We have seen how nature-based schools of thought, originating in the remotest times with shamanism and occultism, came to be the basis of the developing Daoist strand of Chinese philosophy. It was against this background that another strand of early Chinese society, the need to organise and manage the emerging city-states both individually and collectively, came into existence.
The rituals and ceremonies of the Shang and later dynasties, evidenced in the casting and inscribing of ceremonial bronze vessels, gradually evolved to provide a set of rites for the conduct of civil society. As we have discovered, the making of these ceremonial vessels continued from the Shang through the Western and the later, Eastern Zhou periods, and by this time the rites had become codified in the Book of Rites or, simply, ‘the Rites’, which was the handbook for behaviour at all levels in society. The change from Western to Eastern Zhou is marked by the end of central control by the Zhou clan. In the Eastern Zhou period, the rulers of individual states paid only lip-service to the rulers of the small State of Zhou, treating them as ceremonial monarchs whose task was to continue to conduct the Rites. The Eastern Zhou period lasted from 722 to 403 BCE; after this date conflict between the Zhou states became the norm, and for this reason the time from 403 to 221 BCE is referred to as the Warring States period.
By the time of the Warring States period, the older pattern of control by punitive raids had changed. Now the individual states had standing armies that could be mobilised to secure and retain territory, and defended themselves by the construction of inter-state walls, many of which would later be linked up as components of the Qin Empire’s ‘Great Wall’.
To rule these states required organisation of the agricultural workforce, the craftsmen who provided the technologies of the day, the administrative class and the army. Something more than the Rites was needed to provide cohesion, and the most common ‘glue’ was provided by an appeal to the sage rulers of antiquity, as evidenced by the stories of the legendary kings and the folk memory of the Shang and Zhou periods.
The basis for evaluation of the past was contained in the so-called Five Classics. These were the Book of Changes (the Zhou Li), the Book of Odes (a collection of three hundred ancient poems), the Book of History, the Rituals (Li) and the Spring and Autumn Annals (a chronicle of the State of Lu from 722 to 479 BCE.
Into this situation came a man called Kong Zhongni. It is recorded by Si-ma Qian that Kong was born in the state of Lu in 552 or 551 BCE. He is said to have descended from an aristocratic family from Sung. One of his ancestors died when the heir of the Duke of Sung was assassinated while in his charge, and his family fled to the state of Lu. In the Zuo Zhuan, a commentary appended to the Spring and Autumn Annals, we find a reference to one Shu He, who held up a portcullis with his bare hands to enable the getaway to be made. A reference in the Shiji to apparently the same individual names him as Shu Lianghe and describes him as the father of Kong. Kong was to become a teacher, or Zi, and under the name Kongzi – ‘Master Kong’ – or Kong Fuzi he became known to the West as Confucius. His recorded sayings include the statement that he came from humble beginnings, hence his skill in menial things, and also that at the age of fifteen he set his heart on study, which in those days was the route to a career as an official.
Si-ma Qian records that Confucius became the police commissioner of Lu in the reign of Duke Ding of Lu (509–494 BCE). The Zuo Zhuan recounts how he accompanied the duke to a meeting with Duke Jing of Qi and scored a diplomatic victory. The Zuo Zhuan also records that Confucius was responsible for a failed plan to demolish the main city of each of the three most powerful noble families.
Confucius was obviously well versed in protocol. His departure from the state of Lu is recorded by the later writer of the book Mengzi (Mencius) in the following terms:
Mengzi said, ‘Confucius was appointed justiciary official in the state of Lu, but his services were unused; attending the performance of a sacrifice the food offering was not proffered to him, and he left without even taking off his official headgear. Those who did not know [him] assumed that it was just because the food was not offered, while those who knew him felt that it was because of the improper performance of the Rites. But from Confucius’ point of view, he preferred to leave because of this minor lapse of ritual, rather than departing for no reason.’
Clearly Confucius was looking for an excuse to leave employment in the court of the ruler of Lu, and the failure of protocol gave him the chance to go, making an ethical statement at the same time by the manner of his departure. Nevertheless, the account in the Mencius, which is much closer to Confucius chronologically than Si-ma Qian and falls directly within the Confucian tradition, indicates not only that an under-employed Confucius was seeking an excuse to leave the service of the ruler of Lu, but further that the Rites were being followed in Lu, however imperfectly, and that lapses in the Rites were considered serious enough to be a plausible resigning matter for a state official.
Confucius left Lu in around 497 BCE and travelled to offer his advice to various of the Warring States. His first stop was in Wei, but he also visited Qi, Song, Chen and Cai. In none of these states did he achieve any success, and he returned home to Lu in 484 BCE at the age of sixty-eight to dedicate himself to teaching.
Although official record-keeping was well-established by the time of the Warring States, books were not produced by private individuals. Traditionally it used to be held that Confucius had either written, or at the least edited, some of the classic works which came to form the official canon of Confucianism, but scholars now generally agree that this was not the case. So, Confucius himself left no writings, whether of a public or a private nature. His students, many of whose names are known, passed on his teachings in turn to their students, and these, together with later generations of students, eventually compiled a collection of his words, the Lun Yu (
), known in the West as the Analects. This is the work that gives us the most direct route to Confucius’ teaching.
