Confucianism

Confucius

            As soon as the Qing Dynasty had taken over the Ming and had control over China, Confucianism became the official belief system of China.  Confucianism was a philosophy created by Confucius, a man that lived from 551-479 BCE, which was based upon the morality of humans and good deeds.  During Confucius’ time, China’s individual states were at war, which made him sad.  Since he did not like how China was at the time, Confucius wrote down his ideas on how a ruler should rule.  Under the Qing Dynasty, people who were trying to get a job as a civil servant had to take a series of exams, that lasted days, or even weeks.  These exams were called civil service exams, and they were based on the teachings of Confucius.  Under Confucianism, people studied and studied Confucius’ teachings day after day.  Although there were some flaws with Confucianism, such as valuing tradition more than progress, the philosophy helped China greatly during the Qing Dynasty and earlier.  In Confucianism, there are five key relationships in which the superior acts as a model and the inferior respects the superior person.  These relationships are: Ruler and subject, father and son, husband and wife, elder sibling and younger sibling, and friend and friend (friend and friend go against the rule of respect).  Day-to-day life changed based on all five of these relationships.   People had to treat one another differently, and the inferior did what they were told.  Under the philosophy of Confucianism during multiple dynasties leading up to the Qing Dynasty, China strengthened and united as one nation, unlike China when Confucius lived.  If it was not for Confucius’ book of Analects, China during those dynasties could have been a disaster.