THREE CHINESE PHILOSOPHIES (ZHOU DYNASTY B.C.E) By: Sid Patra, Noel Oracheski, and Alex Lampell

Zhou Dynasty ( B.C.E)  After overthrowing the Shang, the Zhou made the Mandate of Heaven  The Mandate of Heaven said that the king was the son of Heaven  If the king governed his people well then Heaven would give him the right to rule  If the king governed badly then Heaven would send natural disasters and his people could overthrow him

Photos of Zhou Dynasty

Feudalism  The Zhou had a system of relationships called feudalism  In feudalism the king gave part of his land to loyal supporters (lords)  In exchange the lords sent soldiers to protect the king  The lord protected the peasants that lived in his land in exchange of a portion of their crops

Conflicts in Zhou Dynasty  Feudalism worked for a while, but then there started to be rebellions against the king  Then rulers hired scholars to ask them for advice about how to govern  So many ideas were offered that later the Chinese called them the Hundred Schools of Thought  The three most popular schools were Confucianism, Daoism and Legalism

Confucianism  The founder of Confucianism is Confucius( B.C.E)  The goal of Confucianism is to have a just and peaceful society  In Confucianism you should respect your elders  In Confucianism there are five basic relationships: ruler and subject, husband and wife, father and son, older siblings and younger siblings, and friend and friend  All people must respect and obey these relationships  People that have the authority with these relationships (rulers, fathers, husbands, and older siblings) should set a good example. They should be kind, honest, wise, and faithful  Confucius used to say, “Don’t do to others what you would not want done to you”  There is a book with all of Confucius sayings. It is called The Analects  So Confucianism thought that the “best way to govern is to lead by example”

Photos of Confucianism

Daoism  The founder of Daoism is Laozi (around 500 B.C.E.)  Laozi wrote a small manuscript of 5,000 characters which is called the Dao De Jing  Daoism teaches people that you gain happiness and peace by living in harmony and agreement with nature  For the Daoists nature is full of opposites (like pleasure and pain)  They believed that true harmony came from balancing these opposite forces  These two forces are called yin and yang  Yin means shaded and Yang means sunlit  Daoists thought that people should live a simple and natural life  They also believed that everyone must discover the Dao by themselves  So Daoism thought that the best way to govern was “if you must govern, then govern the least as possible”

Photos of Daoism

Legalism  The founder of Legalism is Hanfeizi( B.C.E.)  The goal of Hanfeizi was to create peace and order in soceity  Many of his ideas survived until today in a book named after him  Legalism thought that most people are naturally selfish  Legalism thought that rulers should establish strict laws and make them stronger by giving rewards for good behavior and harsh punishments for bad behavior  In Legalism rulers have absolute power and are backed up by the military  They thought that rulers should not trust anyone, not even the family

Photos of Legalism

The End of The Zhou Empire  Around 256 B.C.E. the Zhou Empire fell  It was overpowered by Prince Zheng of the Qin Empire  In the battle between the Qin and the Zhou millions of lives were lost

Bibliography  History Alive Book  Images from Google

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