A History of China (12 page)

Popular religions offered another means of solace in unstable times, although written sources for such expressions are limited. However, glimpses may be garnered through inference. Some texts cite belief in spirits and in deities associated with nature, but details about specific rituals are scarce. A work of poetry, known as the
Chu ci
(
Songs of the South
or
Songs of Chu
), mentions shamanism, which was an easily accessible religion because it did not depend on written sources. With the help of musical instruments and a whirling dance, a shaman could allegedly reach the sky and speak in the names of the spirits. Judging from modern shamanism in Japan and Korea, shamans also provided rudimentary medical care. To be sure, shamanism developed different forms and practices in northeast Asia, including Manchuria and Mongolia. In any event, the
Chu ci
includes a poem called “Li Sao” (Departing in Sorrow), which had profound reverberations on Chinese history and yielded set themes about a badly treated official who commits suicide in response and, in that manner, clears his name. Qu Yuan (343 – 278
BCE
), the writer of the poem, himself had been dismissed from government service for warning about taking precautions against the state of Qin. His warnings fell on deaf ears and the Qin conquered his region. In despair, Qu committed suicide. The annual Dragon Boat Festival, on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, commemorates this heroic figure.

Popular religions may have had as great an influence on the ordinary person as Daoism and other clearly defined philosophies. They had few specific texts and no clergy except for practitioners. The lack of a canon made these views accessible to the largest segment of the population, most of whom could not read or write. Worshippers did not limit themselves to set beliefs and instead borrowed, combined, and adapted them from local traditions and other religions and cults. They believed in such supernatural beings as gods, ancestors, and ghosts and prayed to them to provide rain, to avert natural catastrophes, and to prevent illnesses. They incorporated veneration of the ancestors and a belief in an afterlife. Gods and ancestors became central, but worshippers showed the same reverence to ghosts because they feared them. A cult of the dead developed, with ancestral tablets playing important roles in prayer.

The gods might respond to prayers if provided with temples and shrines, which were situated according to the principles of geomancy. Statues honoring them, festivals, and offerings of food, drink, and incense would also prompt responses. Practitioners would perform divinations and would interpret the gods’ and ancestors’ responses. The Jade Emperor, a towering figure, was in many cases the leading deity, but he remained aloof and somewhat inapproachable. Indeed, before the twelfth century
CE
, many gods were remote and were associated with mountains, the earth, natural phenomena, and heroes of a distant age. Local deities, such as a city god who was responsible for public safety and justice and a kitchen god whose image adorned many households, were more approachable, but even the kitchen god offered an annual report on household members to the Jade Emperor, an indication of the greater power of the more remote deities. Naturally, there were many regional and local ­variations in such worship and performance.

Confucianism has cast such a large shadow over Chinese history that Chinese society cannot be understood without knowledge of Confucius’s life and ideas. His theories of human nature, proper conduct, and interpersonal relations dominated much of Chinese history from the Han dynasty ( 206
BCE
– 220
CE
) on. Since then, Confucius has been so inextricably linked with Chinese civilization that the term “Confucian China” seems commonplace. Students, recognizing the significance of Confucianism, often ask whether it is a philosophy or a religion. They implicitly assume that Confucianism was so vital to the legitimacy and functioning of Chinese society that it needed to be more than a philosophy. However, Confucianism’s emphasis on this life differentiates it from most religions.

Confucius (551–479
BCE
) or Kong Fuzi (Master Kong) or Kong Qiu lived and died believing that he had failed in his objectives. Born in the state of Lu (in the modern province of Shandong), he was descended from a noble family that had suffered setbacks as a result of the turbulence in the Warring States period. Confucius was determined to influence the politics of his times and believed that an appeal to rulers provided the optimal opportunity to do so. He attempted to persuade the nobles in various states to adopt his teachings in order to restore stability in China, which for most of these rulers meant unification and centralization of the country. Although he succeeded in gathering around him a group of students and disciples, he failed in his efforts to secure an official position in the states through which he traveled. Nor did the rulers subscribe to or implement his philosophy. His disciples also traveled throughout China to spread his teachings but they too were often rebuffed. Facing such disappointments and encountering such resistance, Confucius returned to Lu in his sixties and died there in 479
BCE
. Despite the tenacity of his students and disciples, he came to the end of his life without having had much of an impact on Chinese society.

Because Confucius directed his efforts at gaining support from rulers, his philosophy tended to be conservative, focusing on a return to a golden age of the past. In general, he did not call for dramatic social change because he did not wish to be perceived as challenging or undermining the authority of his potential patrons. An image as a disrupter of the social system would not serve his interests. Yet his teachings would actually subvert the power of the hereditary aristocracy and would enable a less entrenched, mobile class, if not a ­meritocracy, to supplant it as the ruling authority. To a limited extent, his philosophy generated social change.

Confucius sought social stability. Believing that social order resulted from proper moral conduct, he identified five basic relationships in society: ruler–ruled, father–son, elder brother–younger brother, friend–friend, and husband–wife. Women played an explicit role in only one of these relationships – an indication of their lesser position in Confucian society. In any event, Confucius believed that if the ethical principles he espoused characterized these five ­relationships, a good society would emerge. There is no doubt that Confucius’s principal objective was the establishment of a harmonious and ethical society. Although he referred to spirits, sacrifices, and Heaven, he simply mentioned them in passing and devoted barely any attention to metaphysical and ­cosmological speculation. He probably accepted the major beliefs embodied in the ancient Shang and Zhou religions (though certainly not the practice of human sacrifice), but these views scarcely intruded on his teachings because they dealt with the realm beyond mankind’s control. Thus, other than a concern for ­harmony in the cosmos, Confucius did not generally address theological ­questions. One exception was his rejection of the concepts of destiny and fate. Instead he affirmed his belief that a man’s abilities, efforts, and ethical code determined his own fate and his own potential to become a
junzi
or gentleman – for Confucius, the person most suited to govern and the embodiment of the highest ideals. According to Confucius, a man succeeded because of his ­self-cultivation, merit, and virtue, not because of heredity or fate. Yet this view appeared to clash with his repeated attempts to appeal to the ruling classes and his emphasis on acceptance of a social hierarchy.

