A Study On The Concept Of "People 's Heart" In Pre - Qin Dynasty

"If you have Minxin, then you can have the whole world". It’s a very popular then in ancient China. For hundreds of years, Minxin has been a tireless pursuit for monarchs in order to consolidate their domination. But even if the founding monarch of one dynasty has got people’s heart throughout the whole country at the beginning, a new dynasty will inevitably replaces the old after several hundred years as long or merely years as short. How does it come along? If we carefully analyze that sentence, we can come to a conclusion that those who "lose the world" must have "lost Minxin" ahead. That people’s heart not only can be received but also can be lost shows its independence and that people automatically form their heart. In this sense, Minxin is no longer the hazy object for the domination of monarchs, but become the subject of politics. Therefore qualified people have the ability to participate in politics. However, throughout history, we can hardly found that people has the right to speak in politics, while Minxin which seems to be always cared by monarchs has become an empty slogan. Why does such a great discrepancy between theory and reality come out? To solve this problem, we need go back to the birthplace of Minxin.Minxin is originally separated in ancient Chinese books, for the two words are used alone. Both Min and Xin have changed appearance and meaning with the evolution of Chinese characters. And when the two become a phrase, their implications are finally fixed. Min refer to those social men who are not in the dominant party, while Min represents emotions and thought. In general, Minxin literally means people’s thought and feelings. In Pre-Qin era, Minxin as a phrase is first used in Zuozhuan, stated as "Minxin are not the same". Afterwards, It also appears in Guoyu, Liji, Mencius and so on. But because "Minxin" in those different contexts means different thing, even if "Minxin" can be qualified in some extents here, but it can hardly be a systematic explanation.In Zhou Dynasty, relations between God and man, monarch and people have changed significantly. Man becomes the actual master of God, while monarch becomes a way to make people live good. In such condition, for min receive its independent personality, reflection of Minquan or civil rights takes shape, becoming the connotation of Minxin. Meanwhile, Minben thought has been put forward, becoming the extension of Minxin. With connotation and extension, Minxin become a concept. However, as Confucianism develops in Pre-Qin era, its political ideal has been set up as Hagiarchy. Only when monarch is sage can a regime be a good one. That monarch takes too much burden in politics let people be free and indifferent to the whole regime, thus Minquan thought blanking. Minben ideology, meanwhile, links too much to the Tian (heaven). As monarch become the representative of Tian in the real world, min as the subject changes into taking min into consideration, and Minben become a way to ensure domination. With changes in connotation and extension, Minxin concept comes to an empty thing or merely slogan.