04 The Origins of Chinese Humanities

Published

2026-07-14

Before the forced globalization of the 19th century, China developed its own independent tradition.

Historical Background

Late Spring and Autumn period to the Warring States period

A great transformation: the collapse of the slave system and the establishment of feudalism

Earlier: Shang and Zhou — knowledge and culture held by the slave-owning class

Shang:
- The wu (shamans) and shi (scribes/historians): intellectuals of the slave-owning class, few in number
  - Divination, sacrifice
  - Scribes recording historical events
  - Teachers, astronomers, physicians
  - …
  - The seeds of humanities existed, but were colored by religious mysticism; no distinct consciousness of “the human” had yet emerged
- Book of Documents (Shangshu)
- Yinxu (the ruins of Yin), oracle bone script
  - Di (the High God): in divination, people sought clear instructions from the “High God” / “Heavenly Emperor”
  - Only by following Di’s instructions could one achieve success
Zhou:
- Di → Tianming (Mandate of Heaven)
What the people desire, Heaven will surely follow — Book of Documents
- The will of the people
Emphasis on religious divine authority; no independent humanities yet

Late Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period

The Descent of Learning (xueshu xia yi)

The old order collapsed; high officials lost their stable positions, were forced to leave the capital, and wandered abroad
Knowledge spread and became accessible to broader social strata

The Rise of the Shi (Scholar-official class)

A new intellectual stratum
Drawn from all social classes, with wide connections and greater social influence
The ruling classes of the various states sought the support of the shi to consolidate their rule
- Free teaching, free discussion, …
- A permissive academic environment
“A hundred schools of thought contend”

The Awakening of the Human

Di and Tianming gradually lost their authority
The humanistic spirit began to rise; inquiry into human self-awareness
- Confucius, Laozi, …

The Proposal of Ren (Benevolence / Humaneness)

Confucius: a strong self-awareness born of spiritual awakening

Fan Chi asked about ren. The Master said, “Love others.”
The Master said, “The firm, the resolute, the simple, and the reticent are near to ren.”
Yan Yuan asked about ren. The Master said, “To subdue oneself and return to ritual (li) is ren. If for one day you subdue yourself and return to ritual, the whole world will return to ren. The practice of ren depends on oneself — does it depend on others?”
…
— The Analects

An engaged, this-worldly humanistic spirit

The Opening of the Dao (Way)

Laozi: the Dao is not the actual world, but a transcendent realm — not a religious or theological world
A principle, a state of being

Humans model themselves on Earth, Earth on Heaven, Heaven on the Dao, and the Dao models itself on Ziran (what is so of itself).
— Laozi (Daodejing)
- “What is so of itself” — preserve one’s true nature
The “ideal state”: “a small state with few people”

A small state with few people. Let them have all kinds of utensils, yet not use them; let the people hold death in high regard and not migrate far. Though they have boats and carriages, there is no occasion to ride in them; though they have armor and weapons, there is no occasion to display them. Let the people return to the use of knotted cords. They will relish their food, find beauty in their clothing, be content in their dwellings, and delight in their customs. Neighboring states may be within sight, and the sounds of their dogs and chickens may be heard, yet the people will grow old and die without ever coming and going between them.
— Laozi (Daodejing)
Spiritual successor: Zhuangzi
- Only by entering the realm of the Dao can one achieve spiritual freedom
Laozi and Zhuangzi did not demand withdrawal from the actual world, nor did they seek to live in a “heavenly kingdom”

Confucian-Daoist Complementarity

Two different humanistic spirits: “engagement” and “transcendence”
Complementary spiritual realms that profoundly influenced all later Chinese intellectuals
- “Saving the world and helping the people” vs. “cultivating oneself in solitude”
- “At court serving the sovereign” vs. “in the rivers and lakes far from office”
- The ability to advance or retreat
Together they constituted the main theme of the ancient humanistic spirit
One could find one’s place in the world without seeking an “other shore”; Chinese intellectuals had no need to turn to religious theology

China’s First True Humanist Scholar: Confucius

The founder of Chinese humanities and humanistic education

Classical Humanistic Education

The Six Classics (Liujing): The Book of Songs (Shi), The Book of Documents (Shu), The Book of Rites (Li), The Book of Changes (Yi), The Book of Music (Yue), and The Spring and Autumn Annals (Chunqiu)

(Note: Liuyi can also refer to the Six Arts of the gentleman: rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics)

The Book of Songs (Shijing):