Having made his unsuccessful circuit of the courts of various of the Warring States, Confucius embarked on his late career as a teacher, and he concentrated on the idea of personal integrity, the character of the junzi (
). Originally, this meant a prince or ruler, but in Confucianism it evolved into the meaning of ‘the superior individual’, in contrast to ‘the petty man’ (xiao ren, 
).
What, then, were the characteristics of the superior individual as recorded in the Analects? That it was a key concept is clear from the outset of the book. The very first section of the first chapter reads as follows:
The Master [Confucius] said, ‘If one studies with long practice, is this not enjoyable? If one is visited by distant friends, is this not a source of happiness? If one is not known, yet is not distressed by this, is this not the behaviour of the superior individual?’
In reading this saying, filtered through two or more generations of Confucian disciples, we can perhaps be forgiven for noting the aptness of this reference to the superior individual to Confucius’ own failure to achieve success in his own time. Even so, the section not only underlines the role of the superior individual, but also reflects the high value the Confucians put on learning, as well as a focus on individual relationships through the concept of the superior individual.
In the next section, a second speaker, Youzi (Master You), says:
There are few whose character is that of a filial son, yet love to oppose their superiors! And there has never been a case of one who hates to oppose their superiors and yet loves to foment chaos. The superior individual concentrates on the basics. If the basics stand firm, the Dao [
] flourishes. Is not the filial son the basis of Ren [
]?
This passage introduces three concepts that are key in the context of Confucianism. Let us first look at Dao. The character (
) is exactly the same as the one used by the Daoists as their key aspect. It still means ‘the way’ or ‘the road’, but in Confucian terms it has a different connotation from its Daoist usage. For the Confucian, the order which is desirable to be cultivated is the one underlying the basic stability of ordered human society, rather than the underlying structure of nature. Another fundamental commodity in Confucian theory is ren (
). This is variously translated as ‘humaneness’, ‘humanity’ or ‘human-heartedness’, and relates to the way in which the individual behaves towards others. The third key concept in the passage is xiao (
), filial piety, which should mark all relations of the inferior to his or her superior, whether this is a son/parent, subject/ruler or minister/monarch relationship. Only when all relationships are marked by an upwardly-directed xiao and a downwardly-directed ren will society be ordered according to the Confucian Dao.
Still in the first chapter of the Analects, the eighth section again refers to the superior individual:
The Master said, ‘If the superior man is not dignified, he will not instil awe, and his studies will not be firm. One whose words confirm integrity will not be burdened with friends who are not like this. If the superior individual acts wrongly, then he must not be afraid of putting it right.’
Here we are looking at an aspect of character which is related to what the Confucians regarded as another key component, namely yi (
), which can be translated as ‘right conduct’, although more usually rendered as ‘righteousness’.
The final reference to the superior individual in the first chapter of the Analects is another reputed saying of Confucius:
The Master said, ‘The superior individual is not greedy when he eats, nor in his dwelling does he crave tranquility. He is prompt in action and cautious in speech, so he possesses Dao and is confirmed by it, so we may say he loves study.’
The concept of yi is explicitly referred to in Section 13 of Chapter 1 of the Analects, where Youzi, again, is the speaker:
Youzi said, ‘When good faith becomes right conduct, then words are fit to be repeated. When respect becomes expressed in Rites, disgrace is held at bay. Accordingly, one who does not neglect his parents, is also fit to be followed as a Master.’
This section introduces not only yi, right conduct, but li (
) the Rites, as well, and draws on the concept of filial piety in the reference to the relationship of the individual to his parents.
The fourth of the Confucian virtues is de (
) normally translated as ‘virtue’, but which is more correctly viewed as an intrinsic ‘force’, ‘essence’ or ‘power’. In Section 19 of Chapter 12 of the Analects, this usage of the character can be seen:
Ji Kang asked Confucius about government, ‘What do you say about killing those who do not conform to Dao in order to advance those who do so conform?’ Confucius replied, ‘If you are governing, why do you employ killing? If you seek what is good, then the people will behave well, that’s all. The essence of the superior individual is like the wind, that of the petty people is like the grass; if the wind blows over the grass, it must bend.’
This last passage not only rounds off the four Confucian virtues; it also points to the way in which Confucius felt that his teaching was of relevance in government.
Who, then, should define and advise on such matters of conduct? Confucius’ view was that this task should fall to the ‘sage’ (
). He comments on the characteristics of a sage in Chapter 6 of the Analects:
Zi Gong said, ‘What would you say of somebody who saves society by his generosity to ordinary people? Is it fitting to describe this as human-heartedness?’ The Master [Confucius] said, ‘How can you regard such behaviour as [merely] human-heartedness? What you have to understand is that this is the behaviour of a Sage. Consider Yao and Shun, were not they equally distressed?1 Now, as far as human-heartedness goes, causing others to stand firm through one’s own desire to stand firm, causing others to develop through one’s own desire to develop, relying on one’s inherent abilities in order to be an example from which others may draw, may well be called the pattern of human-heartedness.’
