ethics of civilization

                                   Daoism and Mo-zi
Lao-zi
Mo-zi
Teachings of Mo-zi
Moism
Zhuang-zi
Lie-zi
Songs of Chu
Huainan-zi
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Confucius, Mencius and Xun-zi
From the sixth to the third century BC the chaotic times of conflicts and wars somehow produced a golden age of philosophy in China comparable to what was going on India and Greece. This period of a "hundred contending schools" began with Confucius and an obscure philosopher named Lao-zi, who left a short book that has had an immense influence on China and the world called the Dao De Jing and which became the basis for the Daoist philosophy and religion. A century later Mo-zi founded an original philosophy which was prominent for two centuries.

Lao-zi
The historian Sima Qian tells us that Lao-zi lived during the sixth century BC in the state of Chu and was the keeper of the archives in the imperial capital at Luoyang. Those who held this position were usually skilled in divination and astrology. The historian also relates that Lao-zi met Confucius once and criticized him for his pride and ambition, but Confucius could only compare Lao-zi to the powerful symbol of a dragon. Little else is known of the life of Lao-zi except the legend that when in old age he was leaving Chu, he was stopped by the guardian of the pass into the state of Qin and asked to write down his wisdom. In three days he produced a book of 5,250 characters known as the Dao De Jing, which means the "classic of the way and its virtue (power)" or simply Way Power Book. Some scholars place Lao-zi in the fourth century BC, because he is not mentioned by anyone else until then.

It is often difficult to accept the ethics of Lao-zi without first understanding the mystical ideas in his philosophy, which is based on an all-pervading unity he called the way (dao). This way is the source of heaven and earth and the mother of all things. Its essence can be seen by the desireless; those who desire see its manifestations. From this unity comes the duality of relative opposites (yin-yang) such as beauty and ugliness, good and bad, being and non-being, difficult and easy, long and short, high and low, male and female, beginning and end, and so on. In a patriarchal and male-dominated age, Lao-zi saw the value of relying on the female aspect of the universe by being receptive, sensitive, nourishing, etc. Thus he believed the wise give life but do not take possession, act but do not rely on their own ability, accomplish but claim no credit.

Lao-zi saw a way of not competing by not exalting the worthy nor valuing rare treasure nor displaying objects of desire so that people's hearts will not be disturbed. The wise keep their hearts pure, their bellies full, their ambitions weak, and their bones strong. They act without interfering with the natural flow so that all may live in peace. The way is eternally present and infinitely useful as the fountainhead of all things; it came before any personified concept of God. This transcendental nature is beyond morality and therefore not humane. Mystically it is empty yet inexhaustible; the more it is used the more it produces. Yet much talk can be exhausting; it is better to keep to the center.

Lao-zi revered the spirit of the valley as the mystic female that never dies and is the root of heaven and earth. The wise are humble like water, which flows to the lowest level; yet they come near the way.

In their dwellings, they love the earth.
In their hearts, they love what is profound.
In their friendship, they love humanity.
In their words, they love sincerity.
In government, they love peace.
In business, they love ability.
In their actions, they love timeliness.
It is because they do not compete
that there is no resentment.1

Moderation is taught, as extremes of wealth and honor cannot be kept safe or lead to a downfall. Heaven's way is to withdraw as soon as one's work is done. Lao-zi asked if one can concentrate one's vital force to be gentle like a baby, attain mystic clarity, love people and govern the state without interfering, play the female in opening the doors of heaven, and understand all without using the mind. Mystical virtue gives birth and nourishes without taking possession, acts without obligation, and leads without dominating. The usefulness of things is found in the freedom of their empty spaces. The way is invisible, inaudible, and intangible. The wise go beyond the senses and satisfy the inner self. Troubles come from being selfish. Those who value the world as themselves may be entrusted to care for the world.

The way to make sense of a muddy world is to let it be still until it becomes clear. Those who are calm and do not overextend themselves can come back to life through activity, but not wearing out they are not replaced. In serenity one can see everything return to its source like vegetation that grows and flourishes. Returning to the source is to know the eternal and be enlightened, impartial, universal, and in accord with heaven and the way. Not to know the eternal is to act blindly and court disaster.

The worst leaders are those who are hated; the next worst are feared; the next are loved and praised; but the best are those the people barely know, such that they say, "We did it ourselves." When the way is forgotten, the doctrines of humanity and morality arise. Knowledge and cleverness lead to hypocrisy. When family relationships are not harmonious, filial piety is advocated. When a country falls into chaos, loyal patriots are praised. Lao-zi suggested abandoning religion and cleverness, humanity and morality, skill and profit, and recommended instead simplicity, the natural, controlling selfishness, and reducing desires. Yielding can preserve unity; bending can straighten; emptying oneself can be fulfilling; wearing oneself out leads to renewal; having little is to be content, while having abundance is troubling. Because the wise do not compete, no one can compete with them.

Lao-zi observed that those standing on tiptoe are not steady; those straining their strides cannot keep up; those displaying themselves do not illuminate; those justifying themselves are not distinguished; those making claims are not given credit; and those seeking glory are not leaders. Frivolous and hasty leaders lose their foundation and self-mastery. The wise are good at helping people so that no one is rejected, and they are good at saving things so that nothing is wasted. Thus the good can teach the bad, who are the lessons for the good.

Those who try to take over the world do not succeed; tampering with it spoils it, and seizing it loses it. Lao-zi opposed conquest by force of arms, because it rebounds. When armies march, scarcity and famine follow. The skillful achieve their purposes and stop without relying on violence, which is contrary to the way. Whatever is contrary to the way will soon perish. Weapons are tools of destruction hated by the people, and followers of the way never use them. Peaceful leaders favor the creative left; war favors the destructive right. When the use of weapons cannot be avoided, the best policy is calm restraint. Victory is not glorious, and those who celebrate it delight in slaughter; such killing should be mourned. Sharp weapons of the state should not be displayed. Lao-zi taught what many taught before him - that the violent die a violent death. This he made primary in his teaching.

Those who know others are wise.
Those who know themselves are enlightened.
Those who overcome others require force.
Those who overcome themselves need strength.
Those who are content are wealthy.
Those who persevere have will power.
Those who do not lose their center endure.
Those who die but maintain their power live eternally.2

Virtue does not emphasize its power, and thus is powerful. The inferior never forget their power, and thus are powerless. The best virtue does not interfere nor have an ulterior motive. Lesser virtue interferes with an ulterior motive. Humanity takes action without an ulterior motive, while morality takes action with an ulterior motive. Rules of propriety take action, and finding no response, force it on them. Thus when the way is lost, things degenerate from virtue to humanity to morality to the rules of propriety, which is the superficial expression of loyalty and faithfulness and the beginning of disorder. By attaining oneness heaven becomes clear, earth stable, spirits divine, valleys fertile, creatures alive and growing, and kings leaders.

When people live in accord with the way, horses work on farms; but when they do not, the cavalry practices in the parks. The greatest temptation to crime is desire; the greatest curse is discontent; the greatest calamity is greed. The wise have no fixed mind-set but regard the people's minds as their own. They are good to the good and bad, honest to the honest and dishonest, living peacefully and harmoniously sharing a common heart and treating the people as their own children. The mystical virtue nourishes, cares for, develops, shelters, comforts, nurtures, and protects, producing without possessing, helping without obligating, and guiding without controlling. When the fields are full of weeds and the granaries are empty, while some wear fancy clothes, carry sharp swords, over-indulge in food and drink, having more possessions than they can use, the leaders are robbers; this is not the way.

States are governed by justice, and wars are waged by violations. Yet the world can be mastered by non-intervention.

The more restrictions there are, the poorer the people.
The more sharp weapons, the more trouble in the state.
The more clever cunning, the more contrivances.
The more rules and regulations, the more thieves and robbers.
Therefore the wise say,
"Do not interfere, and people transform themselves.
Love peace, and people do what is right.
Do not intervene, and people prosper.
Have no desires, and people live simply."3

When government is relaxed, people are happy; but when it is strict, they are anxious. When those responsible for justice become unjust, what seems good becomes evil. Lao-zi recommended frugality to be prepared from the start and in order to build up inner power. Those with maternal leadership can long endure. Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish; one must be careful not to overdo it. As the female overcomes the male with tranquillity, a country can win over a small or large country by placing itself below. The difficult can be handled while it is still easy. Great accomplishments begin with what is small. The wise always confront difficulties before they get too large. Handle them before they appear. Organize before there is confusion. Be as careful at the end as at the beginning, and there will be no failure.

The wise in watching over people speak humbly from below them and in leading them get behind them. Thus they do not oppress them nor block them, but everyone happily goes along without getting tired. From Lao-zi's three treasures of love, frugality, and not pushing oneself ahead of others come courage, generosity, and leadership. Love wins all battles and is the strongest defense, heaven giving it to save and protect. The best soldier is nonviolent; the best fighter is not angry; the best employer is humble. Strategy says not to be the aggressor but the defender; instead of advancing, retreat. This paradoxically is movement without moving, stretching the arm without showing it, confronting enemies with the idea there is no enemy, while holding in the hand no weapons. No disaster is worse than underestimating the enemy; but when the battle is joined, the kind will win. Those brave in killing will be killed, while those brave in not killing will live. The way of heaven does not strive; yet it wins easily.

Like Confucius, Lao-zi found that the best knowledge is to know that you do not know, and like Socrates he found that thinking you know when you do not is a disease. By recognizing this disease, the wise are free of it. Since people are not afraid to die, why threaten them with it? Those who try to do the work of the Lord of Death by executing rarely escape injuring their own hands. Only those who do not interfere with living are best at valuing life. The way of heaven takes from those who have too much and gives to those who do not have enough, but the human way is just the opposite. Only the person of the way has enough to give to the world. The wise do not hoard; but the more they give, the more they have. Those who bear the humiliation of the people can minister to them, and those who take on the sins of the society can lead the world. Lao-zi envisioned a simple society in which food is tasty, clothes are beautiful, home is comfortable, and customs are delightful so that people feel no need to travel. The way of heaven sharpens but does not harm and accomplishes without striving.

Mo-zi
Confucius died in 479 BC, and about ten years later Mo-zi was born in the same state of Lu; he probably died about twenty years before Mencius was born in 371 BC. According to the Huainan-zi in the second century BC, Mo-zi had the same kind of traditional education in the six classics as Confucius but was critical of some Confucian ideas such as elaborate funerals and therefore rejected Zhou traditions in favor of the older Xia. Judging by the wagon-load of books Mo-zi took with him when he went to Wei as an envoy, he was quite a scholar. Since the purpose of his learning was to practice justice and teach others to do so also, Mo-zi became a minister in the state of Song and also traveled to different states to advise rulers on how they could apply his teachings. The Huainan-zi stated that Mo-zi never stayed anywhere long enough to make the seat warm. It goes on to say that for sages no mountains are too high and no rivers too wide; they bear shame and humiliation to advise rulers, not for wealth or position but merely to benefit the world and eliminate human catastrophes. Mo-zi was such a man.

Mo-zi sent his writing to King Hui (ruled Chu 488-432 BC), who called it an excellent work but felt he was too old to receive him. Mu Ho, who was assigned to receive him, asked Mo-zi why his great Lord should employ the ideas of a humble man. Mo-zi explained that even the emperor takes the roots of herbs if their medicine is applicable.

Once when asked by a rustic in Lu why Mo-zi used so much verbosity, since justice was just a word, he explained that justice has the power to serve people and produce wealth. Mo-zi thought of being a farmer to feed people or a weaver to clothe people or a soldier to defend people; but he decided that if he could persuade rulers to adopt his principles of justice, then states would be orderly, and the benefit would be greater than by plowing or weaving. A friend said he was foolish for persisting in the struggle for justice, since he was almost alone. Mo-zi replied that like the farmer who had only one son out of ten actually working, his efforts should be encouraged even more.

Gong Shu-zi invented grappling hooks and rams for Chu and asked Mo-zi if he had any device as good in his justice. Mo-zi said that he pulled with love and pushed with respect, because without love there is no intimacy and without respect there is rapid desecration, which without intimacy leads to separation. Thus mutual love and respect bring mutual benefit, but to pull in order to stop retreat and to push to stop an advance is nothing but mutual injury.

Mo-zi already had three hundred disciples when Gong Shu Ban of Chu completed his preparations for attacking Song. Hearing of it, Mo-zi walked ten days and nights from Qi, having to tear off pieces of clothing to wrap up his feet. He saw Gong Shu Ban in the Chu capital at Ying, telling him that someone had humiliated him; Mo-zi wanted him to murder the man for him and offered him a reward. Gong Shu-zi declared that his principles were against murdering people. So Mo-zi bowed and asked him why he was preparing to attack Song. The state of Chu is large and has plenty, while innocent Song is small in territory with few people. It does not seem wise to destroy what is scarce in order to strive for what is already plentiful. Nor does a principle that allows the killing of many but not a few seem consistent. Gong Shu Ban was convinced by these arguments but said that he could not stop it, because he had promised his Lord.

So Mo-zi saw the Lord and used similar analogies about a man who has much taking from those with little; for Chu to attack Song would be violating justice for no advantage. The Lord turned to Gong Shu Ban, who had already constructed the scaling ladders. So Mo-zi untied his belt, laid out a city on the floor, and defended it nine times against nine different machines using his stick as a weapon. Mo-zi knew that he could be put down if he were murdered; but he warned them that his three hundred disciples were already armed with implements of defense on the walls of Song. Thus the Lord of Chu decided not to attack Song after all. Several of Mo-zi's writings are on the subjects of fortifications and defense against attacks from an elevation, with ladders, a sally, tunneling, and an ant-rush. On his way back home through Song, Mo-zi was refused shelter from the rain by a guard at a mountain pass, but he took it philosophically, saying that a man who cultivates himself spiritually is not recognized by the multitude.

Gong Shang Guo, after talking with Mo-zi, recommended him to the Lord of Yueh, who sent fifty wagons to Lu to induce Mo-zi to come and instruct him, promising also a large piece of land in the former state of Wu. Yet Mo-zi only asked for the food and clothing necessary for his body; but if the Lord of Yueh was not going to listen to his words, he did not need to go outside of the empire to sell his justice. When Lu's master of sacrifice offered one pig and asked for a hundred blessings, Mo-zi said that to give little but expect much from others would make them afraid of gifts.

When the Lord of Lu was afraid that Qi was going to attack him, he asked Mo-zi if there was any remedy. Mo-zi suggested that he revere heaven and the spirits above while loving and benefiting the people below; he should humble his speech, befriend the neighboring lords, and lead his state in serving Qi. Mo-zi also advised the general of Qi that to attack Lu was wrong, and he gave examples from history how large states had attacked small states and been defeated by the vengeance of the feudal lords. He asked the Grand Lord of Qi who would be cursed for capturing a state, ruining an army, and destroying the people, and after deliberation the Lord realized that it would be himself.

In Wei as an envoy Mo-zi cautioned Gong Liang Huan-zi that a small state like Wei between Qi and Jin is like a poor family in the midst of rich families; the poor family that imitates the rich in extravagance will be ruined. If the money spent on luxuries was devoted to self-defense in this emergency, the state would be more secure. Sima Qian's Historical Records mention that Mo-zi was imprisoned in Song on the advice of Zi Han, who in 404 BC murdered Duke Zhao of Song. The historian also credited Mo-zi with being skilled at defense and practicing frugality.

Mo-zi had recommended Cao Gong-zi to the state of Song, and after three years he returned complaining of the frugal food and clothing in Mo-zi's school; now several members of his family have died, six animals have not bred, and he himself has suffered ailments. Mo-zi replied that he was not fair, because the man did not give up his position to the virtuous, did not share his wealth with the poor, and then merely served the spirits by sacrificing to them. This was like shutting one of a hundred gates and then wondering how the thieves entered.

In 393 BC Prince Wen of Lu Yang was planning to attack Zheng. Mo-zi went to stop him and asked him what he would do if his large cities attacked his small cities, killing the people and taking their goods. Prince Wen replied that he would punish them severely, to which Mo-zi asked whether heaven would punish him if he attacked Zheng. Prince Wen, however, felt that it was the will of heaven, because they had murdered their lords for three generations and had already suffered three hard years of heaven's punishment. Mo-zi posed the case of a father, who was punishing his son when the neighbor's father struck his son, saying it is in accord with the father's will. If a lord attacks neighboring states, kills their people, takes away their goods, and then writes down how powerful he is, is that any better than a common man who does the same thing to his neighbors? Prince Wen then realized that what the world takes for granted may not be right after all. Mo-zi said that gentlemen of the world know only trifles, not what is important. If a man steals a pig, they call him wrong; but if a state is stolen, they call it just. Finally Prince Wen referred to the barbarians who practice cannibalism; but Mo-zi complained that in the civilized world, instead of killing the father to reward the son, they kill the sons (in war) to reward the fathers.

Mo-zi had a school and recommended several of his disciples for political positions in Chu, Wei, and Song. He sent Sheng Zhuo to serve Xiang-zi Niu, who invaded Lu three times accompanied by Sheng Zhuo. So Mo-zi sent Gao Sun-zi to call him back, saying that he sent Zhuo there to cure pride and regulate insolence; but Zhuo was drawing a large salary and flattering his master. For Mo-zi, to preach justice and not do it is an intentional wrong. He thought Zhuo knew better, but his justice had been overcome by the emolument.

Mo-zi praised his disciple Gao Shi-zi for leaving the Lord of Wei after his counsels were ignored three times, because when the way is not being observed in the world, a superior person does not stay in a position of plenty. However, when Gao-zi said that he could administer a country, Mo-zi replied that to govern is to carry out what one teaches. As the students of Mo-zi already knew, Gao-zi did not behave according to what he taught, which means he himself was in revolt. Being unable to govern himself, how could he govern a country?

Teachings of Mo-zi
In addition to strategies of defense Mo-zi wrote several treatises to explain his philosophy. In an essay on "Universal Love" he began with the basic principle that the humane try to promote what is beneficial to the world and eliminate what is harmful. The greatest harm of his time he believed to be great states attacking small ones, the strong oppressing the weak, the many bothering the few, the cunning deceiving the stupid, and the eminent lording it over the humble; mean people seek to injure others with weapons. These are not caused by people trying to love and benefit each other but by trying to injure. This injuring comes about, because people are not motivated by universal love but by partiality, which is therefore wrong.

Mo-zi felt that one should not criticize others without having an alternative to offer them. He suggested universal love instead of partiality. How can this be done? If people were to regard other states as they regard their own, they would not attack one another; for it would be like attacking one's own state.

Now if we seek to benefit the world
by taking universality as our standard,
those with sturdy limbs will work for others,
and those with a knowledge of the Way
will endeavor to teach others.
Those who are old and without wives or children
will find means of support and be able to live out their days;
the young and orphaned who have no parents
will find someone to care for them and look after their needs.4

The universal person regards one's friend the same as oneself and the father of one's friend as one's father. Only the person who does this can be considered a truly superior person. Such a person will feed people when they are hungry, clothe them when they are cold, nourish them when they are sick, and bury them when they die. The selfish person will not. To which type of person will one trust the support of one's parents? To the universal person or the selfish one? Even if one does not believe in universal love, that person would trust his or her family to the universal person. Thus people criticize universal love in words but adopt it in practice. Also if people had to choose between these two types of rulers, which would they follow?

If we want other people to love and benefit our parents, then we must make it a point first to love and benefit others' parents. Thus Mo-zi showed how universal love and mutual benefit can be profitable and easy, but the only trouble is that no ruler delights in them. If rulers did adopt them, Mo-zi predicted that the people would turn to universal love and mutual benefit as naturally as fire turns upward and water flows downward. This is the way of the ancient sage kings to bring about safety for the rulers and officials and to assure ample food and clothing for the people. If this is put into practice, rulers will be generous, subjects loyal, fathers kind, sons filial, older brothers friendly, and younger brothers respectful.

In his "Honoring the Worthy" Mo-zi acknowledged that rulers and officials all want their states to be wealthy, their populations numerous, and their administrations well ordered, but he found that they are poor, few, and chaotic. Mo-zi recommended that those governing honor the worthy and employ the capable so that government will be more effective and the people prosperous. Also those without ability must be demoted in order to do away with private likes and dislikes. Mo-zi taught that when the wise rule, there will be order; but when the stupid rule over the wise, there will be chaos. Thus the ancient sage kings honored the worthy and employed the capable without showing any special consideration for their own kin, no partiality for the eminent and rich, and no favoritism for the good-looking. Thus the people were encouraged by these rewards to become more capable, and the sage kings listened to the worthy, watched their actions, observed their abilities, and assigned them to the proper office.

To accomplish this three principles must be followed: first, the positions of the worthy must be exalted enough so that the people will respect them; second, the salaries must be generous so that people will have confidence in them; and third, their orders must be enforced so that people will be in awe of them. According to Mo-zi in the ancient times worthy men who accomplished anything gave the credit to the ruler, while all grudges and complaints were directed against subordinates so that the ruler always had peace and joy, while the ministers handled the cares and sorrows. The ruler, however, must be willing to delegate responsibility and pay out stipends. The unworthy steal and plunder in government and, if assigned a city, betray their trust or rebel. They do not know to employ the capable but instead hire their relatives and those who happen to be eminent or attractive.

In "Identifying with One's Superior" Mo-zi speculated that at first people lived in chaos, because each person had their own views; this resulted in conflict. Eventually people chose the most capable as leaders so that government could be unified and under intelligent direction. The son of heaven (emperor) then appointed high ministers, who helped regulate the feudal lords and chiefs, who in turn chose the worthy and able to act as officials. Then the son of heaven proclaimed the principle that anyone hearing of good or evil must report it to one's superior. The judgments of the superior are to be respected; but if a superior commits a fault, the subordinates are to remonstrate. Those who do good are to be rewarded and those who do evil punished, and the greatest care must be taken that these are just.

However, Mo-zi also believed that the people should not only identify with the son of heaven but with heaven itself, or else there will be no end to calamities, which are punishments from heaven. Someone asked Mo-zi why then was there such disorder in the empire. Mo-zi used the example of the barbarian Miao to explain that punishments must be applied with instruction and admonition or else they become mere tortures. Originally government intended to benefit people and eliminate adversity, to help the poor, increase the few, bring safety where there was danger, and restore order where there was confusion. At the present, however, administration is carried on by court flattery, and fathers and brothers and other relatives and friends are appointed rulers of the people. Since people realize that they have not been appointed for the welfare of the people, they do not respect them nor identify with them. Thus the purposes of government are not unified; rewards do not encourage people to do good; and punishments do not restrain them from doing evil.

The ancient sage kings had many to help them see and hear, because they could trust their staff in administering. Virtuous people, even far away, were found and rewarded, while the wicked were also punished; thieves and robbers could not find refuge anywhere. Mo-zi believed that whoever asks the people to identify with their superiors must love them dearly, or else they will not trust the ruler and obey orders. People can be led with the rewards of wealth and honor ahead of them and pushed from behind with just punishments.

Mo-zi wrote most vehemently against offensive warfare. Everyone condemns stealing and violence against others on an individual level. Yet when it comes to the greater injustice of offensive warfare against other states, gentlemen do not know enough to condemn it; instead they praise it and call it just. To kill one person is a capital crime; but when states kill hundreds, they praise it and write down the record for posterity. Mo-zi complained that the feudal lords of his day continued to attack and annex their neighboring states, claiming they were honoring justice.

The ancient sage kings strove to unite the world in harmony to bring people together. Contemporary rulers examine the relative merits of their soldiers and weapons and then set off to attack some innocent state, where they cut down the crops, fell trees, raze walls, fill in moats and ponds, slaughter animals, burn temples, and massacre the people, carrying away their treasures. The soldiers are urged on with the idea that to die is the highest honor, and the penalty for running away is death. Does this benefit heaven? It is attacking the people of heaven. Does this benefit humans? Mo-zi ironically wrote, "But murdering men is a paltry way to benefit them indeed, and when we calculate the expenditures for such warfare we find that they have crippled the basis of the nation's livelihood and exhausted the resources of the people to an incalculable degree."5

Mo-zi recounted how many hundreds of officials and how many thousands of soldiers were required for these expeditions that might last several years. Meanwhile officials must neglect government, farmers their crops, and women their weaving. If one-fifth of the supplies and weapons are salvaged afterwards, it is considered fortunate. Countless men will desert or die of starvation, cold, and sickness. He asked if it is not perverse that rulers and officials delight in the injury and extermination of the people of the world. Usually it is the larger states like Qi, Jin, Chu, and Yue that attack the smaller ones, which is like destroying what one does not have enough of for the sake of what one already has in excess. In this way many states have been made extinct, while hardly more than these four powerful states remain. The world has become as weary as a little boy who has spent the day playing horse.

Mo-zi wished there were someone, who would conduct diplomacy in good faith and think first of how to benefit others, who would feel concerned with others when a large state commits an unjust act, who when a large state attacked a small one would with others help rescue the small state, who would help small states repair their defenses and get supplies of cloth and grain and funds; then the smaller states would be pleased. If others struggle while one is at ease, and if one is merciful and generous, the people will be won over. If one substitutes good government for offensive warfare and spends less on the army, one will gain rich benefits. If one acts according to justice and sets an example for others, then one will have no enemies and bring incalculable benefit to the world.

Mo-zi also recommended moderation in expenditures by avoiding beginning enterprises, employing people, or spending wealth on anything that is not necessary, such as elaborate funerals and courtly musical and cultural extravaganzas. A strict utilitarian, Mo-zi considered only the pragmatic value of activities and expenditures, complaining that luxurious music and arts for the court drain the wealth and abilities of the people.

Mo-zi believed that heaven knows of the crimes people commit. Heaven loves justice and hates injustice. If we lead the people to devote themselves to justice, then we are doing what heaven wants. How does one know heaven wants justice? In the world where there is justice there is life, wealth, and order, and where there is no justice there is death, poverty, and disorder. Since heaven desires life, wealth, and order, it follows that it desires justice. Whoever obeys the will of heaven by loving all people universally and working for their benefit will be rewarded. Those who disobey the will of heaven by showing partiality and hatred and in injuring others will surely incur punishment. The former regard justice as right, but the latter believe force is right.

Heaven desires that those who have strength work for others, those with wealth share with others, those above attend diligently to government, and those below diligently carry out their tasks so that the state will be well ordered. When the state avoids armed clashes on its borders, when it devotes its efforts to feeding the hungry, giving rest to the weary, and taking care of its subjects, then human relations will be good. Mo-zi believed that heaven loves the world universally and seeks mutual benefit for all creatures. There is not even the tip of a hair that is not the work of heaven. For Mo-zi the will of heaven was like the compass to the wheelwright or a square to a carpenter; it is the standard to measure government as well as words and actions. The sage kings devoted themselves to universality and shunned partiality, but the feudal lords regard might as right.

Mo-zi also believed in spiritual beings and the spirits of the ancestors. As evidence he cited that countless people in the world have seen or heard such beings. He was critical of those who believed in fate, because he felt they lacked benevolence. Mo-zi had three tests to judge the validity of any theory. First, what is the origin of the theory and how does it compare to the ancient sage kings? Second, how does it compare to the evidence of people's eyes and ears? Third, when it is put into practice, does it bring benefit to people? On the first, the sage kings never declared that good fortune cannot be sought nor bad fortune avoided nor that being reverent will not help you nor doing evil not harm you. Fatalism would overthrow justice in the world and replace it with fate. However, when the just are in authority, the world will be better. Thus the ancient sage kings provided for rewards and punishments in order to encourage good and prevent evil. Secondly then, people are loving to their parents and friendly to their neighbors, because they know from their own experience that their actions can affect their destinies. Thirdly, if fatalism was accepted, those above would not attend to the affairs of state and those below would not pursue their tasks, resulting in disorder and poverty.

Mo-zi's three tests of validity can be considered an examination of the past, present, and future. The basis of a doctrine is found in the past history of the early kings; it can be verified by present-day experience; and the pragmatic test applies the theory to see how it works.

Mo-zi also wrote against his rival school of the Confucians, but many of his arguments seem to be exaggerated and unfair to actual Confucian philosophy and practices. Mo-zi accused them of considering heaven unintelligent and spirits inanimate. He railed against their elaborate funerals with weeping lasting three years, and he felt their music, singing, and dancing were ruining the empire. Mo-zi criticized Confucians for supporting wars and having enemies and accused several individuals of participating in revolts. Mo-zi also accused the Confucians of fatalism. When a Confucian disciple complained that his accusations were false and too extreme, Mo-zi denied it. However, the truth was surely clear to intelligent people, and this bitter rivalry on Mo-zi's part may have been one of the main factors in discrediting the credibility of his own school.

Moism
For about two centuries the school of Mo was the main rival of the Confucians. According to Han Fei-zi (d. 233 BC), after Mo-zi's death his school split into three branches, which could explain why most of his treatises were preserved in three versions. Zhuang-zi explained that these schools quibbled over logical questions and called each other heretics, but they all respected the writings of Mo-zi and the "Elder Master."

The first Elder Master named Fu Dun in the state of Qin refused to suspend the capital punishment of his son for murder because of his devotion to justice. Meng Sheng, the second Elder Master, was given land by the prince of Yang Cheng. When the king of Jing died, the ministers rose against Wu Qi, and the prince of Yang Cheng had to flee. The state of Jing demanded Meng Sheng's land, but he had promised not to give it up without the matching tally (representing the contract). Meng Sheng chose death as the only honorable solution. His disciple Xu Ro tried to talk him out of it, but failing cut off his own head to prepare the way for his master. After he passed the Elder Mastership on to Tian Xiang-zi of Song, Meng Sheng and also 183 of his followers committed suicide. These accounts are from essays on the Spring and Autumn of Lu, but a contradiction arises when we discover that the scholar Sun Yi Rang listed these three Elder Masters and Meng Sheng's disciple Xu Ro as the fourth Elder Master. The author of the essays also listed several followers of Mo who had been convicted criminals.

Xun-zi recorded how a follower of Mo-zi named Song-zi explained how realizing that to be insulted is not a dishonor can prevent struggles. People fight because they feel they are dishonored by an insult. When they discover that it is not a dishonor to be insulted, they will struggle no more. Yet in the Period of Warring States Moism had to face the criticism of realists like Guan-zi, who warned that if agitation for disarmament triumphed, strategic points would no longer be guarded; and if the doctrine of universal love prevailed, soldiers would no longer fight. Moism was also criticized for its frugality in regard to funerals and music by Mencius, who also complained that love without difference of degree was unrealistic when the manifestation of love must begin with our parents.

Xun-zi also criticized Mo-zi for worrying unnecessarily about insufficiency and accused him of causing poverty in the empire by condemning music and economizing too much on expenditures. He felt Mo-zi's recommendations of coarse clothing and poor food undiluted by amusement were too stringent and caused anxiety.

Although Zhuang-zi considered Mo-zi "one of the greatest souls in the world," he likewise criticized him for being too strict in economizing on funerals and music. Mo-zi himself and some of his followers might be able to follow this extreme asceticism, but it made most people uncomfortable and unhappy and thus was difficult to practice. Zhuang-zi felt that people will express joy in singing and grief in wailing, and so he questioned whether condemning these expressions was in accordance with human nature.

Both Confucianism and Moism were persecuted by the Qin empire, but according to the Huainan-zi both teachings were revived and systematized. However, Moism soon passed out of fashion and was neglected by Chinese culture, though fortunately his writings were passed on by scholars, and his philosophy could be studied.