“Three hundred poems”
- Feng (Airs), Ya (Odes), Song (Hymns)
“Thoughts without depravity”
The Odes can inspire, can be observed, can be used for social communion, and can express grievance. — The Analects
- Humanistic education
The Book of Documents (Shangshu): official historical documents from high antiquity
The Book of Rites (Liji): the institutional system and theory of the Western Zhou
The Book of Music (Yue): musical scores accompanying the Odes (lost)
- Rites and music: regulation, cultivation, and shaping
The Book of Changes (Yijing / I Ching): divination, compiled during the Shang and Zhou
- Symbols (64 hexagrams) + textual explanations
- The seeds of ancient philosophical thought
- Drawing on everyday experience, emphasizing the universal existence of contradiction and the unity of opposites
- The Yi Zhuan (Commentaries on the Book of Changes): compiled during the Warring States period to explain the Yijing
The Spring and Autumn Annals (Chunqiu): the historical records of the various states during the Spring and Autumn period → only the Lu state’s Spring and Autumn survived (edited by Confucius) → a chronicle history of Lu during the Spring and Autumn period
- Initiated the chronicle style of historiography

Confucius taught using the Odes, Documents, Rites, and Music; he had about three thousand disciples, and seventy-two of them mastered the Six Arts.
— Sima Qian, Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji), “The Hereditary House of Confucius”

The editing, teaching, and transmission of the Six Classics

Pre-Qin Philosophy

The first flourishing period of ancient Chinese philosophy
Confucian, Mohist, Daoist, Legalist, School of Names, Yin-Yang
The living source of Chinese philosophy

Confucianism

Founder: Confucius
The Analects (Lunyu)
Later successors:
- Mencius: the inner world of the human, self-awareness, moral autonomy
- Xunzi: the external world, “social sciences” and “natural sciences”
The Mencian line eventually became the mainstream of Confucianism: the “Way of Confucius and Mencius”

Mohism

Mozi, The Mozi
Originally studied Confucianism, but noticed its emphasis on hierarchical distinctions; broke away and founded Mohism

Love all equally, benefit all mutually — The Mozi

Later Mohists: logic, natural philosophy (mechanics, optics, geometry)

Daoism

Laozi, Laozi (Daodejing)
A realm beyond reality: the Dao → metaphysics
Successor: Zhuangzi, Zhuangzi

In the Northern Sea there is a fish, whose name is Kun. The Kun is so huge that no one knows how many thousand li it measures. It changes into a bird, whose name is Peng. The back of the Peng is so broad that no one knows how many thousand li it measures. When it rises in flight, its wings are like clouds hanging from the sky. When the sea moves, this bird journeys to the Southern Sea. The Southern Sea is the Lake of Heaven. The Qi Xie is a book of strange things. It says: “When the Peng journeys to the Southern Sea, it churns the water for three thousand li, and soars up to ninety thousand li on the whirlwind, and it travels for six months before it rests.” The wild horses (heat-mists), the dust, the living beings blown about by the wind — when the sky is blue, is that its true color? Or is it so far away that there is no limit? When the bird looks down, it is the same as well. Moreover, if water is not deep enough, it cannot carry a great boat. Pour a cup of water into a hollow in the floor, and a straw will float on it like a boat; place a cup there and it will stick fast, because the water is shallow and the boat is large. If the wind is not strong enough, it cannot carry great wings. Therefore, for ninety thousand li, the wind must be beneath it, and then it can ride the wind; with the blue sky on its back, with nothing to obstruct it, then it can set its course for the South…
— Zhuangzi, “The Wandering of the Soul” (Xiaoyaoyou)

The pursuit of spiritual freedom

Legalism

Reformers of the rising landlord class: reform, historical evolution, centralization
Made great contributions to the establishment of the Chinese feudal system and the formation of a unified feudal empire
Synthesizer: Han Fei, Han Feizi

The School of Names (Logicians)

Logic
Two branches:
- Hui Shi: “Contracting the same and the different”
  - Merging the two states of “sameness” and “difference”
  - His writings are lost; some of his views survive in the Zhuangzi
- Gongsun Long: “Separating hardness from whiteness”
  - The two properties of “hardness” and “whiteness” in the same thing must be kept separate
  - Gongsun Longzi
Consistency of thought: advocates an analytic, atomistic mode of thinking
Different from the mainstream mode of thinking in ancient China

The Yin-Yang School

Astronomers: observed nature, predicted the seasons, established calendars
Natural sciences and natural philosophy
Representative: Zou Yan, who attempted to establish a unified cosmology

Pre-Qin Historiography

The Spring and Autumn Annals: its main purpose is evaluation of history
Meticulous choice of words to convey the author’s attitude; highly condensed

“The Spring and Autumn style” (“春秋笔法”)

Later supplements and commentaries on the Spring and Autumn Annals became Zhuan (commentaries; Zhuan are expansions and explanations of the Jing, the Classics):
- The Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals (Gongyang Zhuan)
- The Guliang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals (Guliang Zhuan)
  - Historical patterns
- The Zuo Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals (Zuozhuan / Zuo Zhuan)
  - Vivid storytelling
  - Emphasizes evaluation: punishing evil and encouraging good
  - Contains explicit commentary sections (“The gentleman says: …” “This is (not) in accordance with ritual”)
Sima Qian’s Records of the Grand Historian (Shiji) was directly influenced by and inherited from the Pre-Qin historical works

…I wish to explore the relationship between Heaven and humanity, to understand the changes of past and present, and to establish a school of my own.
— Sima Qian, “Letter to Ren An”

