The Master said, “From the vantage point of the Zhou, one’s gaze can encompass the two dynasties that preceded it. How brilliant in culture it was! I follow the Zhou.”
--Analects 3.14
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| The "Four Treasures" of the Confucian Scholar: Brushes, Paper, Inkstone, Ink Stick. |
In China, Qin Shi Huangdi started the ball rolling by abolishing feudalism and implementing centralized bureaucratic officialdom instead; the Han improved on this by hiring officials of a Confucian bent instead of a Legalist one. All credit to Emperors Wen and Wudi for that.
Caesar Augustus also created 200 years of peace by replacing a corrupt republican administration with a centralized bureaucracy. It caused the famous Pax Romana.
But here's where China and Rome parted ways: the Han sought only Confucians for their bureaucracy, and honored them at the top of their social pyramid. Remarkably, these men made it to the top because they earned that right by showing their intelligences and their selflessness. Family name and family wealth couldn't buy this status: it was earned through study and merit. Call it China's version of equality and democracy.
The Romans? Augustus put commoners and slaves in his bureaucracy -- the wealthy elite were so corrupt as to be worthless to good government -- but these commoners and slaves were just functionaries, cogs in the machine. They only required good work skills -- discipline, attention to detail, efficiency, and other worker-drone qualities -- to do the job. And it was just a job. Socially, these bureaucrats stayed at the bottom of the pyramid.
Is this one reason China survived until 1911, while Europe broke irreparably into pieces in the 400s? Because China elevated philosophers, while Rome just employed underlings, to work their governments?
Image from Confuciusonline.com
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