Zhuang-zi
Zhuang-zi lived in the state of Song through most of the fourth century BC, probably dying shortly after 300 BC. According to the historian Sima Qian he preferred to please himself and turned down an offer to be prime minister of Chu from King Wei, who ruled from 339 to 329 BC. Zhuang-zi wrote that he would rather drag his tail in the mud like a living turtle than be sacrificed like a sacred tortoise in the Great Temple. The book of a hundred thousand characters named after him was probably added to by later disciples in his imaginative and mystical style. Though he did not call himself a Daoist, Zhuang-zi respected Lao-zi more than any other philosopher, and the way and its power or virtue is certainly central in his philosophy.

In the first and last chapters the Zhuang-zi refers to Song Keng, a philosopher Mencius met going to Chu to try to persuade the king not to fight with Qin using the argument that war is unprofitable, an idea Mencius criticized. Xun-zi described Song Keng as teaching that human desires are little, although everyone supposes their own passions are great. Xun-zi believed that Song Keng could not see that desires are many and felt he did not know the value of virtue. Xun-zi credited Song Keng for showing clearly that it is no disgrace to receive an insult and that when people realize this, they will not fight. According to Xun-zi, Song Keng worked to check aggression and proposed disarmament, and so he considered him a Moist; he felt Song did too much for others and not enough for himself. Zhuang-zi likewise considered the checking of aggression and disarmament proposals were the external achievement, while desiring few things was the inner cultivation of Song Keng and Yin Wen. The legalist Han Fei-zi wrote that Song Keng preached not fighting, not making enemies, not feeling shame for being in prison nor disgrace for being insulted, and he was honored by the rulers of the world for being liberal-minded.

In the first chapter "Free and Easy Wandering" Zhuang-zi wrote that Song Keng would burst out laughing at a man who had enough wisdom to fill one office, good conduct to impress one community, virtue to please one ruler, and talent enough to serve one state. Such was Song Keng's equanimity that he would not exert himself if the whole world praised him nor would he mope if the whole world condemned him, for he drew a clear line between the internal and external, recognizing the boundaries of true glory and disgrace. In the last chapter the Zhuang-zi discusses philosophers and says that Song Keng and Yin Wen designed caps flat like Mount Hua to symbolize equality and peace. They preached liberality of mind to bring people together in harmony and assure concord. They walked everywhere to persuade those above them and teach those below them to end human strife, outlaw aggression, and abolish the use of arms in order to rescue the world from warfare. Asking for only five pints of rice, Zhuang-zi was afraid these teachers did not get their fill. Even though their disciples were hungry, they never forgot the rest of the world, being determined that everyone should live; even though the world refused to listen, they never stopped asking to be seen, working for the external goal of outlawing aggression and weapons and for the internal goal of lessening desires.

Zhuang-zi also described how Shen Dao and others heard of the views of the ancients and discarded knowledge and any distinction between right and wrong, but he decided that this was not the true way. He observed that the logician Hui Shih could not seem to find any peace for himself but went on separating and analyzing everything without achieving anything. Zhuang-zi liked the views of Lao-zi best - knowing the male but clinging to the female and becoming the valley of the world. In the end the Zhuang-zi refers to the writings of Zhuang Zhou as a string of queer beads and baubles with outlandish terms and bombastic language but which do not look at things from one angle only or with partisanship; yet they do no one any harm.

A delightful and enigmatic writer, it is difficult to discuss the ethics of Zhuang-zi, because he chose to transcend mundane activities in a quietistic and reclusive life. In his chapter on the equality of all things, he wrote,

Great understanding is broad and generous;
petty understanding is contentious.
Great speech is clear and simple;
petty speech is quarrelsome.
In sleep when the human spirit goes visiting,
or awake when the body is free to move and act,
in all their contacts and associations
some minds are relaxed, some are deep, and some are serious.
We scheme and fight with our minds.
We worry over small fears and are overwhelmed by great fears.
The mind shoots forth like an arrow
to be the arbiter of right and wrong.
It clings to its position like a solemn pledge.6

Zhuang-zi pitied humans fixed in their bodily forms, pathetically clashing with things, laboring to the end of their days and never knowing where to look for rest. "Are humans not muddled?" he asked. When the way relies on little accomplishments and vain show, then we have the rights and wrongs of the Confucians and the Moists, but they call each others' rights wrongs; the best thing is clarity. There is always a this and a that, but the wise see that they both have right and wrong in them. The consciousness which no longer finds their opposites is the hinge of the way, seeing both the right and wrong as a single infinity.

A road is made by people walking on it; things are so, because they are called so. Only the person of far-reaching vision is able to make them into one. The wise harmonize both right and wrong and rest in heaven the equalizer. Zhuang-zi called this walking two roads. The one who can understand discriminations that are not spoken and the way that is not a way may be called the reservoir of heaven, which poured into is never full and dipped from never runs dry; yet one does not know the source of its supply. This Zhuang-zi called the hidden Light. When Yao sat on his throne and found his mind nagging him to attack other rulers, Shun replied that long ago ten thousand suns came out all at once and illuminated all things, and yet virtue is greater than those suns!

Zhuang-zi asked how one knows that loving life is not a delusion or hating death is not like a person who has left home and forgotten the way back. Suppose two people have an argument. Is the one who beats the other necessarily right and the other necessarily wrong? If the two cannot agree, should they get someone else to decide what is right? But they can only get someone who agrees with one or the other or none or both; so how can anyone else decide for them? Rather Zhuang-zi suggested that we harmonize them with the heavenly equality, leave them to their endless changes, and so live out our years. Leap into the boundless and make it your home! Zhuang-zi dreamed he was a butterfly; but when he awoke, he thought he might be a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuang Zhou. This he called the transformation of things.

Zhuang-zi often satirized a caricature of Confucius for trying to teach virtue, goodness, and justice. He observed that when the world has the way, the wise succeed; but when the world does not have the way, the wise survive; in times like the present he found they did well to escape penalty. He suggested leaving off this teaching of virtue. Everyone knows the value of the useful, but no one knows the value of the useless. Many people excuse their faults and claim they do not deserve to be punished, but few admit their faults. Only a person of virtue knows what one cannot do anything about and is content with it. Zhuang-zi suggested that one not allow likes or dislikes to get in and do harm. Just let things be the way they are and don't try to help life along. We go around telling each other, I do this or that; but how do we know that this I really exists? When we dream we are something else, how do we know whether we are awake or dreaming? Running around accusing others is not as good as laughing, which is not as good as going along with things. By forgetting about change, one can enter the mysterious oneness of heaven.

Zhuang-zi suggested that we not embody fame or store up schemes or undertake projects or sell wisdom but rather embody to the fullest what has no end and wander where there is no trail. Hold on to what you receive from heaven, but don't think you have got anything. Be empty and use the mind like a mirror. Go after nothing; respond but do not store. Thus one can win out over things and not hurt oneself.

Zhuang-zi lamented that the way and its virtue have been cast aside in the call for goodness and justice. If the inborn nature had not been abandoned there would be no need for rites and music. He blamed the sages for destroying the way and its virtue in order to create goodness and justice. What the ordinary world calls perfect wisdom he described as piling things up for the benefit of a great thief. He pointed out that several famous persuaders were destroyed or forced to commit suicide by their rulers, who also came to violent deaths as the result of their wickedness. He observed that whoever steals a belt buckle pays with his life, but whoever steals a state gets to be a feudal lord; yet everyone knows that goodness and justice are found at the gates of the feudal lords. Everyone knows enough to search for what they don't know, but no one knows enough to search for what they already know. Everyone knows enough to condemn what they take to be no good, but no one knows enough to condemn what they have already taken to be good.

Zhuang-zi suggested that by resting in inaction things will transform themselves. Forget you are a thing and join in great unity with the deep and boundless. Undo the mind, slough off spirit, be blank and soulless, and everything will return to the root and not know why. But if you try to know it, you have already departed from it. Do not ask its name or try to observe its form. Let things live naturally of themselves. A great one teaches like a shadow that follows form, an echo that follows sound, only answering when questioned and pouring out thoughts like a companion of the world. Such a one blended with the great unity is selfless. The "gentleman" of ancient times fixed his eyes on possession, but the one who fixes on nothingness is the true friend of heaven and earth.

The sage is not still because of taking stillness as good, but because the myriad of things are insufficient to distract the sage's mind. The mind of the sage in stillness is the mirror of heaven and earth. Some of the later writings of the Zhuang-zi have goodness, justice, loyalty, music, and rites coming out of the way and its virtue. But if all the emphasis is placed on the rites and music, then the world falls into disorder. In the ancient times people did not use knowledge to trouble the world but kept to their inborn nature. Instead of trying to rectify others, they rectified themselves and in complete joy found the fulfillment of ambition.

In the "Autumn Floods" the god of the north sea explains to the lord of the river that right and wrong are points of view based on preference. Everything can have some right to it, and anything can have something wrong with it. If you try to make right your master and do away with wrong or make order your master and do away with disorder, you have not understood the principle of heaven and earth or the nature of things. It would be like making heaven your master and doing away with earth or making yin (feminine) your master and doing away with yang (masculine). Obviously this is impossible.

Zhuang-zi questioned whether perfect happiness is found in what the world honors: wealth, eminence, long life, and a good name or in what the world enjoys: a life of ease, rich food, fine clothes, beautiful sights, and sweet sounds. Yet people who cannot get these things fret a great deal, which is a stupid way to treat the body, while others wear themselves out rushing around on business to pile up more wealth than they can ever use, which is a superficial way to treat the body. Ambitious people scheme day and night wondering if they are doing right, which is a shoddy way to treat the body, while others spend their lives worrying, which is a callous way to treat the body. Zhuang-zi simply took inaction to be happiness.

After Zhuang-zi's mother died, a friend came and found him singing and pounding on a tub. When asked why he was not mourning, Zhuang-zi explained that at first he grieved; but then he looked back at the time before she was born and before she had a body or even a spirit, realizing that now she was merely undergoing another change. Zhuang-zi once slept on a skull using it as a pillow and dreamed that the dead person told him the dead are very happy, because they have no rulers above nor subjects below and no seasonal chores. Having more happiness than a king on his throne why would he want to come back to the troubles of a human being?

Once Zhuang-zi went to see the king of Wei who, seeing his coarse and patched clothes, thought he was in distress. Zhuang-zi explained that he was poor but not in distress. If a person had the way and its virtue but could not put them into practice, that would be distress. Zhuang-zi learned from master Geng-sang that if he wanted to preserve his body and life, he must think only of how to hide himself away no matter how remote or secluded the spot. Promoting people of worth began with Yao and Shun and led to people trampling over each other and stealing from each other. People have become more diligent in pursuing gain so that sons kill fathers, ministers kill their lords, and men filch at mid-day. Rather one should cling fast to life and keep the body whole, not falling prey to fidgeting and fussy thoughts and scheming.

If one does not first perceive the sincerity within oneself before trying to act, each move will be a mistake. If outer concerns enter and are not expelled, each move will only add failure to failure. Action has its consequences. Whoever does what is not good in clear and open view will be seized and punished by people. Whoever does what is not good in the shadow of darkness will be seized and punished by spirits. Only the one who clearly understands both people and spirits can walk alone. Whoever concentrates on the internal and does deeds that bring no fame will have light, but whoever concentrates on the external hoarding of goods is a mere merchant. The inner protects us from the outer; but if one bets too much in an archery contest, too much emphasis on the outer makes the inner clumsy.

Zhuang-zi suggested how to wipe out delusions of the will, undo the snares of the heart, rid oneself of the entanglements to virtue, and open up the roadblocks in the way. The six delusions of the will are eminence, wealth, recognition, authority, fame, and profit. The six snares of the heart are appearances, carriage, complexion, features, temperament, and attitude. The six entanglements to virtue are loathing, desire, joy, anger, grief, and happiness. The six roadblocks in the way are rejecting, accepting, taking, giving, knowledge, and ability. When these no longer seethe within, one may achieve uprightness, stillness, enlightenment, and the emptiness, which results in doing nothing; yet there is nothing that is not done. Action which has become artificial is lost. Action which is done because one cannot do otherwise is virtuous. If the one who launches into action is not really acting, then the action is a launching into inaction. Whoever wishes to be still must calm one's energies. Whoever wishes to be spiritual must compose one's mind. Whoever wishes to succeed must go along with what cannot be avoided.

Yet the wise look at the inevitable and decide that it is not inevitable, thus not having recourse to arms. People usually look at what is not inevitable and decide that it is inevitable, thus having frequent recourse to arms. Whoever turns to arms is always seeking something, and whoever trusts in arms is lost.

Zhuang-zi admired the simpler times, before even the ancient emperors Yao and Shun, when the legendary Yellow Emperor ruled. Once the Yellow Emperor came upon a boy herding horses who advised him on ruling the empire by saying that it is not much different from herding horses - simply get rid of what is harmful to the horses; that's all. Here we find the same universal principle of not harming that in India is called ahimsa.

Not everyone is suited to the reclusive life. A prince of Wei told the Daoist adept Zhan-zi that his body was beside the rivers and seas, but his mind was still back at the court of Wei. Zhan-zi suggested that he emphasize life more than material gain. The prince complained that he knew he should do that, but it went against his inclinations. Zhan-zi recommended that if he could not overcome his inclinations, he should follow them; for if he tried to force himself, he would do double injury to himself. Those who do double injury to themselves do not live long. Zhuang-zi concluded that although the prince of Wei was not able to follow the way, at least he had the will to do so.

The petty person will die for riches; the better person will die for reputation. Yet they are both willing to throw away what is theirs for what is not theirs. Crooked or straight, it is better to follow the heaven within. Right or wrong, it is better to hold to the center upon which everything turns. In solitude bring your will to completion and ramble in the company of the way. Do not strive for consistency or try to perfect justice, or you will lose what you already have. Do not race after riches nor risk your life for success, or heaven will slip away from you.

In Zhuang-zi an old fisherman teaches Confucius the eight faults and four evils. The faults are officiousness (doing what is not your business), obsequiousness (rushing forward when no one has nodded in your direction), sycophancy (echoing others' opinions and trying to draw them out), flattery (speaking without regard for what is right or wrong), calumny (delighting in talking about others' faults), maliciousness (breaking up friendships and family relations), wickedness (praising falsely so as to cause injury), and treachery (two-facedly stealing another party's wishes). The four evils are avidity (altering accepted ways hoping to enhance your merit and fame), avarice (insisting you know it all and that everything be done your way, snatching things from others for your own use), obstinacy (refusing to change recognized errors, listening to remonstrance and behaving worse than before), and bigotry (commending those who agree with you and refusing to see any good in those who do not agree with you).

For this strange fisherman truth means purity and sincerity in the highest degree and is received from heaven, while rites are created by the vulgar people of the world. The wise pattern themselves on heaven, value truth, and do not allow themselves to be cramped by the vulgar. Those who do not depart from the pure and true are heavenly, holy, and perfect. The wise make heaven the source, virtue the root, and the way the gate, revealing oneself through change and transformation. This is contrasted to the gentleman, who makes goodness the standard of kindness, justice the model of reason, ritual the guide of conduct, and music the source of harmony.

Lie-zi
The Daoist Lie-zi is mentioned by Zhuang-zi and is therefore supposed to have lived in the fifth or fourth centuries BC in the state of Cheng for at least forty years as a common person. Little else is known about him except from the stories in the Zhuang-zi and the Lie-zi, a book which is supposed to have been written over several centuries and formalized with a commentary in the fourth century CE. Lie-zi was also a recluse, who never accepted political appointment, and his stories are similar to those of Zhuang-zi.

His reclusive life is indicated in a story of Lie-zi and his teacher Hu-zi in the Zhuang-zi. Lie-zi found a shaman, who could predict the future including when people would die. Lie-zi thought he had found a higher teaching; so Hu-zi told him to bring the shaman to meet him. The first time he predicted that Hu-zi would die within the week; the second time he predicted he would get better; the third time the shaman said the master was never the same and asked him to steady himself; but the fourth time the shaman ran away and could not be found. This fourth time Hu-zi had appeared to him not yet emerged from the source. Lie-zi realized that he had not yet begun to learn anything. Lie-zi went home and cooked for his wife and did not go out for the last three years of his life.

In another story from Zhuang-zi the gatekeeper Yin explains to Lie-zi how by guarding the pure breath one may rest within the bounds that know no excess, hide within the borders that know no source, wander where everything has its end and beginning, unify one's nature, nourish one's breath, unite one's virtue, and thereby communicate with what creates all things. Such a person guards what belongs to heaven and keeps it whole.

Lie-zi recounted how he asked Old Shang to be his master and Baigao-zi his friend while he worked hard to discipline himself. For three years he was afraid to have notions of right and wrong and did not dare to speak of benefit and harm. Five years later he thought freely of right and wrong and did speak of benefit and harm. Then seven years after that, his thoughts came naturally without conceptions of right and wrong, and his words were natural without intending to please or offend. After another nine years nothing he said without restraint whatever came to him without knowing whether it was right or wrong, pleasing or offending, his or another's. By then he did not think of whether Old Shang was his master or Baigao-zi his friend. The barrier between the inner and outer disappeared. He perceived with all his senses at once; his mind concentrated, and his body relaxed. He drifted like the wind.

Wen-zi, who is supposed to have studied under Lao-zi, may have been another of Lie-zi's teachers. Wen-zi (or Guanyin) told him that if his words are beautiful or ugly, so also is their echo. Conduct will follow one like a shadow. Thus he is advised to be careful of his words, for someone may agree with them, and be careful of his conduct, because someone may imitate it. The wise can know what will go in by seeing what came out, can know what is coming by observing what has passed. We judge by our own experience and verify it by the experience of others. If someone loves one, one will surely love that person; but if someone hates one, one will surely hate that person. The greatest emperors loved the empire, and the worst hated the empire.

Lie-zi also wrote about Yang Zhu, who lived around 400 BC and was criticized by Mencius for having such a selfish philosophy that he would not give up one hair off his body to save the empire. According to the Lie-zi Yang Zhu's philosophy was to preserve one's own body and enjoy the present. Yang Zhu believed that the ancients correctly placed no value on reputation or honor. He believed that if people did not try to make things better, the world would be in order. For Yang Zhu life is temporarily staying in the world, and death is a temporary departure.

When Lie-zi was poor and starving in Zheng, a friend told the chief minister that Lie-zi had attained the way but was poor and unrecognized. He asked the minister to send him a gift. The chief minister sent Lie-zi a gift of grain, but Lie-zi politely refused the gift. His wife scolded him, complaining that the wives and children of other sages live comfortably while they were starving. How could he refuse this food? Lie-zi smiled and explained that if he was honored because of someone else's opinion, then someone else's opinion could also condemn him. Later the chief minister fell out of popular favor, and the king swayed by public opinion had him executed.

The Lie-zi tells a story of a king, who was only interested in hiring the strong and brave as being the best to protect him. Not pleased with those who preach morality, he asked a visiting philosopher what he could teach him. The philosopher asked him if he would be interested in a strategy that would guarantee that anyone who attempted to stab him would miss. The king wanted to hear about it. Yet it would be a better strategy if people did not dare to strike him at all. The king agreed. An even better strategy than that would be if people did not even want to harm him. Yet people not wanting to harm him would still not be as good as getting them to love and benefit him. The king agreed he was looking for such a strategy, which is three degrees better than strength and courage. The philosopher then pointed out that Confucius and Mo-zi were respected even though they were not princes. If the king, who already has political power, were to rule his people with virtue and integrity, would not his greatness surpass that of Confucius and Mo-zi? After the philosopher left, the king admitted that he had been completely turned around by this argument.

Many of Lie-zi's stories show how psychological impressions can alter our perception of reality. An old and poor farmer heard that the power of Zihua could make a poor man rich. So he joined the followers of Zihua, who teased him for being a bumpkin. He was offered rewards for doing extraordinary feats like diving into water and saving goods from a burning house, which the farmer did in his innocence, because he did not know how hard they were. Impressed, they asked the farmer how he accomplished these feats. He explained that he merely believed what they said about how Zihua could make him rich. His only concern was that he might not believe or act on what they told him. He forgot about his body and what might benefit or harm him. Now that he realized they were making fun of him, he thought about the dangers he escaped in the water and fire and became aware of the worries and fears inside him. The story concludes with Confucius drawing the moral that if a person has perfect faith, one can move heaven and earth.

A man tried to steal gold in the market, because he was so carried away by the sight of the gold that he forgot about the officers, who arrested him. Another man, who lost his money, thought his neighbor's son had stolen it. He noticed that he had the look and gestures of a thief. Later he found the money and looking at his neighbor's son saw that neither his movements nor his gestures were those of a thief.

Lie-zi valued emptiness, because he felt that attachments of recognition, approval, and disapproval imprison us. It is better not to worry about such things. Rather than be concerned about taking credit for accomplishments, why not relax and observe the workings of heaven and earth? In emptiness one can cultivate stillness and peace of mind so that one will not be drawn into the unnecessary troubles of this crazy world. If you lose the way, you lose yourself.

Lie-zi also admired the Yellow Emperor for seeing that his people were happy and retiring to a simple life. First though, he worked hard for fifteen years in governing, but his physical and mental health both became worse. So he withdrew from courtly life for three months. During this vacation the Yellow Emperor dreamed he visited a western paradise, where there were no leaders or teachers, and desires and aversions did not develop. Believing he was enlightened by the dream, the Yellow Emperor spent the next twenty years letting his kingdom be as in the dream. When he died and ascended into heaven, his people mourned the passing of a great ruler.

Songs of Chu
In the southern state of Chu a man named Ju Yuan held a high position under King Huai (r. 328-299 BC). Sima Qian wrote that he had wide learning and a good memory. Ju Yuan advised the king and spoke on his behalf to representatives of other states. His ability and position were resented by a rival, who as Lord High Administrator tried to steal a law that Ju Yuan was drafting. When Ju Yuan would not let him have it, the High Administrator slandered him to the king, complaining that he was always boasting of the laws he made for the king. This alienated Ju Yuan from the king, and he was demoted.

In 313 BC Qin wanted to attack Qi, which was allied with Chu, and King Huiwen of Qin sent Zhang Yi to Chu with lavish gifts in pretense of forsaking Qin. He said that if Chu were to break off with Qi, Qin would give them a territory 600 li long. King Huai, greedily duped by this, broke relations with Qi. However, his envoy to Qin discovered that Zhang I had lied and that the territory was only 6 li. So King Huai angrily attacked Qin with his troops; but his forces were crushed; 80,000 heads were cut off, and the Chu commander was captured. Then King Huai sent out all his troops in the country to strike deep into Qin. When the state of Wei heard of this, they launched a surprise attack against Chu. Chu's troops had to retreat from Qin, as Qi was in no mood to rescue Chu.

A year later Qin offered some territory to Chu to make peace, but King Huai said that he would rather have revenge on Zhang I. When Zhang I heard this, he volunteered to go again to Chu, where he bribed an influential minister and seduced one of the king's concubines, who persuaded King Huai to release him. Out of favor, Ju Yuan was in Qi on an embassy, but he returned to criticize his king's behavior in letting go of Zhang I. The king regretted his mistake, but it was too late.

In 310 BC the feudal lords combined to crush Chu's army, killing Chu's general. Qin's king Zhao invited King Huai to Qin, and Ju Yuan warned him not to go, because Qin was a country of tigers and wolves, not to be trusted. Urged to go by his youngest son, King Huai was detained. He refused to grant territorial concessions and fled to the state of Zhao, but they sent him back to Qin, where he eventually died. The eldest son of King Huai was made king of Chu, and he appointed the youngest son Premier; but the latter was blamed for the loss of his father and resented the criticism of Ju Yuan and had him banished. Thus much is history recounted by Sima Qian, who saw this as the turning point leading to Chu's decline and eventual defeat by Qin.

A poem called "The Fisherman" tells how Ju Yuan wandered by the banks of the Jiang River, let down his hair (Men usually wore their long hair tied in a bun.) and sang. A fisherman asks him if he is not the Lord of the Three Wards, and Ju replies that all the world is muddy, although he is clear. Because everyone is drunk and he is sober, he has been sent into exile. The fisherman suggests that the wise can move as the world does in muddy water or enjoy drinking. Why get banished? Ju has heard that after bathing one should shake out one's clothes. Not wanting to submit to the dirt of others, he would throw himself into the water and be buried in the bowels of fish rather than hide his light in a murky world. In the poem the fisherman goes off singing that when the water is clear he can wash his hat strings, and when it is muddy he can wash his feet. After much lamenting and composing of songs somewhere along the way, Ju Yuan clasped a large stone, threw himself into the river, and drowned.

The songs of Ju Yuan and other Chu poets, who wrote on similar themes of his life and laments, were gathered together as the Songs of Chu. Drawing on traditions of shamanic spiritual travels and the sadness of his experience, Ju Yuan and his followers created a poetry expressive of the feelings of frustration and despair in the Period of Warring States and after.

Ju Yuan began his song on "Encountering Trouble" with his own auspicious birth when his father named him True Exemplar with the title Divine Balance. He gathered the flowers of youth and cast out the impure. He glorified his ruler as the Fragrant One and lamented that the Fair One refused to examine his true feelings but instead listened to slander. Like Lie-zi he did not mind poverty. "If only my mind can be truly beautiful, it matters nothing that I often faint for famine."7 Though he may die nine times, he does not regret it; he only regrets the Fair One's waywardness. He would rather die than emulate the flatterers.

Yet humbling one's spirit and curbing one's pride,
Bearing blame humbly and enduring insults,
But keeping pure and spotless and dying in righteousness:
Such conduct was greatly prized by the wise men of old.8

The fragrant and foul mingle in confusion, but he has kept his inner brightness undimmed. With the love of beauty as his constant joy he decides to visit the world's quarters. But how can he tell people to look into his mind? He looks to the wise men of old for his guidance and cites numerous examples. Examining human outcomes, he asks where is the unjust person who can be trusted? He grieves for having been born in an unlucky time. With a team of jade dragons he goes on a fantastic journey. At heaven's gate he learns to hide beauty out of jealousy. Seeking a mate, he is told to go beyond the world or to wander the earth, seeking one whose thoughts are of his measure. If his inner soul is beautiful, he needs no matchmaker. Finally arriving at the western heaven he sees his home below, and the horses refuse to go further. Feeling that no one understands him and that there are no true men in the state to work with in making good government, Ju Yuan decides to go join the ancestral shaman Peng Xian.

The "Nine Songs" celebrate Ju Yuan's shaman journeys in heaven, where he tries to woo a goddess; but they end praising the heroism of soldiers, who have died in battle. The "Heavenly Questions" ask for explanations for the many injustices and inconsistencies in life and tradition. Even though heaven is considered to be too exalted to be questioned, Ju Yuan nevertheless does just that. He asks about the origin of heaven and earth and who passed down the story. What is darkness and light, and how did yang and yin come together? Who accomplished all this? Where are the nine fields of heaven? How do the sun and moon hold to their courses and the fixed stars keep their places? From heavenly questions he turns to ancient myths and then to perplexing incidents in history. Why did Shun's brother not come to harm when he behaved worse than a brute beast toward Shun? Why did heaven favor Duke Huan of Qi, the first protector, and then later punish him? Why does the High God confer the mandate of heaven and how is notice given of it? Why is the mandate of heaven taken away and given to another? The entire song has nothing but questions for the listeners to ponder.

In "Grieving at the Eddying Wind" Ju Yuan, or another poet inspired by him, lamented that delicate things by nature are prone to fall. He admired the noble thoughts of Peng Xian, the shamanic ancestor believed to have been a Shang minister who drowned himself. His purpose was strong, and the poet asks, who by deceiving can succeed for long? Only the good person's lasting beauty is preserved through the ages.

Remote is the ideal that my thoughts aspire to:
I would be as the clouds that wander above in freedom.
But because there was that by which my high thoughts were shaken,
I have written these songs to make my meaning clear.
The good man nurses his thoughts in isolation.9

He lies in a secret place and broods in his sorrow. He would rather sweetly die. He climbs a rocky summit and looks into the distance, hears no echo, but his sadness cannot be dispelled. Even the simplest act became impossible, and inconsolable he rushed toward the heavens. He would not swerve from his resolution to float down the river until he entered the ocean, but the last line asks, "But what good did it do to clasp a great stone and drown?"10

In the second century BC some Daoists put together the Songs of Chu and added their own compositions like the "Far-off Journey." In melancholy the poet sought to learn from where the primal spirit comes. In emptiness and silence he found serenity. In peaceful inaction he gained satisfaction. In his journey he received the following teaching from a legendary Master Wang:

The Way can only be received; it cannot be given.
Small, it has no content; great, it has no bounds.
Keep your soul from confusion, and it will come naturally.
By unifying essence (qi), strengthen the spirit;
Preserve it inside you in the midnight hour.
Await it in emptiness, before even Inaction.
All other things proceed from this: this is the Door of Power.11

In "Divination" the poet went to consult an oracle and asked,

Is it better to be painstakingly honest, simple-hearted and loyal,
or to keep out of trouble by welcoming each change as it comes?
Is it better to risk one's life
by speaking truthfully and without concealment,
or to save one's skin
by following the whims of the wealthy and highly placed?
Is it better to preserve one's integrity by means of a lofty detachment,
or to wait on a king's mistress
with flattery, fawning, and strained, smirking laughter?
Is it better to be honest and incorruptible and to keep oneself pure,
or to be accommodating and slippery,
to be compliant, as lard or leather?12

The Great Diviner threw aside the divining stalks and said that they were unable to help in this case.

In the "Nine Changes" the poet declared that rather than live by unjust means to be famous, he would live poor; for he can eat without greed and be full, and he can dress without luxury and be warm. The shamanic tradition is further seen in the two songs about summoning the soul that has left the body of the deceased. There also follows more laments about how the virtuous are rebuffed, while sycophants are always there to bring them down. Here we have both Confucian martyrs and Daoists who escape by floating away on clouds. Custom advances the flatterers and promotes the rich, while those who act honestly are shut out and unnoticed. Thus the wise and good live obscurely and do not flock with others. The poet complained that the government is selfish and not for the common good. The flatterer rises into the hall of judgment, while the just withdraw and escape into hiding. True feelings are submerged and not expressed, because one cannot reason of higher things with the vulgar crowd.

In the middle of the first century BC the poet Wang Bao added his regrets that the world is averse to justice, and he realized that he cannot stay in these parts for long. Liu Xian (77-6 BC) lamented after reading Ju Yuan's "Encountering Trouble" that he had struck out at slander and righted infamy, but his virtue raised him above the floating clouds.

Huainan-zi
The Daoist collection of 21 essays called the Huainan-zi seems to have been a combined effort of eight Daoist scholars and several admirers of Ju Yuan under the sponsorship of Liu An, the king of Huainan, who committed suicide when his planned revolt was aborted in 122 BC. The Huainan-zi was presented to Emperor Wu in 139 BC. The resentful attitude, military plans, and planned revolt of the king of Huainan, however, are in direct contradiction to the teachings of this book, though Liu An was known to have had literary gifts and may have contributed to the Huainan-zi. The essays amplify and illustrate the philosophical ideas of Lao-zi, focusing on the way, goodness, and justice; its alternate title means "greatly enlightening."

The first essay is on the way (dao) which embraces heaven and supports the earth. A person in the way lives happily without anxiety. The authors pointed out that militarism breeds militarism, just as fighting fire with fire makes it more violent, and beating a vicious dog or whipping a kicking horse does not correct them nor enable them to travel far. Violent measures and strict punishments are not fit instruments for a king. The one who follows the natural way of heaven and earth finds it easy to manage the whole world without acting, yet is equal to a sudden crisis, disposes of calamities, and prevents difficulties. Firmness can be attained and strength overcome by yielding. Military fire will be extinguished with humble water. Hard things die sooner, just as teeth decay, but the tongue does not. Finding one's true self results in the highest joy. The inner is always better than the outer; the heart governs life. When each individual follows the law of nature, everything identifies with heaven; there is no right or wrong, and everything is as it should be. The covetous and ambitious desires allured by power distance the spirit from the body and close off the heart from higher influences, leading to actions contrary to justice and disasters.

