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Period: 770 BCE to 403 BCE
Creation of Five Classics
Confucius was thought to be the author of the Five Classics which were the basics of Confucianism. The books include Classic of Change, Classic of Poetry, Book of Documents, Book of Rites and Spring and Autumn Annals. These five books each describe different areas and aspects of life, yet they all underlie the development of Confucianism. -
Period: 770 BCE to 403 BCE
Creation of Four Books
The Four Books are all related to Confucianism, yet written by different scholars. The books include The Great Learning, The Doctrine of the Mean, Analects of Confucius, and The Mencius. They illustrate the core value and belief values in Confucianism, and some are made for the official curriculum for civil service examinations.
Fun fact: In today's world, these four books are still in the curriculum in the Chinese exam in Hong Kong! -
Period: 770 BCE to 403 BCE
Confucianism was created
Creator: Confucius
Confucius was from the Spring and Autumn Period, where the Chinese society was split into different countries. He was from a small country, Lu. Confucius mainly promoted benevolence as his major theory. He emphasized personal and governmental morality, the correctness of social relationships, justice, kindness. He had around three thousand students and followers. His principles had commonality with Chinese tradition and belief. -
Period: 403 BCE to 221 BCE
Warring States Period
Mencius was the representative of Confucianism at this stage. He believes that countries and states should take the policy of benevolence. He is also the author of Mencius, one of the books in The Four Books. However, as in that period countries and states were separated and split, everyone was trying to conquer as much land as possible through war, and the theory of benevolence was not accepted by the rulers. -
Period: 221 BCE to 207 BCE
Qin Dynasty
The legalist and autocratic Qin Dynasty was the first dynasty to unite China. However, as many Confucianism scholars criticized the cruel actions of the emperor Qin Shihuang. These criticisms were also unfavorable for stabilizing society. As a result, he ordered soldiers to burn books of all different theories and history and to kill all scholars related to Confucianism. -
Period: 221 BCE to 207 BCE
Han Dynasty
A scholar named Dong Zhongshu redefined the idea of Confucianism, favoring heaven worship. His ideas were accepted by the emperor Han Wudi, making Confucianism the sole dominant ideology and theory throughout the country. Such action was named " Dismiss the hundred schools, revere only the Confucians." At this point, Confucianism started to link with religions, economies, and politics. -
Period: 618 to 690
Tang Dynasty
During the Tang Dynasty, Confucianism, together with Buddhism and Taoism are being listed as the major influences of society. Confucianism deeply influenced students and scholars. In response to this, some actions were taken out, for example, the imperial examination system was created and used in most of the dynasties later. Other than that, books regarding Confucianism were also written or rewritten to make a clearer definition. This helped the spread of it throughout China. -
Period: 960 to 1279
Song Dynasty
Scholars in the Song Dynasty boosted the development of Confucianism. For example, Zhu Xi defined the orders of the four books in the Four Books. He also named the books to be called "Four Books". He also built schools in Jiangxi, which taught students how to apply the theory of Confucianism to daily life through sitting, etiquette, and calligraphy. These schools were the models of schools nowadays. -
Period: 1368 to
Ming Dynasty
Ming Dynasty focused on giving all powers to the emperor instead of spreading it to different places, which is against Confucianism. As a result, the development of Confucianism spread to the general public instead of officers and politicians. It resulted in an increasing number of people getting in touch with this theory. -
Period: to
First Opium War
The First Opium War was being said to reflect how corrupt is the Qing Government. (Qing Dynasty) At that time, western culture was starting to spread into Chinese. Scholars heavily criticized the Qing Government only following the traditional Confucianism, resulting in the Chinese lacking behind the world in terms of technology, or even weapons. (The industrial revolution had started by that time) -
Period: to
Xinhai Revolution
It was a turning point in China, where the Qing Dynasty was overthrown by the Chinese, lead by Doctor Sun Yat-sen. As the Qing Dynasty was deeply influenced by Confucianism, a lot of people accused it as the reason behind the weak Qing Dynasty, resulting in a drastic decrease of people willing to follow this theory. -
Period: to
Early Republic of China
Imperialism was overthrown by the Chinese. Since then, China entered a very messy era. Different people with power tried to use Confucianism to increase their support from the public. For example, Yuan ShiKai used Confucianism to rationalize his actions of trying to become the king of New China. Sun ChuangFang also used Confucianism to increase his supporters, which in the end, bruised the identification of Confucianism among the public. -
Period: to
Cultural Revolution
The Cultural Revolution was a sociopolitical movement launched by the leader Mao Zedong. It lasted for 10 years, nearly destroying China's economy and millions of people were persecuted. Other than that, the old traditions of the Chinese Culture were being destroyed and burnt, which included Confucianism. Libraries, schools, and even teachers were being punished. Intellectuals were not respected in society. Historic sites, for example, temples built to honor Confucius was destroyed. -
Period: to
Jiang Zemin (5th president of China)
Former president of China Jiang Zemin has emphasized the importance of Confucianism and new Confucianism during his president period. Scholars describe him as deeply influenced by this way of thinking. -
Period: to
New Confucianism
New Confucianism is a movement that began in the early 20th century. It aims to promote the elements of Confucianism, and together combined with Western philosophies such as humanism, It could be described as the modern version of Confucianism, and up till nowadays scholars are still discussing and studying the further development of this way of thinking. -
Period: to
Founding of Confucius Institute
Confucius Institue is a public educational organization under the Ministry of Education in China. It is built in different places in the world, including Europe and the US. It aims to promote Chinese language and culture, and especially Confucianism. Since then, Chinese traditional culture has been spread throughout the world. Media compare this institute as Britain's British Council or France's Alliance Francaise. -
Period: to
President XI Jingping (7th president of China)
The latest president of China, Xi JingPing has spoken about the importance of Confucianism publicly. He points out that it is an important part of the traditional Chinese culture. It is believed that China will focus on developing Confucianism and to spread it around the world.