Translating Classical Chinese is a bit like describing a painting in words – there is never one ‘correct’ translation, and the original of this particular passage has been translated in different ways by different scholars. However, with the word ‘merely’ in parentheses and the footnote to the reference to Yao and Shun, the legendary Sage Kings, the present translation probably comes fairly close to reflecting Confucius’ meaning in terms suitable for the general reader. Confucius is defining a sage as an individual in whom human-heartedness is developed to the highest degree. Indeed, the reference to Yao and Shun, with its echo of a legendary (and golden) antiquity, shows how much he felt that sages should be revered.
Confucius’ concept of the sage is also significant because it points to the importance of the teacher, and hence of education. One of the marks of Confucianism as it developed in China was the role of the educated civil servant, who was trained in the Chinese Classics and qualified by rigorous examination.
We also have an example in the Analects of how Confucius actually looked at the practical aspect of government:
Zi Lu said, ‘If the Duke of Wei delegated authority to you, what would be your priority?’
Confucius said, ‘My priority would be to rectify nomenclature.’
Zi Lu said: ‘Is that it? You’re way off the mark! Why rectify it?’
Confucius said, ‘What a bumpkin! If there’s something a superior man doesn’t know, he keeps quiet. My argument is that if nomenclature is not rectified, then debate will be imprecise. If debate is imprecise, then appropriate results will not be achieved. If appropriate results are not achieved, then Rites and Music will not develop. If Rites and Music do not develop, then punishments will not fit crimes. If punishments do not fit crimes, then the populace will have no reliable guide for their actions. Therefore when a superior man uses a name, it must lead to correct speech, which in turn will lead to correct actions. So in his speech the superior man avoids all erroneous nomenclature.’
As we shall see, the ‘Rectification of Names’ was developed further by later philosophers.
We have seen in the Analects a package of attributes and attitudes which are of key significance to Confucianism. We will now look at how they formed a philosophy on which Chinese administration came to be based, at least in theory.
How did the various ideas of Confucius combine to build a coherent philosophy? Confucius was looking for a society in which appropriate conduct by the individual would support an ordered framework of society. His was a hierarchical view of the world, built upon the idea that each individual in society owed a duty to his superiors and had responsibilities towards his inferiors. This two-fold relationship operated at all levels, so that the parent was responsible for his child, while the child owed filial obedience to the parent; the husband was responsible for his wife, while the wife owed a duty of obedience to her husband; the officials of state were responsible for the people, while the people owed a duty to the officials; and the ruler was responsible for the officials, while the officials owed a duty to the ruler. At the top of this hierarchical pyramid the ruler, frequently referred to as Tianzi (
), ‘the Son of Heaven’, owed his position to Heaven. There is no formal religious significance to this phrase in Confucius’ philosophy. The basic meaning of the character tian is the sky, and a frequent phrase for the world was tianxia (
), which literally means ‘all that is under the sky’, so tian came to be understood as the ultimate framework for man’s sphere of influence, and in Confucian thought there was still a need for the ruler to rule in accordance with the natural order of that framework. This later developed into the idea that the ruler only held power according to the ‘Mandate of Tian’.
The secular nature of Confucius’ philosophy, whatever his own personal views, is confirmed by a well-known story from the Analects (11.12):
When Qi Lu asked about serving ghosts and spirits, the Master replied, ‘If you have not yet developed the ability to serve people, how are you able to serve ghosts and spirits?’ and when he ventured to ask about death, the reply was, ‘If you have not yet developed an understanding of life, how can you understand death?’
So we arrive at a philosophy of society and administration that is based upon a web of relationships, characterised by human-heartedness and righteousness, and conducted in conformity to an overarching pattern, or Dao. The philosophy is underpinned by the precepts contained in the Chinese Classics, as interpreted by Confucius and later sages, where virtue and human-heartedness are of the highest order, and by an educational process through which, in particular, the administrators of a kingdom become qualified to conduct their profession.
It is fair to say that even before the time of Confucius there was an educated and literate class in China. Written books were in existence from at least the Spring and Autumn period, and by Confucius’ time there was a body of books which were held to contain information and guidance. Record-keeping by the various kingdoms was established, so there was to some extent a bureaucracy, but when the relative order of the Spring and Autumn states collapsed and spawned the turbulence of the Warring States period, many, Confucius included, felt that only by a thoroughgoing renewal of the principles of administration could the rulers re-establish an age of stability and good governance. It was this impulse which led Confucius to make his tour of the neighbouring states, and then, when his advice had been overlooked, to embark upon his career as a teacher.
As an administrative reformer, Confucius clearly failed, but as a teacher and sage his recorded sayings in the Lun Yu were to form a springboard from which later generations of Confucian philosophers and teachers would launch the theoretical underpinning of Chinese government administration for centuries to come.