The second essay of the Huainan-zi on beginning and reality reflects on the primeval paradise when the artificial doctrines of goodness and justice had not arisen yet. When the senses are closed, ambitions stopped, one may roam in the void, breathe in yin and breathe out yang in harmony with the virtue of creation. When these overflow, there will be goodness and justice; but when the Confucians set up goodness and justice as ultimate, then the way and its virtue are abandoned and lost. The wise cultivate the way within, not by the outward adornment of goodness and justice. In the original simplicity was unity, quietness, and no governing authority and divided classes. When purity and simplicity disappeared, truth was adulterated by opinions, and the spirit of cooperation was lost. With the decaying of the Zhou dynasty, the philosophies of Confucius, Mo-zi, and Yang Zhu competed with polemics. Not having power, they were not able to put their ideals into operation; thus they were never free of anxiety. Yet the soul not clogged with desires and knowledge meets every perception without bias and in serenity.

The essay on the living soul describes how the person who follows the stillness of the inner way does not fear death and therefore cannot be made to do wrong. Several examples are given of rulers whose desires led them to bad ends. Confucianism does not remove the root of desire from the mind. To try to keep society from theft and burglary by fear of punishment is not as good as to remove the desire for stealing from the heart.

In discussing natural law the authors described a decadent age when men dug up mountains for gems, wrought metals, killed animals for skins and furs, cut down forests for wood or burnt them to drive out game; yet the luxuries and abundance of the rulers still did not satisfy them. Mountains and streams were divided by boundaries; classes of people were differentiated; then soldiers and weapons brought about wars and the untimely deaths of the oppressed people. The harmonious cooperation of heaven and earth depends on the human spirit. Excess leads to waste, conflict, taxes, despair, and degeneration. In the ancient times if a ruler oppressed the people, he was removed and replaced. Now rulers use soldiers unjustly, rob people, and make slaves. Use of the military should depend on justice.

In the eleventh essay the difference between a disordered country that is full and a well governed country that is void is explained. "Void" does not mean empty of people but that everyone guards their duties, while "full" does not mean many people but that they are involved in inconsequential (branch-tip) matters. Also a preserved country being insufficient does not mean a lack of goods but that desires are moderated so that regulations are few, while a ruined country having a surplus does not mean having many resources but that people are impetuous and have many expenses.

Right and wrong are considered to be relative to each situation. Each generation takes as right what is right by it and wrong what is wrong by it. Thus each generation is different, considering themselves right and others wrong. The heart seeks the right and pushes away the wrong. Goodness depends on timing. On the other hand, sufficiency and surplus enable one to yield; but insufficiency leads to competition, cruelty, and disorder. When things are abundant, desire decreases, seeking is sated, and competition stops. Even the strict laws of the Qin empire could not prohibit disorder, while the wealth of Han dynasty times led to correctness.

The twelfth essay discusses how actions have their consequences and points out that frequent wars exhaust the people, and the pride of victories can consume their vitality. The saying is quoted, "Don't fight for peace. Peace will come naturally."13 This essay illustrates and quotes many passages from the Dao De Jing.

The thirteenth essay declares that the good of the people is the fundamental and unvarying law. Legislation must be determined by considering current conditions. During disturbances it should be swift and severe, but in times of peace easy and tolerant. Most healthy is a balance of female and male energy. Strict enforcement is harsh and destroys concord; love is lenient, but too much leniency results in disobedience. Punishment is cruel, and too much punishment dissipates affection. The wise judge success by the life of the people; those following the right way are bound to grow, though it may be small at first. Those who follow ways of death are bound to come to end. A government that follows a policy of selfish gain will be ruined. The wise adapt to circumstances, bending and yielding to achieve the end in view. Those who are satisfied with simple needs will find it easy to be good, but lying, stealing, and murdering are contrary to nature and very difficult.

Perhaps the most illuminating essay in the Huainan-zi is the fifteenth on "Generalship and Prevention of Anarchy." The authors believed that the ancients did not use the military to enlarge territory or from lust for gain, but to preserve a dynasty, pacify rebels, and eliminate dangers afflicting the people. However, when goods are unequally distributed, communities contend with the strong oppressing the weak, and the bold terrorizing the timid. Instead of using teeth and claws, humans make weapons and armor, enabling the greedy to rob others. The wise attempt to quell this rapacity and bring peace to disturbed people by defining duty. The wise kings of old employed soldiers to quell anarchy and discipline the unruly.

No crime is worse than killing the innocent to feed unprincipled rulers or to grab territory for an ambitious person. The authors point out that if certain individuals, who ruined their countries, had been arrested early in their evil course, they never could have robbed violently as they did. One person pandering to vicious desires causes general suffering, an outrage intolerable to the law of heaven. Kings were established primarily to restrain violence and punish anarchy, but kings have come to take advantage of their power, becoming an instrument for burdening the people. The authors asked if it is not justifiable to exterminate those who play the tiger. Thus troops were put in motion to curtail an oppressive enemy prince and reprimand his injustice. The army was not allowed to cut down trees, injure graves, burn crops, destroy property, rob animals, or enslave people. The prince, who had killed innocent people, was doomed by heaven and hated by people; the army came to replace him with someone just. Violators of this law were considered traitors to the people.

The country that surrenders will have its freedom.
In a word, the punishment of the kingdom shall not fall on the people.
With the punishment of the king, and a change of government,
the gentry shall be honored, the worthy employed,
the orphans and widows shall be cared for,
and kindness shown to the poor and needy.
Further, innocent prisoners shall be released,
and the meritorious shall be rewarded.
Such justice and clemency will ensure the allegiance of the people,
who will open their doors to the invading army
and await its coming.14

Thus when the king does not have the way, his subjects look to invading soldiers as a parched land looks for rain. When just soldiers come, there is no war. However, in recent times even when the king does not have the way, his soldiers defend the city; the invading army attacks for conquest and aggrandizement rather than to curb a wrongdoer. Thus men are slain in war, because it is "all for self now." The selfish aggressor is left to his own fate. Whoever has the goodwill of the people will be strong in spite of small resources, but the powerful monarch who has lost the people's goodwill is certain to perish. Destruction is the aim of the soldier, but what is better is to have no destruction, no war. Thus the best soldier in accord with the divine is not harmful. Weapons are not sharpened; yet no enemy dare attack. The one who fights without leaving the temple is the emperor; the one whose virtue is felt is the king. The practice of perfect government leads people to long for such virtue. Victory won without drawing the sword, resulting in obedience, implies the art of perfect rule, which imitates the way of heaven.

Soldiers of the way never need to send forth the war chariot, because when justice is advertised to the many and the delinquent are reprimanded for their faults, powerful states will pay attention and small principalities will bow their heads in obedience to the wishes of the people who desire peace. The reprimand takes advantage of the people's strength, for it is in their interest to eliminate wrongs.

Identity of interests brings mutual cooperation:
identity of feeling brings unity of action and mutual achievement.
When there is identity of desire, mutual help follows,
and when action is carried on in the spirit of the Tao,
the whole empire is responsive.
When the anxieties of the people are considered,
the whole empire will join in a conflict.15

The enlightened king uses soldiers in the interests of the community for the elimination of evil in the land. Everyone participates in the benefit. No enemy can withstand this when the troops serve all. When soldiers are used for public ends, anything can be accomplished; when they are used selfishly, little can be done. The essentials of victory do not lie in the weapons, tools, and supplies, which are the army's capital; what is essential for the general is intuitive intelligence. When the people are more worthy than the rulers, there will be estrangement and a weak army. The essentials of victory are when virtue and justice influence all the people, when means are sufficient to meet dangers, when officers are selected well, and when measures and plans are made with knowledge of strengths and weaknesses.

The example of the second Qin emperor is given to show how his personal extravagance heedless of the people's needs, conscription and taxes amounting to half the nation's wealth, and harsh punishments led to discontent, suspicion, and a rebellion in which people started out with no weapons at all. Led by a humble man, the rebel army led all before it, and the old order was swept away like a fleeting cloud, because the hearts of the people were full of anger and resentment. Yet those who govern well need never fear an enemy, and those who follow high moral principles will have no wars to wage. Good leaders and generals accumulate virtue, and the people will serve loyally. The essay goes on to describe specific tactics according to Daoist principles, always emphasizing the higher unity and transcendent way.

Legalism, Qin Empire and Han Dynasty

                           Legalism, Qin Empire and Han Dynasty
Guan-zi
Book of Lord Shang
Han Fei-zi
Qin Empire 221-206 BC
Founding the Han Dynasty 206-141 BC
Wu Di's Reign 141-87 BC
Confucian China 87-30 BC
This chapter has been published in the book CHINA, KOREA & JAPAN to 1800. For ordering information please click here.

Daoism and Mo-zi
We have seen how Chinese politics became more corrupt, cynical, and violent in the Spring and Autumn era and especially in the Period of Warring States. While many philosophers of the schools of Confucius and Mo-zi called for ethical reforms and Daoists let nature take its course or retreated into seclusion, others experimented with stricter laws and practical administration. One of the first of these was Guan Zhong, who advised Duke Huan of Qi in the early 7th century BC. His life and the fourth-century administrative reforms of the realists Shang Yang and Shen Buhai were discussed in Chapter 13 on the Zhou dynasty.

Guan-zi
About 302 BC King Xuan of Qi founded a scholarly academy known as Chi-Xia. An influential book named after Guan Zhong called the Guan-zi was probably written around the middle of the third century BC, supplemented over time, and edited into its final version by about 26 BC. Though still often recommending the same virtues the Confucians emphasized, this work is considered a forerunner of Legalism because of its practical political philosophy.

In the Guan-zi agriculture and wealth are considered the basis of good behavior. The spirits and ancestors are to be venerated, and the four cardinal virtues are propriety, justice, integrity, and conscience. Successful government depends on following the hearts of the people. If the ruler can provide the people with prosperity and leisure, they will make sacrifices for their state. Punishment alone is not sufficient, because if it becomes excessive, orders will not be carried out. Trusting those with virtue puts the state on a firm foundation. Cultivating grain, mulberry, hemp, and domestic animals supplies the storehouses. Employing those with skill, giving orders that accord with the will of the people, using stern punishments and consistent rewards, and not cheating the people lead to good government. Those who govern should be impartial like heaven and earth, the sun and the moon. Walls and armed forces are not enough to meet the enemy, and vast territory and abundant wealth will not hold the masses, unless the way is followed.

These scholars recommended that anyone who would question the present should investigate the past, and one can understand what is to come by studying what has gone before. To control the state one must be careful how one uses the people. The sovereign can instruct the people with wisdom and propriety but must also set an example and see that expenditures are proper while excesses are avoided. Laws establish the authority of the government and make use of the people's strength and ability. Serious attention must be paid to the granting of offices, their rewards, and to punishments. Collective responsibility for crime extends from the members to the head of the family, from them to group leaders, then to clan elders, the village commandant, subdistrict prefects, the district governor, and finally to the chief justice. Rewards were similarly applied, giving authority figures strong incentives to influence those under them.

The Guan-zi criticized such Moist ideas as abolishing the use of arms and universal love out of fear that the troops would not fight. The art of warfare is discussed, commending speed, lightness of equipment, well organized troops, destruction of enemy fields, well paid spies, and prohibition of unorthodox doctrines. As usual, military morality violates universal ethical principles. Yet in the model guidelines the prince is urged to conform to the will of heaven in initiating affairs of state. This is interpreted as not bestowing favors on those close to him nor disdaining those far away. The prince is warned not to reward just because he is pleased nor to kill because he is angry; for if his orders are capricious, they will not be carried out, and the people will turn to outsiders. Pragmatically this work suggests examining the results when promoting what one thinks is good and counting the cost when one rejects what one dislikes. The prince should encourage those he respects, provide salaries for those with merit, and honor those who achieve success. Here spreading universal love is considered spreading the princely mind.

The people can be influenced in a moral way by caring for them with kindness, humanity, justice, goodness, faithfulness, and propriety. They can be harmonized with music, limited with time, tested with words, sent forth with strength, and overawed with sincerity. However, one who is incompetent in government has barren fields, empty towns, offices in disarray, laws ignored, empty granaries, and full jails. The worthy withdraw, while the wicked advance; officials esteem flattery and look down on honesty. Citizens honor profit-seeking and despise martial courage; they love drinking and eating but abhor agricultural labor. The result will be exhaustion of fiscal resources and lack of food. Such a ruler is extremely severe and demanding, while the officials are disobedient and destructive, resulting in discord.

Benevolent government opens up fields, regulates shops, cultivates horticulture, exhorts the citizenry, encourages farming, repairs the walls and buildings, and circulates wealth by developing hidden resources, building roads, making markets convenient, and providing travel lodgings. Government is liberalized by easing exactions, lightening levies, relaxing punishments, pardoning crimes, and forgiving minor errors. The people are assisted by being compassionate to orphans, the widowed, the sick, and the unfortunate. They are further aided in distress by clothing the freezing, feeding the starving, assisting the poor, and comforting the upset. Benevolent government can then lead to just conduct and propriety, resulting in respect.

Heaven serves with its seasons, earth with its natural resources, spirits with their omens, and animals with their strength; but humans serve with their virtue. The Guan-zi notes that nothing destroys goods, impoverishes the people, endangers the country, or causes the ruler concern more than the armed forces; but from the ancient times no one has been able to dispense with them. Violent and reckless princes cannot avoid external disorders, but weak and irresolute princes cannot avoid internal disorders. Finally Guan-zi advises us that the enlightened kings governed by being cautious and making the people happy.

The best thing is to criticize oneself.
Then the people will not have to criticize.
The people will criticize those who are unable to criticize themselves.
Therefore, being able to judge one's own mistakes represents strength.
Cultivating one's moral integrity represents wisdom.
Not blaming evil on others represents goodness.
Therefore, when the enlightened kings made mistakes,
they took the blame themselves.
When they did well, they gave credit to the people.
When there are mistakes and one takes the blame oneself,
one becomes cautious.
When things are done well and credit is given to the people,
they are happy.1

Book of Lord Shang
At the same time the book named after Guan Zhong was circulating in the third century, there was another legalist tract going around attributed to the fourth-century chancellor of Qin, Shang Yang, called the Book of Lord Shang. It begins with a discussion led by Duke Xiao with three great officers on the world's affairs. The Duke wants to alter the laws but is afraid of being criticized by the people. Believing that the people's thoughts do not matter at the beginning, but they may rejoice in the completion, Shang Yang says, "The law is an expression of love for the people."2 He believes the wise do not model themselves on antiquity nor adhere to established rites if they can benefit the people. The wise create laws, but the foolish are controlled by them. The great emperors and kings of the past did not copy one another but acted according to practical requirements. Thus according to Shang Yang's advice, the Duke decided to bring the waste lands under cultivation.

In order to strengthen the country Shang Yang believed that everyone's efforts should be devoted to agriculture and war. A strict legalist, Shang Yang's book is definitely anti-Confucian, as seen by the beginning of the section on "Discussion About the People."

Sophistry and cleverness are an aid to lawlessness;
rites and music are symptoms of dissipations and license;
kindness and benevolence are the foster-mother of transgressions;
employment and promotion are opportunities
for the rapacity of the wicked.3

These eight things would make the people stronger than the government and the state weak. Shang Yang wanted the government to be stronger than the people so that the army will be strong, and the state can attain supremacy. If the officials are virtuous, the people will love their relatives; but if officials are wicked, people will love the statutes and spy on others so that crimes will be punished. Thus this book actually argues against virtue and the strength of the people but for a strong government and army. The poor should be urged to work by rewards, and the rich should be punished so that they will not be parasites. Private rewards to those below should be forbidden so that the people will fight forcibly against the enemy.

In the best ordered state the laws are clear, and the judgments are made by the families; in a merely strong state judgments are made by the officials; and in a weak and disordered state judgments are made by the prince. Shang Yang's book recommends statistical methods in cultivating the grass lands and making uniform rewards for soldiers. Orderly government is to be brought about by law, good faith, and correct standards. When rights and duties are clearly established by law, self-interest will not do harm.

The Book of Lord Shang criticizes contemporary states that are disorderly because of private benefits going to those in office. Bad ministers let their standards be influenced by money in order to obtain emoluments. When the ministers compete with each other in selfishness and neglect the people, inferiors are estranged from superiors, dividing the state. States are in disorder, because the law is not applied. Crimes are committed, because their perpetrators are not caught. This book argues that if punishments are too light, crime cannot be eradicated; but when punishments are heavy, people will not dare to do wrong. Then everyone will be virtuous without rewarding the virtuous. Rewarding the virtuous is not permissible, because it is like giving rewards for not stealing. The good may be good toward others but cannot cause others to be good; they may love others but cannot cause others to love. Thus goodness is not sufficient for governing the empire. The wise insist on good faith and have a method (law) by which the whole empire can be compelled to have good faith. Thus when law is correctly administered, the result will be virtue.

The legalist argues that if a condition can be brought about where there is no other standard than the law, then the clever will be unable to do wrong. If people are controlled by law and if promotions are awarded by following systematic rules, then they will not be able to benefit each other with praise nor harm each other with slander. Then they will become accustomed to loving each other without flattery and hating each other without injuring each other, thus purifying love and hatred and producing the highest degree of order. Some of these principles of law are commendable, in my opinion, but the accompanying ideas of control by harsh punishments and that people should not be allowed to exert their capabilities in anything other than farming or war are abominable.

Han Fei-zi
Unlike the other great Chinese philosophers of this era (Lao-zi, Confucius, Mo-zi, Mencius, Zhuang-zi, and Xun-zi) who were impoverished noblemen, Han Fei-zi was a prince of the royal family in the state of Han. He was born around 280 BC and studied under the Confucian realist Xun-zi at the Chi-Xia academy along with Li Si, who considered Han the better student, according to Sima Qian's biography. Since he was not a good speaker, Han Fei submitted his writings to the rulers of Han. The king of Han, however, did not apply them; but Han Fei continued to complain that ambitious scholars and militarists were given prominence over honest gentlemen.

Eventually the writings of Han Fei came to the attention of the young king of Qin, who began ruling in 246 BC and went on to become the founding Emperor of the Qin dynasty, Shi Huang Di. His prime minister was Han Fei's old friend Li Si, who informed his sovereign these writings were Han Fei's. In 234 BC Qin attacked the state of Han, and their king An sent Han Fei as his envoy to Qin. The king of Qin was delighted to meet the philosopher, but Li Si warned the king that Han Fei was of the royal family of Han and likely to remain loyal to that state and therefore be against Qin. Charges were brought against Han Fei, who wanted to plead his case before the king, but he was not allowed an audience.

So Han Fei sent a written memorial in which he acknowledged the perpendicular alliance formed from a north-south line of countries against the western power of Qin; but he argued that they were weak and likely to run away in a confrontation, because they have no faith in rewards and punishments. In contrast the people of Qin respect courageous death, and it is a much more powerful country. Nevertheless Qin has not yet gained hegemony, because its counselors are not loyal. Han Fei suggested that Qin could conquer the powerful Chu in the south and Qi and Yan in the east as well as the three states of Zhao, Han, and Wei, which had formed out of Jin. He recounted several times in history when Qin lost its opportunity to gain this hegemony. Han Fei declared that if his advice was followed and Qin did not gain hegemony, then the king could behead him as a warning to others.

In another memorial Han Fei urged the king of Qin to treat Han as a loyal ally rather than an enemy so that the perpendicular alliance would not be mobilized against him. However, Li Si argued against this theory to the king and sent poison to Han Fei in prison. Han Fei, unable to communicate with the king, drank it and died in 233 BC. Although the king regretted his decision and pardoned Han Fei, it was too late.

Han Fei-zi is the main representative of the school of philosophy called Fa-jia, the legalists or realists. He drew the concept of law (fa) from the Book of Lord Shang and the idea of administration (shu) from the writings of Shen Buhai. From the logicians he borrowed the theory of forms and names (xing-ming), which he applied to politics as the correspondence between administrators' words and job descriptions and their actual functioning in practice.

Han Fei-zi was also very much influenced by Daoism, making a strange combination of legalistic authoritarianism and passive acceptance. His essay on the "Way of the Ruler" shows this relationship. It begins,

The way is the beginning of all beings
and the measure of right and wrong.
Therefore the enlightened ruler holds fast to the beginning
in order to understand the wellspring of all beings,
and minds the measure
in order to know the source of good and bad.
He waits, empty and still, letting names define themselves
and affairs reach their own settlement.
Being empty, he can comprehend the true aspect of fullness;
being still, he can correct the mover.
Those whose duty it is to speak
will come forward to name themselves;
those whose duty it is to act will produce results.
When names and realities match,
the ruler need do nothing more
and the true aspect of all things will be revealed.

Hence it is said: The ruler must not reveal his desires;
for if he reveals his desires
his ministers will put on the mask that pleases him.4

Han Fei-zi did not want the ruler to be manipulated by his ministers, which is why he advised the sovereign not to reveal his will or express his likes and dislikes. The wise ruler does not expose his wisdom but has everyone know their place, does not display his worth but observes the motives of the ministers, and does not flaunt bravery in shows of indignation but allows subordinates to demonstrate their valor. The officials have their regular duties, and each is employed according to specific ability. The ruler practices inaction, but the ministers below tremble in fear. The inferior ruler uses his own ability; the average ruler uses the people's strength; and the best ruler uses the people's wisdom.

The ruler takes credit for accomplishments but holds ministers responsible for their errors. The ministers labor and display wisdom, but the ruler is their corrector and maintains an untarnished reputation. The ruler should know but not let it be known that he knows. Each person's words are to be compared with their results. Officials should not know what others are doing. No one must be allowed to covet his power in this authoritarian regime. The ruler uses the two handles of rewards and punishments to control others and examines results to see how they match his objectives. The ruler is to be immeasurably great and unfathomably deep, while any attempt of ministers to form cliques is to be smashed.

Thus ministers should not be allowed to shut out the ruler nor control the wealth of the state nor issue their own orders nor do good deeds in their own name nor build up cliques so that the ruler will not lose effectiveness, the means of dispensing bounties and command, his reputation for enlightenment, and his support. The way of the ruler is to observe calmly what others say and do without speaking or doing himself. He notes proposals and examines their results. He assigns tasks to ministers according to what they say and the accomplishments that result. Those whose deeds match their words are rewarded; when things do not match, they are punished. These rewards and punishments must be dispensed objectively so that even those close to the ruler may be punished and those far away can be sure of reward. Thus all will have to make effort, and none can be too proud.

Nevertheless for Han Fei-zi what transcends even the ruler is the law. "On Having Standards" explains that an enlightened ruler uses the law to select officials by weighing their merits without attempting to judge them himself. True worth will not remain hidden, and faults will not be glossed over. Praise will not help some advance, nor will calumny drive others from the court. Ministers are to be like the hands and feet of the ruler, not presuming to use their mouths to speak for private advantage or their eyes to look for private gain. Even the ruler must never use wise ministers and able servants for selfish ends so that the government can be consistent and good.

Han Fei-zi disdained those who leave their posts to search for another sovereign, controvert the law with false doctrines, censure their sovereign, try to gain a name for themselves by doling out charity, or even those who withdraw from the world and criticize their superiors or seek favorable relations with other states in order to make themselves indispensable in a crisis. If the ruler tries to monitor the government with his own eyes, ears, and mind, he can be manipulated by what is presented to him. Thus the ancient kings relied on law and policy to make sure that rewards and punishments were correctly implemented. Then even clever speakers could not deceive them. Authority and power should never be in more than one place or else abuse will become rife. If law is not respected, all the ruler's actions will be endangered. If penalties are not enforced, evil cannot be overcome. Even the highest minister must not be allowed to escape punishment, nor should the lowest peasant's reward be skipped. Thus those in high positions will not abuse the humble. If laws are clearly defined, superiors will be honored, and rights will not be invaded.

Han Fei-zi warned the ruler against eight villainies. Though a ruler may share his bed with beauties, he should not listen to their special pleas. He should hold attendants personally responsible for their words and not allow them to speak out of turn. He should not allow kin and elder statesmen to escape appropriate punishment nor advance them arbitrarily. Buildings may be constructed to delight the ruler, but officials should not be allowed to use them to ingratiate themselves. Orders for doling out charity in time of need must never come from ministers but from the ruler. The true abilities of those who are flattered must be determined, likewise the faults of those who are denounced. Military heroes should not be given unduly large rewards, and those who take up arms in a private quarrel must never be pardoned. Officials must not be allowed to have their own soldiers, and requests of feudal lords should be granted if they are lawful, but rejected if they are not.

In the essay "Ten Faults" Han Fei-zi listed them briefly and then gives numerous historical examples of each one. The list is as follows:

1. To practice petty loyalty and thereby betray a larger loyalty.
2. To fix your eye on a petty gain and thereby lose a larger one.
3. To behave in a base and willful manner and show no courtesy to the other feudal lords, thereby bringing about your own downfall.
4. To give no ear to government affairs but long only for the sound of music, thereby plunging yourself into distress.
5. To be greedy, perverse, and too fond of profit, thereby opening the way to the destruction of the state and your own demise.
6. To become infatuated with women musicians and disregard state affairs, thereby inviting the disaster of national destruction.
7. To leave the palace for distant travels, despising the remonstrances of your ministers, which leads to grave peril for yourself.
8. To fail to heed your loyal ministers when you are at fault, insisting upon having your own way, which will in time destroy your good reputation and make you a laughing stock of others.
9. To take no account of internal strength but rely solely upon your allies abroad, which places the state in grave danger of dismemberment.
10. To insult big powers even though your state is small, and fail to learn from the remonstrances of your ministers, acts which lead to the downfall of your line.5

Han Fei-zi also wrote on the difficulties of persuading a ruler. This requires more than general knowledge and the ability to express oneself well. The most difficult part is to know the mind of the person one is trying to persuade so that fitting words can be used. One does not talk about profit to one who is seeking a reputation for virtue; and if one is talking to someone who wants profit, it is useless to talk about virtue. If the person secretly wants gain but claims to be virtuous, and you talk about virtue, he will pretend to listen but ignore you. If you talk about profit, he will appear to reject your advice but secretly follow it. Han Fei-zi also discussed many other complicated situations, many of them quite dangerous for the advisor because of the insecurity of the sovereign. He concluded that it is not difficult to know something; the difficulty is in knowing how to use what one knows.

For Han Fei-zi the wise governs by rectifying laws clearly and establishing severe penalties in order to prevent the strong from exploiting the weak and the many from oppressing the few, to enable the old and infirm to die in peace and the young and orphans to grow freely, to make sure frontiers are not invaded, the ruler and minister are on intimate terms, fathers and sons support each other, and people do not worry about being killed in war or taken prisoner. He believed that stupid people want order but dislike the true path to order, which he considered to be the severe penalties, even though they are hated by people. Mercy and pity are welcomed by the people, but Han Fei-zi believed they endanger the state. Although he acknowledged that the legalist who makes laws in the state acts contrary to prevailing public opinion, he nevertheless believed that this is in accord with the way, virtue, and justice.

In "Precautions within the Palace" Han Fei-zi wrote that it is dangerous for the ruler to trust others, for whoever trusts others will be controlled by them. Ministers have no blood bonds with their ruler, and they never stop trying to spy into the sovereign's mind. Thus many rulers are intimidated, and some are even murdered. If the ruler trusts his son or his consort, evil ministers may find ways to use them for their private schemes. The ruler must make sure that no one receives unearned rewards nor oversteps their authority. Death penalties must be executed, and no crime must go unpunished. However, if too much compulsory labor is demanded of people, they will feel afflicted and join local power groups. Local power groups then work to exempt people from labor service which enables their leaders to grow rich on bribes. Thus the ruler should keep labor services minimal so that the power groups will disappear, and all favors will come from the sovereign. Han Fei-zi was afraid that if the ruler lends even a little of his power to others, the superior and inferior will change places. Thus no ministers should be allowed to borrow the power and authority of the ruler.

According to Han Fei-zi the ruler should be so strict that if what a minister says beforehand does not tally with what he says or does later, he must be punished even though he may have fulfilled his task with distinction. This, he believed, will keep the subordinates responsible. Han Fei-zi held that the ruler must be strict enough to put these theories into practice even though it means going against the will of the people. He noted how Lord Shang had to be guarded with iron spears and heavy shields, and eventually the people of Qin tore apart his body with two chariots. When Guan Zhong first instituted his reforms in Qi, Duke Huan had to ride in an armored carriage.

Writing on "Pretensions and Heresies," Han Fei-zi argued that it is the duty of the sovereign to establish the laws and standards of right and distinguish these from private interests. Most ministers want to exalt their private wisdom; but if they condemn the law as wrong, their creeds must be regarded as heresy and suppressed. The ruler must forbid private favors and enforce what is ordered. Yet the private virtue of ministers is to practice personal faith with friends and not be encouraged by reward or discouraged by punishment. This, Han Fei-zi believed, leads to disorder; but where public virtue is practiced, there is order. Though ministers have selfish motives, their public duty is to obey orders and behave unselfishly in office. Thus ministers must use their calculating minds to put aside selfish motives and serve the ruler. The ruler also calculates how to protect the state from injury by private interests and uses rewards and penalties to overawe them.

The commentaries on the teachings of Lao-zi in the Han Fei-zi may have been by his followers in an era when legalism was trying to survive by merging with Daoism. Some of the interpretations become rather absurd, as when compassion is extended to military victory and defense in order to be compassionate to one's soldiers (What about the enemy's?) and even more absurdly to the weapons themselves. What could be more perverted than that?

When Han Fei-zi's sage-king makes laws, the rewards must be enough to encourage the good, and his authority strong enough to subjugate the violent; his preparation must be sufficient to accomplish his task. In this system the good live on and flourish, while the bad fade away and die. If the pronouncements of the sovereign are clear and easy to understand, his promises can be kept. If the laws are easy to be observed, his orders will be effective. If the superiors are not self-seeking, the inferiors will obey the law.

Han Fei-zi also recommended seven tactics to the sovereign and then gave historical examples of how they work. The first is to compare and inspect all available and different theories. Second, punishments must be definite and authority clear. Third, rewards are to be bestowed faithfully, and everyone is to exercise their abilities. Fourth, the ruler should listen to all sides of every story and hold speakers responsible for their words. So far these are clear and straightforward, but the last three use deception and manipulation to enhance the power of the ruler. The fifth is to issue spurious edicts and pretend to make certain appointments. Sixth, one may inquire into cases by manipulating different information, and seventh, words may be inverted and tasks reversed. Ostensibly the purpose of the last three is to help the ruler find out the truth by using indirect methods, but the lack of integrity and damage to credibility certainly makes them questionable for the long term.

Han Fei-zi argued that people can be deterred from even small crimes by serious penalties, and then they will not commit major crimes at all. Thus he hoped that a strong government will not allow any serious crimes. Yet the problem is that criminals are not always caught no matter how vigilant the government may be. He noted that the gold-diggers in the south could not be stopped from stealing gold-dust even though some were caught and stoned to death in the marketplace, and there is no chastisement more severe than that.

