On Laozi's Political Ideology

Laozi is an outstanding political thinker and philosopher in ancient China. His political theory based on the "Taoism" and the conception of nature, centering "Govern by Doing Nothing that Goes Against Nature", in the pursuit of the ideal society called"a small country with'few citizens ". His far-sighted political thought is a profound reflection of social reality with the spirit of political protest. However, Laozi's political ideology has been much maligned, regarded as "the art of the served people," or considered as conservative and negative. The paper strives to explore Laozi's political thought from three aspects:"Imitation of Nature", inaction in the thought of the people and the criticism of the civilized society. The paper tries to analyze Laozi's political thought from "learn from nature", the people-based thought of "Govern by Doing Nothing that Goes Against Nature" and critical civilized society ills.The "Taoism" of Laozi is the origin of all things and the laws and guidelines which the society and individuals should follow. And the essence of the Tao lies in harmony with nature, modesty, void-quietness, no-desire, inaction. He applied this principle to the social and political life and advocated the "inaction". His ideas of inaction aimed to warn that the rulers should control their own greediness, insuring people's interest with the reduction of taxes and the instructions from damage to more so that people could enjoy a peaceful life. His thought reflected the political protest spirit against despotic rule and developed the views of taking people as essence in ancient China.The development of the civilized society exerts a two-side implication and Laozi has a sharp sense and insight about this. Taking the tribalism of Yin Dynasty as a model, just as Rousseau took the unaffected society as a coordinate, Laozi revealed and criticized of the polarization of rich and poor, soul loss and moral deterioration accompanied with the evolution of civilizations. Both Laozi and Rousseau expressed the profound insight about the shortcoming of civilization, which surpassed the limitations of region, nation, culture and history. Through comparing this, we can have a deep understanding of all kinds of difficulties in the progress of human society, and pondered to improve our practice, so that we can build a harmonious society which boasts justice, good customs, fraternity and mutual assistance.