers in the world. Including father figures.
That will bring along harmony in the world.
3

Mozi is the first to be interested in absolutes. But will this work?

Yang Zhou = opposite of Mozi. “I should do good for myself alone”. “If I could save the
world by sacrificing one hair, I would not do it”. A better world by doing the best thing for
myself.

Everybody should solve their own problems. This is not anarchy to him, but a start of
people collaborating.

Gaining wealth and power is not of benefit for me. What is good for my health, what
makes me feel better.

“The Utopians” = farming communities without much hierarchy. Give us land and we will
set up an ideal community with equality. We will be a model for society.

Mencius ideas about the Mohists, Yangists, the Utopians is based on his perspective of
society. Mohists say, Family is universal. Mencius says: Family I special, but can you
better the family. Yangists say to disown the government, Mencius says: government has
a role to play, we have to make government work better. Mencius says to the utopists:
do you cook in a pot? You are not self-sufficient, so economy is real > we need to make
economy work more fairly for everyone.

This touches on Confucius: government family society economy are port of our life and
they can only be reformed, not removed.
Strategies for Survival

Two great Daoists: Zhuangzi and Laozi.

A sense that language is something through which we view the world, but in the end
language is somewhat arbitrary and there might not be a connection between language
and reality.

Hui Shi’s paradoxes: temporal and geographical mismatches in expressions. (The East is
the center of the world, the West is the center of the world.)

Time can be divided endlessly. The way we do so, the moment is obscured. If space is
infinite, everything is the center. His purpose is to say that there is no center, no one right
place or time. You should love everything inclusively.

Gongsun Long. A white horse is not a horse. Is it possible? Yes it is. >>> he uses a
mathematical route to disclaim this: “white” is a category 1, “horse” is a shape 2, so if a
white horse is a horse, then 1+2=2. And that cannot be. (weird, or what?)
4

Zhuangzi. Famous and funny essays. He likes jokes, Confucius is a fool, his anecdotes
often use animals < at the same time = sharp debator. Good argumentor. He does not
believe in eternal truths. He thinks that every thinker is right, but right from a different
relative position.

Can anything by definition be called good and right, depending on the position?

He is the one bringing up the riddle of the butterfly: Lying under a tree he dreamt to be a
butterfly, and when he woke up he wondered if it was Zhuangzi dreaming he was a
butterfly, or a butterfly now dreaming to be Zhuangzi?

“Go with the flow, go with the grain”. I’m learning about life, learning the Dao.

Looks like they have no ambition, but their ambition is to live a good life, to be good with
their skills, live in unity, but not striving for wealth and power.

Laozi: if something is universal and all-inclusive, naming it will diminish it. If the Dao is not
the Dao, why would you spend a lot of time talking about it. He talks about nature or how
the Dao works, how something comes from nothing, exists, and disappears again into
nothingness.

Laozi has advice for the ruler: if you want to rule successfully, keep your people stupid.
Do not encourage them to acquire knowledge. They will be easy to satisfy. Do not
interfere, do not force the world to be as you want ti. Do not seek wealth or power. The
taller they are the harder they fall. Softness can contain a blow, hardness is brittle and
breaks. Don’t seek, don’t strife. The room that is empty can contain everything. It’s
better to un-learn than it is to learn. Different from Mencius, Xunzi, etc.

Laozi “be like a new-born baby”. Dropping out is a way to survive.
Strategies for Gaining Control

Zou Yan: End of the Warring States period: the only way to survive is for somebody to win,
to take control. > organise the world and bring peace. He is a cosmologist: predictable
patterns and sequences. Human society could also follow those patterns if rulers
understood how the cosmos works.

There are cycles of change: categories of things. Expl: Agricultural year. History also has
cycles: ruler who understands those will be the one to conquer the others.

Zou Yan states that there are 5 phases: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. Things can
be categorized to those phases. Do things that fit the right moment. > yinyang books =
almanachs. Yin and Yang are in a cycle > follow those cycles and be successful.

Who will follow after the Zhou king? The person who knows to catch time and master
time.

Sunzi: The Art of War. Probably 6th century > Book only in 3rd century. Practical, very
simple advice. About terrain, using spy, dissension in enemy camp. There are practical
ways to understand how the world works, what is possible, acting accordingly.

Laozi and Sunzi have been revived in the 20th century. America, Japan and China have
been relying upon Sunzi over time.

Learn to see the world subjectively.

Han Fei: sometimes called a legalist. Student of Xunzi. Also influenced by the relativism
of the Daoists. The ruler who wants to secure his state: decide what he wants, and
reward/punish the people depending on their following his decisions. People are selfinterested.

It’s obvious and true. Why don’t rulers follow this? Because people see what he does and
try to influence him by directing the ruler into their way.

What to do? A ruler must never reveal what you want (Daoist). You should only want to
perpetuate your state. Officials need to be competent. THEY should tell the ruler what
the problem is, what the solution is, the ruler should give them command to get on with it
in the way they propose. If they succeed, they will be rewarded, otherwise punished.

Expl: punishment for failure in battle. Be competent and you’ll survive and be successful.
The ruler must become “invisible”. He cannot have desires, be frugal, the laws must be
obeyed always. Han Fei has pinned the rulers down to be subject to the interest of the
state.
Conclusion

5
Thinkers are not religious thinkers, they did create secular philosophies – very much
worldly, political. Concern for the human world, political and personal. We as humans
can figure out what needs to be done and do it. But which way did China take? Do good?
Survive? Take control?