On Dong Zhongshu’s Theory Of Sovereignty

How intellectuals get along with the sovereign, or how culture gets along withthe sovereignty is a controversial topic in the age of civilization. When the culturalrequirements are different from requirements of the sovereignty, some intellectualsattempt to reconcile the requirements of the culture with the requirements of thesovereignty, but the other intellectuals stand the purely cultural position. Themonarchial power is the most fundamental and authoritative power. So intellectualshow to get along with the power is mostly how to get along with the monarchialpower. Firstly, we must know what the sovereignty is or what the sovereignty shouldbe. Dong Zhongshu, as a master of the Confucian classics, made his own answers tothe problem.Dong Zhongshu is famous in a master of the Gongyang School about the Springand Autumn Annals in the early western Han dynasty. His theory connected to thetheory in the pre-Qin period and the theory in the era behind his time. The evaluationsabout his theory are mixed. Some think that his status is equal with the status ofConfucius, but some think he is the accomplices of the authoritarian rule. Theauthenticity of his major work, Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals, hasalways been controversial. By discussing the thesis just assumes that his work is onlyincomplete and not miscellaneous or pseudo.The theory of sovereignty of Dong Zhongshu emerged in the early Western HanDynasty, so it deeply marked by the brand of the time. In the early Western HanDynasty, the flourishing panorama coexisted with the crises, and philosophicalschools competed and integrated. Under the surface, great unity became the themes ofthe time. In the era, the unification of the country had emerged, and the sovereigntyhad been more powerful than itself ever. Dong Zhongshu must shoulder theresponsibility to deal with the issue that how intellectuals coped with the newopportunities and challenges.According to the traditional Confucian theory, Dong Zhongshu constructed thetheory of sovereignty and answered what the sovereignty should be. On the basis ofthe sequence of the logical development of the sovereignty-the origin of thesovereignty, how to get the sovereignty, the embodiment of the sovereign, the changesof the sovereignty-the thesis attempt to closely interpret his theory about the sovereignty. When autocratic monarchy had formed in the early western Han dynasty,especially when Dong Zhongshu got along with Emperor Wu of Han who made effortto expand sovereignty, the attitude of Dong Zhongshu to sovereignty has some offuzzification and ambiguous tendency. So his theory of sovereignty appearscontradictions and conflicts in some place. However, when we go through all sorts offogs, we have to admit that Dong Zhongshu hold the essential Confucian opinions andhe did not choose to yield entirely to the pressure of the sovereignty. The thesis holdsthat when he told about the origin of sovereignty, Dong Zhognshu adhered to theopinion that the need of the enlightenment is the root reason why we need sovereignty,and the core of sovereignty is knowledge and good rather than politics and violence.To how to obtain the sovereignty, he thought that providence and people authorize toemperors, and the authorizations of people is one of the foundational status of powersystem. In the embodiment of sovereignty, he held that the status of providence, sagesand people are more valuable than emperors. At the same time, he claimed feudalismand tried to name sovereign, ministers and princes to delimit the power limit of them.In the change of the sovereignty, he thought that demise and revolution are the way ofthe change. In those interpretations of sovereignty, Confucianism is the evaluationstandard of sovereign’s action, not the endorsement for the action of sovereign. By thestudy of the theory of Dong Zhongshu, it can impel us think that whatpower-especially sovereignty-should be done, how intellectuals to get along withsovereign, how intellectuals speak with sovereign and so on.