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Confucianism is a world view, a scholarly tradition, and a way of life that is sometimes viewed as a religion or philosophy. Confucius was not the founder of Confucianism, he was just a transmitter. His goal was to advocate a ritualized life.
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Confucius was born in 551 BCE in the city of Qufu. While some historians believe he was born into a royal family, he in fact was born into poverty. He was alive during a time of crisis where traditional Chinese morality declined.
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Confucius died in 479 BC. He died in his birth place after his son passed away. When Confucius died, he was not convinced that his teachings made an impact on the Chinese culture. Little did he know, his teachings would become an official imperial philosophy.
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Confucius passed away but his philosophies stayed until the end of the Zhou Dynasty. The Zhou Dynasty lasted during the Chinese Bronze Age and was broken into the Western Zhou, Eastern Zhou, and Warring States.
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During the Qin Dynasty, the first Emporer, Ch'in, prosecuted confucian scholars. The Qin Dynasty occurred during the Warring States period. The feudal states fought against each other for ultimate power because of advances in military technology and education. That was due to confucian philosophers. The Emporer of the Qin dynasty was considered to be violent and unruly, he buried alive confucian scholars to save legalism.
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During the Han dynasty, Confucianism became the dominant political ideology. The Analects became known. They are the teachings of Confucius, or of what we have of it.
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During the late Han period, Emporer Qin grew tired of the critics he received from Confucian scholars due to them comparing his government with previous dynasties. He decided to ban confucianism and that the scholars were to be buried alive.
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During the Han Dynasty, a new confucianism was developed as a state religion. This was a different version of confucianism but had some of the same elements from the original teachings. The Han Dynasty was after the Zhou dynasty and succeeded the Qin dynasty. The Han adopted a confucian ideology that put emphasis on virtue, moderation, and filial piety.
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Han Emporer Wu decides to abandon Legalism and make Confucianism dominant. By doing this, he made it illegal for anyone that followed Shang Yangs philosophy to hold public office. He did this so Confucianism could be freely expressed.
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Part of a collection of four books and was the neo-confucian philosopher who gave these texts authority. Some ideas of the ideas of Confucius are represented in the book.
