Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dzt6s Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T06:02:25.815Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

16 - Regional study: Confucianism and the state

from Part II - Trans-regional and regional perspectives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2015

By
Xinzhong Yao
Edited by
Craig Benjamin
Craig Benjamin
Affiliation:
Grand Valley State University, Michigan
Get access

Summary

Confucianism' was derived from the Latin transliteration of 'Confucius', the foremost thinker and culture-shaper in the history of China. This chapter examines the origin and evolution of Confucianism both as a doctrine and as an ideology that was substantially involved in the establishing and justifying of political power. The origin of Confucianism points directly to features that distinguish the Confucian tradition from other schools of thought in early China. Evidence shows that a system of formal education in China was instituted by the Shang court. Tradition holds that Confucius had 3,000 students, among whom 72 were his close disciples. The architect of the most influential school in the Confucian tradition was the sophisticated and pragmatic thinker Xunzi. While practising Confucianism, the Eastern Han dynasty also saw the introduction of Buddhism from India and Central Asia to China and the increased popularity/significance of religious Daoism. The natural starting point for a discussion of Confucian politics is the concept of divine kingship.

Keywords

Buddhist artdurable materialsartistic traditionsIslamic artRoyal artRenaissanceintended audiences
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge World History , pp. 435 - 456
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2015

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Further Reading

The Analects of Confucius, trans. Leys, Simon, New York: W. W. Norton and Company, 1997.Google Scholar
Bak, Ki-yong, ‘Historical Review of Korean Confucianism’, in Wiwŏnhoe, Yunesŭkʻo Hanʼguk, Main Currents of Korean Thought, Arch Cape: Pace International Research, 1983.Google Scholar
Berthrong, John H., Transformations of the Confucian Way, Boulder, co: Westview Press, 1998.Google Scholar
Bilsky, Lester James, The State Religion of Ancient China, Taipei: The Chinese Association for Folklore, 1975.Google Scholar
Brooks, E. Bruce, and Brooks, A. Taeko, The Original Analects: Sayings of Confucius and His Successors – A New Translation and Commentary, New York: Columbia University Press, 1998.Google Scholar
Gong卜工, Bu, Wenming qiyuan de zhongguo moshi 文明起源的中国模式, Beijing: Kexue chubanshe, 2007.Google Scholar
Ching, Julia, Mysticism and Kingship in China: The Sage-King Paradigm, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1997.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chung, Edward Y. J., The Korean Neo-Confucianism of Yi Toegye and Yi Yulgok, New York: SUNY Press, 1995.Google Scholar
Creel, H. G., Confucius: Man and Myth, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1951.Google Scholar
Creel, H. G., The Origins of Statecraft in China, University of Chicago Press, 1970.Google Scholar
de Bary, William Theodore, and Bloom, Irene (eds.), Sources of Chinese Tradition, New York: Columbia University Press, 1999, vol. I.Google Scholar
Deuchler, Martina, The Confucian Transformation of Korea: A Study in Society and Ideology, Cambridge, ma: Harvard University Press, 1992.Google Scholar
Fingarette, Herbert, Confucius: The Secular as Sacred, New York: Harper & Row, 1972.Google Scholar
Tzu, Han Fei, Basic Writings, trans. Watson, Burton, New York: Columbia University Press, 1970.Google Scholar
Henderson, Gregory, and Yang, P. Key, ‘An Outline History of Korean Confucianism’, Journal of Asian Studies 18 (1958): 81–101.Google Scholar
Hsiao, Kung-chuan, A History of Chinese Political Thought, trans. Mote, Frederick W., Princeton University Press, 1979, vol. I.Google Scholar
Jensen, Lionel M., Manufacturing Confucianism: Chinese Traditions & Universal Civilization, Durham, nc: Duke University Press, 1997.Google Scholar
Lee, Peter H. (ed.), Sourcebook of Korean Civilization, New York: Columbia University Press, 1993, vol. I.Google Scholar
Lee, Thomas H. C., Education in Traditional China, Leiden: Brill, 2000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lin, Yu-tang (ed. and trans.), The Wisdom of Confucius, Mumbai: Wilco Publishing House, 2005.Google Scholar
Loewe, Michael (ed.), Early Chinese Texts: A Bibliographical Guide, Berkeley: The Society for the Study of Early China and The Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 1993.Google Scholar
McDermott, Joseph P. (ed.), State and Court Ritual in China, Cambridge University Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Mencius, trans. Lau, D. D., New York: Penguin Books, 1970.Google Scholar
Roetz, Heiner, Confucian Ethics of the Axial Age: A Reconstruction under the Aspect of the Breakthrough toward Postconventional Thinking, Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993.Google Scholar
Rule, Paul A., K’ung-tzu or Confucius: The Jesuit Interpretation of Confucianism, London: Allen & Unwin, 1986.Google Scholar
Schwartz, Benjamin I., The World of Thought in Ancient China, Cambridge, ma: Harvard University Press, 1985.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shryock, John K., The Origin and Development of the State Cult of Confucius, New York: Paragon Book Reprint Corp, 1966.Google Scholar
Tsunoda, Ryusaku, de Bary, William Theodore, and Keene, Donald (eds.), Sources of Japanese Civilization, New York: Columbia University Press, 1958.Google Scholar
Tucker, John Allen, Moral and Spiritual Cultivation in Japanese Confucianism: The Life and Thought of Kaibara Ekken (1630–1714), Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989.Google Scholar
Xunzi, trans. Knoblock, John, Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 1999.Google Scholar
Yao, Xinzhong, An Introduction to Confucianism, Cambridge University Press, 2000.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×