Good Confucianism book (pdf) - Department of Physics

The Han Dynasty, 206 BCE–220 CE 133easier for a horse to pull greater loads. The wheelbarrow was invented.Astronomers calculated the orbits of the sun, moon, and planets, the pathof meteors, and the occurrence of eclipses. The Han dynasty had accuratewater clocks, used paper, and calculated the value of pi . 4Liu Bang, the Gaozu Emperor, had no reason to admire Confucians,but he did have a government to run. He imitated the Qin bureaucracyand set up a system like the Qin dynasty ’ s, with senior and junior ministerseach having his own ministry and clear responsibilities. An edict in196 BCE to bring “ men of merit ” into the government is often marked asthe beginning of Confucian influence in government. Fifty years later, thegovernment prohibited men who had studied Legalist texts from takingoffice. In 136 BCE, the government established five seats of learning forexperts in five texts: the books of Poetry , History , Ritual , and Changes ,and the Spring and Autumn Annals . By 124, Emperor Wu had establishedan academy where students could study the classics and were examinedon them; if the student passed the examination, he would be eligible forgovernment employment. The numbers of students at this academy grewdramatically: it began with 50 and by 144 CE had, it is said, 30,000students. 5 This did not immediately end hereditary posts held by nobles,but it began the process.Traditionally, it has been thought that the establishment of seats of learningfor each classic in the government - sponsored academy was the “ triumphof Confucianism. ” Those trained in the Confucian classics became, byvirtue of this training, the political elite, bringing philosophy and moralityto the institutions of government. Instead of being merely one voice amongmany in the Warring States era, from the Han dynasty on Confucianismbecomes the single dominant voice, and this continues throughout Chinesehistory up to the 1900s.Things are, unfortunately, never this clear - cut. Throughout the Han,thinkers educated in the classics were mostly ignored and occasionallythreatened with execution. Among the Confucians, there was littleagreement about what constituted a Confucian orthodoxy or the correctway to interpret the classics, as we shall see shortly. Finally, scholarswere not, by any means, all Confucians. Despite their one year ’ s studyat the imperial academy, many thinkers were advocating everything fromLegalism to immortality techniques. Confucianism does not seem to havehad much impact on either government or society until very late in theHan dynasty.While the Han dynasty cannot be seen as an obvious triumph forConfucianism, still, the establishment of the academy and the elevationof the Five Classics did allow for the Confucian appropriation of the classicsand for vigorous activity among scholars that laid the foundations fordevelopments in the Confucian tradition throughout the imperial period. 6