Legelism And Confucianism

Ancient China, one of the most developed and organized civilizations of Asia. Ancient China was broken up into dynasties. The two most contrast Dynasties were The Ch'in Dynasty and The Han Dynasty. These are two of the most different because they followed two totally different philosophies. The Han (206 BC - 220 AD) followed Confucianism. The Ch'in Dynasty (221 BC Ð'- 207 BC) followed Legalism.

The leader of Confucianism in ancient china, Confucius (551-479 B.C.), also called Kong Fuzi, looked to the early days of Zhou rule for an ideal social and political order. He believed that the only way such a system could be made to work properly was for each person to act according to prescribed relationships. "Let the ruler be a ruler and the subject a subject," he said, but he added that to rule properly a king must be virtuous.

Confucian ethical teachings include the following values:

Li: includes ritual, propriety, etiquette

Hsiao: love within the family

Yi: righteousness

Xin: honesty and trustworthiness

Jen: benevolence (the highest Confucian virtue)

Chung: loyalty to the state

The Five Classics of Confucianism were works from the Zhou Dynasty. They were collected and edited by members of the original Confucian school.

The Five Classics are the Yi jing, the Shu jing, the Shi jing, the Chunqiu and the Li ji.

The Yi jing was used for foretelling the future. This classic also led to the awareness that everything in the universe is related. The Shu jing introduces the concept of the Mandate of Heaven. The Mandate of Heaven is the idea that the ruler is a messenger or a disciple from Heaven. The Shi jing is a collection of songs and poetry, these songs and poems expressed the everyday life. The Chunqui is closest to Confucius it is almost like Confucius' own biography. It consists of records of the events in Lu, Confucius' home state, between the years of 782 BC and 481 BC. The Lu ji or the Book of Rites is the guideline for being a proper human being. It gives instruction for almost any activity, from sleeping to standing. The Lu ji showed Confucius' obsession with ritual and order.

Confucianism came into action and actually became the basis of the Chinese State during the Han Dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD). Chinese society recognized a relatively classless society, only recognizing two: the educated and the uneducated. The Han dynasty showed all the characteristics of Confucianism such as righteousness, relationships, and benevolence towards others.

Even though Confucianism wasn't considered a proper government in the Zhou dynasty, people realized after time that Confucianism was the best way of government. Confucianism led to the Golden age of china during the Han dynasty, and also the peace and justice of Confucianism let the Han dynasty reigned for over 400 years and be considered the greatest and longest Dynasty of Ancient China.

When the Ch'in (Qin) Dynasty took rule over China after decades of civil war, they adopted Legalism as their political theory. Han Feizi was the founder of Legalism. Han Feizi was taught in the Confucian tradition and became well known through his book, The Han Feizi, rather than speeches due to his stuttering problem. His book The Han Feizi ended up being the main