It is difficult to reconcile these contradictory elements in Confucius’s thought because of the nature of the sources available to us. The
Analects
(
Lunyu
), which is attributed to Confucius and contains the most lucid explanation of his teachings, was compiled at least a century after his death. The schools founded by his disciples probably organized the work and prepared it for wider distribution. The quotes attributed to Confucius cannot be authenticated. Some may have been emendations from his disciples. Because Confucius perceived or at least portrayed himself as a transmitter of the ancients’ teachings, other quotes may have been the words of earlier thinkers whose views he was reiterating. Even more complicated, the
Lunyu
consists of anecdotes and sayings rather than a straightforward, logical exposition of Confucius’s teachings. It is not a systematic, coherent rendering of his philosophy; instead it contains his most esteemed and remembered sayings. This kind of presentation accounts for the vagueness enveloping some elements of his philosophy.

Nonetheless, the most significant features of Confucianism readily emerge from the text. The clearest characteristic of the school is its practicality. In its view, the adoption and implementation of a moral code would inevitably lead to a harmonious family and from there to a well-ordered society. A good government presumed and was based upon stable families, which in turn centered upon the adoption of specific values. Filial piety (
xiao
) was essential for the ideal Confucian family, and such submissiveness was similarly vital for the state. The
Xiaojing
(
Classic of Filial Piety
), a text written about a hundred years after Confucius’s death and frequently found in many households in later years, illustrated the principles of filial piety toward the family, the ruler, and officials. As numerous students of Confucianism have noted, the Confucians perceived the state as an extension of the family. The individual aspiring to become a
junzi
and the body politic, however, both required other virtues to achieve stability and harmony.
Ren
was, for Confucius, a supreme virtue, but curiously the term remains vague and ill defined. “Goodness” and “humaneness” provide the closest approximations, but those definitions too are nebulous. Examination of the specific uses of
ren
in the
Analects
reveals characteristics such as generosity and loyalty to others, attention to rituals, and actions that bespeak the highest morality. Humane treatment of and humane behavior toward others offer concise descriptions of the qualities associated with goodness.

The other virtues flowed from goodness. Wisdom or knowledge (
zhi
), another trait vital of the “good man,” entailed more than knowledge and academic pursuits. It was linked to morality, for wisdom meant knowledge of proper conduct and acting in accordance with its dictates. Again, Confucius repeatedly stressed the practical value of these virtues.
Xin
or faithfulness or truth also had practical ramifications. For Confucians, it signified carrying out commitments to others. Like all the other virtues, its greatest significance lay in its application in relations with others. Confucius emphasized the importance of a network of stable relationships.
Yong
, or courage or loyalty, still another trait valued by Confucius, entailed acting pursuant to the dictates of right conduct.
Yi
, or righteousness and
li
, or ritual correspondence, were also critical virtues. They did not refer to manners but to proper moral principles. Morals rather than etiquette were Confucius’s main concern. Yet, along with moral conduct,
li
presupposed proper performance of ceremonies. It prescribed specific rites for burial and mourning of the dead, including formulas for eulogies and designated diet and clothing for mourners. It also entailed continuation of music and dance ceremonies of the ancients. Confucians ­valued music for its promotion of morality. Musical performances during court rituals and among the population in general contributed to harmony and higher moral standards. Confucians asserted that music helped to transmit and inculcate the most significant personal and social values. The
Yili
(or
Record of Rituals
) confirmed the importance of music and the other arts in fostering a good society. Poetry, calligraphy, and the casting of bronze ritual vessels, among other arts, were also invested with these same objectives. The ruler himself had a special responsibility to perform rituals associated with the agricultural cycle.
Li
, however, could not simply be formalistic; it had to be carried out with singleness of purpose and good faith. Perfunctory performance of the rituals would be ineffective.

Confucius perceived that the separation of content and name, as exemplified in such formalism, resulted in social disarray. Because his teachings were designed to avert such instability, he placed great faith in
zheng ming
or “to rectify the names.” Lack of congruence between reality and form signified an inability to fulfill the Confucian moral code and to establish an orderly social system. Thus, the first step in achieving a stable network of relationships was a proper correlation between name and reality.
Zheng ming
also implied that each individual could more easily identify and understand the expectations of his own position and tasks in these relationships and would more readily accept his status in the social hierarchy.

However, Confucius did not advocate a stagnant society in which the individual had no opportunities for advancement. The value he placed on education, merit, and moral worth would clash with systems that lacked or prevented social mobility. He conceived of himself as a teacher and obviously valued education as a means of promoting a high standard of morality. Thus, he ­suggested that study of the classic texts and ritual works and participation in music and dance would improve the individual’s character and could lead to the development of a
junzi
. To Confucius, this nonspecialized education would enable the
junzi
to assume positions of leadership. From his perspective, the
junzi
did not need any specialized training to govern a region, devise a budget, or plan and build irrigation projects. His ideal officials and rulers were rational and moral gentlemen who had a sense of social responsibility and who derived from any social background, not necessarily from the entrenched aristocracy. In Confucius’s view, morality could not be separated from education, particularly in the chaotic times in which he lived. He wanted gentlemen to receive the moral training that would enable them to serve as a striking contrast to the often duplicitous and amoral officials of the Warring States period. He looked to a golden age of the past in which such men dominated society.