Duke Jing once asked a poor man about the prices in the market. Yen-zi replied that ordinary shoes are cheap, but shoes for the footless are expensive. Duke Jing, who had been busy inflicting many punishments (cutting off feet), was embarrassed. Thinking he was too cruel, he abolished five laws of the criminal code. Yet he was criticized by Han Fei-zi, who argued that loosening censure and giving pardons benefit the crooks and injure the good and thus do not lead to political order.

Han Fei-zi did not consider personnel administration easy, but the ruler must regulate officials with rules and measures, and then compare their actions with their words. Projects that are lawful should be carried out; those that are not should be stopped. Results matching proposals should be rewarded; those not producing corresponding results should be punished. Han Fei-zi believed that only about one person out of a hundred would act correctly simply out of virtue, but everyone loves profit and dislikes injury. Thus effective government cannot rely on virtue. He believed that if the punishment for desertion is heavy, no one will run away from the enemy.

Han Fei-zi criticized those who believed that heavy penalties injure the people and are unnecessary, because light penalties can be used. He argued that heavy penalties are more likely to deter than light ones, and therefore they can prevent all crime. I believe the error in his logic is that he incorrectly generalizes that heavy penalties will stop all crimes, which is not the case. He noted that people often trip on ant-hills, but no one stumbles over a mountain. He argued that people will either ignore light penalties or trip on them like traps. This may be true, but may not using heavy penalties like mountains lead to a monstrous society?

Han Fei-zi described five kinds of customs as vermin, which he felt caused a disordered state. Scholars, who praise ancient kings for their virtue, put on a fair appearance but cast doubt on the laws of the time and confuse the ruler. Persuaders present false schemes and borrow influence from abroad to further their private interests but injure the welfare of the state's land and grain. Heroic swordsmen gather bands of followers and violate the government's prohibitions. Courtiers gather in private homes and bribe influential men to get out of military service. Finally, artisans and merchants make and collect useless articles and luxuries, accumulating wealth, cornering markets, and exploiting farmers.

Han Fei-zi pointed out that even the wise Confucius was subordinate to Duke Ai of Lu because of his authority. He realistically argued that the people and even kings are not able to rise to the goodness and justice of a Confucius, who could convince only seventy followers. Rather the enlightened ruler should make punishments certain as well as severe so that people will fear them. Rewards should be generous and consistent so that people will seek them. The best laws are uniform and inflexible so that people understand them. Rewards must not be delayed nor should mercy deflect the administering of punishment. Praise accompanying the reward and censure following the punishment both stimulate people to do their best. The wise ruler takes into consideration the scarcity or plenty of the time. Punishments may need to be light but not because of compassion, while severe penalties are not imposed because the ruler is cruel. Circumstances change, and the ways of dealing with them must also change. Here Han Fei-zi showed some flexibility but still did not waver from his calculated policy.

One method Han Fei-zi recommended for making rewards and punishments more effective was to have people watch each other and be responsible for reporting crimes in their community. By rewarding those who denounce criminals and punishing those who refuse to do so as complicit, he hoped that all kinds of culprits would be detected. However, this innovation, which was actually a regression to primitive times, was implemented by Lord Shang in Qin in the fourth century BC; it was one of the reasons he was so unpopular and led to his death.

Han Fei-zi coldly and calculatingly suggested methods of behavioral modification as political theory under an authoritarian system of monarchy. He brought these to the attention of the leaders in the powerful state of Qin, where he became the first casualty of a policy that allows no one to challenge the authority of the ruler. Next we shall examine what happened when Qin implemented these ideas in its conquest of China.

Qin Empire 221-206 BC
In 221 BC when Qin took over Qi, the last of the other six states, King Zheng's first official act was to declare himself First August Emperor (Shih Huang Di) of what we still call China from the name of his state of Qin. He abolished the traditional practice of having posthumous names assigned by one's successor and expected his successors to be called August Emperor of the second generation and third on down to one thousand and ten thousand generations, but ironically his dynasty was to end about four years after his own death.

According to current cosmology the element water was to succeed the fire of the Zhou dynasty, and so the First Emperor adopted the corresponding characteristics of water such as the color black, the number six, and the harsh punishments of strict laws as indicated by the season winter. For this reason he refused to pardon any crimes. The chancellor suggested that feudal kings be set up in each region as the Zhou dynasty had done, but the commandant of justice, Li Si, argued that the son of heaven had been unable to control feudal rulers. Since the power of the new Emperor had united all the civilized areas between the seas, they should be made into provinces and districts in the usual Qin administration. The Emperor agreed with this, hoping that the unending warfare of the kings and marquises could thus be pacified by his sole rule.

So the empire was divided into 36 provinces, each with a governor, military commandant, and superintendent. Weapons from all over the empire were confiscated and brought to the capital at Xian-yang, where they were melted down and cast into bells and statues of twelve giants weighing 29 tons each. All weights and measures were standardized as was the writing system. According to the historian Sima Qian, 120,000 rich and powerful families from all over the empire were moved to the capital. Replicas of the palaces of the conquered states were reconstructed near Xianyang. Extensive mansions with elevated walks and fenced pavilions were filled with beautiful women and treasure taken from the feudal states.

Broad highways were built and lined with trees. The Emperor traveled and erected stone markers with inscriptions praising his accomplishments and claiming that "all is gauged by law and pattern."6 He exalted agriculture and abolished "lesser occupations." The edicts proclaimed that evil and wrongdoing were no longer permitted; so everyone was to practice goodness and integrity. When the Emperor had difficulty crossing a river because of winds, he ordered 3,000 convict laborers to cut down all the trees on the mountain of the offending goddess. In 218 BC when an attempted assassination failed, he ordered a search of the entire empire for ten days. Further inscriptions claim that he captured the kings of the six states, united all under heaven, ended harm and disaster, and then laid aside his arms for all time; he ordered the whole universe and had established justice, and his honored office holders so understood their duties that everything proceeded without ill feeling or doubt.

The Emperor had local walls and fortifications torn down, waterways improved, and canals built. He claimed that when the land was fixed, the masses were freed from their forced labor; but in fact for ten years an army of 300,000 under General Meng Tian was not only fighting the barbarians in the north but also building the Great Wall to defend the empire. In 214 BC 500,000 men, who had run away from conscription or evaded taxes, were sent to invade Luliang. Convicts were sent to populate newly conquered territories.

One day in 213 BC when the Emperor was entertaining seventy scholars with wine, one of them complained that the sons and brothers of the Emperor were commoners and that if anyone threatened him he would not be able to respond, because the Emperor had gone against the ancient tradition. The Emperor asked for discussion, and the chancellor Li Si replied that the greatest emperors did not imitate each other. He criticized past feudal strife and praised the Emperor's unified rule. Li Si then complained that scholars study antiquity and criticize their own age to mislead and confuse people. This discussion of the Emperor's laws causes problems and should be prohibited. Li Si therefore recommended that all historical records other than Qin's be burned. Anyone other than approved academicians with literature or writings of the philosophers must turn them in to be burned within thirty days or be subjected to tattoo and "wall dawn" labor. Books on medicine, divination, agriculture, and forestry were exempt, apparently because they were considered of practical value; but they could only be studied under the tutelage of a law official. Furthermore anyone who used antiquity to criticize the present was to be executed along with his family.

The next year the Emperor felt his palace at Xianyang was too small; so he ordered the building of an immense palace at Epang that was connected to the Xianyang palace by an elevated walk across the Wei River. 700,000 people condemned to castration and convict labor were called up for this project and to build the Emperor's secret mausoleum at Mount Li, where 30,000 households were transported. All 270 palaces in the Xianyang area were connected by elevated walks and walled roads. Anyone revealing where the Emperor was visiting at the moment was put to death.

Once the Emperor happened to notice the large number of carriages and attendants of the chancellor. A eunuch reported this to Li Si, who reduced the number of his carriages; but the Emperor was so outraged by the leak of information that he had all those eunuchs who attended him that day executed, since none confessed. Two advisors, noting the increasing arrogance of the Emperor and the futility of anyone trying to give him advice on pain of death, fled in secret. This led to an investigation of all the scholars in the capital and the execution of 460. Meanwhile increasing numbers of convicts were being transported to the border regions. When the oldest son Fusu tried to remonstrate with the Emperor, he was sent to supervise the activities of General Meng Tian in the north.

In 211 BC a meteor landed, and someone inscribed on the stone, "The First Emperor will die, and his land will be divided."7 Failing to find the author, the Emperor had everyone in the area put to death and the stone pulverized. The next year the Emperor went on tour with Li Si and his youngest son Huhai accompanying him. The magicians put off the Emperor, who was intent on finding the herb of immortality, by saying a large fish prevented them from getting to the island of immortality. The Emperor dreamed that he was struggling with an ocean god and later shot a huge fish himself with his crossbow. Shortly after that he fell ill; when his condition became grave, he wrote a letter under the imperial seal to his son Fusu, telling him to carry out the burial in the capital. The letter was sealed and given to Zhao Gao, the eunuch in charge of the seals, but it had not yet been entrusted to a messenger when the Emperor died at Sand Hill.

Only Prince Huhai, chancellor Li Si, Zhao Gao, and five or six trusted eunuchs knew of the First Emperor's death. Since they were far from the capital and no heir had been designated, Li Si kept it a secret and put the body in a closed carriage where imperial government continued. Zhao Gao, who had kept the letter to Fusu and was Huhai's tutor, went to the latter and persuaded him to go along with what he knew was not virtuous. Huhai reluctantly agreed to let Zhao Gao consult with chancellor Li Si, and after a long discussion of Li Si's opposing prospects, he too agreed to Zhao Gao's proposal. Thus the three plotted together. Pretending they received an edict from the First Emperor making Huhai the successor, they forged a letter to the elder son Fusu accusing him and General Meng Tian of many things and suggesting that they commit suicide.

Receiving the letter, Fusu wept and prepared to take his life, but Meng Tian recommended waiting for confirmation. At the messenger's insistent urging the prince committed suicide, and Meng Tian, who refused to do so, was imprisoned. As the Emperor's corpse was being returned to the capital, surrounding carriages were loaded with fish to disguise the smell. The body of the First Emperor was interred in the immense mausoleum at Mount Li along with the women in his harem who bore no sons and the artisans who knew about the secret tomb.

The Second Emperor was 21 years old and entrusted the handling of state affairs to Zhao Gao, who urged him to make the laws sterner and the penalties more severe and extended to accomplices and families so that the chief ministers, who sow dissension, could be wiped out and the former Emperor's officials be replaced by those who could be trusted by the new Emperor. Meng Tian was forced to take poison, and his younger brother, some of the chief ministers, and six (or twelve) princes were executed in the marketplace of Xianyang; all their wealth was confiscated by the state.

Construction work on the Epang palace and roads resumed, making taxes and levies on labor increasingly heavy. 50,000 crossbowmen were brought to the capital from all over the empire, and for them and their dogs, horses, and other animals food had to be shipped in from surrounding areas, increasing hardships.

In the late summer of 209 BC a former laborer named Chen She, who was in charge of transporting 900 convicts to a penitentiary settlement, was delayed by rain from arriving on time. Knowing that his penalty for tardiness would be death, he started a rebellion and declared himself king of Chu. Using plow handles and sticks they rampaged over the empire. Numerous young men, calling themselves the magnifiers of Chu, murdered provincial Qin officials and set themselves up as marquises and kings, joined forces, and planned to attack Qin.

When an official returning from the area reported the rebellion, the enraged Emperor ordered him punished. After that, envoys when questioned replied that it was just a bunch of bandits, who would soon be captured; this pleased the Emperor. Li Si tried to remonstrate with the Emperor, but he would not listen to him. The Emperor said that to work hard all the time like past emperors mentioned in Han Fei-zi's "Five Vermin" was to be a slave when his sole concern should be to gratify himself. Li Si's son was governor of a province the rebels had invaded, and he had not been able to stop them. By winter a rebel army of several hundred thousand was approaching the capital, but General Zhang Han, using a force of convicts pardoned and released from working on the Emperor's monument, forced the rebels to retreat to the east, where Chen She was assassinated by his charioteer. However, by now the rebellion was widespread.

Li Si was reprimanded for allowing such outbreaks of bandits; so he wrote a scholarly reply to the Emperor in which he quoted from Shen Buhai and Han Fei-zi, arguing that if the techniques of supervision and reprimand are correctly applied, one cannot fail. Pleased, the Emperor increased the severity of the supervising and reprimanding activities. Those officials who squeezed the most taxes out of people were admired, as were those who put the largest numbers of people to death. Zhao Gao convinced the Emperor that he should not expose his shortcomings before the chief ministers in court but rather make decisions in the inner recesses of the palace, where he himself and a few other attendants could wait upon him.

Soon all decisions were being made by Zhao Gao. This powerful eunuch then went to Li Si and asked him to remonstrate with the Emperor. Li Si said he would but could not see the Emperor, because he was hidden away. Zhao Gao offered to tell Li Si when was a good time to request an interview; but instead he told him the times when the Emperor was relaxing and did not want to be disturbed. Already perturbed, the Emperor was easily persuaded that Li Si and his son should be investigated. Unable to see the Emperor, Li Si wrote a memorial warning that Zhao Gao's power was dangerous.

However, the young Emperor trusted his long-time tutor and had Li Si arrested instead. Zhao Gao had Li Si beaten until he confessed. In a letter to the Emperor Li Si listed his crimes as helping his king to annex all six states and become Emperor, driving out barbarians, honoring loyal ministers, standardizing measures and ordinances, constructing roads and pleasure parks, and relaxing penalties and lessening taxes. When the Emperor sent someone to question him, Li Si refused to speak, because he thought he was like the others who had examined him. Li Si's son had been killed by the rebels, but Zhao Gao falsified the report to make it look like he was a traitor. Finally Li Si underwent the most severe punishment of the five mutilations, and his body was cut in two in the marketplace. All his relatives were also executed.

Zhao Gao was made chancellor. Zhang Han, losing battles against the fighters of Chu, sent the chief official to the capital for instructions, but Zhao Gao refused to see him or believe him. Learning that Zhao Gao was controlling the government and that he would be executed whether he won in battle or not, Zhang Han and others surrendered their armies to the leaders of the states. To test the ministers Zhao Gao had a deer presented to the Emperor but said it was a horse. The Emperor laughed at his chancellor calling a deer a horse and then asked his courtiers. Some who wanted to please Zhao Gao said it was a horse, and Zhao Gao secretly made sure that those who said it was a deer were charged with crimes.

When Zhao Gao realized that the former states had set up kings and were defeating the Qin forces, he was afraid he would be punished for misleading the Emperor about the seriousness of the problem. So with his son-in-law he staged a fake rebel attack on the palace, killed thirty or forty guards, and forced the Second Emperor to commit suicide. When the one eunuch, who had remained loyal to the Emperor, was asked by the Emperor why he did not warn him sooner, he replied that if he had dared to speak he would have been put to death long before.

Zhao Gao summoned all the officials and the royal family to inform them he had punished the Second Emperor. Then he set up Ziying, son of an older brother of the Second Emperor, as king of Qin, since the six independent states would have made the title Emperor a mockery. Afraid he would be put to death in the temple, Ziying waited for Zhao Gao to come get him where he was fasting. Then Ziying stabbed and killed Zhao Gao and had his relatives executed. After 46 days the Qin armies were defeated, and Ziying surrendered with a rope around his neck.

Liu Bang, the governor of Pei, entered the capital without destroying it; but Xiang Yu came and burned the city, probably destroying more literature than the recent official burning of books. Ziying and the rest of the royal family were executed; the Qin empire was dead in 206 BC. Xiang Yu declared himself protector king of Western Chu and divided the empire among various kings and marquises, making Liu Bang king of Han.

A Confucian scholar named Jia I (201-169 BC) wrote the "Faults of Qin." He observed that Qin's long military dominance was primarily due to its strategic geographical position in the fertile Wei River valley surrounded by mountains and the Yellow River with only a narrow pass to defend. Although the people hoped for peace under the unified empire, he criticized the First Emperor for being greedy and short-sighted and never trusting his officials nor getting to know the people. He cast aside the royal way by relying on private procedures, outlawing writings, making laws and penalties harsh, putting deceit first and humanity and justice last, and leading the whole world in violence and cruelty. These methods may have worked temporarily in seizing an empire, but they did not work in preserving it.

Similarly Jia I argued that the Second Emperor might have been able to answer the people's hopes if he had cared for the nation's ills, corrected the First Emperor's errors, apportioned the land to the people, enfeoffed worthy ministers, set up states to order the empire with propriety, emptied the prisons, pardoned those condemned to death, abolished slavery and humiliating punishments, allowed people to return to their villages, opened the granaries and dispersed funds to help orphans and the poor, lightened taxes and labor requirements, simplified laws and reduced penalties, and allowed people to make a new beginning and practice integrity, presiding over the empire with authority and virtue; then the people would have flocked to him. However, the Second Emperor did not adopt these policies but rather multiplied laws and made punishments harsher with unjust rewards and penalties and unlimited taxes and levies. Officials could not supervise all the tasks assigned, and people sank into poverty and destitution. Then villainy and deceit sprang up all around, as superiors and inferiors turned on each other. The numbers of those accused of crimes grew, and everyone feared for their safety. Thus people were easily aroused to violent rebellion.

Founding the Han Dynasty
After Qin commander Zhang Han defeated the first rebel attack inside the Hangu Pass, Wu Chen went to Zhao, where he set himself up as king of Zhao, Chen Yu as general, and Zhang Er and Shao Sao as prime ministers. Rebel leader Chen She wanted to have all their families executed, but his chief minister, Cai Ci, convinced him that this would be plaguing the people with a second Qin; so he confirmed their positions. Chen She, calling himself king of Chu, asked them for troops to attack the Hangu Pass again, but they decided it was safer to seize Yan. Zhang Han attacked the city of Chen and killed Cai Ci; Chen She retreated and was murdered by his carriage driver. Chen She had ruthlessly executed an old peasant friend of his for embarrassing him and had appointed two men, who severely punished generals for not carrying out orders exactly.

Two officials in Pei, Xiao He and Cao Can, urged the magistrate there to revolt, but he changed his mind. Liu Bang shot a message over the wall which convinced the people of Pei to execute the magistrate, which they did; they then insisted that Liu Bang be their new governor, and his following quickly grew to 3,000 men. Meanwhile members of the royal Tian family in Qi had set themselves up as sovereigns there, and the martial family of Xiang Liang and his nephew Xiang Yu arose in Wu. Xiang Liang gave the new governor of Pei five thousand infantry to attack Fang. Hearing that Chen She was dead, Xiang Liang and the governor of Pei set up the grandson of former King Huai as king of Chu. The governor of Pei and Xiang Yu defeated Qin forces at Chengyang and massacred its inhabitants. Xiang Liang boasted of his victories over Qin but was defeated and killed by Zhang Han.

Afraid, King Huai of Chu moved his capital to Pengcheng. He appointed the governor of Pei a marquis and Xiang Yu duke of Lu and second general under Song Yi, both of whom he sent north to rescue Zhao from Zhang Han's attacks. The governor of Pei he sent west to enter the Hangu Pass, promising that whoever should enter the Pass first and conquer the Qin region should be king there. The bold Xiang Yu wanted to attempt the Pass, but King Huai's elder generals advised him that Xiang Yu, who had butchered the inhabitants of Xiangcheng, was too impetuous and cruel; they argued that the tolerance and moral stature of the governor of Pei would be more likely to win over the suffering people of Qin. So Xiang Yu went north with Song Yi, whose head he personally cut off for refusing to attack in spite of hunger and cold, though he said that Song Yi was plotting with Qi. Confirmed as supreme general, Xiang Yu led his Chu armies across the Yellow River, sunk his own boats and smashed the cooking pots, and after nine battles defeated the Qin army. It was at this time that Zhang Han sent for instructions from the Qin Emperor and decided to ally himself with the revolt.

Meanwhile the governor of Pei gained the advisor Li Yiji, who told him how to capture Qin's stores of grain. Another advisor, Zhang Liang, told him not to pass by the city of Yuan, where he was persuaded to enfeoff its surrendering governor. Then Zhang Liang sent Li Yiji and Lu Jia to bribe Qin's generals. The governor of Pei ordered his men not to plunder or seize prisoners, and the Qin armies were easily defeated. Soon Ziying, the king of Qin, surrendered with a rope around his neck. When the governor of Pei entered the capital at Xianyang, he ordered Qin's treasures sealed up; then he abolished all of Qin's irksome laws except for murder and reasonable punishments for assault and theft. The people of Qin rejoiced and brought gifts to the governor of Pei, but he declined them. Xiao Ho collected Qin's important charts, registers, and documents, which later proved of strategic value.

The governor of Pei claimed to have a force of 200,000, which was actually 100,000, while Xiang Yu came through the Pass claiming one million men, which was actually 400,000. The governor of Pei apologized to general Xiang Yu for guarding the Pass at first and explained that he had preserved Qin's treasures while waiting for him. After killing Qin king Ziying and burning the capital, Xiang Yu declared King Huai the Just Emperor and himself protector king of Western Chu; but going back on the promise to the general who first entered the Pass, he assigned the Qin area to Zhang Han and two other former Qin generals, while the governor of Pei was only made the king of Han. Various generals and nobles were set up as eighteen local kings. Angry at the broken promise, the king of Han wanted to attack Xiang Yu but was restrained by Xiao Ho. So in 206 BC they all went to their own sovereignties.

Han Xin persuaded the king of Han that his new position was really an exile and that this was the time he could re-unify Qin and then march east. That summer the king of Han made a surprise attack and defeated Zhang Han and the other Qin generals. He proclaimed an amnesty for criminals, allowed the people to use the parks and orchards that had been imperial Qin reserves, and granted two years' exemption from taxes and service. He appointed a local leader in each district from those over age fifty with cultivated personalities.

In the east Xiang Yu had the Just Emperor moved and then assassinated. In Qi he tried to replace king Tian Rong with Tian Du, and he sent Peng Yue to lead a revolt in Liang. Chen Yu, resenting that he had not been made a king, asked Tian Rong to join him in attacking Chen's friend Zhang Er, king of Changshan, who fled to join the king of Han. Xiang Yu attacked and defeated Tian Rong and made all of Qi submit to Chu, but by burning its cities and enslaving the women and children the people of Qi were aroused to revolt again.

In 205 BC the king of Han headed east and got the support of the king of Wei and subdued the king of Yin. As he crossed the Yellow River, a local leader told him that the Just Emperor was dead. The king of Han proclaimed mourning and vowed vengeance against Xiang Yu. With Xiang Yu busy in Qi, the king of Han was able to enter his capital at Pengcheng; but Xiang Yu marched back and inflicted a bloody defeat on the king of Han, capturing his parents, wife, and children. The king of Han escaped to the west, but many abandoned his cause. However, by establishing his base at Xingyang near the Ao Granary he was able to rebuild and supply his army.

Xiang Yu attacked and cut off the Han supply road and then surrounded the Han army. The king of Han suggested they divide the empire in two, but Xiang Yu refused. Using the subterfuge of women dressed in armor and a general impersonating the king, once again the king of Han managed to escape with a few horsemen, this time to within the Pass. Eventually Xiang Yu and the king of Han personally faced each other across the ravine at Guangwu. Xiang Yu, the invincible warrior, challenged the king of Han to a single combat; but the latter accused the former of breaking his promise, murdering Song Yi, burning the palaces of Qin and killing its king, slaughtering 200,000 men he had tricked into surrendering, replacing local kings with his generals, and driving out and assassinating the Just Emperor. The king of Han intended to punish him for these crimes, but Xiang Yu shot an arrow, wounding him in the chest, though the king of Han pretended it was his foot.

Han Xin was winning victories in the east, and the king of Han reluctantly appointed him king of Qi. The king of Han had to levy a poll tax for the first time but magnanimously ordered coffins so that killed soldiers' bodies could be returned home. After suffering repeated attacks by Peng Yue and Han Xin, Xiang Yu's army had little food. So he agreed to divide the empire with the king of Han and released his family. The king of Han was going to return to his western domain, but his advisors persuaded him that this was the opportunity to pursue Xiang Yu. At first he suffered a grave defeat from Chu, but with the help of Han Xin and Peng Yue he gathered a force of 300,000 to Xiang Yu's 100,000. The Han soldiers sang the songs of Chu, which convinced the soldiers of Xiang Yu that Han had conquered Chu. Xiang Yu fled in despair, pursued by Han cavalry who killed 80,000. After killing many enemies himself Xiang Yu eventually cut his own throat. Xiang Yu died believing he was destroyed by heaven, but the historian Sima Qian criticized him for not accepting responsibility for his errors.

Finally in 202 BC the king of Han assumed the position of supreme Emperor and was renamed Gaozu meaning "Exalted Ancestor." Han Xin was transfered to be king of Chu; Peng Yue was made king of Liang and Wu Rui king of Changsha. Confirmed in their positions were Xin as king of a different Han, Qing Bu as king of Huainan, Zang Tu as king of Yan, and Zhang Ao as king of Zhao. Armies were disbanded, and Gaozu made his capital at Luoyang, giving credit to advisor Zhang Liang, chancellor Xiao Ho, and general Han Xin. Although Luoyang was considered the center of the world, Liu Jing persuaded the Emperor that in these circumstances it would be more strategic to locate his capital inside the Hangu Pass. Accordingly Gaozu established the imperial capital near Xianyang at Chang'an and declared a general amnesty. All slaves were freed, and refugees and exiles had their civil rights restored.

During Gaozu's seven-year reign most of the kings were suspected of revolting and replaced by members of Gaozu's family. Zang Tu was replaced in Yan by Gaozu's boyhood friend Lu Wan. Han Xin was arrested and demoted. The other Han Xin joined the Xiongnu threatening his Han kingdom. The Emperor's son-in-law, Zhang Ao of Zhao, conspired to assassinate Gaozu and was demoted. General Peng Yue was arrested, sent into exile, and then executed. Qing Bu's rebellion was defeated, and he was killed. Lu Wan came under suspicion and moved his family and troops outside the Great Wall. When Gaozu died in 195 BC, nine of his sons and relatives ruled kingdoms, and only the small realm of Changsha was outside the imperial house.

Gradually Emperor Gaozu became more receptive to Confucian influences. Once he angrily declared to Lu Jia that he had won everything on horseback and asked him why he should bother with the Odes and Documents. Master Lu asked whether he could rule the empire on horseback. He noted rulers who failed, because they paid too much attention to military affairs. If Qin had practiced goodness and justice, this Emperor would never have arisen. To the Emperor's delight Lu Jia wrote a book called New Discourses, explaining why Qin lost the empire and Gaozu won it. An edict in 196 BC proclaimed that those with reputations for virtue were to be sent to the chancellor so that they could be given appropriate positions.

The heir apparent was Ying, the son of Empress Lu, but Gaozu felt that his son, Ruyi, by the concubine Lady Qi was more like him. However, his advisors were able to dissuade him from changing the heir apparent, which could cause conflict and turmoil. When Gaozu died in 195 BC, the Empress Lu was persuaded to proclaim mourning and a general amnesty. Her son succeeded as Emperor Hui in his sixteenth year. Empress Lu imprisoned Lady Qi and sent for her son Ruyi, who was king of Zhao. The kind Emperor Hui kept Ruyi with him to protect him but returned from hunting one morning to find he had been poisoned. The Empress Lu also had Lady Qi mutilated so horribly that the Emperor, when he found out, sent a message to his mother that no human being could have done such a thing. As her son, he reasoned that he was not fit to rule the empire and gave himself up to drinking. Empress Lu also tried to poison his brother Liu Fei, king of Qi.

When Emperor Hui died in 188 BC, the Empress Lu set up his three-year-old son by a consort as Emperor. She established four of her nephews as kings and passed six Lu babies off as children of Hui. Empress Lü had the Emperor's real mother killed; but when he was old enough to discover that Empress Lu's daughter was not his real mother, he declared he would change things when he grew up. So Empress Lu had him declared insane and replaced with an even younger child. She had three kings of Zhao killed in succession, wiped out the royal families of Liang and Yan as well and divided Qi into four kingdoms. When she was bitten by a mysterious dog, the diviner declared it the evil spirit of Ruyi; she died of it in 180 BC.

Although Lu family members were strategically placed as prime minister and commanding general, other officials, who had sworn to Emperor Gaozu that his family line should not be replaced, managed to oust them, kill the Lu family, and make the king of Dai Emperor Wen. Although not the oldest of Gaozu's living sons, he was selected both for his own ability and because his mother's family was of better character than the king of Qi's, who had someone they said was rebellious and no better than a tiger with a hat on. In spite of the macabre palace intrigues, the Daoist inactive rulership of Emperor Hui and his mother actually allowed the people a time of peace and prosperity, according to Daoist historian Sima Qian. In Qi the prime minister from 194-185 BC, Cao Can, was so won over to Daoism that he gave his authority in the main hall to his teacher, master Gai, and the state enjoyed such peace that he was known as a worthy minister. The Xiongnu invaded Henan in 177, and their founder Mao Dun died in 174 BC.

This peace and prosperity was continued by the benevolent policies of Emperor Wen. In his first year he questioned the laws that punished the relatives of criminals as unjust and had these joint accusations and punishments abolished. At first he wanted to search for a virtuous person to be his heir but later gave in to the tradition of appointing the oldest son as a stabilizing practice. He made sure that the elderly and orphans were treated well. Emperor Wen abolished the cruel punishments of mutilation. He limited his own expenditures, sent women home from the palace so that they could marry, began civil service examinations, and eventually was able to eliminate taxes on land and produce as well as customs barriers and passports. In 162 BC he made peace with the Shanyu or king of the Xiongnu, who often had challenged the border regions, declaring, "We have bound ourselves together in the relationship of brotherhood in order to conserve the good people of the world."8 The next year Emperor Wen proclaimed another general amnesty and freed all slaves held by the government.

When Liu Pi, the king of Wu, pleaded illness and refused to come to court, because his son had been killed by the prince in a fight over a board game, Emperor Wen did not insist, sending him a stool and a cane as a sign he need not come. When Yuan Ang and other officials remonstrated with cutting words, he pardoned them and often put their advice into practice. Relationships throughout the empire improved, and the number of executions was greatly reduced. His successor Emperor Jing declared Wen the great exemplar of emperors and ordered that he should be worshipped along with Gaozu, the great founder of emperors.

Emperor Jing ruled from 157-141 BC. Emperor Wen had heeded Jia Yi's advice to weaken the vassal kings by dividing Qi into seven kingdoms but avoided taking territory from the feudal kingdoms. However, Chao Cuo urged Emperor Jing to weaken the power of the vassal kings and began chipping away at their territories. Wu's recalcitrant King Liu Pi meanwhile had built up his power through state-owned copper and salt industries such that he even eliminated taxes. When he learned that the Emperor was going to move against him, he organized a coalition with Chu and five other kingdoms, which resented their losses of territory, to march on the capital and rid the world of Chao Cuo. Liu An, king of Huainan, decided to join the rebellion also; but he turned the soldiers over to the prime minister, who ignored him and remained loyal to the Han government.

Emperor Jing summoned Yuan Ang, who had been prime minister in Wu, and he, once he was alone with the Emperor, suggested the whole rebellion could be easily defeated if he would execute Chao Cuo for wrongfully seizing territories from the feudal lords. Chao Cuo was beheaded in 154 BC, and Yuan Ang was sent to Wu as master of rites, where the king of Wu tried to enlist him as a general in the rebellion. Yuan Ang refused and would have been executed, but he was saved by a marshal he had previously pardoned for having a relationship with his maid. The Han commander Zhou Yafu craftily refused to battle the rebels until they were weakened by hunger. All the rebel kings were either killed or committed suicide; everyone else was pardoned. After this, vassal kingdoms were usually divided among the heirs so that the power of feudal lords faded away within two centuries.

