Competitions Of "Shi" (a Stratum In Ancient China Between The Senior Officials And The Common People) In East Zhou Dynasty And Change Of Social Ideas About Values

Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period can be called a time of ritual and moral deterioration, during which the common social values differed a lot from those of Western Zhou Dynasty. Many vassals took advantage of this political crisis, trying to grab fame and position, the strict hierarchy system of Western Zhou was destroyed. The"Shi"people (a stratum in ancient China between the senior officials and the common people) as well as the common people started their roving life, picking up craftsmanship and seeking for ways of settling down and getting one with their pursuit. Thus, the number of the"Shi"people with certain skills increased to surpass the need of the feudal officials. In order to gain the recognition and position, they spared no efforts and even abandoned the rites of Zhou Dynasty. The consequences were profound: people's mentality changed, the so-called ritual civilization was fiercely impinged by such trends of thought as utilitarianism, pragmatism, liberalism and money worship. The causes of this series of changes must have included several complicated factors, such as the development of commodity economy, the political break-up, the pluralism in culture. Those all would lead to one consequence, which is the social competition during Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period. The vassals competed for power, businessmen for profits, the common people for survival; in order to win the competition, people became more realistic and utilitarian, disregarding whether their means was fair or foul. Thus, the ritual civilization was finally spurned. The social competitions, especially those between professionals, exerted a very important and direct influence upon people's ideas about morality and values. This paper starts with the competition within the"Shi"stratum and analyses the internal relationship between competition and preference in values, which may cast some light on how to deal with social competition and the problems it may bring.The article is divided into five parts. Part one It is the foreword, the current situation of study on values problem of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty has been reviewed, has pointed out the deficiency while studying in the past, have explained the meaning, thinking and research purpose of the question of this selected works. Part two Have explained the transition situation of the social values of the Warring States Period of early autumn in detail, including the sprouting of utilitarianism and pragmatism, mammonism and egoism, liberalism and individual consciousness. Part three Narrate the state of stratum's competition of " person " of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, there are battle, battle of interests, battle of academic view of the position;Analyze the reason why this kind of competition produces, including population's increase and policy guidance of country. Part four The impact on values of the main analysis competition, including to ethical influence, the impact on interpersonal relationships and some benefiting influence Part five It is talent competition, era of the Warring States, that give some enlightenment of us, competition have degree, orderly, complete social security system,etc.