Ancient Chinese Civilization - Essay Example

Full (phone no. & e-mail address number The Art of Governance (Confucianism and Daoism) 21 October Introduction Chinese civilization is the worlds oldest existing civilization today. Although it has been predated by other more ancient civilizations like that of the Indus Valley (Sanskrit) or of the civilization from ancient Mesopotamia (modern-day Iraq) or that of Egyptian pharaohs, these civilizations had long ceased to exist and now just confined to history books. Chinese civilization is also experiencing a revival of sorts today, with many people trying to learn the Mandarin language, with its system of character writing, which is generally considered as the most difficult ever language to learn, let alone master. Ancient China had given the world a lot of useful inventions too, such as the use of paper, the introduction of currency and coinage, its discovery of gunpowder, a cultural heritage like the Great Wall of China built by the emperor Shih Huang Ti whose fairly-recent discovery of his impressive funerary arrangements in a big burial compound containing an impressive array of a terra-cotta army consisting of an 8,000+ life-sized warriors, 400 horses and 100 chariots had astounded archaeologists and historians alike, and the first use of a bureaucracy in the form of civil service to administer an empire. It is said Shih Huang Ti searched for an elixir of youth to attain immortality but failed. Discussion The main concern of Confucius was to attain social order and political stability. This is because the period in which he lived was marked by chaos and constant warfare among the various states and people were displaced and inconvenienced as innocent victims of ambitions of various warlords. The key to a peaceful existence, according to the analysis of Confucius, was a return to the virtues of humanity and benevolence in social relations by reciprocity. Confucius asserted that the younger generations must profess filial obedience as a form of duty, one that is forced or emphasized on them as dutiful sons and daughters, because children brought up this way will also end up as benevolent citizens when they turn into adulthood. This is what Confucius meant when he said, “a young mans duty is to be filial to his parents at home, and respectful to his elders abroad, to be circumspect and truthful . . .” [I:6] because young people who exercise filial piety also are expected to care for their parents when these parents grow old. Filial piety and benevolence translate into kindness for parents and all old people, caring for them always and sensitive to their needs, while benevolence in the larger social sphere will reduce violence. A simple act of kindness will transform society, as other people also reciprocate with kindness, creating a virtuous cycle for everyone. His admonition is something that he thought is doable, as it is quite simple to do, and only if each individual member of society follow this simple rule, then tranquility can prevail. There would be no more wars, no evil, no cruelty and no violence that destroys any society. It is further strengthened with his own rule for reciprocity, “do not do to others what you would not want others to do to you” [XV:23]. This is the negative or reverse side of the same coin, contained in the Christian teaching of “do unto others what you want done unto you.” This is the basic principle that should govern all human interactions as evidenced through loyalty and reciprocity in any society, where respect and kindness begets the same respect and kindness. A distinguishing feature of Confucianism is its emphasis on the practical and doable, as stated earlier. The two virtues of filial piety and benevolence will then naturally manifest into respect for parents and other people; these later on will create the habit of respect for the authorities too. Citizens who have these two qualities will regard the laws of the land as something to be followed and obeyed to the letter without questioning or doubts. Peace and order will then be attained as people act accordingly based on their status in the hierarchy. On the other hand, the Daoist principles of living are centered not on the materiality of human existence but more focused and concentrated on the higher planes of philosophical discussions. “The True Man of ancient times knew nothing of loving life, knew nothing of hating death. He emerged without delight, he went back in without a fuss. He came briskly, he went briskly and that is all. He didn’t forget where he began; he didn’t try to find out where he would end. . .” wherein this time-honored principle in Daoism where Man is not supposed to care too much about the material world but rather just surrender and enjoy his existence while he lives, without a care in the world, but at the same time obey the authorities without usual questioning. A Daoist disciple likewise does not care about fame or wisdom at all. The overall philosophy of Daoism is to just let things be, to be like the water that can take the shape of any container in which it is poured into. While Confucius urged his follower students to make a conscious effort at obedience and loyalty in order to improve their society, the Daoist disciple does not make any effort at all in this regard, but rather blends perfectly in whatever surroundings he finds himself in, “He received something and took pleasure in it; he forgot about it and handed it back again. This is what I call not using the mind to repel the Way, not using man to help out Heaven. This is what I call the True Man. . .” as contrasted to the Confucian teaching of “The gentleman devotes his efforts to the roots, for once the roots are established, the Way will grow therefrom. Being good as a son and obedient as a young man is, perhaps, the root of a man’s character. . .” which implies a conscious effort. The essence of Daoism is to be one with the universe as symbolized by the power of qi (or chi) that is all-encompassing and absolute, using intuition and gut feel, rather than using reason, science or logic to understand the very nature of things. Daoism, from the social and political standpoints, accepts the futility of not trying to adapt to the times, the wholeness of things is best appreciated when a person does not impose his own will on others. The legal theories of Han Fei Tzu survived and prospered during his turbulent times because these legalistic principles enabled the state to become strong. These