Wu Di's Reign 141-87 BC
Wu Di (meaning "Martial Emperor") became emperor in 141 BC in his sixteenth year, and having been tutored by Confucian Wang Zang he requested that capable and good people with integrity, who will speak frankly, be recommended. However, those who followed the Legalist philosophies of Shen Buhai, Shang Yang, and Han Fei-zi were dismissed along with those guided by the diplomatic machinations of Su Qin and Zhang Yi. Wu Di appointed Dou Ying, Tian Fen, and Zhao Wan to the top three positions, all of whom were sympathetic to Confucian philosophy. Thus Confucians became influential and tried to reform the capital by establishing a ceremonial building for court receptions and sending the marquises back to their territories; but many marquises were married to royal princesses and did not want to leave the luxury of Chang'an. When the Confucians tried to bypass consulting with the Empress Dowager Dou (Wu Di's grandmother), this Daoist became enraged and had several Confucians secretly investigated; Wang Zang and Zhao Wan were compelled to commit suicide in jail, and Dou Ying and Tian Fen were dismissed.

When the Empress Dowager Dou died in 135 BC, Tian Fen became chancellor and promoted Confucians like scholar Gongsun Hong while downgrading all others. At the urging of Confucian Dong Zhongshu an imperial university was established, and the five traditional classics of Documents, Odes, Changes, Rites, and The Spring and Autumn Annals became the basis of examinations for officials. Fifty students were sent to be trained academically, but by 110 BC Emperor Wu broke with the Confucians over the Feng and Shan sacrifices, and his later policies came to resemble the harsh punishments of Legalism. After chancellor Tian Fen died in 131 BC, Wu Di took greater control over his government. He ruled for more than half a century, and in the last 33 years Wu Di had seven chancellors, only one of whom died a natural death; the others were condemned for crimes. The Emperor's master of writing became more powerful than the chancellor, and attempts by relatives and confidants (including eunuchs) to influence the Emperor personally led to numerous court intrigues that weakened the Former and Later Han dynasties.

Irritated by barbarian raids, in 133 BC Wu Di replaced diplomatic gift-giving with a military campaign against the Xiongnu in the northwest, but Chinese victory in Mongolia was not achieved until 119 BC when a cavalry general returned with 40,000 enemy heads. General Li Guang, who had fought the Xiongnu in 166 BC, led many of these campaigns but never was made a marquis. He once asked a diviner why not. The diviner asked him if he had ever done anything he regretted, and General Li Guang had to admit that he had once persuaded eight hundred men to surrender and then went back on his word and killed them. In 119 BC he ended up disobeying orders, losing his way, and facing charges, cut his own throat.

While Gongsun Hong was recommending Confucian principles, Zhang Tang, the commandant of justice, was conducting wider investigations and applying stricter punishments. When the rebellious plans of the kings of Huainan, Hengshan, and Qiangdu were discovered in 122 BC, more than 20,000 people were tried and executed. Liu An, the king of Huainan was a grandson of Emperor Gaozu, and his father, after quarreling with the court and killing a man, had starved himself to death. When Liu An had presented the Daoist book Huainan-zi to Emperor Wu in 139 BC, he had been led by Tian Fen to believe that he might succeed to the throne. For years he made plans and preparations for a revolt, while his minister Wei Pei tried to persuade him it was inappropriate. Finally when King Liu An was about to revolt, Wu Bei went to the authorities; an imperial prosecutor was sent, but before he arrived Liu An cut his throat and died.

Chinese military campaigns went into Manchuria and Korea in 128 BC and advanced well into Mongolia in 121 BC. Floods east of the mountains caused starvation in Shandong, and 700,000 people were ordered to migrate to lands west of the Pass in Shanxi. Daoist advisor Ji An was sent to observe what a fire had done in Henei, but on his way found such starvation and cannibalism in Henan that he ordered the imperial granaries opened to relieve the distress, showing that Daoism was not a do-nothing philosophy when the natural way was to act. Knowing he had overstepped his authority, he returned for punishment. Wu Di was impressed by his wisdom and tried to promote him. Ji An declined a governorship but occasionally would criticize the Emperor sharply, especially for attacking the Xiongnu. He berated Zhang Tang for excelling in evil and cruelty in tampering with the old laws. He argued for general principles in contrast to Zhang Tang's strict adherence to petty details. Ji An also criticized Gongsun Hong and Confucians for flattering the Emperor with hearts full of deceit and the facade of learning.

Costs of the victory over the Xiongnu in 119 BC were enormous, resulting in new taxes. Merchants who were becoming rich forced the poor to work for them as they bought up and hoarded goods for profit. As the wealthy declined to help the poor in their misery, Wu Di was moved to issue a new currency and punish numerous counterfeiters. When Emperor Wu traveled east in 114 BC, two governors were so unprepared to provide for all the imperial attendants that they committed suicide. In the expedition to Nanyue in 112 BC criminals were pardoned to fight in the army, which became standard practice; convict workers were also used in imperial construction projects. The forces sent against the Yue kingdoms went as far south as Vietnam, and Dian was crushed by 109 BC. The next year four commanderies were established in northern and central Korea. Envoys were sent to western lands, lured by the incentive of making money in trade, and reached Seleucia on the Tigris in 105 BC. These profit-makers became so lawless that they took to quarreling and attacking each other, but eventually a series of defense stations was established.

When Di Shan urged Wu Di to make peace with the Xiongnu, he was challenged by Zhang Tang as a stupid Confucian. Criticizing the severity of Zhang Tang's prosecutions of the kings of Huainan and Jiangdu, the Emperor was embarrassed as well and asked Di Shan if he were given a position in a province, could he keep the barbarians from plundering the region? Sensing that if he refused he would face a criminal trial, Di Shan agreed to command one of the border posts, where a few weeks later the Xiongnu raided and cut off his head. After that, officials were too terrified to criticize the military policies.

Sima Qian described how officials became increasingly harsh, especially after Wang Wenshu rose from a grave-robber to become a corrupt official, who offered rewards to help catch thieves, conscripted more men into the army, condemned thousands to provide slaves for the government monopolies of salt, iron, and liquor, and freed tens of thousands who were accused so that they could work on imperial building. He did little to prevent corruption, and his whole family was executed for his crimes after he committed suicide. From his example lower officials went into lawbreaking, and the number of bandits increased until some had bands of several thousand men, assumed a title, attacked cities, seized weapons, freed convicts, humiliated governors, killed officials, and demanded they be supplied with food. Smaller bands of several hundred plundered numerous villages and hamlets.

Wu Di sent high officials to call out troops and attack the bandits, cutting off as many as ten thousand heads at a time. They arrested even more people for aiding the bandits with food. In a few years most of the robber bands had been caught, but others went into hiding. Then a concealment law, specifying the execution of officials for not arresting reported bandits, led officials to avoid investigations. Thus the number of bandits increased again as officials sent in false reports to escape being involved.

Du Zhou learned how to please Wu Di by trapping people he wanted removed into being arrested. When Du Zhou became commandant of justice, the number of officials in prison never fell below a hundred men. A hundred or more might be arrested on a case to be tried or to be witnesses. Prison officials would beat the accused until they confessed. Many fled into hiding to avoid arrest and later would be charged with more serious crimes even though an amnesty may have been issued. Eventually 60,000 people had been arrested, and officials had found grounds for charging another hundred thousand. Du Zhou rose from a poor secretary to one of the top three ministers with sons and grandsons in high offices and several hundred million in cash.

In 99 BC Du Zhou was transferred to military command of the capital and prosecuted thieves, high officials, and even brothers of Empress Wei. This was the year historian Sima Qian was arrested for pleading on behalf of condemned general Li Ling. The historian was arrested and convicted but refused to commit suicide, because he wanted to finish writing his history. Not having sufficient funds to buy a commutation of the sentence, he suffered the humiliating punishment of castration, served as a eunuch palace writer, and continued the work that has given us so much knowledge of ancient China. He took the long view as indicated by the following proverb which he quoted:

If you are going to be in a place for one year,
then seed it with grain.
If you are going to be there ten years, plant trees.
And if you are going to be there a hundred years,
provide for the future by means of virtue.9

Sima Qian recounted how the harsh officials degenerated from those who decided right and wrong honestly to corrupted ones to the sycophants, who followed laws and regulations involving harsh penalties just to stay out of trouble themselves. Some of the governors in the provinces were even more cruel. In discussing the money-makers he noted that the desire for wealth does not need to be taught, because it is part of human nature. He felt that those who spend all their knowledge and abilities accumulating money never have strength left over to consider giving some of it away. Because of all its expenses, the government monopolized the sale of alcohol and controlled the salt and iron works. Levies were extended to wagons and boats and taxes to stock animals. In battles with the Xiongnu between 103 and 90 BC several times the Chinese commanders lost most of their men, numbering in the tens of thousands. In 91 BC tens of thousands were arbitrarily executed for witchcraft and black magic.

Sima Qian also passed on the life and work of the Daoist poet Sima Xiangru, whose satires of royal ways were nonetheless appreciated by Wu Di. "Sir Fantasy" makes fun of the imperial hunt and is a phantasmagoria of rich language. In merriment the son of heaven becomes lost in contemplation and decides to implement the traditional reforms of cultivating land, stocking lakes with fish for the people, caring for those in need, lessening punishments, and opening the classics. Everyone shares in the joys of this new hunt, and they are transformed to goodness. The poem concludes with criticism of those lords whose domains are almost all taken up with the hunting parks so that the people have no space to grow food. Emperor Wu accepted the poem but objected to and removed the extravagant language describing the hunting parks.

Xiangru served Wu Di by justifying the Chinese civilizing of barbarian lands with its virtuous ways while condemning those who abused their foreign missions by robbing and killing. He suggested that the western expeditions proved that Wu Di had the mandate of heaven, and he hoped that all could enjoy good fortune. He further glorified Wu Di in his poem on "The Mighty One" and in a poem he left after his death in which he encouraged the Emperor to carry out the auspicious Feng Sacrifice at Mount Tai.

Confucian China 87-30 BC
Before he died in 87 BC, Emperor Wu appointed his youngest son as his successor and, since Emperor Zhao was only in his eighth year, Ho Guang to run the government. Ho Guang managed to put down an attempted take-over by Wu Di's oldest living son, Liu Dan, who committed suicide. Ho Guang came from the common people and implemented reforms to revitalize the exhausted empire. Loans were made to the poor; payments and taxes were remitted in bad years or could be made in kind when grain prices were low. Horses were no longer demanded. Government was reduced, and imperial lands were distributed to the people. Japanese emperor Sujin ordered shipbuilding in 81 BC.

A public debate on the state monopolies was held in 81 BC, an account of which was published in the next reign by Huan Kuan as the dialog Discourses on Salt and Iron. Imperial monopolies of the salt and iron industries had been instituted in 119 BC when Wu Di needed to raise money because of the Xiongnu war expenses. Four years later officers were appointed to equalize distribution by purchasing cheap commodities and selling when prices were high, thus preventing prices from being too low or too high and maximizing profit for the government. Four years after that in 110 BC a bureau of equalization and standardization was established by Sang Hongyang. Although treasury deficits were eliminated and adequate stores supplied the armies on the frontiers, the people, forced to eat without salt because of its high cost or use inferior iron tools to farm, became discontent. Thus sixty scholars were summoned from around the empire to debate the issues.

In the dialog proponents of the government's current policies argued that they successfully provided iron tools to the peasants and increased trade and wealth. Criticizing this profiteering, Confucian reformers, emphasizing agriculture, wanted the use of money reduced with taxes collected in kind (grain or cloth). They found government harsh and oppressive, complaining of the disparities between the rich and poor. Critics also felt that expansion and foreign adventures had weakened China without maintaining safety. They argued the ancients had honored virtue and discredited the use of arms.

Now these virtuous principles are discarded
and reliance put on military force;
troops are raised to attack the enemy
and garrisons are stationed to make ready for him.
It is the long drawn-out service of our troops in the field
and the ceaseless transportation for the needs of the commissariat
that cause our soldiers on the marches
to suffer from hunger and cold abroad,
while the common people are burdened with labor at home.
The establishment of the salt and iron monopoly
and the institution of finance officials to supply the army needs
were not permanent schemes;
it is therefore desirable that they now be abolished.10

Government realists disagreed and, relying on laws and punishments, pointed to the success of Shang Yang; but critics countered that it was short-lived and that Qin policies were unscrupulous. The reformers emphasized moral principles and complained that government officials were using their positions to increase their incomes to incalculable levels, a practice Confucius disapproved. Sang Hongyang's family fortune was estimated at tens of thousands of gold. Those in power criticized the scholars for talking but not acting and asked them if they could devise a means to bring peace to the country and subdue foreign lands so that they would not raid and attack the frontiers. Both sides complained that people now had little honesty and that morals were decaying. The wealth of some led common people to try to imitate their luxurious ways. The debate revealed the clear divisions between the realistic legalists in power and the principled scholars who wanted reforms. The monopolies on salt and iron were retained by the government, but the one on alcohol was ended and replaced with taxation.

Relations with the Xiongnu had improved; but when Fan Mingyu was sent out to aid the Wuhuan against them and found that the Xiongnu had withdrawn, he decided his orders must be carried out by attacking the Wuhuan. He took 6,200 heads and was made a marquis. Thereafter the Wuhuan raided China's northeast border. On the northwest border Ho Guang sent an envoy to assassinate the Loulan king.

When Emperor Zhao died in 74 BC, one possible heir, Liu Ho, raced to the capital and was made Emperor, but forgetting about mourning while enjoying insatiable pleasures, he was removed from office after 27 days. Ho Guang and the ministers arranged for Xuan to become Emperor in his eighteenth year, arguing that he had been taught the Odes, Analects, and Filial Piety and that he was kind, benevolent, and loving to others. Ho Guang offered to resign, but he was retained and ran the government until his death in 68 BC. In the next two years the dangerous Ho clan was methodically and completely removed from power, and Emperor Xuan began to rule for himself.

Brought up as a commoner and having observed the people's sufferings, Emperor Xuan rewarded kind officials and demoted the harsh ones. Instead of punishing corrupt officials, he allowed them to resign. His consent was required for capital punishment, and he implemented numerous other legal reforms such as appointing special judges for difficult cases, pardoning those hiding relatives, investigating deaths in prison, exempting the elderly from punishment in most cases, and searching for and reporting unjust trials. An official who had used capital punishment so much that he was called "Uncle Butcher" was publicly executed for his cruel tyranny.

Emperor Xuan gave grants to the heirs of capable officials who died poor, exempted those in mourning from required services, abolished laws banning gatherings of people even at weddings, and increased salaries of lower officials to prevent extortion. During drought he reduced his own table and officials' salaries temporarily, while remitting taxes. Military garrisons were reduced; government land was loaned to the poor; royal preserves were opened to cultivation; and the price of salt was lowered. Heaven shone on these beneficent policies with abundant harvests. The Xiongnu struggled with civil wars, and one of their leaders, vying for support, visited the Chinese court; instead of resenting his imperial title Emperor Xuan honored him as a guest and sent him back with such rich presents that the other Xiongnu rival moved to the west.

For several years the Confucian classics were studied and clarified with the Emperor having the final word in 51 BC. Near the end of his reign Emperor Xuan issued an edict declaring that not prohibiting evil is not clemency nor is dismissing criminals the absence of tyranny, while those who consider tyranny and wrong capability have missed the mean as well. Noting that military service and forced labor have been reduced, he found that there was still poverty and corrupt officials, because they took the extra money given them to use in place of soldiers. This Emperor seems to have done his best to harmonize the virtues of legalistic discipline and Confucian benevolence.

Even when he was still only heir apparent Yuan criticized his father for applying laws too severely and suggested that he employ more Confucian masters. In 48 BC Emperor Xuan died, and 27-year-old Emperor Yuan selected Confucians to run his government. Modest reforms reduced expenditures and lightened punishments. The civil service examination system was expanded to include a moral component as well as the literary test. Emperor Yuan's adoption of Confucian rituals and principles led also to the favoring of relatives in the name of filial piety. Unfortunately the resulting nepotism and matriarchal influences contributed to the eventual fall of the Former Han dynasty in the next two generations. Under Yuan anyone who passed the examinations could become a student of a Confucian scholar, but soon the number was limited to one thousand persons.

Confucian influence was checked somewhat by the eunuch Shi Xien, the chief palace writer, who had many Confucians arrested and executed because they criticized him. Rather than go to jail, the most prominent Confucian committed suicide. Shi Xien outlived Emperor Yuan; but he was exiled after Emperor Cheng came into power in 33 BC. The office of palace writer was abolished so that eunuchs would not have such power. Like his father, Emperor Cheng put his maternal relatives into the prominent positions. While he enjoyed drinking, banqueting, and music, the Wang clan controlled the government. Through education and patient application Confucianism had gradually triumphed in China, although it was tempered by realist Legalists and subtle Daoists. Yet the Former Han dynasty was in decline, and would be replaced in the next generation.

Economic expansion during the Earlier Han dynasty led to prosperity for some but a concentration of land ownership employing convicts and debtors, mostly in large workshops as virtual slaves. Since the privileged landowners did not have to pay tax, this meant higher taxes for the peasants. Revolts by slaves in the government iron works and others began in 22 BC. Four years later Emperor Cheng (r. 33-7 BC) had to lower the price of court ranks, and he turned to omens and superstitions. His favorite wives, Zhao Feiyen and her sister, got the empress Xu deposed for black magic. Zhao Feiyen was declared empress in 16 BC; but she and her sister were childless, and their jealousy caused two of his sons by other women to be murdered, leaving no direct heir. Peasants revolted again in 14 BC, and they were soon joined by government slaves from the Shanyang iron works. During Cheng's reign the Wang family dominated the court in rivalry with three other families, but Wang Mang was dismissed from court in 7 BC. After Cheng Di died, Ai Di and Ping Di ruled for about six years each; but both emperors died young, making their deaths suspicious. Emperor Ai made his homosexual lover Dong Xian marshal and even talked of abdicating to him before his death. When Ai Di died, Dong Xian was degraded and committed suicide, as Wang Mang became marshal.

China 7 BC to 1279

                          China 7 BC To 1279
Wang Mang's Revolution
Later Han Empire
China Divided and Reunited 220-618
Sui Dynasty 581-617
Tang Dynasty Empire 618-907
Liao, Xi Xia, and Jin Dynasties 907-1234
Song Dynasty Renaissance 960-1279
Neo-Confucian Ethics
Literature of Medieval China
This chapter has been published in the book CHINA, KOREA & JAPAN to 1800. For ordering information please click here.

Wang Mang's Revolution
Legalism, Qin Empire and Han Dynasty
Wang Mang, nephew of the empress dowager Wang and championing Confucian principles, consolidated his power in the reign of the boy Ping Di by marrying his daughter to the emperor. His treatment of the Wei queen mother made Wang Mang's son Wang Yu afraid of a feud between the Wei and Wang clans, and he tried to use portents to influence his father's policy. So in 3 CE Wang Mang had his son, the Wei clan, and hundreds of others executed. Han propaganda also blamed Wang Mang for the death of 14-year-old Emperor Ping three years later. Three consecutive emperors had died without leaving a direct heir, a bad omen that confirmed prophecies the dynasty would end. From many candidates Wang Mang chose a two-year-old so that he could rule as regent.

In 9 CE Wang Mang took the throne, proclaiming the Xin (New) dynasty. A Han uprising was put down, and in 10 CE Han nobles were demoted to commoners, as a mutiny in Central Asia was crushed. Wang Mang broke up the great estates and prohibited the private buying and selling of slaves. Reducing the titles of kings to marquises was only symbolic, but it irritated border leaders and led to revolts. Wang Mang nationalized liquor, salt, iron implements, cash, and the resources of mountains and marshes (hunting, fishing, mining, etc.). As a devoted Confucian he did not call them monopolies but "controls." Government stores were set up in five major cities to stabilize the changing prices of essentials such as grain, hemp cloth, and silk. Loans were made to help peasant farmers. However, his debasing the currency with copper coins while he collected five million ounces of gold caused economic chaos. The government's currency frauds led to widespread counterfeiting; but prohibiting copper and charcoal could not be enforced and had to be repealed, though many were convicted of using the old currency. According to historian Ban Gu, Wang Mang kept his lamp burning all night trying to handle too much himself; but legal cases backed up, and corrupt bureaucrats took advantage.

Confucian philosopher Yang Xiong (53 BC-18 CE) took the moderate position that human nature is a mixture of good and evil. Whoever cultivates the good will become good, and whoever cultivates the evil will become evil. The way of the sage is one with heaven (nature). Without people heaven could not realize itself as a cause; without heaven, people could not complete themselves. Huan Tan (43 BC-28 CE) considered Yang Xiong a sage and noted human differences related to intelligence, intuition, and character. Huan Tan criticized Confucian scholars for being impractical, noting that in the reign of Wu Di (141-87 BC) Confucian scholarship had greatly increased, but government policies got worse. Although it was fine to exalt the learned in times of peace, he believed in difficult times men in armor should be honored. His advocacy of strong government indicated the Legalist tendency of the time.

The Yellow River broke its dikes and changed course. Famines in border areas occurred in 11 and 14 CE, causing cannibalism. Wang Mang reduced official salaries according to the suffering of the region, but this increased corruption and bribery. He tried to raise funds by taxing the higher class for the slaves they still owned. Important provincial offices were now hereditary. Rebellious peasants in Shandong were led by Mother Lu in 17 CE. Rebels calling themselves the Red Eyebrows were activated by a five-year drought that began the next year. These peasant rebellions combined eventually with Han nobles and large landowners and led to the demise of this new dynasty. In 19 CE Wang Mang twice took one-thirtieth of everyone's property in tax, and impressive buildings were constructed in Chang'an the next year.

A plot to raise troops against him in Yan and Chao was discovered, and Wang Mang had several thousand prominent persons executed. Hundreds of thousands of counterfeiters were arrested, two-thirds of them dying when they were made government slaves. Bandits robbing out of poverty grew to gangs of hundreds and thousands, while officials were not permitted to mobilize troops without the Emperor's permission. Bandits disbanding after amnesty were attacked and fled. Frontier defense crumbled as border states asserted their independence. By 22 CE the Red Eyebrows defeated the imperial army in Liang, and famine reached the capital at Chang'an. Campaigns against the Xiongnu had depleted the treasury except for the gold Wang Mang hoarded, and the economic policies were repealed. A Han army was organized and took over the lower Yangzi region and most of Nanyang. Wang Mang's army attacked Han troops in Yingchuan but was defeated. Han armies marched on Chang'an; as the convict army fled, they sacked the capital, killing Wang Mang in 23 CE. After two years under Emperor Geng Shi, the Red Eyebrows captured Chang'an. Historian Ban Gu estimated that the population of the Chinese empire had been reduced by half.

Later Han Empire
A Han descendant named Liu Xiu, who owned a huge domain near Nanyang, in 25 CE founded the Later Han dynasty, also known as the Eastern Han because he moved the capital to Luoyang in the east from Chang'an in the Wei valley, where the irrigation system had been destroyed. As Guang Wu Di he represented Henan and other landowners and ruled for 32 years by suppressing the Red Eyebrows and other rebels, freeing those who had fallen into slavery during the revolutionary era, and re-instituting a strong central administration. With fewer great landowners and a smaller imperial clan and ruling class, tax returns enabled the Chinese empire to recover gradually and prosper. Under General Ma Yuan they reconquered the south and northern Vietnam in 43 CE. Whereas the Former Han dynasty had only three uprisings in the southwest during two centuries, in the next two centuries Yue people in the south revolted 53 times, as the Chinese migrated there.

During the reigns of Ming Di (57-75) and Zhang Di (75-88) China reconquered Central Asia and the northern nomads. In 65 CE Ming Di pardoned for subversion his brother, the king of Chu, because he had recited the subtle words of Lao-zi and honored the humane cult of the Buddha. It was also said that after a dream Ming Di sent a mission to the west, and two Indian monks brought back Buddhist scriptures. Yet more than half of 500 officials imprisoned were killed by flogging. In 73 a Chinese army led by Dou Gu defeated the Xiongnu, and the historian Ban Gu's brother Ban Chao had shamans murdered to prevent them from helping the enemy. In 89 after they had 13,000 killed, 81 Xiongnu tribes totaling 200,000 people surrendered to the Han army. Ban Chao was appointed protector-general of the Western Regions in 91 and kept order there until his death in 102. More than fifty states sent hostages to Luoyang with tribute in 94 CE; as hostages sons of prominent barbarian leaders could be educated in Chinese culture. The Chinese emperor sent gold and silk, and the Xiongnu tribute included jade, horses, and wine. In 110 a large Qiang revolt in Liangzhou caused Han forces to withdraw from that area. After twenty years military service Ban Chao's son Ban Yung gained control over the Turfan depression and got the Kucha, Khotan, and Yarkand to submit in 127. Han garrisons occupied the Gansu corridor until the middle of the 2nd century when Han power began to decline.

At the beginning of the first century a hundred men a year entered government by passing civil service examinations. A great conference of Confucian scholars was held in 79 CE to discuss interpretation of the Confucian classics. Wang Chong (27-c. 97) believing in a natural order was not afraid to criticize Confucius, Mencius, and other philosophers. From a poor family and having to read books in a bookstore, he condemned the superstitions involved in omens and portents, suggesting natural explanations for natural phenomena. He wrote that saying human nature is neither good nor evil is like saying a person's capacity is neither high nor low. In 83 Wang Chong summarized in Balanced Discussion (Lunheng) previous Confucian philosophers' views on good and evil in human nature and concluded that Mencius described those above average as good, Xun-zi those below average as evil, and Yang Xiong the average as a mixture.

Wang Chong ridiculed ideas of life after death and the fear of spirits as unscientific, though his ideas had little influence on Chinese culture until recently. He summarized his teaching as hating falsehood and wrote, "In things there is nothing more manifest than having results, and in argument there is nothing more decisive than having evidence."1 Wang Chong did not blame Confucians for political failures if their character was cultivated and their moral standards were high. He believed that misfortune is often the result of fate rather than a divine punishment for moral wrong.

Able-bodied men could be drafted into the army at age 23 for one year of training and a year of garrison duty before being assigned to a local militia for service when needed until the age of 56. So much silk was exported by Han China that Rome noticed a drain on their gold and silver to the east, though the Han government tried to prevent the smuggling of iron and weapons. Chinese iron work was so sophisticated they could produce some steel. The shoulder collar for draft animals was used very efficiently as was the wheelbarrow. Porcelain is called china because it was invented and propagated by the Chinese at this time; it was more sanitary and useful than wood. The great literary culture of China led to the important invention of paper in 105 CE.

Han land taxes were usually only one-thirtieth of the yield, but rent was about half. In the Earlier Han era there had been nearly 60 million taxpayers; in 57 CE only 21 million paid taxes, but by 105 it was back up to 53 million. Although the bureaucracy was supposed to be based on merit, officials usually achieved their positions by family and the patronage of influential landowners. The burden of taxes on northern peasants caused some to flee to the less-taxed south and others to rob or revolt. Once again powerful families were weakening the financial system. As powerful relatives of empresses, during the reign of Ho Di (88-106) the land-owning family of Dou Xian became dominant at court; but he was killed. An Di (r. 106-125) allowed a eunuch's adopted son to inherit a fief, and nineteen eunuchs were made marquises when they helped Shun Di (r. 126-44) to the throne by liquidating the Yan faction. In 133 Zuo Xiong's complaint ended the flogging of high officials begun in Ming Di's reign, and the same year astrologer Zhang Heng, the first to use a seismograph, after an earthquake criticized the corruption of the eunuch-dominated court. After 135 CE eunuchs were able to pass on their wealth and power to adopted sons.

Earthquakes also stimulated criticism during the reign of Huan Di (146-68). In 146 the number of students in the imperial academy was increased to 30,000. A royal Parthian named An Shigao gave up his throne to become a Buddhist; he spent twenty years at Chang'an translating texts and propagating the religion. Liang Ji was executed and his family wiped out in 159 by five court eunuchs, who were ennobled and given huge fiefs of 76,000 families each; the sale of the Liang estate was equal to half the grain taxes for a year. Cui Shi (d. 170) worked on the annals in the Dongguan library but was dismissed because he was a client of Liang Ji. Cui Shi found regional officials disobeying imperial edicts and changing orders, but he also criticized drastic administrative measures as cruel, oppressive, and fault-finding. Nonetheless his Treatise on Politics in 151 was more Legalist than Daoist in urging stricter laws regardless of privileges. Daoist Zhu Mu (100-163) observed that violating natural virtue leads to honoring humanity (ren) and justice (i); but when propriety (li) and law (fa) are upheld, human innocence is lost. He suggested this social degeneration to Confucian and Legalist methods could be reversed by individuals cultivating depth of feeling for other people and being more liberal and generous and less fault-finding.

Wang Fu (c. 90-165) failed in his official career because he could not compromise his integrity; so he retired and commented on political and commercial corruption in his Remarks of a Hermit. Believing that evil conditions are created by people, he suggested they could be corrected by rational and effective human effort, although what has accumulated over generations can not be remedied by short-term measures. In his evil time he felt that individuals needed tremendous effort to resist temptations and pressures. Those in government must not be biased, narrow-minded, self-willed, nor self-interested as a private person might be, but must act with social intelligence to uphold public laws. Preservation of the state, which is responsible for order, depends on the enlightened choice of officials. To attain the great peace (taiping) the fundamentals of agriculture and essential goods should be emphasized instead of the secondary luxuries and refinements. He complained that increased concentration of wealth decreased public revenues and caused poverty.

A cult of the Buddha associated with Lao-zi was formally introduced at the Luoyang court in 166. The same year attempts by Confucian officials to stop the corruption led to hundreds of them being arrested, as one memorandum advised a reduction of the palace women, who numbered more than five thousand plus attendants. During the reign of Ling Di (168-89) more eunuchs were ennobled, and thousands of officials barred from office formed a league of literati and were killed by the great proscription. In 175 it was decreed that all palace directors of departments would be eunuchs; within three years all high offices were sold for cash.

In the propitious year 184 two great rebellions led by Daoist faith healers erupted in the east and in Sichuan. In the east 360,000 armed followers of Zhang Jue's "great peace" that promised equality and common ownership wore yellow turbans to represent the earth in their struggle against the red fire of Han rule. They joined in feasts and fasts lasting several days during which they confessed their sins and used amulets to ward off disease they believed was caused by sin, as floods in the Yellow River valley had led to epidemics. Zhang Jue and his two brothers were killed along with half a million people that year, but the Yellow Turban rebellion went on to devastate eight provinces in the next six years. The Sichuan rebels were called the Five Bushels of Rice band for the dues they paid to master magician Zhang Daoling and others. They also identified disease with sin, used amulets, practiced confession, and abolished private property; but one of their leaders, Zhang Lu, finally came over to the side of Cao Cao in 215.

As the tax-paying peasantry declined, so did the imperial army that drafted them. Professional armies soon came under the control of their commanders, who were usually rich landowners that became local warlords as they fought the rebels. In 188 the imperial court tried to appoint commissioners called shepherds stationed in rebellious areas with absolute authority over all local officials. The next year general Yuan Shao of the Henan family gained control of Luoyang and massacred more than two thousand court eunuchs. General Dong Zhuo with support from the Qiang made Xian Di the last Han emperor, and the next year his army sacked and burned the capital, destroying the imperial library. Dong Zhuo moved the capital back to Chang'an; but notorious for cruelty, he was assassinated in 192.

