On The Construction And Evolution Of The “School Of Shen Zi” In The Warring States,Qin And Han Dynasties

“The School of Shen Zi” refers to Shen Dao’s thoughts as well as the academic research on Shen Dao and Shen Zi in past dynasties,including the life experience of Shen Dao as well as the connotation origin,evolution and historical influence of Shen Dao’s thoughts.This paper entitled On the Construction and Evolution of the “School of Shen Zi” in the Warring States,Qin and Han Dynasties.Firstly,I sorted out the political and academic background in which Shendao’s thought emerged was discussed and the influence of the construction of Jixia Academy on his thoughts was also highlighted.Subsequently,the origin and connotation of Shen Dao’s thought was also analyzed,which is the key to explore the relation between various philosophers in the Warring States,Qin and Han dynasties and the “School of Shen Zi”.Then took the social background and academic trend of thought in the Warring States,Qin and Han Dynasties as the breakthrough point to establish its relation with the “School of Shen Zi”,analyzed the absorption and innovation of the “School of Shen Zi” by various philosophers in different dynasties by means of the combination of text interpretation and literature comparison,and summarized the characteristics of the construction and evolution of the “School of Shen Zi”,in a bid to explore the importance of the “School of Shen Zi” in the academic history.At the end of the Warring States period,the “School of Shen Zi” had a preliminary development.The collection and study on the Courteous and Temperate for Shen Zi copied on the bamboo slips of Chu in the Warring States period collected in Shanghai Museum also showed increasing possibility of the development and spread of Shen Dao’s thoughts in the late Warring States Period.Chuang Tzu and Hsun Tzu made evaluations on Shen Dao’s thoughts,which aroused the attention of later generations.It is true Han Fei inherited and developed Shen Dao’s theory of “power”,however,Han Fei’s thoughts related to law and technique are different from those of Shen Dao.Master Lü’s Spring and Autumn Annals mainly inherited Shen Dao’s thought of stressing power.In a word,the philosophers’ reference to Shen Dao’s thoughts in this period mainly focused on ideological connotation.In the early Han Dynasty,the development of the “School of Shen Zi” reached its peak.Lu Jia’s thought of “doing nothing” and “doing everything” put forward in Xin Yu inherited Shen Zi’s thought and his thought of “weighing one’s action according to the change of circumstances” referred to and developed the “School of Shen Zi”.Jia Yi’s Xin Shu was based on current affairs to mainly discuss such problems as the feudal princes and Xiongnu existing in the Han Dynasty,among which his so-called theory of power developed Shen Dao’s theory of power in a profound and all-round way.Based on the thought of procrastination,Huai Nan Zi not only absorbed the connotation of Shen Dao’s thought,but also consciously inherited his political ideas,therefore,Huai Nan Zi can be said to be a comprehensive inheritance of Shen Dao’s thoughts.In the middle and later period of the Western Han Dynasty,the “School of Shen Zi” declined from prosperity.During the period of Emperor Wu of Han Dynasty,Confucianism was the only thought that was respected,which made the study on the school of Emperor Huang and Lao Tzu no longer popular and greatly impacted the development of the “School of Shen Zi”.The thought of the interaction between heaven and mankind put forward by Dong Zhongshu in Chun Qiu Fan Lu has some connection with the thought of procrastination put forward by Shen Zi.In the late Western Han Dynasty,although there are huge differences between the main trend of thought,which is reflected in the debate between literary masters and Sang Hongyang et al,and the“School of Shen Zi”,it is still related to the thought of “power” put forward by Shen Dao to some extent.After the depression in the middle and late Western Han Dynasty,the “School of Shen Zi” had a new development in the Eastern Han Dynasty.It came into the field of scholars again along with the social critical thoughts in the late Eastern Han Dynasty.Wang Chong,Wang Fu,Zhong Changtong and Huan fan’s reference and innovation of Shen Dao’s theory of power and other core ideas are worthy of attention.