Despotism And Order

China evolved into a nation-state from the peculiar "Dayitong" state that arose from the relics of the feudal system and lived for over two thousand years. While the collapse of such "Dayitong" state exerted a considerable influence on the current nation-state, the erasure of the feudal social structure and political superstructure paved the way for the formation of a "Dayitong" state.The "Dayitong" state as a descriptive concept is the outcome of unified territory, system, power and ideology. But during the feudal era, such unification remained idealistic when the pursuit of a universal state had been disrupted by geographical and political boundaries. Vehement and constant wars among feudal lords, however, led to the decline of the feudal state, and the collapse of the patriarchal clan system invalidated the rule by the king, feudal lords and other aristocrats. The legitimacy of rule had thus to be confirmed by the political power, which resulted in the centralization of state power and ultimately despotism exercised by the emperor. To strengthen the ruling power, the emperor despotism acknowledged the importance of reconstructing the social order and succeeded, commanding support of the "Dayitong" ideal, in creating a "Dayitong" state through system innovation.The thesis analyzes the formation of the "Dayitong" state in five chapters. The first chapter, focusing on the social structure and the perception on the state shaped by feudalism in the Zhou dynasty, argues that the Zhou feudalism, by reorganizing ethnic groups, led to the integration of ethnic elements into the perception on the state, a patriarfeudual political system and the division of power. A stable social order was thus established. Chapter Two claims that during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, the politico-geographical structure of the Zhou dynasty was disrupted and the consensus of a "Dayitong" state consequently emerged in the social ideology. However, divergence remained as to the choice of government in spite of the unanimous yearning towards a unified territory. The third chapter dwells on the tentative plans for governing the "Dayitong" state in the Period of Warring States, and points out that these plans were intended to restore feudalism as the alternative for the "Dayitong" state. Chapter Four recounts the emergence...