That year Cao Cao of a eunuch family incorporated 300,000 Yellow Turbans into his army, enabling him eventually to gain control of the north by eliminating Yuan Shao's cousin Yuan Shu, who had founded a kingdom in 197. The Qiang maintained an independent kingdom in Liangzhou for thirty years until they were conquered by Cao Cao's forces in 214. To explain why Cao Cao overcame Yuan Shao a document described ten character faults of the latter while crediting Cao Cao with having the way, justice, order, judgment, strategy, virtue, humanity, and administrative and military skill. Yet a contemporary physiognomist described Cao Cao as "a vile bandit in times of peace, a heroic leader in a world of turmoil."2 While campaigning against Zhang Lu in 215 Cao Cao composed Daoist poetry. Cao Cao was advised by the "mad" Daoist Zhongchang Tong, who observed huge domains with thousands of slaves and recommended ending the aristocracy with land reform and strong laws. Instead Cao Cao put abandoned land under state control and divided it among his veterans and dispossessed peasants in military colonies that would give the new Wei kingdom a tax base as half tenants' crops went to the state, which provided agricultural tools and draft animals.

China Divided and Reunited 220-618
Power eventually split three ways between Cao Cao in the north, Liu Bei in Sichuan, and Sun Quan in the south, as Cao Cao was defeated by the latter two, who allied together to defend themselves. After Cao Cao died in 220, his son Cao Pei usurped the throne and named his dynasty Wei; the next year Liu Bei, claiming to be of the house of Han, proclaimed the Shu Han dynasty; and in 222 Sun Quan founded the Wu dynasty to begin the Three Kingdoms period. In this era of warfare Wei defeated the Yan king in southern Manchuria and conquered Korea; Shu Han invaded the southwest; and Wu's military power extended into Vietnam. In Wei a system of classifying officials into nine grades was supposed to select the best men; but emphasis on filial piety favored superficial outward behavior, and soon men were being selected primarily for family status, power, wealth, and military distinction.

Generals from dominant families like the Sima gained power in Wei. Yet for a decade during the regency of Cao Shuang and Sima Yi, philosophers Ho Yen and Wang Bi (226-49) gave official advice based on the mysteries of Lao-zi, Zhuang-zi, and the Yi Jing until Sima Yi took control and executed Cao Shuang and Ho Yen in 249. Daoist Wang Bi, who died in a plague, taught that virtue could be attained through non-being. Daoism grew in popularity as outstanding individuals such as the seven sages of the bamboo grove retreated from political life and participated in "purified conversation." One of the seven, Ruan Ji (210-63), refused to accept an official position and once stayed drunk for sixty days in order to avoid a marriage alliance proposed by Sima Zhao. Ruan Ji entitled all his poems "Songs of My Cares," and he protested the Sima clan's usurpation of power. Xi Kang (223-62) believed in transcending moral doctrines of good and evil by harmoniously entering into the feelings of all living creatures. No longer having an ego, he asked why he should feel anxious. The best person makes use of the heart without having attachments. Xi Kang criticized the boredom of official life, the servitude imposed by propriety and morals, and social affectation. He worked as a smith, but he was executed for being impolite to an important minister and for defending a friend unjustly accused of violating filial piety.

Guo Xiang (d. 312) was a high government official who incorporated Xiang Xiu's Commentary on Zhuang-zi into his own. Guo Xiang recommended spontaneity in a changing universe. To imitate sages is to imitate the dead past instead of meeting the living present. Everything is always changing, and institutions and morals are not exceptions; when they do not change, they become artificial and harmful. One should live according to one's own nature, not that of others, so that integrity will be preserved. Transcending distinctions leads to freedom and happiness. The Daoist alchemist Go Hong (253-333) quoted the writing of Bao Jingyen who criticized Confucian literati for assuming that heaven placed rulers over people when it was really the strong oppressing the weak and the cunning tricking the innocent that caused mastery and servitude. Using force against other creatures is not natural but humans' attempts to gain useless adornments. Go Hong complained that the poor were forced to work so that officials could enjoy fat salaries.

Sima Yen succeeded his father as Wei ruler in 251, conquered Shu Han in 263, and two years after that declared himself Wu Di Qin, the Martial Emperor of Qin. Four centuries of Han law were compiled into a new Qin code. Wu Di Qin also annexed the Wu kingdom in 280, briefly reuniting China; but ten years later his death and the Jia family stimulated a civil war called the Revolt of the Eight Kings.

Sixteen kingdoms of five "barbarians" (Xiongnu, Jie, Xian Bei, Qiang, and Di) ruled northern China between 304 and 439. In 304 a Di family founded the Cheng Han kingdom in Sichuan, while the Xiongnu of southern Shansi became the independent kingdom of Zhao, seizing Luoyang in 311 and Chang'an five years later, once again destroying the library. A Buddhist monk from Central Asia named Fotudeng advised Zhao ruler Shi Hu to rule with compassion and avoid killing; though he said the guilty could be executed, killing the innocent would cause calamities. When a minister complained the Buddha was a foreign deity, Shi Hu replied that as he and the people of Zhao were also foreign, Buddha was the very god they should worship.

In the 4th century most of northwestern China converted to Buddhism. Yao Xing (r. 393-415) of the Later Qin patronized Buddhism, sustaining 3,000 monks with his donations. Kumarajiva (350-413), son of a Brahmin father and Kuchean princess, was born at Kucha, followed his mother into a Buddhist order at age seven, studied Buddhism in Kashmir, and was converted to Mahayana in Kashgar. Kumarajiva was kept a prisoner at Wuwei by general Lu Guang of the Earlier Qin kingdom for seventeen years until Later Qin ruler Yao Xing conquered Gansu in 401 and took Kumarajiva to Chang'an, where he directed a team of scholars in making excellent translations of Buddhist scriptures.

While millions of people migrated south into the Yangzi valley, the Eastern Qin established themselves at Jiankang (near current Nanjing) in 317. Ho Chong became regent in 345 and promoted Buddhism at court; two years later Sichuan was subjugated. When Emperor Xiaowu came of age, he indulged in pleasures while allowing monks and nuns to run the government. Daoan (312-85) promoted Buddhism south and north of the Yangzi River. Graft and corruption increased at the Eastern Qin court, and during the reign (397-418) of An Di a great peasant rebellion broke out and threatened Jiankang in 400 CE but was crushed in two years. About twenty years after founding the Donglin monastery in the Yangzi valley, in 402 Huiyuan (334-417) led initiated monks and lay people in vowing to be reborn in the Pure Land of the western paradise proclaimed by Mahayana Buddhism. Huiyuan communicated with Kumarajiva and wrote the Treatise on the Three Rewards to defend the doctrine of karma by explaining that some actions have their consequences in future lives. Faxian, after spending 15 years traveling to India, in 414 settled in Jiankang to translate the Buddhist scriptures he brought back.

General Liu Yu organized a campaign to invade Henan province and captured Luoyang and Chang'an in 417, but the territories were lost as soon as he returned south. He forced the Eastern Qin emperor to abdicate and founded the Liu Song dynasty at Jiankang in 420; but it was overthrown in 479 by a general named Xiao Daocheng, who proclaimed the Qi dynasty. In 502 this was transformed into the Liang when his relative Xiao Yen became the Martial Emperor (Wu Di) of Liang and patronized Buddhism so generously that Confucians protested. In 507 he sponsored a debate on the immortality of the soul, and materialist Fan Zhen criticized the money spent on lazy monks, monasteries, and images. In 529 it was said 50,000 Buddhists assembled, and four years later 300,000 persons received material gifts along with Buddhist doctrine. The preaching emperor joined the Buddhist community three times and had to be bought back by the court for large ransoms. When Liang Wu Di died in 549, powerful generals caused a civil war until one of them established the Chen dynasty (557-89) that was taken over by the Sui.


Northern China was united for a few years when Tibetans led by Fu Jian (r. 357-85) used great military force to expand the Eastern Qin kingdom. After capturing Xiangyang with 100,000 soldiers Fu Jian brought Daoan back to Chang'an. Daoan advised Fu Jian not to attack the Eastern Qin but was not heeded, and in 383 their massive army was defeated at Fei River in a critical battle that preserved Chinese culture in the south. The Toba people had moved into northern Shansi and asserted their independence in 386 as the Northern Wei, which eventually gained control of northern China in 439. During the reign (386-409) of Dao Wu Di 460,000 people were deported. Convicts were made slaves at Buddhist monasteries to reclaim wasted land by cultivation.

Confucian Cui Hao (381-450) became chancellor and gained influence with Wu Di (r. 424-51) by promoting the successful campaign against the Bei Liang kingdom in the northwest in 439. Cui Hao also recommended his Daoist friend Kou Qianzhi, who prevented the ruler from executing 3,000 resisting monks captured in that battle at Liangzhou, putting them in labor battalions. Cui Hao won the Daoist master over to Confucian principles and applied a strong Chinese penal code to the Wei kingdom. Kou after having a series of visions and taking the title of Heavenly Master persuaded the Northern Wei emperor to declare Daoism the official religion in 444, condemning mediums and sorcerers and abolishing most local cults, while anyone supporting Buddhist monks privately might be executed. Two leading monks were executed, and during a rebellion the next year at Chang'an weapons were found in a Buddhist monastery. The emperor condemned those monks to death, and Cui Hao suggested executing all the monks in the realm, though Kou managed to delay that. Cui Hao was hated for his prejudice against non-Chinese in the history he was writing, and the people's complaints led the emperor to liquidate him and his entire clan of 128 people. When Wu Di died, his successor granted Buddhists freedom. During the 5th century and early 6th nine peasant rebellions were stimulated by bands of Buddhists.

Xiao Wen Di (r. 471-99) promoted Chinese customs and prohibited other languages in court; when nomadic fighters resented the influence of Confucian scholars, he even executed his own son for refusing to cooperate with the Sinicization program. Early in his reign Buddhist monasteries were greatly expanded by Tanyao's plan of assigning penal slaves to cultivate their fields. With many farms abandoned after two centuries of war, in 485 the Wei government began distributing land to males over 15 years of age. During the reign (515-28) of Xiao Ming Di his empress Hu oversaw lavish building as Luoyang became a great center of Buddhism. By the end of the Northern Wei dynasty there were said to be 30,000 monasteries and two million Buddhist clergy. Outside the capital less effete military forces in six garrisons revolted in 523, and a civil war raged for a decade. Empress Hu had Xiao Ming Di assassinated and put a child on the throne; but tribal armies from Shansi seized Luoyang, drowned them both in the Yellow River, and murdered two thousand courtiers.

In 534 General Gao Huan set up an Eastern Wei emperor hostile to Chinese culture that in 550 became the Northern Qi dynasty, while general Yuwen Tai created a Western Wei puppet depending on the Chinese aristocracy at Chang'an. In 544 this emperor recommended the following Confucian principles to local officials: administer with compassion, value learning, cultivate land, use able and good people; penalize sparingly, and tax fairly. His son took the throne to found a Northern Zhou dynasty in 557. Wu Di of Northern Zhou (r. 561-78) organized a debate between Confucians, Buddhists, and Daoists, and in 573 he declared Confucians the winner and the next year interdicted the losing Buddhists and Daoists. Using the strategic capital at Chang'an, this dynasty also destroyed the Northern Qi in 577, reunifying north China.

Sui Dynasty 581-617
Yang Jian (541-604) married a devout Buddhist, whose father Dugu Xin had been forced to commit suicide by a powerful Yuwen prince in 557. Yang Jian succeeded his father as Duke Sui in 568. As a reward for helping Wu Di on his victory over the Northern Qi in Henan in 577 Yang Jian was appointed commander of the army and governed the conquered territory. The religious persecution ended with Wu Di's death; but his son Yuwen Bin was Yang Jian's son-in-law and violated his consorts and concubines. After ruling two years he died in 580, leaving a 7-year-old son under the control of General Yang Jian, who ended the proscription of the Buddhists and had 120 monks ordained for the temples in Luoyang and Chang'an. Two senior princes failed to assassinate Yang Jian and were executed. The boy abdicated in 581, and Yang Jian usurped the throne as Wen Di (r. 581-604) to found the Sui dynasty. Sui Wen Di claimed the mandate of heaven but put to death 59 members of the Yuwen family; yet as a Buddhist he believed in karma, and these killings would haunt him. Wen Di established national Buddhist temples, and in 583 he ordered regular services performed. The ban on Daoists was also lifted, and Daoists were granted a metropolitan temple.

Wen Di had previously revised Northern Zhou laws, and he promulgated a New Code in 581, moderating previously severe punishments. In 583 Wen Di ordered the code simplified, and the commission headed by Pei Zheng reduced the Kaihuang Code to 500 articles. The main punishments were death, deportation to forced labor or military service, and beatings. Officials could commute these sentences to fines measured in copper. The Tribunal of Censors investigated crimes and supervised all imperial officials. The Board of Civil Office appointed suitable officials according to nine ranks, each with an upper and lower grade, and they were also responsible for annual reviews. Thus hereditary privilege was lessened. In 587 Wen Di ordered the prefectures to send three worthy men annually to the capital, but merchants and artisans were disqualified. He established schools for the study of the Confucian classics, and he particularly admired the Classic of Filial Submission. Examinations on a single classic or for literary ability were used to screen men for positions. The rule of avoidance meant that local officials could not serve in their place of origin so that family and friends would not influence them. Terms of service were for only three or four years, and parents and sons over fifteen could not accompany them. Each prefecture sent delegates to an annual court assembly.

In 588 a Sui edict condemned the immoral incompetence of the Chen ruler, and the next year eight forces said to total 518,000 men attacked the Chen in eight different places with armies, cavalry using 100,000 fresh horses from the north, and three flotillas of ships led by Yang Su. The Chen capital at Jiankang was defended by more than 100,000 troops; but the Sui forces took over the entire Chen domain of southern and eastern China from the Yangzi River to the South China Sea. Chen officials were treated leniently, and local administrations were governed by newly appointed Sui officials. However, Su Wei tried to impose the "Five Teachings" of public and private morality so forcefully that revolts broke out and killed Sui officials. Yang Su had to suppress the rebellion by killing thousands and executing their leaders.

Yang Guang, the second son of Wen Di, was the official commander in the Chen war and became the ruler of the conquered territory in 589. He attempted to make them loyal Sui subjects by introducing rational administration. He ordered Buddhist scriptures collected and copied, building a library and Buddhist temples. In 591 at Qiangdu during a vegetarian feast for a thousand monks Yang Guang asked Zhiyi (538-97), founder of Tiantai Buddhism and the most respected monk in the south, to name him a bodhisattva. Later Zhiyi petitioned Yang Guang to stop the razing of the Chen capital, particularly its Buddhist temples, and he complained after a thousand monks, who had come to hear him speak, were dispersed by Sui officials. In addition to supporting Buddhism Yang Guang had two Daoist monasteries built at his capital.

Yang Su used cavalry to scatter the army of the Eastern Turks. Wen Di ordered the collecting of a progressive grain tax that stored as much as three-quarters of a large crop but took nothing in hard years, establishing relief granaries to prevent famines. A canal was constructed from Chang'an to the Yellow River, and great walls were built in the northwest. Construction on a grand scale was begun at both capitals of Chang'an and Luoyang. Sui Wen Di also saw the completion of the Tongji canal connecting the Yellow River with the Huai and the Yangzi, and his armies gained control of northern Vietnam. In spite of his massive construction projects a militia system lessened military expenses except during campaigns, and Wen Di by frugality and his huge granaries was able to reduce taxation and exempt new population from taxes for ten years. He even proclaimed himself a disciple of the Buddha and donated 120,000 bolts of silk to repair the damage of the recent persecutions in the north.

Books were collected, annotated, and copied. An edict of 593 forbade apocryphal and prognostic books; unofficial histories and character reading were also prohibited to prevent subversion. Wen Di became dissatisfied with Confucianism, and in 601 all schools in the empire were abolished except for one college with seventy students in the capital. Instead the Emperor distributed Buddhist relics to all the prefectures, and thirty missions were sent out, followed by 53 the next year and thirty more in 604.

In 600 Yang Guang visited his mother, the monogamist Empress, who complained that the crown prince Yong had four sons by a concubine. Yang Guang began to plot against his brother Yong and was supported by Yang Su; later that year Yang Guang had himself proclaimed crown prince. In 603 Wen Di degraded his fourth son on suspicion of black magic. The next year the Emperor became ill, and Yang Guang ascended the throne, as Yang Su may have suppressed the reinstatement of Yong as successor. Han prince Liang, the youngest brother, revolted in the east; but Yang Su's army defeated his forces and put him in prison, where he soon died.

So Yang Guang became the second Sui emperor as Yang Di (r. 604-17). He traveled frequently between his three capitals at Daxing Cheng in the west, Luoyang, and his beloved Yangzi capital at Qiangdu. Yang Di was criticized for the extravagant re-building of the capital at Luoyang. Great libraries were built; the largest at Luoyang had 370,000 scrolls. An examination system based on the Confucian classics was instituted in 606 to attract scholars into the bureaucracy from the south. The new emperor disliked the criticism of his father's advisor Gao Qiong and had him executed in 607. Several other important officials were also put to death, and their families were banished. Yang Di continued to conscript large numbers of workers to extend canals to Hangzhou Bay and north to what is now Beijing, to build the great wall at Shansi, and to complete projects at Chang'an and Luoyang. Not frugal like his father, it was said that he once hired 18,000 musicians to entertain guests for a month. Such ambitious projects and floods on the lower Yellow River in 611 caused greater peasant rebellions in Hebei and Shandong.

In 608 a Sui army led by Yuwen Shu was sent to assist the Tuyu Hun; but when the latter fled, Yuwen Shu drove them from their land and enslaved 4,000 captives. Yang Di personally led the campaign against the Tuyu Hun in the Gansu corridor the next year. An expedition against Formosa or the islands in the China Sea failed in 610. The Chinese also failed to get Turkish mercenaries, and special war taxes were levied. The Sui dynasty began its decline when Yang Di mobilized 1,132,800 men for a campaign against Koguryo (Korea) in 612. Although Yang Di's armies had conquered Tibet, the three annual campaigns against northern Korea and southern Manchuria were disastrous; Eastern Turks revolted, and uprisings occurred until the end of the dynasty. In 615 Yang Di offered bounties to fight against the Turks at Yenmen and announced the end of the unpopular Koguryo war; but when the Emperor went back on both promises, he lost credibility. Stimulated by his son Li Shimin, general Li Yuan rebelled in Shansi, allied with Turkish tribes, and marched on Chang'an, where he founded the Tang dynasty. As the Sui empire was disintegrating, Yang Di fled to southern China, where he was assassinated in his bath by a descendant of the Yuwen family and the son of his general Yuwen Shu in 618.

                       Tang Dynasty Empire 618-906

While Li Yuan reigned (618-26) as Gaozu at Chang'an, many contenders for the Sui throne fought each other in the south. Gaozu had twelve large standing armies plus regional commands of local militias. Yet with so many domestic battles, Gaozu paid tribute to the Eastern Turks to keep them from invading. In 622 the twelve imperial armies were disbanded. That year Li Shimin stopped a force of 150,000 Turks led by khagan Xieli into Taiyuan; but the next year the twelve armies were called back to counter the Turkish threat that put the capital at Chang'an under martial law and to face another incursion into Taiyuan in 625. Tang armies led by the Emperor's sons, Li Shimin in the south and eastern plain and crown prince Jiancheng in the northwest, offered amnesty and put down most of the resistance by 624.

Uniform coins were minted starting in 621. Most of the great Luoyang library was lost in a disastrous accident in 622, leaving only 90,000 scrolls, though this was increased to 200,000 by the end of the reign. By 624 Gaozu had completed a centralized code of Tang laws, distributed land to adult males, implemented the northern equal-field system, and reformed taxes to apply to persons instead of property. Irrigation systems were constructed diverting water from the Huangho (Yellow River) in 624, and a canal was built in Shensi to transport grain to the capital. The three schools in Chang'an were re-opened to prepare sons of the aristocracy for examinations. At court heated debates took place between Confucians, Buddhists, and Daoists. The court astrologer Fu Yi wrote memorials criticizing Buddhism for removing tens of thousands of men and women from secular work. In 626 Gaozu reduced 120 Buddhist temples to three and Daoist temples from about ten to one; but these directives were canceled three months later when Gaozu's son Li Shimin took over the government.

Li Shimin had gained much prestige for his victories over the rebel leaders Dou Jiande and Wang Shichong, and in 621 he founded his own literary college. After falsely accusing his brothers of having illicit relations with the imperial harem, Li Shimin ambushed them at the palace gate, killing the heir apparent Jiancheng himself, while his officer murdered his younger brother Yuanji. Three days later Li Shimin proclaimed himself Emperor Tang Taizong (r. 626-49) and forced his father to retire. Having had a successful military career, Taizong restrained building projects and listened to his advisors, gaining a fine reputation for good Confucian rule for several years. He expanded Confucian education, standardized the curriculum on its classics, and developed the civil service examination system. Under his father the Sui bureaucracy had doubled, but Taizong reduced administrative subdivisions.

Relief granaries were established in 628. That year a school of calligraphy was founded, followed by a school of law in 632. A commission was appointed in 629 to write histories, and the same year an imperial order proclaimed that monks illegally ordained for tax evasion were to be executed, though after ten years of development a new law code was decreed in 637 that reduced the number of capital offenses. By 637 Ma Zhou was complaining of increased labor services and disregard of the people, and Wei Zheng criticized Taizong's arrogance and extravagance. The appointment of Wei Zheng as counselor had set an example of amnesty, because he had supported a major rebel. In 639 Taizong ordered clergy to obey the dying instructions of the Buddha in the Fo Yijiao jing in order to keep them out of politics. Xuan Zang (602-64) traveled to India (629-45) and then returned to Chang'an to direct the translation of 1338 chapters of Buddhist texts out of the total 5084 translated into Chinese over six centuries.

Wars between the Turks helped the Tang regime to subjugate the Eastern Turks in 630 when Taizong was declared a khan, their chief ruler. About 100,000 defeated Turks were resettled in southern China. The silk route west was protected when the Chinese were aided by the Uighur tribes in taking the Tarim Basin from the Western Turks, who were also divided by a civil war in 630. An administrative protectorate was established there along with one in the north for Mongolia, in the east for southern Manchuria, and in the south called Annan, which later gave the name Annam to Vietnam. The state of Karashahr began paying tribute to the Tang in 632; but an alliance with the Western Turks made them stop until the Chinese invaded and occupied Karashahr in 644, defeating the Western Turkish army. This war caused Kucha to stop paying tribute until the Tang army defeated them in 648.

The Tibetan Tuyuhun brought tribute to Chang'an in 634 but plundered Chinese territory on their way home, causing the Tang army to launch a punitive campaign. Tibetan king Srongbtsansgampo asked to marry a Chinese princess and was rebuffed, causing fighting until the Chinese complied in 641. Peace was maintained with the Koguryo after they sent tribute to the Tang in 619 until the Tang vassal state Silla complained that Koguryo and Paekche attacked them in 643. A large Tang campaign was planned; but in 645 the Tang army could not take the fortress city of Anshi, and thousands of returning soldiers perished in a blizzard. Taizong ordered a large armada built and prepared an even larger expedition, but he died before it could be launched. Despite this disappointment at the end of his life, Taizong was remembered as one of the greatest of Chinese emperors, and his discussions with his advisors compiled by Wu Jing in 705 in the Zhenguan Zhengyao became a popular guidebook on imperial government.

The heir apparent Li Chengqian's plot to take the throne was exposed when Qi prince Li You's revolt failed in 643. Chengqian was degraded to a commoner and died the next year. Taizong was succeeded by his son Li Zhi, who became Gaozong (r. 649-83); but most of his reign was overshadowed by the clever and powerful Empress Wu. Wu Zhao came to the palace about 640 during her teens as a low-ranking concubine. According to the story, after Taizong died, she went to a nunnery, where she was found by Gaozong and bore him a son in 652. The Empress Wang had made many enemies; Wu intrigued with them until Wang was demoted, and Wu became Gaozong's principal consort in 655. Wu then had Wang and her concubine accomplice murdered, and many of her opponents were also purged by exile, murder, or suicide.

When Gaozong suffered bad health as the result of a stroke in 660, Empress Wu took control of the imperial administration. She became a devoted Daoist, and the immense Buddhist translation project was ended in 664. Lao-zi was given resplendent titles in 666, and Daoist temples were erected in every prefecture. That year the currency was debased 90%, and in 670 grain was so scarce that wine brewing was prohibited. More than half the population was unregistered and so paid no taxes. In 674 Empress Wu tried to win public favor by proclaiming an enlightened twelve-point reform program that promoted agriculture, remission of taxes, cessation of military operations, no extravagant building, reduction of unpaid labor, increased free expression, suppression of slander, study of the Dao De Jing, full mourning periods for mothers, making honorific officials permanent, increased official salaries, and promotion of talented officials. Yet the next year she started removing imperial family members she considered threatening, and many prominent officials were banished. Meanwhile the empire was in a financial crisis because of decades of ruinous wars and extravagant public building. The examinations were suspended most of the time between 669 and 679 but were held regularly after they were reformed in 681.

By helping the Silla defeat the Koguryo, Tang forces made a unified Korea a loyal vassal in 668 as 200,000 captives were deported to China. Two years later a revolt against Chinese occupation restored the Koguryo house, and in 676 the Chinese withdrew from Pyongyang. During the reign of Gaozong the Tarim Basin was lost to Tibet, though it was later regained under Empress Wu. Tang armies were able to quell a 679 rebellion by Eastern Turks after heavy losses by 681. Empress Wu deposed Gaozong's successor after one year and installed a puppet, ordering many in the royal family and hundreds of aristocrats executed. She quelled rebellions by rewarding those who resisted them while granting amnesty to those who had been coerced into joining them. In 685 she took a lover, who was installed as abbot of the most prestigious monastery.

In 690 Empress Wu inaugurated the Zhou dynasty, proclaimed herself an incarnation of the future Buddha Maitreya, and made Luoyang the "holy capital." In 693 she replaced the compulsory Dao De Jing in the curriculum temporarily with her own Rules for Officials. In 697 while Empress Wu was considering adding to the 870 tons of bronze already used for nine ceremonial tripods, Khitans were marching unopposed into the Beijing area. Then she sent two large armies to stop their advance. Eventually she allowed the Northern Turks led by Qapaghan with his army of 400,000 to take over large territories north of the Wall. The last years of her reign were dominated by the Zhang brothers when corruption and patronage became widespread until they were executed by a conspiracy in 705. The Tang dynasty was restored, and Empress Wu died later that year. Objective assessment of her policies is difficult since Confucian historians disapproved of her as a woman and a Daoist. For five years while Empress Wei and her daughter were powerful, princes, officials, favorites, and monasteries enriched themselves and enlarged their estates, while taxes falling on peasant farmers and tenants multiplied.

In 710 Xuanzong (r. 712-56) put his father on the throne but after two years became emperor himself. After the Taiping princess committed suicide in 713, all but one of the chief ministers were executed or committed suicide. Yao Chong implemented the following ten reforms: govern humanely instead of by harsh deterrents; refrain from military adventures; apply law equally to all; exclude eunuchs from politics; prohibit excessive taxes; exclude imperial relatives from the central government; restore the personal authority of the emperor; allow ministers to freely remonstrate without fear of punishment; suspend construction of Buddhist and Daoist temples; and eliminate the power of consort families. Court business was now conducted openly in public, and examination graduates were appointed as the chief ministers. The Buddhist clergy was investigated, and more than 30,000 monks and nuns were returned to lay life. Building of new monasteries was banned. New Statutes, Regulations and Ordinances were promulgated in 715. Stored grain was no longer sent to the capital as revenue but was saved for relieving famine.

Xuanzong managed to increase the number of families on the tax registers, gave more control to local military commanders, increased the number of horses by improving government stud farms, and repaired canals to facilitate grain transport from the south to northern armies. As population increased along with the concentration of wealth and property, there was not enough land for the poor, and per-capita taxes paid in grain, cloth (silk or hemp), and labor (or military service) became problematic; gradually more progressive taxes on land and wealth were instituted along with commercial taxes.

Although fighting occurred in 714 with the Tibetans and Eastern Turks, a large imperial army estimated in 722 at more than 600,000 kept the peace. Zhang Yue persuaded the Emperor to return a third of these to farming. By 723 120,000 paid soldiers had replaced the militia in the capital guards, and frontier armies also became more professional. Chief ministers were also paid regularly with the revenues of 300 households, while provincial officials received regular salaries, though allowances for their attendants were cut. Roads with post-stations at intervals provided hostels and restaurants for traveling officials. Hierarchical and delegated government authority included an independent board of censors to investigate public and private abuses by officials. After 738 more and more imperial edicts were drawn up by the Academy of Scholars.

Schools of Buddhism flourished throughout China as never before. The Pure Land sect practiced chanting homage to the Amitabha Buddha. One of its masters, Cimin (680-748), spent twelve years in India (704-16) and criticized the popular Chan school for concentrating on meditation while neglecting equally important learning and moral behavior. To limit corruption in growing Buddhist monasteries in 729 a government census was begun to assure that each prefecture had only one official monastery with no more than thirty monks. Xuanzong sponsored at the capital Tantric masters Subhakarasimha 716-35 and Vajrabodhi 719-41. In 741 the Emperor set up Daoist schools, and in 747 the Dao De Jing was declared the most important canonical book. The aristocracy won a major battle against the meritocracy in 737 when Wei valley noble Li Linfu overcame the scholarly civil servant Zhang Jiuling, and his new versions of the law codes and commentaries were promulgated. By 742 military forces of 574,733 men made up a little more than one percent of the population. The violent purges of Li Linfu that began in 744 removed many prominent men from government.

The peace with Tibet ended in 736 when they attacked Gilgit, and sporadic fighting continued through the rest of Xuanzong's reign. The Turkish empire ended when the Uighurs killed their last kaghan Baimei in 745. Although military expenditures were increasing, the great Tang empire in this era had no equal in the world. At this peak of imperial power in 751 Tang armies were defeated by the Thai state of Nanzhao, and the Muslims defeated the Tang's Korean general at Talas in Central Asia. When the prime minister Li Linfu died the next year, and the Emperor Xuanzong, distracted by a high-class prostitute, appointed his favorite Yang Guozhong, the slighted general An Lushan brought his armies from the north in 755 and took over Luoyang and Chang'an. The Emperor fled to Chengdu in Sichuan, where his army forced him to put to death his favorite concubine and her brother. Xuanzong was declared retired in 756 and died five years later. His son Suzong reigned (756-62) while China was torn apart by An Lushan's rebellion. An Lushan was murdered by his son in 757, and so was the general who took over the rebellion. In 760 insurgent bands massacred several thousand Arab and Persian merchants at Yangzhou.

Daizong (r. 762-79) sent a Turkish general to bribe the Uighurs, who helped Tang forces defeat the rebels at Chang'an in 763, the year the Tibetans invaded Chang'an. As regional commanders became more independent, the decline of the central government is indicated by the census figures for the next year that showed a population of 16,900,000 compared to 52,880,488 ten years earlier. Unable to raise revenues with regular taxes, the Tang state created a salt monopoly in 759 which in twenty years was producing half the government's revenue, as merchants became richer collecting salt taxes. Monopolies were also organized in alcohol in 764 and in the rapidly expanding consumption of tea in 793. Daizong was criticized for being influenced by the Tantric monk Amoghavajra (715-74).

