S04: Confucian Teachings
China to 1800
September 22, 2025
Shang and Zhou Bronzes Compared
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Key Questions
- From Western Zhou to the Spring and Autumn Period: What is the source of political fragmentation?
- Who was Confucius? Who were the “shi” (men of service) like him?
- What was Confucianism? How to be a humane person?
A Society at War
- Frequent inter-state wars: over five hundred battles among polities
- Local conflicts and civil strife: one hundred civil wars.
- Stories from this period often involve state rulers being murdered by ministers or vice versa, reflecting the prevalent civil unrest.
Rise of Hegemons
- New powers emerged from the periphery of an old civilization.
- Challenge for new hegemons: How to establish and maintain social order beyond simple military strength.
- Dilemma of political unification: What to do with the absence of a legitimate ultimate power?
Beyond the “Central States”
- The Zhou Dynasty’s central region consisted of seven dominant states around the Yellow River in North China, known as the “central states” (zhongguo).
- The Yangzi River marked the southern frontier of the Chinese cultural area.
- Regular interactions occurred between the Chinese and non-Chinese groups, especially with the Rong and Di.
From Chariot Warfare…
- Society had two military classes: low-born families provided soldiers who ran alongside chariots, while high-born families produced chariot riders.
- Only privileged families could afford the extensive training required to master chariot riding.
… To Cavalry Warfare
- In the sixth century BCE: Chariot warfare led by aristocrats was replaced by infantry battles involving common farmers.
- The inability of chariot armies to defeat enemy cavalry led rulers to adopt more efficient and ruthless fighting methods.
- Ordinary farmers, who could rise to lead infantry armies, began to challenge the dominance of the traditional chariot-based aristocracy.
Confucius: The Man
- What do we know about Confucius?
- How do we know what we know about Confucius’s life and times?
Confucius: The Man, continued
- Born in Qufu, Shandong to a family of the lowest-ranking nobility
- Served in the Lu government as minister of works and crime, but resigned due to conflict with hereditary families.
- Spent 14 years in self-exile seeking a ruler to adopt his virtuous government.
- His search was ultimately in vain; dedicated himself to learning and teaching.
- Credited with editing and compiling significant Chinese classics, including the Book of Documents, Book of Poetry, and Spring and Autumn Annals.
The Analects
- The Analects was not a record of Confucius’s direct conversations with his students written during the authors’ lifetimes.
- Instead, they were compiled by later followers of Confucius, who represented different viewpoints. The book assumed its final form sometime between 200 and 100 BCE.
The Analects: A History
- During Confucius’s lifetime, bound books did not exist.
- Paper was invented in the second century BCE and became widespread only in the third century CE.
- Before paper, writings were typically on wooden slips, often made from bamboo.
- There was significant variability in texts, as lines were often quoted from memory, leading to misattributions to different thinkers.
- Multiple versions of each text existed, with sentences floating from one version to another.
New Archaeological Discoveries of the Analects
- The discovery of the Dingzhou Han tomb bamboo slips revealed an earlier version of the Analects.
- Most discovered texts date to around 300 BCE, about 200 years after Confucius’s death.
- These texts were found as wooden slips preserved in water or mud: Some excavated texts resemble known transmitted texts, while others are new or mix known and new material. They provide significant insights into the text’s transmission and variations.