principles gave the first emperor of Chin a right to exercise his authority in no uncertain terms while also consulting oracles and divination to legitimize his power. Han Fei Tzu preached the legalistic principles as guidelines to the art of successful governance, in which people are ruled by a comprehensive set of laws that governs all aspects of life, all situations that can be imagined and in all instances, without exceptions. A key underlying concept behind Legalism was the belief that people are innately evil and the state must exercise a strong hand to keep these evil impulses in check; otherwise, the state or society will be weakened by deviants who destroy the foundations of empire and can lead to breakup of the state into small fiefdoms. This concept is used as justification for the imposition of a strict set of laws in order to govern effectively, as people are not expected to behave properly if there are no sanctions imposed on wayward behaviors or conduct. This is what is meant by this passage, “When the sage rules the state, he does not count on people doing good by themselves, but employs such measures as will keep them from doing any evil . . .” where the ruler is expected to employ all the means available to impose order in society. The legalists as exemplified by Han Fei Tzu believed a good legal system will ensure the very survival of the state itself. During periods of turbulence, the legalistic approach provides a practical guide to solving immediate and urgent problems in the art of statecraft. These exhaustive and very detailed set of laws will allow the ruler to administer affairs of state with regularity and impartiality, using the carrot-and-stick approach, which essentially means generous rewards are given to encourage good or desired behavior while very severe punishments are in store for those who have evil intentions or commit wrongdoing. The link is Han Fei Tzu enabled the first Qin emperor to rise but also eventually caused his downfall because the people started to rebel against these harsh laws. The responsibility to rule a huge empire like ancient China, which was composed of several warring feudal states before being finally unified, was not an easy task. A legalistic approach provided the perfect vehicle to govern such an unruly population composed of many tribes and ethnic groups speaking several hundred dialects. The imposition of a uniform set of laws enabled the first emperor to rule with an iron hand, because no exceptions were allowed as it would make governance very unwieldy. Han Fei Tzu believed a good emperor needs to have six powers, namely: the power to enrich or impoverish, the power to give life or death, and the power to promote or demote, in a system of rewards and punishments. The legalists did away with moral philosophies that dealt in ethics, as more practical matters need to be attended to immediately and so niceties such as Confucianism was in effect rejected as impractical when it comes to governance, especially such a huge population. This principle is contained in the statement by Han Fei Tzu which says, “But if he employs such measures as will keep them from doing evil, then the entire state can be brought up to a uniform standard. Since the administrator has to consider the many but disregard the few, he does not concern himself with morals but with laws.” Ancient China had a use for a concept like utilitarianism because it furthers its task of administering empire, it can be said it may fall under a subdivision of utilitarianism, which is rule utilitarianism. This moral philosophy states that rules (or sets of laws, in this particular instance) are necessary to promote greatest good for the greater number of people, in effect, consider the many but disregard the few. The first emperor of China did well in this regard, able to hold together disparate peoples of various nationalities and ethnicities. What caused his downfall was he became isolated later in his life as he became more and more reliant on his ministers and lost touch with the people. Historian Sima Qian (or Szuma Chien) did not totally agree with using only the legalistic approach as a sole way to govern; the laws must be tempered with humanity, justice and equity for all. Emperor Shih Huang Ti managed his empire through this set of laws, because the elaborate legal machinery he had instituted functions on its own accord, which allows for free time to attend to other things. The emperor need not intervene or make personal decisions, for every answer can be found in this comprehensive set of laws although the first emperor made many important decisions himself, relegating his ministers to mere sycophants. The legalistic approach was further justified that circumstances change, and so a ruler must adopt to current contingencies, rather than resort to the ancient teaching of philosophers, viewed as charlatans. This reminds me of Niccolo Machiavelli who wrote The Prince regarding political power. The ancient Chinese emperors expect their commands to be strictly followed, and their edicts were always followed by a strong warning, “tremble and obey” or face certain death. Conclusion There are also other relevant political philosophies on what makes good governance, especially today where democratic rule is considered paramount when the people are given a voice and a choice. However, the legalists disdained a democratic rule as it tends towards chaos, anarchy and eventually, riots. They also believed that the populace is not equipped to govern by themselves because they are ignorant and majority rule does not make or guarantee that correct decisions are made always. The legalists advocated for a strong central authority, preferably emanating from one ruler, the emperor, while he may use services of his ministers and advisers too, in a form of elitism or rule by the elites. Ancient Greece had likewise experimented with democratic rule that was disastrous, and both Socrates and Plato were favoring elitism in their writings. The fall of Qin was due to the harsh laws that made people rebel against due to increased taxation (Chien 189). China today under its autocratic dictatorial rule of a one-party communist state reflects this centralized tight grip on power and is bent on recovering what it thinks is its rightful place in global politics and world affairs. Work Cited Chien, Szuma. Records of the Historian. Trans. Yang Hsien-yi and Gladys Yang. Peking, China: Foreign Languages Press, 1979. Print. Read More