The energetic Dezong (r. 779-805) tried to stop the decline. A twice annual tax on land and harvests was systematized by reformer Yang Yen in 780. Large sums of capital and credit stimulated commerce, as each provincial capital thrived. Improvements in growing rice enabled the south to export large amounts of food via canals. Yet rebellions by independent commanders in the northwest broke out between 781 and 786 after Emperor Dezong assigned a quota of taxes to each province and would not allow them to appoint their own governors. In 783 Dezong had to flee Chang'an. In this crisis the leadership of two eunuchs and Lu Zhi began the rise of the inner court's power. Tibet took advantage of the situation by breaking their pledge to help fight the rebels and by invading Shensi in 785. The independent Hebei provinces increased their armies; but the rebels could not get along with each other, and the south stayed loyal. Lu Zhi had served in the Hanlin Academy (779-91) before he was appointed chief minister; but he was replaced by the corrupt finance minister Pei Yenling in 795. In 790 Tibetans had defeated the Uighurs and the Tang army, but in 794 Nanzhao renounced Tibetan sovereignty and joined with the Chinese invading Tibet in 801. A half century of foreign wars were over by his death, and Dezong had built up the palace army to 100,000 though command was given to the eunuchs, who managed to get rid of the next monarch in a year.

Xianzong (r. 806-20) used Tang imperial power to quell rebellions in Sichuan and the Yangzi delta, though he had to compromise with the governors of Hebei. In 807 chief minister Li Jifu reported that only eight provinces were paying taxes to the Tang government. Pei Ji tried to gain money by controlling the price of silk, but mobilization for the internal wars of 809-10 exhausted Tang finances. Uprisings in the Huai valley and Pinglu province 815-18 were also crushed, restoring central governmental authority. After Pinglu governor Li Shidao was assassinated in 819, this dangerous northern province was divided into three parts. New prefectures were also organized in the Tianping and Yenhai provinces, and they were allowed to keep their entire revenues until 832.

Chinese militarism is indicated by government estimates of the number of soldiers that went from 850,000 in 807 to a record 990,000 in the early 820s; the central government alone was paying 400,000 in 837. Observing hysteria over moving a relic of the Buddha in 819, the influential writer Han Yu (768-824) criticized Buddhism as a foreign religion that changed Chinese customs adversely; he was banished for his temerity. In 836 an imperial decree forbade the Chinese from having relations with "people of color" (foreigners). Provincial administrations were controlled by eunuch army supervisors, who were resented by officials, and factional conflicts between the Niu and Li political parties weakened the Tang regime. Eunuchs had murdered Xianzong, and in despair Emperor Wenzong (r. 827-40) seems to have drank himself to death at the age of thirty. His attempt to ambush eunuchs in the "sweet dew" incident of 835 had resulted in the army massacring more than a thousand people in the government quarter.

When Wuzong (r. 840-46) became emperor, only the benevolence of Li Deyu, son of Li Jifu, prevented the two chief ministers of the Niu party from being put to death; but by consolidating power Li Deyu was able to implement some minor reforms in reducing the independence of the Hanlin secretaries. Li Deyu took command of the war against the Uighurs that killed 10,000 of them in 843. The cost of wars, harem luxury, and the eunuch establishment caused the Daoist Wuzong to try to solve the financial crisis by reigning in the economically powerful Buddhist monasteries and their monks that were exempt from taxation by closing 40,000 shrines, melting down their precious metals, confiscating their gems, freeing their 150,000 slaves (dependents), and returning 260,000 monks and nuns to lay life. Buddhist monasteries operated mills and oil presses, provided loans, lodgings for travelers, hospitals for the sick, homes for the aged, and primary schools for poor children. Other foreign religions that had also been tolerated, such as Zoroastrians, Nestorian Christians, and Manichaeans were closed down, though Jews and Muslims managed to survive.

The next emperor Xuanzong (r. 846-59) was elevated to the throne by palace eunuchs and immediately demoted Li Deyu, who was sent to an island, where he died in 850. Xuanzong revived Buddhism after the three-year persecution, executing eleven Daoist advisors who had urged that policy. Buddhists sects emphasizing rituals, shrines, and temples did not revive as well as the Pure Land and Chan schools that emphasized prayer and meditation respectively.

During the first half of the 9th century much of the tax burden had fallen on the prosperous lower Yangzi provinces until they could no longer be exploited. Thus in the second half of the century Tang administration gradually declined. Insurrections began in southern China in 856. A revolt broke out in Annam in 858, and the next year the Nan Zhao invaded. At the same time the bandit leader Qiu Fu revolted in Zhedong, gathering peasants who had abandoned their lands, though in 860 Qiu Fu was captured. Emperor Yizong (r. 859-73) was chronically ill from taking Daoist elixirs, and the hostility between the eunuchs and officials increased. In 868 a mutiny in Pang Xun had to be put down by using tribal cavalry from beyond the Great Wall. When Yizong's daughter died after marrying Wei Baoheng in 870, the Emperor executed her physicians and put their families in jail. Wei Baoheng then banished his opponents, and the mayor of Chang'an committed suicide. Yizong did further his father's patronage of Buddhism.

Two eunuch generals raised Yizong's fifth son to the throne as Xizong (r. 873-88). In 874 a rebellion led by Huang Chao began with defiance of the salt tax, and brigandage became widespread especially between the Yellow and Huai rivers. Bandits attacked prefectural cities and confederated into large organizations. By 877 few areas of China were free of rebel activity, but the next year the Tang government began winning victories. More mutinies north of the Yellow River weakened imperial forces, and in 879 rebels sacked Nanhai (Canton) and massacred foreign merchants. The capitals of Luoyang and Chang'an were captured by 600,000 insurgents led by Huang Chao in the next two years, forcing the Emperor to flee to Chengdu in Sichuan for four years. During the exile the court was divided by the hatred between the eunuchs and the aristocratic officials and tried to raise revenue with a monopoly tax on salt. Irked by a critical poem, Huang Chao ordered every poet killed and made anyone who could write do menial labor; more than 3,000 people were killed. Two prefect governors defected from the harsh Huang Chao. In 883 Shato leader Li Koyong's Hodong forces defeated the army of Huang Chao and those of other provinces before sacking the capital at Chang'an that had been abandoned again, leaving it in ruins. The next year Huang Chao was cornered and cut his own throat. His former ally Zhu Wen was by now a military governor.

Zhaozong (r. 888-904) merely tried to survive while eunuchs were in control of diminished territory. Local militias were organized by Wei Zhunjing to fight the rebels, and by 892 his 34 militia armies had about 45,000 men. During the ten-year revolt, regional commanders became independent. By 901 eunuchs and ministers were even injuring themselves to defeat their court enemies. A struggle for control in the north resulted in Zhu Wen setting up a puppet emperor in 904 and usurping the throne himself three years later when he moved the capital east to Bian (Kaifeng). He thus ended the Tang dynasty and founded the Later Liang dynasty (907-23) during which wars continued to ravage northern China.

Liao, Xi Xia, and Jin Dynasties 907-1234
After the collapse of the Tang dynasty in 907, northern China was ruled by a sequence of five dynasties until 960-Later Liang 907-23, Later Tang 923-36, Later Jin 936-46, Later Han 946-50, and Later Zhou 951-60. At the same time ten kingdoms ruled fairly consistently with eight of them in the south, the Tangut in the northwest, and the Khitans (Liao) in the far north. Block printing had been used to print books since at least the seventh century. In 940 an anthology of lyric poetry was published that was called Amidst the Flowers because many of the poems were about courtesans. Around the same time eleven Confucian classics were printed in 130 volumes. After the Later Han emperor was assassinated at the end of 950, the popular military leader Guo Wei proclaimed the Great Zhou dynasty (951-60) that unified most of northern China and in 955 melted down precious metals taken from Buddhist shrines to make coins. During this rebellious era many aristocratic estates were taken over by their managers. When the second Zhou ruler, Guo Rong, was succeeded by his six-year-old son in 959, soldiers rioted and made Zhao Kuangyin emperor. He restrained the military and founded the Song dynasty in 960.


Abaoji was born in 872, and in 901 he was elected chieftain of the Yila tribe. In 905 he led 70,000 cavalry in an attack on Datong in Shanxi and became the blood brother of Li Keyong. Two years later the chieftains recognized Abaoji as the great khan of the Khitan nation. He modeled the Liao government after the Chinese, and in 918 had a capital built. Abaoji called the military department of the government the Northern Chancellery and the civil section the Southern Chancellery. Although his empire took in sedentary peoples, the Khitans maintained the steppe traditions. Under Abaoji the Khitans took over Inner Mongolia and southern Manchuria, and the Liao had regional capitals. He extended the Liao empire east to the Yalu and Ussuri rivers, conquering the Bohai kingdom, where he died of typhoid fever in 926. Abaoji had named his son Bei the prince of Dongdan and his successor, and the clan name Yelu was adopted by his dynasty. However, Empress Yingtian and others forced Bei to abdicate and made her second son Deguang the second Liao emperor. Bei was drawn to Chinese culture and in 934 urged the Khitans to invade northern China. When the Khitans attacked in 936, the Later Tang ruler had Bei assassinated. In 940 an imperial decree abolished the Khitan custom of making a younger sister marry the husband of her dead older sister. The Liao demanded sixteen prefectures in northern China from the Later Jin and gained nineteen prefectures by invading the capital at Kaifeng in March 947, ending the Later Jin dynasty. Yelu Deguang put on the imperial robes of the Chinese, but he left when the weather got warm and died of illness in May.

Dowager Empress Yingtian named Bei's son Wuyu as emperor. The short-lived Later Hans (947-51) pushed back the Khitans and destroyed 30,000 Buddhist monasteries and shrines in order to confiscate their property. When Wuyu was killed by a rebellious nephew in 951, Deguang's son Yelu Jing became Emperor Muzong. He was violent and cruel, spending his time hunting and drinking; when he started killing his bodyguards, six attendants finally murdered him in 969. Then the Liao line reverted to Bei's grandson Xian, who became Emperor Jingzong. In 979 the Khitans defended the Northern Han and helped them defeat the attacking Song armies. Jingzong's son became Emperor Shengzong (r. 982-1031). The Liao empire assimilated Chinese immigrants and culture, while treating badly the Bohai people of eastern Manchuria. The Khitans adopted the Chinese examination system in 988 and began holding triennial exams. In 1005 the Song Chinese bought peace with the Khitans by offering to pay them 200,000 bolts of silk and 100,000 ounces of silver annually. After the Korean king was deposed in 1009, Shengzong led the Khitan invasion with an army reported to be 400,000 that burned the Korean capital at Kaekyong (Kaesong). The Liao made territorial demands, but in 1019 Korea gained a favorable settlement. The Bohai people rebelled in 1029 but were put down the following year. Xingzong (r. 1031-55) was also interested in Chinese culture. In 1036 the Liao compiled their laws passed since Abaoji, though conflicts between the tribes and the Chinese continued. A Liao edition of the complete Buddhist Tripitaka was completed about 1075 while Daozong ruled the Liao from 1055 until 1101.

The last Liao ruler, Tianzuo (r. 1101-25), led the losing effort against the Jurchens until he fled west into the desert in 1122. Nobles put his uncle on the throne as Tianxi, and the Liao forces fought off the Song invasion. When Tianxi died in 1123, the Jurchens recaptured the southern capital, forcing Yelu Dashi and other nobles to flee to join Tianzuo. He led an attack on the Jurchens but in 1125 was defeated, captured, and died in prison. Meanwhile Yelu Dashi and a few hundred followers had crossed the Gobi Desert to Zhenzhou. He was given the Turkic title Gurkhan, meaning chief of the khans. In 1131 they moved northwest into Transoxiana and eventually became known as the Kara-Khitai, or Black Khitans. Yelu Dashi died in 1143 and was succeeded by his son and grandson, who ruled until they were absorbed by the Mongols in 1221.


Tangut chieftains of the Tuoba clan had been recognized as Xia dukes by the Tang empire in 883. Using the imperial surname Li, in 954 the Chinese acknowledged Li Yixing as the king of Xiping, and upon his death in 967 Song Taizu called him the king of Xia. Like Korea in the east, the Xia in the west had to compete with both the Liao and the Song empires. Li Jipeng became king of Xia in 980 and two years later went to live at Kaifeng as China's military governor of Xi (Western) Xia. His young cousin Li Jiqian objected to this submission and fled to the desert in the north. When the Song armies invaded the Khitans in 986, Li Jiqian became an ally of the Liao and attacked the Song forces. He married a Liao princess and in 990 was recognized by the Liao as king of Xia. The next year Li Jipeng came back from the Song court to fight his cousin and was called the king of Xiping by the Liao court. In 1004 Li Jiqian was killed fighting the Tibetans in the west, and Li Jipeng died the same year. Jiqian's son Li Deming became king and ruled the Xia until 1032.

Deming's son Yuanhao rejected the Li surname and thought his father had made Tanguts weak by accepting Chinese bribes. He went back to raiding, ordered a new script that used 6,000 characters, and in 1038 proclaimed himself emperor of Da (Great) Xia. Yuanhao ordered Tangut clothing worn and all men to shave their heads within three days or be decapitated. He conscripted men older than fourteen into his army and took the tribal nobility into his elite cavalry of 5,000. The Song empire closed its borders and became antagonistic. In 1042 the Liao joined with the Xia and threatened to invade China, resulting in a new treaty that increased the Song tribute to the Khitans to 300,000 bolts of silk and 200,000 ounces of silver. The Xia demanded tribute also, and in 1044 the Song agreed to give them 130,000 bolts of silk, 50,000 ounces of silver, and 20,000 catties of tea annually, plus lavish gifts on three annual festivals and Yuanhao's birthday. When Tangut tribes revolted in the Liao empire, a Khitan army of 100,000 crossed the border and defeated the Xia army. Yuanhao went to the Liao capital and returned to arouse his own forces that then defeated the Khitans.

In 1048 an opposing clan assassinated Yuanhao, and the next year the Liao took advantage of the chaos to invade again. In 1061 the fourteen-year-old heir Li Liangzuo reversed his father's policies and adopted Chinese culture; but the Song court insulted the Xia envoy in 1064, causing border skirmishes for several years. Li Liangzuo was called Emperor Yizong and died in 1068; his son Bingchang was only seven years old, and his mother ruled as regent. When she sent him to an isolated garrison in 1081, civil strife broke out. In 1086 Bingchang's son became Emperor Chongzong at the age of three. Another regency lasted until the Empress was poisoned by a Liao envoy in 1099, and then Chongzong ruled until 1139. He continued sinification and centralized his authority over the tribal chiefs, whom he appointed as kings. Buddhism was popular, and scriptures were translated from Chinese and Tibetan into Tangut. While the Liao empire was being taken over by the Jurchens, the Song briefly made the Xia submit in 1119. As the last Liao emperor was fleeing, the Xia emperor led a fight against the Jurchens in 1122, but the Xia were defeated the next year. In 1127 the Xia made a treaty with the new Jin empire that recognized their superiority and redefined borders.

Xia emperor Renzong (r. 1139-93) succeeded his father at the age of fifteen. Renzong had a Chinese mother and favored Chinese culture. His extravagance burdened the Tangut people and aroused rebellion. In 1143 a severe earthquake and Yellow River flooding devastated farmers. Ren Dejing, a former Song military commander whose daughter was an empress dowager, led the effort that suppressed the rebellion. Ren Dejing was named duke of Xiping and had an extravagant court. In 1170 he told the Emperor to divide the empire and recognize his independent state of Chu, but Renzong refused. Ren tried to send a messenger through Jin territory to the Song state; this was intercepted by the Xia, and Ren Dejing and his faction were executed. Renzong promoted Confucian education and expanded the National Academy his father had founded.

After Huanzong (r. 1194-1206) the Xia had four rulers before they succumbed to the Mongols in 1227. The Mongols first raided Xia in 1205, and four years later they surrounded the capital. In 1211 Li Zunxu usurped the throne from his nephew and ruled as Shenzong until 1223. He made peace with the Mongols but refused to supply them with warriors in 1217. The Mongols surrounded the capital again. The Jurchens refused to help; so the Song and the Xia formed an alliance against the Jin. In 1220 the Jin asked for help against the Mongols; but this time Shenzong refused, and the Jin defeated the Xia. In 1221 the Mongols occupied Xia territory for two years. The unpopular Shenzong abdicated in 1223, and the next emperor allied with the Jurchens against the Mongols. In 1226 Genghis (Chinggis) Khan led the final siege against the Xia capital, but he died before the Mongols' victory. In 1227 the last Xia ruler surrendered and was butchered.


Like the Koreans and Manchus, the Jurchens used a Tungusic branch of the Altaic language. Wanyan Wugunai (1021-74) arose as the leader of the wild Jurchens, and his grandson was Wanyan Aguda (1068-1123). Aguda succeeded his older brother in 1114 and attacked the Liao border defenses the next year. In 1115 he founded the Jin dynasty, and with an army of 10,000 defeated the Liao army that was at least ten times as large but retreated. The fierce Jurchens captured the Liao's eastern capital in 1116, their main northern capital in 1120, and in 1122 the central, western, and southern capitals. Aguda was advised by the scholarly Yang Pu, who was a Bohai but had earned the highest jinshi degree. He was experienced in the Liao's dual administration that the Jurchens adopted. Aguda made a treaty with the Song to return the northern territory the Khitans had occupied since 938. However, the Song armies failed to take the southern capital as promised. The Jurchens turned over the city but only after looting it and deporting the residents.

Aguda's brother Wuqimai was an effective administrator and became Jin Taizong in 1123, imposing an alliance on the Xi Xia the next year. In 1126 the Jurchens took back the Liao southern capital and then invaded the Song, surrounding Kaifeng. Before fleeing, Emperor Huizong abdicated to his son, who became Emperor Qinzong. Aguda's son, Wanyan Zongwang, was commander of the Eastern Army and made a treaty with the Song. Qinzong surrendered, and Huizong was captured; both were sent into Manchuria to spend the rest of their lives in exile. From the Song treasury the Jin gained 150 million ounces of gold, 400 million ounces of silver, and millions of bolts of silk, plus weapons, manufactures, and artistic productions. Song emperor Gaozong (r. 1127-62) escaped by crossing the Yangzi and even going to sea for a while. The Jurchens ordered the Chinese men to shave the front of their heads and wear Jurchen clothing styles. The Jin tried to establish a puppet regime as the state of Qi until 1137 but then made the Huai River their southern boundary. Wuqimai abolished the council of the great chieftains in 1134. The Jurchens adopted the Chinese civil service examinations but had a dual system that enabled many Jurchens to pass in their own language. During the century-long Jin empire more than 16,000 jinshi degrees were awarded. Most chose the literature exam that emphasized poetry, and very few attempted the most difficult test on history, statecraft, and philosophy.

About three million people, half of them Jurchens, migrated south into northern China over two decades, and this minority governed about thirty million Chinese. The Jurchens were given land grants and organized society into meng'an (one thousand households) and mouke (one hundred households). Many married Chinese, although the ban on Jurchen nobles marrying Chinese was not lifted until 1191. After Wuqimai died in 1135, the next three Jin emperors were grandsons of Aguda by three different princes. Young Jin Xizong (r. 1135-49) studied the classics and wrote Chinese poetry. He adopted Chinese cultural traditions, but the Jurchen nobles had the top positions. In the winter of 1142 the Jin dynasty made a treaty with the Song that gave them annual tribute and diplomatic respect.

Jin Xizong became an alcoholic and executed many Chinese officials for criticizing him. He also had Jurchen leaders who opposed him murdered, even those in his own Wanyan clan. In 1149 he was murdered by a cabal of relatives and nobles, who made his cousin Wanyan Liang the next Jin emperor. He was also violent, and historians refused to give him a posthumous name as an emperor but only referred to him as Prince Hailing. In 1153 he moved the Jin capital to the site of the old Liao southern capital, which is now Beijing, and four years later he had the old capital razed, including the nobles' residences. He lavishly reconstructed the Song capital of Bian (Kaifeng) as the Jin southern capital. Hailing also tried to suppress dissent by killing Jurchen nobles, executing 155 princes. He spent two years preparing for a war against the southern Song. His building and military expenses strained the resources, and in 1161 Khitans revolted in Manchuria. Jurchen nobles rebelled in southern Manchuria and were led by Wanyan Yong, who was proclaimed emperor in October, two months before the generals assassinated Hailing in his military camp after his defeat by the Song. His son and heir was also killed in the capital, and Wanyan Yong became Emperor Shizong.

Jin Shizong (r. 1162-89) attempted to revive the fading Jurchen traditions. The Khitan uprising was not suppressed until 1164; their horses were confiscated so that the rebels had to take up farming. Other Khitan and Xia cavalry units had been incorporated into the Jin army. In the early 1180s Shizong instituted a restructuring of 200 meng'an units to remove tax abuses and help Jurchens. Communal farming was encouraged. The Jin empire prospered and had a large surplus of grain in reserve. Shizong's grandson, Emperor Zhangzong (r. 1189-1208) venerated Jurchen values, but he also immersed himself in Chinese culture and married a Chinese woman. The Taihe Code of law was promulgated in 1201 and was based mostly on the Tang Code. Near the end of his reign the Song Chinese tried to invade, but the Jin forces effectively repulsed them. In the peace agreement the Song had to pay higher annual indemnities and behead Han Tuozhou, the leader of their war party.

Genghis Khan first led the Mongols into Xi Xia territory in 1205 and ravaged them four years later. In 1211 about 50,000 Mongols on horses invaded the Jin empire and began absorbing Khitan and Jurchen rebels. The Jin army had a half million men with 150,000 cavalry but abandoned the western capital. The next year the Mongols went north and looted the Jin eastern capital, and in 1213 they besieged the central capital. The next year the Jin made a humiliating treaty but retained the capital. That summer Emperor Jin Xuanzong (r. 1213-24) abandoned the central capital and moved the government to the southern capital. In 1216 a war faction persuaded Xuanzong to attack the Song, but in 1219 they were defeated at the same place by the Yangzi River, where Prince Hailing had been defeated in 1161. Emperor Jin Aizong (r. 1224-34) won a succession struggle against his brother and then quickly ended the war and went back to the capital. He made peace with the Tanguts, who had been allied with the Mongols. Genghis Khan died in 1227 while his armies were conquering the Xia. His son Ogodei invaded the Jin empire in 1232. The Jurchens tried to resist; but when the southern capital was attacked, Aizong fled south. The Mongols looted the capital in 1233, and the next year Aizong committed suicide to avoid being captured, ending the Jin dynasty.

Genghis Khan and the Mongol Empire
Song Dynasty Renaissance 960-1279
General Zhao Kuangyin was chosen commander of the imperial army by the last Zhou emperor in 959 after gold he had been accused of taking during a military campaign turned out to be trunks of books. The next year the army hailed him as the emperor of China, and as Song Taizu he founded the Song dynasty (960-1279). The ingenious Taizu (r. 960-76) managed to accomplish "disarmament over a wine-cup" by persuading his generals to retire with generous pensions and honors. He dismissed old commanders and relied on younger generals who followed his humane policies. He also strengthened the central government by transferring the best military units to the capital. Regional governments were put under civilian authority emphasizing the Confucian spirit of administration. Scholars became prominent advisors, and taxes were reduced as the emperor lived modestly. Having superior force, Taizu was able to use diplomacy and accommodating terms to bring back into the Chinese empire the southwest (965), the south (971), and the Yangzi basin (975). Thanks to the book-loving emperor, the imperial library founded in 978 had 80,000 volumes. Taizu made peace with the Liao in 974 and set up garrisons along the northern border.

Taizu was succeeded by his brother, who became known as Song Taizong (r. 976-97). He broke the peace by invading the Northern Han territory in 979 and besieging their capital at Taiyuan. After they surrendered in June, the Song army invaded the Liao. However, his exhausted troops were badly defeated by the Khitan cavalry, as Emperor Taizong fled in a mule cart. Some generals considered replacing him with Taizu's oldest son. When the Emperor heard of the idea, he forced him to commit suicide. Taizu's other son died of illness two years later. In 982 the brother of Taizong and Taizu was accused of treason, and he died in exile two years later. The Chinese bought 170,000 horses from the Khitan and consolidated a more compact empire. Annam (Vietnam) repelled a Song campaign in 981, and the Chinese armies were badly defeated again five years later by the Khitan Liao. After several battles ended in stalemate, Emperor Zhenzong (998-1022) in the 1005 treaty of Shanyuan agreed to pay the Liao an annual tribute of silver and silk if the Khitans would stay on the north side of the Great Wall. Better civil service examinations improved the quality of the Song bureaucracy, and paper money was introduced as promissory notes in 1024. As the Song army grew from 378,000 in 976 to 1,259,000 in 1041, military expenses took up four-fifths of government expenditures. Taizong and Zhenzong were Daoists and sponsored the building of Daoist temples.

Fan Zhongyan (989-1052) rose from a poor family by study and became prefect of the capital at Kaifeng. In 1043 he submitted a ten-point memorial. He proposed reforming the civil service by promoting the able, dismissing the incompetent, eliminating favoritism, and making exam questions more practical. Local government could be improved by increasing salaries, by making corvée labor requirements more equitable, and by investing in dykes, canals, land reclamation, and grain transportation. Localities could be better defended by creating militias, especially on the dangerous frontiers. His policies also brought about a new peace treaty with the Liao in 1042 and one with the Xi Xia empire in 1044. Fan's reforms established inalienable lands called estates of equity to provide income for educational and other needs of clan members, thus enabling a charitable estate to hold property jointly for the benefit of all its members. Fan Zhongyan said, "An educated person should suffer before anyone else suffers and should enjoy only after everyone else has enjoyed."3 He recommended The Center of Harmony (Zhong Yong) as a Confucian classic and helped catalog the library along with historian Ouyang Xiu, who suggested adding as a classic Higher Education (Da Xue). Ouyang defended Fan from his critics by arguing that a political faction could be good. This idea was denounced by conservative Confucians, who prevented political parties from developing in China. Ouyang was put in charge of compiling the New Tang History, which was completed in 1060. He lamented the split between politics and culture since the era of pure conversation; he believed that politics without culture lacks soul and is corrupted, while culture without politics loses touch with reality and is superficial.

In 1047 army officer Wangzi led a revolt of Buddhists expecting Maitreya; they took over the city of Beizhou in Hebei before they were crushed. Buddhism was becoming corrupted by selling certification of monks as an alternative to passing an examination on the scriptures. In 1067 the Song government made the sale of such certificates official policy. Powerful families appropriated temples as merit cloisters, but in 1109 a decree stopped this for officially recognized temples, and four years later the merit cloisters lost their tax exemptions. The prestigious title Master of the Purple Robe was also sold, and by 1129 it was estimated that annual sales of such Buddhist titles were up to about five thousand.

The booming money economy is indicated by the statistic that the Song government in 1065 was taking in twenty times as much cash annually as it did at the height of Tang power in 749. Rice yields were doubled in the 11th century when a new strain from Champa (Vietnam) produced two or three crops per year. Tea cultivation grew, and in the 12th century cotton began supplementing hemp and silk for clothing. Technical advances were made in the traditional industries of silk, lacquer, and porcelain as trade increased. In 1078 Song China produced 114,000 tons of cast iron. (England produced 68,000 in 1788.) As urban population and the number of wealthy people increased, importation of luxuries such as incense, gems, ivory, coral, rhinoceros horns, ebony, and sandalwood caused a deficit paid in precious metals. Business calculations were facilitated by using the abacus.

The Chinese also invented gunpowder and used it militarily as early as 904. They began experimenting with explosive devices, and primitive mortars date from 1132. Chinese shipping in well designed junks using the compass pioneered sailing and water-tight compartments, and a navy was developed. The status of women declined as men took additional wives or concubines, and the atrocity of foot-binding began crippling girls for life. Prostitution was common in urban areas; those with musical training were called "sing-song girls," others simply "flowers." The city of Hangzhou tried to prohibit male prostitution with a decree in 1111, but apparently the effort only lasted six years.

The Chinese had been printing with blocks on paper for centuries when they began using moveable type made of wood, porcelain, and copper about 1030. In the middle of the 10th century the nine classics were printed at Kaifeng and in Sichuan, where at Chengdu the entire Buddhist canon was engraved on 130,000 two-page blocks and printed between 972 and 983. Sima Guang (1018-86) wrote an immense chronicle of China's history from 403 BC to 959 CE called The Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government, which Yuan Shu (1131-1205) revised into a smoother narrative and to which Zhu Xi (1130-1200) made moral judgments as to which governments' claims to the mandate of heaven were legitimate.

Reform began when Emperor Shenzong (r.1068-85) appointed poet Wang Anshi (1021-86) prime minister. Wang's new laws and regulations brought drastic changes. Farmers suffering outrageous usury received "green shoots loans" from the government at 20% interest at the time of planting that was paid back after the harvest. Traders were given loans at state pawnshops. The money economy was stimulated by increasing the supply of currency, and prices were stabilized by government agencies buying and selling commercial products at a profit. Land tax was cut in half and was progressively based on its size and productivity. The hated compulsory labor demanded from peasants was converted into a reasonable tax. Large government projects reclaimed wasteland and improved irrigation and flood control, and other such projects were encouraged with government loans. The government hired workers to reduce unemployment. Subsidizing a horse on each farm was intended to improve the army, which lacked a cavalry to match the northerners. Villages were made responsible for organizing militias, as the regular army was reduced. Wang Anshi instituted the famous baojia system that organized households into tens (bao) and hundreds (jia) so that they could maintain order and report crimes with collective responsibility.

Wang Anshi also established an imperial public school system and specialized training in practical professions such as the military, law, and medicine as well as in the Confucian classics. During the Song dynasty education spread to more people as scholars became teachers in even the smallest villages. Merit promotion and better pay attempted to improve bureaucratic performance. The state began to take on social welfare functions previously provided by Buddhist monasteries, instituting public orphanages, hospitals, dispensaries, hospices, cemeteries, and reserve granaries. Buddhism gave women a professional role as nuns, although their rules treated the nuns as inferior to the monks. Family clans also took care of their own with the estates of equity, and improved literacy helped them follow Confucian traditions. The radical reforms naturally met with resistance from powerful landowners, merchants, and moneylenders whose opportunities for exploitation were diminished, the most opposition coming from the conservative north. Disruptions in implementation brought criticism from orthodox bureaucrats and others objecting to government regulation from the top. Factionalism sabotaged the administration of the programs. In 1074 a famine was made worse because farmers were forced to borrow money they could not pay back. After the drought Wang Anshi was dismissed in 1076. He was recalled four years later; but he was forced out again when his policies were reversed in 1085.

Perhaps the best example of a Song renaissance man is Su Shi (Su Dongpo 1037-1101). Lin Yutang in his biography, The Gay Genius, described Su Shi as among other things a humanitarian, painter, calligrapher, wine-maker, engineer, imperial secretary, judge, political dissenter, and poet. In 1070 and the next year Su Shi wrote two long letters to the Emperor. He criticized Wang Anshi for claiming to make government loans to farmers without interest while collecting twenty percent. He asked the Emperor not to use force, which since history began has never been able to suppress the people. Banning officials causes more protest, and he asked how extreme punishments can prevent rebellion. He complained that Wang Anshi arbitrarily fired censors who criticized his policies and replaced them with two disreputable characters. The ruler's power depends on the support of the people in their hearts. When freedom of speech is destroyed, the best people are silenced. Censors need to be given freedom and responsibility. Su Shi's protesting the bringing back of mutilation as a punishment may have prevented that. In his official position Su Shi announced the subject for local examinations in 1071 as "On Dictatorship," angering Wang Anshi.

