Transformation From Legalism To Confucianism And Structure Change In The Warring States Period And Qinhan Dynasty

The core theme of this paper is the emergence,development and disappearance of the legalist school as an independent school in the view of social structure.The emergence of legalist school had close connection with the strengthening of monarchy in the Warring States period.The distruction of politeness and the corruption of music commonly marked the decline of aristocracy,by contrast,and the rise of legislation resulted in an equal society.In the Qin Dynasty and the the early times and middle times of Western Han Dynasty,the country was ruled by the legalist school.The disappearance of the legalist school had a process,which lasted for a long time in the middle period of the Western Han Dynasty,ie the three periods of Emperor Wu,Emperor Zhao and Emperor Xuan.The ideological background of the disappearance of legalist school could be discribed as down:when the big united dynasdies of Qin and Han came into being,every single kind mind could not meet the needs of the ruling class,Confucianism made the final victory by absorbing Legalism,Taoism and fusion Yin Yang thought,the legalist school was one of the victims.After Confucianism alone was advocated,legalism had lost the ground to live in.But they were still in the real political power,they were correct in the meeting which discussed the salt and iron,but they were critisized,the meeting was their last appearance.Emperor Xuan thought Confucianism and legalism were both important,while when Emperor Yuan was in power,only Confucianism was retained,and the legalist school completely withdrew from the stage of history.The existing time of Legalist school was just the same as the equal society.The decline of legalism and the revival of Confucianism was not only a question of academic,but also reflected the change of social structure.Since the Warring States period,until the middle of the Western Han Dynasty,China was indeed a pragmatic qual society advocating utilitarianism.Since the beginning of the Emperor Wu,Confucianism became the official school and other schools declined,Confucianism opened a road to be officials.In the late Han Dynasty,a book of Confucianism was more precious than a basket of gold as a heritge.As reading a book of Confucianism can be hereditary,official gradually become hereditary,so the whole society become hereditary,fundamentally speaking,Confucianism created the aristocratic family.In the late Western Han Dynasty,the close connection of Confucianism and the aristocratic family was obscure,yet,the close connection became very obvious just when the The Eastern Han Dynasty began.In The eastern Han Dynasty,the aristocratic family ruled the society,and the equal society ended.