Su Shi escaped punishment this time, but eight years later he was charged by censors with slandering the government with his poetry. He was arrested and tried at court, and they argued over the interpretation of his poems; but the emperor only sent him into exile in Huangzhou with a low rank. Su Shi urged the building of dams, instituted prison physicians, forgave debts, and worked on famine relief, collecting and feeding famine orphans. He was the first we know of who protested the custom of drowning girl babies at birth. He organized a charitable foundation that collected money to give to parents who would promise to keep their children. In 1083 he wrote a letter to the chief magistrate of Uozhou, where poor farmers tended to raise only two sons and one daughter, drowning additional babies; the result was more males and many bachelors in that region. He observed that because of parental love if the babies were saved for a few days, the parents would even refuse to give them away for adoption. He urged the official to enforce the law that imposed two years' hard labor on anyone who killed a descendant, hoping that this would be a warning and stop the horrible custom.

Wang Anshi died within a year of Emperor Shenzong, and the Empress Dowager, acting as regent for the young successor Zhezong (r. 1086-1100), rescinded most of the reforms. When she died in 1093, Zhezong tried to reinstate the reforms; but once again tax evasion by powerful landowners put the burden on the poor. Complaints by Su Shi caused him to be demoted and exiled again along with more than thirty high officials. As factionalism from nepotism caused corruption and cheating on examinations, artistic Emperor Huizong (r. 1100-25) spent money on more schools, irrigation, land reclamation, Daoist temples, the arts, and a lavish palace garden while confiscating art objects throughout the empire. Such demands for "rare flowers and stones" in 1120 caused Fang La to lead a revolt with hundreds of thousands of followers that captured Hangzhou; but two years later the rebellion was crushed by imperial forces relying on foreign troops, as two million people were killed. Prime minister Cai Jing and the eunuch military commissioner, Tong Guan, kept Emperor Huizong ignorant of uprisings as long as they could. Song Jiang led a small band of rebels that held out at Liang-shan in Shandong for two years and later became the basis for the popular novel, Outlaws of the Marsh.

In 1120 Tong Guan secretly negotiated with envoys of the Jurchens in order to destroy the Liao. Unable to capture the Liao's southern capital, the Song asked the Jurchen for help, allowing them south of the Great Wall. With victory over the Liao achieved, the Song wanted their old provinces back; but the Jurchen, calling themselves Jin, were unhappy with the broken treaty of 1123, though they inaugurated the examination system that year. The next year the Xi Xia agreed to be the vassal of the Jin, who also captured the last Liao emperor Tianzo in 1125, reducing him to a prince. Then the Jin besieged Kaifeng, and Song Huizong abdicated to his son, who became Qinzong. In 1126 Tong Guan was executed, and Cai Jing was banished and assassinated. Qinzong sued for peace, but he and the capital were captured by the Jurchen army in 1127.

Qinzong's brother Gaozong (r. 1127-62) became the first emperor of the southern Song dynasty south of the Huai River. He had criticized the use of eunuchs in court positions. When he did not immediately eliminate the influence of eunuchs in his court, in February 1129 a cabal forced him to abdicate to his infant son. Dozens of rival courtiers and eunuchs were executed, but in April military leaders from around the country came and restored Gaozong, ousting the conspirators. On the 26th of January 1130 Gaozong escaped from the Jurchen army by boarding a ship. On the same day Prince Zongbi and the Jurchens captured Hangzhou. The Song emperor returned to the mainland in June but stayed at Shaoxing until 1133. The next year General Yue Fei led a daring attack against the puppet regime of Qi that had occupied territory north of the Yangzi. A peasant uprising led by Yang Yao killed and plundered while trying to implement the revolution advocated by Zhong Xiang, who wanted to pass a law making the rich and poor equal. The rebellion was suppressed by Yue Fei's army by 1135, and he incorporated 50,000 of the rebels into his "Yue family army." That year Gaozong established a court at Hangzhou, which he renamed Linan, meaning temporary safety.

While Emperor Gaozong was negotiating a peace treaty with the Jin empire in 1140, Yue came to Hangzhou to protest. In 1142 Gaozong agreed to be a vassal of the Jin and pay an annual tribute of 300,000 taels of silver and an equal number of bolts of silk. Two generals accepted retirement on pensions, but Yu Fei was arrested for insubordination and was poisoned by Chief Councilor Qin Gui. Many considered Yu Fei a patriotic hero, and his grandson Yue Ke labored to give him an honored place in history. Putting back into cultivation the rice fields south of the Huai River ruined in the war profited the wealthy who had the capital to invest. Qin Gui (1090-1155) replenished the imperial treasury by increasing taxes; but as the Jin broke the treaty, continual wars pushed up prices and taxes. During the failed Jin invasion of 1161, Xin Qiji (1140-1207) defected to the Song with a thousand troops. He stayed in southern China and became an outstanding poet. In 1162 Gaozong abdicated so that his stepson could become Emperor Xiaozong, but he remained as his advisor at court until he died in 1187.

In 1164 internal strife in the Jin government enabled the Song to gain equal status and reduce the tribute. Xiaozong was grieved by his father's death and abdicated in 1189; he died five years later. His son Guangzong (r. 1190-94) was so mentally disturbed that he did not even give his father a funeral. He was forced to abdicate in favor of his grandson Ningzong (r. 1195-1224). Zhao Ruyu gained influence and appointed the Neo-Confucian philosopher Zhu Xi to a high position, but Han Tuozhou, who was criticized for making nepotistic appointments, replaced Zhao as chief councilor in 1195 and accused Zhu Xi of "false learning." Han banned Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucian doctrines and compelled examination candidates to renounce that school. Zhu Xi was driven from the court in 1196 and died in 1200, but he was restored to his official rank and awarded honors in 1202. As the scholars became martyrs, Han rescinded his order. He tried to win bureaucratic support by going to war against the Jurchens' Jin empire in 1206 even though deputy war minister Yeshi refused to draft the declaration. The Song army of 160,000 men met 135,000 Jin forces along the Huai River. In heavy rain most of the Song soldiers deserted. Though weakened by Mongol attacks and flooding as the Yellow River changed its course, the Jurchens defeated the Song army, discrediting the ungentle approach of Han Tuozhou. In Sichuan governor-general Wuxi defected with his 70,000 soldiers, but some loyal officers murdered him in 1207. The next year the Song agreed to a treaty with the Jin but had to pay more tribute and send them the head of Han Tuozhou in a box. Chief Councilor Shi Miyuan (1164-1233) had Han secretly assassinated in order to comply.

Shi Miyuan developed more subtle methods and appointed some followers of Zhu Xi. He succeeded in choosing as the next emperor the younger heir Lizong (r. 1225-64), who indulged in pleasures concealed from the public, as did his successor Duzong (r. 1265-74). Jia Sidao (1213-75) became chief councilor in 1259 and was criticized by Confucian historians. He dismissed incompetent ministers, bureaucrats, and army officers, making generals accountable for misappropriating funds. In 1263 the government began buying for a low price one-third of the largest estates, using the money for the army in the crisis and to institute a system of public fields for landless farmers. Threatened by Mongols who honored Confucius and in 1237 reinstituted civil service exams in north China, the southern Song dynasty made Zhu Xi's writings the orthodox doctrine of the state. Even though he attempted to defend the middle kingdom from the Mongol invasion, Jia Sidao was blamed for the defeats even by those who had defected to the enemy. He was banished in 1274 and was murdered by a local official.

The gentle and scholarly Song dynasty had lasted more than three centuries, but a bloated bureaucracy supported by high taxes gradually caused decline. Misconduct, corruption, and tax evasion put too much of the burden on the poor, though this had been alleviated for a long time by the prosperous urban areas. Few rebellions occurred in this peaceful state, as the military life was devalued and left to the "worthless," a point made indelible by branding the face of Song soldiers. Such an army was no match for the Mongols, who recruited many Chinese. The capital at Linan fell in 1276, and the three young children of Duzong were named as emperors in the last three years of the Song dynasty, which ended when the Mongols destroyed their naval fleet off Guangzhou (Canton) in 1279.

Neo-Confucian Ethics
Influenced by Daoism, Zhou Dunyi (1017-73) commented on the Yi Jing (Book of Changes) and explained the cosmic diagram of the great ultimate in a new way according to Confucian philosophy that emphasizes ethics. Superior people cultivate moral qualities and enjoy good fortune, while the inferior violate them and suffer. Following The Center of Harmony (Zhong Yong), Zhou Dunyi believed the foundation of a sage comes from cheng, which means sincerity, honesty, integrity, and authenticity. From this integrity he derived the five traditional Confucian virtues of humanity, justice, propriety, wisdom, and faithfulness. Humanity is loving; justice is doing what is right; propriety is putting things in order; wisdom is penetrating; and faithfulness is abiding by one's commitments. Zhou Dunyi explained that in human nature are strength and weakness, good and evil, and the mean (center).

Justice, uprightness, decisiveness, strictness, and firmness of action
are examples of strength that is good,
and fierceness, narrow-mindedness, and violence
are examples of strength that is evil.
Kindness, mildness, and humility are examples of weakness that is good,
and softness, indecision, and perverseness
are examples of weakness that is evil.
Only the mean brings harmony.
The mean is the principle of regularity,
the universally recognized law of morality,
and is that to which the sage is devoted.
Therefore the sage institutes education so as to enable
people to transform their evil by themselves,
to arrive at the mean and to rest there.
Therefore those who are the first to be enlightened should instruct those
who are slower in attaining enlightenment,
and the ignorant should seek help from those who understand.
Thus the way of teachers is established.
As the way of teachers is established, there will be many good people.
With many good people, the government will be correct
and the empire will be in order.4

Thus when a sage governs the empire, everything is cultivated by humanity, and all people are set right with justice. Governing an extensive empire with millions of people begins with purifying the heart. The pure in heart do not violate humanity, justice, propriety, and wisdom. The virtuous and talented will be attracted to the pure, and with their help the empire can be well governed. Zhou Dunyi also recommended appropriate ceremonies and music for harmony.

To be impartial toward others one must first be impartial toward oneself. The most valuable things in the world are moral principles and virtue, but these cannot be attained without the help of teachers and friends. At birth humans are ignorant, and they remain stupid if they have no teachers or friends to help them. Zhou Dunyi complained that people have faults, but they do not like others to correct them. He thought it lamentable that, like one hiding illness and avoiding a physician, people would rather destroy their lives than awake. Better people consider moral principles honor and peace in themselves wealth. Integrity leads to action, change, and transformation, and the way of the sage is absolutely impartial. Having no desires in peace leads to emptiness and enlightenment, while in movement it leads to straightforwardness, impartiality, and universality.

Zhang Zai (1020-77) returned to Confucian classics after years of studying Daoism and Buddhism. His teachings were encapsulated in "The Western Inscription" on the wall of his lecture hall. He began this by declaring heaven his father and earth his mother, as he regarded the universe as his body and what directs it as his nature with all people his brothers and sisters and all things his companions. He recommended treating elders with deep respect and showing deep love toward the young, orphans, and the weak. The sage identifies with heaven and earth, and to disobey violates virtue. Those who destroy humanity are robbers. One knowing the principles of transformation, putting moral nature into practice, and penetrating spirit skillfully carries forward its will. Do nothing shameful to dishonor your family. While believing that wealth, honor, blessing, and benefits enriched his life, Zhang Zai found that poverty, humble action, and sorrow helped him to fulfillment. In life he served and followed, and in death he expected to be at peace.

Zhang Zai's major work is called Correcting Youthful Ignorance (Zheng-meng). He too emphasized integrity. One's nature is the source of all things but not one's private possession. The great know and practice it, sharing knowledge with all and loving universally. Such a one achieving something wants others to achieve too. Those fully developing their nature may realize they possess nothing in life and lose nothing at death. "Those who understand the higher things return to the principle of heaven (nature), while those who understand lower things follow human desires."5 The sage differentiates what is one's concern and does not worry about the natural operation of destiny (mandate of heaven). Yet by assisting heaven productions may be brought to perfection. Those who understand virtue will have sufficient physical things and will not allow sensual desires to burden their mind, the small to injure the great, or the secondary to destroy the fundamental. One's true nature is never insincere or disrespectful, and so he concluded that those who act in these ways do not know their nature. Sincere people obey principle and find advantages, whereas the insincere disobey principle and meet harm. The wise regard everything in the world as their own self, for nothing is outside of vast heaven. Thus the mind that leaves something out cannot unite itself with the mind of heaven.

The brothers Cheng Hao (1032-85) and Cheng Yi (1033-1107) both studied with Zhou Dunyi and became important Neo-Confucian philosophers. Cheng Hao gained prominence helping to avert a famine by saving the dikes, and for three years he was a popular magistrate; but he opposed the reforms of Wang Anshi, was demoted, and later dismissed. More idealistic than his brother, Cheng Hao based the other four virtues on humanity, which he believed is preserved by integrity and seriousness (jing). The feelings of sages are in accord with all creation, and they have no feelings of their own. Thus the better person is trained by becoming broad and impartial in order to respond spontaneously to whatever comes. Most people's nature is obscured in some aspect so they cannot follow the Way, usually because of selfishness. The selfish cannot take purposive action in response to things. Anger is a difficult emotion to control; but if one can forget anger and look at the right and wrong of the matter according to principle, one will see that the external temptation need not be hated. Original nature is like clear water; but humans must make vigorous efforts at purification, because evil often clouds the water.

Cheng Hao believed that investigating principle, developing one's nature, and fulfilling destiny can be accomplished simultaneously. The student does not need to look far away but to search seriously within oneself to understand the principle of humanity. Selfishness causes people to belittle others; but if they could view all people in the same way, what joy there would be! Cheng Hao admired Zhou Dunyi for not cutting the grass outside his window, because he felt toward the grass as he felt toward himself. Cheng Hao summarized humanity as implying impartiality, justice as a standard for weighing what is proper, propriety as distinguishing differences, wisdom as knowing, and faithfulness as confidence. Both brothers agreed that seriousness is straightening one's internal life, while justice is squaring one's external life. For Hao every human mind possesses knowledge; but when it is obscured by human desires, the principle of heaven is forgotten. Along with humanity he valued altruism, which puts oneself in the position of others. He criticized the Buddhists for being devoted to their own selfishness.

Cheng Yi briefly served as director of education in the western capital in 1087, but censors criticized him so much he soon resigned. He was banished ten years later, and in 1103 his teachings were prohibited; three years later he was pardoned, but the ban lasted for a half century. Cheng Yi emphasized the extension of knowledge as the key to self-cultivation. He warned against the reckless feelings of pleasure, anger, sorrow, joy, love, hate, and desire which must be controlled according to the center, as one rectifies one's mind and nourishes nature. The virtues must be practiced with such determination that they will never leave one's heart even in moments of haste so that one will act according to them in difficult times. Like Socrates, Cheng Yi believed that those claiming to know evil and still doing it do not have true knowledge.

When knowledge is profound, action will be thorough.
No one ever knows without being able to act.
If one knows without being able to act, the knowledge is superficial.6

Desires lead people away from the principle of heaven (nature); without desires there will be no delusion. Love is the function of humanity, and it is applied in altruism. Being serious is to be unselfish; but lacking it allows thousands of desires to arise and injure one's humanity. Understanding principle enables one to know the mandate of heaven, which can only be changed by a virtuous person.

Cheng Yi recommended several ways one may investigate moral principles such as reading books, discussing people and events of the past and present, and handling affairs so as to settle them correctly. Knowledge about moral nature does not come from seeing or hearing; first a student must learn to doubt. Humanity is universal impartiality and the foundation of goodness. Principle is one and is inherent in all things, but things are managed by moral principles.

In the 12th century the more idealistic school of Neo-Confucianism was best represented by Lu Xiangshan (1139-93) who debated Zhu Xi. In a lecture comparing justice to profit Lu Xiangshan moved his audience to tears. He castigated Buddhists for withdrawing from the world out of desire for profit and selfishness, while he believed Confucians were public-spirited in working to put the world in order. He found moral principles inherent in the human mind and believed they could not be wiped out; but they are clouded by material desires which pervert principles, because people do not think. Self-examination and intelligent thought can awaken the sense of right and wrong. In addition to self-examination he emphasized genuine and personal concern, correcting one's mistakes, and reforming to do good. He noted that the universe never separates itself from humans; but humans separate themselves from the universe.

Zhu Xi (1130-1200) as a young man left the capital because he opposed the humiliating peace terms with the northern invaders. Declining official positions, he devoted himself to study until 1179 when he was appointed a prefect. However, he was demoted three years later for criticizing the incompetence of various officials. Later he served for a time as a prefect in his native Fujian. Zhu Xi was responsible for editing and grouping the four books of the Analects of Confucius, Mencius, The Center of Harmony , and Higher Education. With his and Cheng Yi's commentaries on them and the five older classics they became the basis for civil service examinations in 1313 until the exams were abolished in 1905. His extensive writings were collected in 36 volumes. In 1195 Neo-Confucian teachings were proscribed, and a censor accused Zhu Xi of ten crimes, mostly for "false learning." When he died, several thousand people attended his funeral, and he was honored posthumously with the title for culture.

Zhu Xi defined humanity as the character of the human mind and the principle of love. This virtue he believed embraced justice, propriety, and wisdom. He posited an invariably good principle before physical form existed; but after physical form exists, good and evil become mixed and confused. Deviating from the center results in evil. He defined seriousness (reverence) as the mind being its own master, enabling it to be tranquil and understand the principle of heaven (nature). If selfish human desires win though, this principle is destroyed. If one can forget anger and examine right and wrong according to principle, desires will be unable to persist. Zhu Xi valued both knowledge and action, considering knowledge prior but action more important. Moral principles are inexhaustible; the more we go into them, the more we discover. Principle can be investigated by reading books and handling affairs.

For Zhu Xi the virtues of humanity, justice, propriety, and wisdom enable people to have the feelings of empathy, shame, deference and compliance, and right and wrong. He distinguished the relative good and evil of the world from the transcendent and absolute quality of the original nature. The Way is everywhere, but it is found by returning to the self and is discovered within one's true nature and function. Because we possess the cardinal virtues, we know that others do too. The mind by using its inherent moral principle is master of the body. By eliminating the obstructions of selfish desires, the mind will be pure and clear and able to know all. Then the principle of heaven (nature) freely operates as humanity. Its principles are love and impartiality. Zhu Xi defined the great ultimate as the principle of the highest good that is in everyone and expresses all the virtues. Cheng Hao said that the wise have no mind of their own, because the mind of heaven and earth is in all things; they have no feelings of their own, because their feelings are in accord with all creation. Zhu Xi noted that when a person receives this mind of heaven and earth, then it becomes the human mind.

Zhu Xi wrote the manual Family Rituals that influenced social customs such as initiation into adulthood, weddings, funerals, and other ceremonies. He has been criticized for restricting the roles of women and the young. Zhu Xi emphasized the importance of correct human relationships, and he believed that learning is the main goal in human life.

Zhu Xi put together an anthology of Neo-Confucian teachings called Reflections on Things at Hand, in which he commented on the writings of Zhou Dunyi, the Cheng brothers, and Zhang Zai. Cheng Yi wrote that only the humane person can be free from aggressiveness, pride, resentment, and greed, although others with these defects may be able to suppress them and not practice them, a difficult task. Zhu Xi gave the following analogy:

To master oneself is like capturing a thief in the house.
If one kills the thief, there will be no more trouble.
But if one has aggressiveness, pride, resentment, and greed
and merely suppresses them so that they cannot be expressed,
it is like locking up the thief in the house
so that he cannot go out to commit any crime.
After all, he is still hidden there.7

Cheng Hao noted that controlling anger and fear are difficult. Anger can be controlled by mastering oneself, and fear can be controlled by understanding principle. Cheng Yi wrote that one should criticize one's own mistakes but should not retain the sense of guilt in the mind forever.

Cheng Yi has been criticized by many scholars for taking a hard line on widows remarrying, which he considered a lack of integrity. Even when asked if they could remarry when they are all alone and poor with no one they can depend on, he wrote that they should starve to death, which he considered a small matter compared to losing one's integrity. This harsh statement reflects the Neo-Confucians' intolerance regarding women. In governing, Cheng Yi suggested first priority should be given to making up the mind (decisiveness), delegating responsibility, and finding virtuous men to take responsibility. In being decisive he warned against following too rigidly the advice of those nearby or being fooled by public opinion; rather one should take responsibility oneself, rely on the teachings of the wise, and consider the practical measures of the ancient kings. Sincerely treating others is practicing the golden rule of doing to them what one would want others to do to oneself. The ruler should extend humanity so that the people of the empire are benefited by his kindness. But to show off small kindness while violating principles in order to solicit praise, hoping to gain associates, is a narrow way that may not succeed.

Cheng Yi warned against individuals manipulating for themselves. The world was united in one mind when farmers, artisans, and merchants were diligent and lived simply; but lately people turn their minds to glory, and millions compete for wealth and extravagance. How can the world fail to become chaotic when there is such confusion? Cheng Yi recommended education as a way to stop robbery. People with desires will be moved to act. For the uneducated driven by hunger and cold even harsh punishments applied daily will not overcome the desires of millions of people for gain. When people are well educated to practice their occupations and understand the principles of integrity and shame, they will not steal even if they are rewarded for it.

Zhang Zai pointed out that the wise employed military strategy and army regulations with great reluctance. He recommended bringing back the punishment of mutilation as a substitute for the death penalty in some cases. The Neo-Confucians did not always emphasize the control of feelings. Cheng Hao wrote that the way to govern the people is to enable them to express their feelings, and the way to manage officials is to make oneself correct so as to influence people. Having synthesized some of the mystical elements from Daoism and Buddhism with the educational and humane ethics of the Confucians, this Neo-Confucian philosophy, after a short period of being eclipsed by the Mongols' affinity with Buddhism, would dominate Chinese culture until the 20th century.

Literature of Medieval China
The value the Chinese placed on literature is well expressed by Lu Ji (261-303) in his "Poetic Exposition on Literature" (Wen fu).

The functioning of literature lies in its being
The means for all principles of nature.
It spreads thousands of miles and nothing can bar it;
It passes millions of years, is a ford across.
Ahead it grants models to ages coming,
Retrospectively contemplates images of old.
It succors the old kings' Way, on the verge of collapse;
It makes reputation known, does not let it be lost.
No path lies so far it cannot be included;
No principle so subtle it cannot be woven in.
Peer of clouds and rain with its nurturing moisture,
Divinity's semblance in its transformations.
When it covers metal and stone, virtue is spread;
Through strings and flutes flowing, it is daily made new.9

Poetry was so popular in Tang China that candidates for the civil service had to submit poems they wrote. In 1707 a complete collection of Tang dynasty poetry published 48,900 poems. For the most part Chinese poetry expresses an esthetic appreciation of nature and life that is often a retreat from social and ethical issues. Wang Bo (648-76) was dismissed from the Historical Department for satirizing the imperial princes' indulgence in cock-fighting. The Buddhist Wang Wei (c. 699-761) believed he brought forward his ability as a painter from a previous life, but in this age he turned out to be a writer. Wang Wei's poems describe a simple life in nature, as this one called "Villa on Zhongnan Mountain."

In my middle years I came to much love the Way
and late made my home by South Mountain's edge.
When the mood comes upon me, I go off alone,
and have glorious moments all to myself.
I walk to the point where a stream ends,
and sitting, watch when the clouds rise.
By chance I meet old men in the woods;
we laugh and chat, no fixed time to turn home.10

The most acclaimed of Chinese poets are the wine-loving Li Bo (701-62) and his friend Du Fu (712-70). Li Bo failed his examination but told how he was called to court to translate a Korean letter, claiming the terrifying reply he wrote caused them to continue their tribute. Both poets barely eked out a living with their voluminous poetry. Li Bo referred to his reclusive life in "Dialogue in the Mountains."

You ask me why it is|
I lodge in sapphire hills;
I laugh and do not answer -
the heart is at peace.
Peach blossoms and flowing water
go off, fading away afar,
and there is another world
that is not of mortal men.11

Li Bo was said to have drowned while drunkenly embracing the reflection of the moon in water.

Du Fu's poetry lamented that young men are drafted into war and are slain like dogs; yet he was saved from poverty when a general made him his secretary. In "Out to the Frontier" he described the experience of a soldier as cheerless. Officers have strict schedules, and deserters are enmeshed in trouble. The soldier asks what anguish or rage can remain when a true man swears to serve the realm. While famous deeds are depicted in the royal gallery, bones turn to dust on the battlefield. A long march brought him to the Grand Army; when he saw Turkish riders, he realized he had become a slave. The soldier gives this advice:

To shoot a man, first shoot the horse,
to capture the foe, first capture their chief.
Yet there are limits to killing men,
and a realm is secured by natural bounds.
If only we can check their raids -
it is not how many we wound and kill.12

He wonders when they will return from building the Wall. In battle this soldier hides as one of the company, doing small deeds and ashamed to speak like others. Yet he asks if a true man is concerned with all the world, how can he refuse to hold fast in hardship. In old age Du Fu gave up wine as a Buddhist for many years but then died the day after a drunken feast. His 8th-century contemporary Li Hua wrote a lamentation at an ancient battlefield, suggesting that because the peaceful influence of culture has failed to spread, military officials have applied their own irregular solutions opposed to fellow feeling and right. Yet Li Hua concluded that imperial virtue must be spread to the barbarians.

Meng Jiao (751-814) wrote a brief poem warning against both violence and sex.

Keep away from sharp swords,
Don't go near a lovely woman.
A sharp sword too close will wound your hand,
Woman's beauty too close will wound your life.
The danger of the road is not in the distance,
Ten yards is far enough to break a wheel.
The peril of love is not in loving too often,
A single evening can leave its wound in the soul.13

Li Ho (791-817) suggested that if it had passions, even heaven would grow old. Wang Jian (756-835), noting that in the past soldiers got one year's leave out of three, complained that in the current war they have to fight until they are dead. The poet Lu Dong was executed in 835 for being involved in the Ganlu rebellion.

Bo Juyi (772-846) managed to balance writing many volumes of poetry with occasional government service. While a scholar at the Hanlin Academy he wrote to his friend Li Jian how wonderful it was they talked the other day and never spoke of profit or fame. Bo Juyi criticized war with his poem about an old man with a broken arm who as a young soldier smashed his arm with a huge stone so that he could not handle a bow. He compared his joy of being alive with those who were dead. Even while at court Bo Juyi asked the common question whether the hermit enjoying the green grass had not chosen the better part when a counselor in one day can go from a high-salaried position to banishment. After being banished in 814 Bo Juyi wrote three years later:

This year there is war in Anhui,
In every place soldiers are rushing to arms.
Men of learning have been summoned to the Council Board;
Men of action are marching to the battle-line.
Only I, who have no talents at all,
Am left in the mountains to play
with the pebbles of the stream.14

Yet Bo Juyi went on to become governor of Hangzhou, Suzhou, and from Chang'an Honan. When he left Hangzhou, elders lined the road and wept even though he said his taxes were heavy; people were poor, and farmers were hungry and often had dry fields; but he had dammed the water in the lake and helped a little when things were bad. Bo Juyi recommended a fortunate and secure half-hermit life between the embittered hunger and cold of the humble and the worries and cares of the great.

Wen Tianxiang (1236-83) refused to give up his allegiance to the Song emperor to serve Khubilai Khan; he asked to die and was executed. While in prison he wrote a poem that begins by recognizing there is an aura which permeates everything in the universe. In humans it is called spirit, and in times of peace it is not noticed because harmony prevails; but in a great crisis it becomes manifest. Liu Yin (1241-93) resigned his office to care for his sick mother. He wrote that heaven gave humans the resources they need to cope with the exigencies of the environment. He quoted Zhu Xi who said that when heaven is about to send down a calamity, a heroic genius is raised up to handle the situation. Every human has a use, and there is no society that humans cannot correct. A Buddhist priest of this era noted that if one is human, the mills of heaven grind one to perfection; but if not, to destruction.

Early Chinese fiction often was concerned with the supernatural. In the late 8th century Shen Jiji, who served briefly as Imperial Censor, wrote about a beautiful woman who turned out to be a fox that ran away. Poet Yuan Zhen's story of disappointed romance called "The Golden Oriole" was later dramatized by Wang Shifu in The Romance of the Western Chamber. Although the Golden Oriole believes that Zhang's vow to her has been broken, she swears to keep her oath to him. Years later though, both have married other people; she would not see him, and in his final poem Zhang advises her to love the man before her. Li Gongzo told "A Lifetime In a Dream" about a man whose political career turns out to have been spent in an ant colony while dreaming.

Liu Zongyuan (773-819) wrote a parable of a pack beetle that continues to put loads on its back until it can no longer move. It also likes to climb to high places but falls to the ground and dies. He compares this creature to people of his time who never seem to have enough possessions no matter how much they are encumbered by them and who seek higher positions even though a perilous fall is bound to ensue.

Poet Bo Juyi's brother Bo Xingqian wrote a romantic story of a man's drastic changes of fortune in "The Lady in the Capital." After Miss Li and her aunt run out on a young man whose money is spent, she later finds him destitute and helps him because "as we have cheated heaven and done harm to human beings, no spirit and no god will come to our aid."15

In the late 8th century a story named after the clever woman Red Thread has her stealthily penetrate the chamber of the governor about to attack her friend's province; removing a golden casket it is sent back to him, causing him to send gifts and renew good relations. Red Thread explains that she is making up for a former life in which as a man she was a physician who accidentally poisoned a woman pregnant with twins. Punished as a humble woman, she has now prevented an offense against the heavenly order. In the same era Xu Tang's story of "Two Friends" shows the value Chinese often placed on loyal friendship, as two men make difficult sacrifices to help each other in trying circumstances.

"The Forsaken Mistress" by Jiang Fang is another story of a woman betrayed by a man's false promise. Little Jade is afraid that when her beauty fades, Mr. Li's favors will wander elsewhere despite his protestations. Like many young men in China, Li is dominated by his mother and accepts an arranged marriage. When he fails to return to her at the promised time, Little Jade becomes ill. Educated people are revolted by Li's base heartlessness. Little Jade dies; but her spirit haunts Li and makes him jealous of his wife, causing him to divorce her and confine two more wives cruelly.

The murder mystery "Beheaded In Error" is from the Song dynasty collection Popular Tales of the Capital. This story shows the harmful consequences that can result from careless words. Wei Bengzhu after excelling in the examinations has a promising career ruined when he jokingly writes his wife he has taken a concubine. She writes back with a similar jest, and the spreading rumors prevent him from gaining a good position. In poverty he borrows money from his father-in-law to start a grocery store, but he kids his concubine that he has pawned her for that money. When she leaves him, the open gate allows a robber to come in to find the money; after a fight he kills Wei with an ax. When the concubine is found with a man carrying the same amount of money, circumstantial evidence causes a lazy judge to torture the concubine and that man until they confess, the serious ethical violation that causes the worst part of the tragedy. The innocent couple is executed, but later Wei's widow is robbed by the ax murderer. After making friends with him to survive and living with him, he becomes respectable and confesses the crime she then identifies. The bandit is beheaded; the offending magistrate is dismissed; the families of the innocent victims are given pensions; and the widow spends the rest of her life chanting sutras to the spirits of the dead.

In "The Scholar and the Courtesan" by Qin Chun of the 12th century Zhang is persuaded to marry another woman by his mother; but when his wife dies after three years, this story ends happily with his marrying his sweetheart and having many children. "The Whore with the Pure Heart" describes how an orphan put into a house of prostitution manages to put off the sexual attentions of Emperor Huizong (r. 1100-25) himself.

Mongols and Yuan China