Pre-Qin Literature

The Book of Songs: short and refined, sung and danced, with repeated refrains

--- title: "04 The Origins of Chinese Humanities" date: 2026-07-14 --- Before the forced globalization of the 19th century, China developed its own independent tradition. # Historical Background Late Spring and Autumn period to the Warring States period - A great transformation: the collapse of the slave system and the establishment of feudalism ## Earlier: Shang and Zhou — knowledge and culture held by the slave-owning class - Shang: - The *wu* (shamans) and *shi* (scribes/historians): intellectuals of the slave-owning class, few in number - Divination, sacrifice - Scribes recording historical events - Teachers, astronomers, physicians - ... - The seeds of humanities existed, but were colored by religious mysticism; no distinct consciousness of “the human” had yet emerged - *Book of Documents* (*Shangshu*) - Yinxu (the ruins of Yin), oracle bone script - *Di* (the High God): in divination, people sought clear instructions from the “High God” / “Heavenly Emperor” - Only by following *Di*'s instructions could one achieve success - Zhou: - *Di* → *Tianming* (Mandate of Heaven) > What the people desire, Heaven will surely follow — *Book of Documents* - The will of the people - Emphasis on religious divine authority; no independent humanities yet ## Late Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period ### The Descent of Learning (*xueshu xia yi*) - The old order collapsed; high officials lost their stable positions, were forced to leave the capital, and wandered abroad - Knowledge spread and became accessible to broader social strata ### The Rise of the *Shi* (Scholar-official class) - A new intellectual stratum - Drawn from all social classes, with wide connections and greater social influence - The ruling classes of the various states sought the support of the *shi* to consolidate their rule - Free teaching, free discussion, ... - A permissive academic environment > "A hundred schools of thought contend" ### The Awakening of the Human - *Di* and *Tianming* gradually lost their authority - The humanistic spirit began to rise; inquiry into human self-awareness - Confucius, Laozi, ... ### The Proposal of *Ren* (Benevolence / Humaneness) - Confucius: a strong self-awareness born of spiritual awakening > Fan Chi asked about *ren*. The Master said, "Love others."\ > The Master said, "The firm, the resolute, the simple, and the reticent are near to *ren*."\ > Yan Yuan asked about *ren*. The Master said, "To subdue oneself and return to ritual (*li*) is *ren*. If for one day you subdue yourself and return to ritual, the whole world will return to *ren*. The practice of *ren* depends on oneself — does it depend on others?"\ > ...\ > — *The Analects* - An engaged, this-worldly humanistic spirit ### The Opening of the *Dao* (Way) - Laozi: the *Dao* is not the actual world, but a transcendent realm — not a religious or theological world - A principle, a state of being > Humans model themselves on Earth, Earth on Heaven, Heaven on the *Dao*, and the *Dao* models itself on *Ziran* (what is so of itself).\ > — *Laozi* (*Daodejing*) - "What is so of itself" — preserve one's true nature - The "ideal state": "a small state with few people" > A small state with few people. Let them have all kinds of utensils, yet not use them; let the people hold death in high regard and not migrate far. Though they have boats and carriages, there is no occasion to ride in them; though they have armor and weapons, there is no occasion to display them. Let the people return to the use of knotted cords. They will relish their food, find beauty in their clothing, be content in their dwellings, and delight in their customs. Neighboring states may be within sight, and the sounds of their dogs and chickens may be heard, yet the people will grow old and die without ever coming and going between them.\ > — *Laozi* (*Daodejing*) - Spiritual successor: Zhuangzi - Only by entering the realm of the *Dao* can one achieve spiritual freedom - Laozi and Zhuangzi did not demand withdrawal from the actual world, nor did they seek to live in a "heavenly kingdom" ### **Confucian-Daoist Complementarity** - Two different humanistic spirits: "engagement" and "transcendence" - Complementary spiritual realms that profoundly influenced _all_ later Chinese intellectuals - "Saving the world and helping the people" vs. "cultivating oneself in solitude" - "At court serving the sovereign" vs. "in the rivers and lakes far from office" - The ability to advance or retreat - Together they constituted the main theme of the ancient humanistic spirit - One could find one's place in the world without seeking an "other shore"; Chinese intellectuals had no need to turn to religious theology # China's First True Humanist Scholar: Confucius - The founder of Chinese humanities and humanistic education ## Classical Humanistic Education ### The Six Classics (*Liujing*): *The Book of Songs* (*Shi*), *The Book of Documents* (*Shu*), *The Book of Rites* (*Li*), *The Book of Changes* (*Yi*), *The Book of Music* (*Yue*), and *The Spring and Autumn Annals* (*Chunqiu*) (Note: *Liuyi* can also refer to the Six Arts of the gentleman: rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics) - *The Book of Songs* (*Shijing*): > "Three hundred poems" - *Feng* (Airs), *Ya* (Odes), *Song* (Hymns) > "Thoughts without depravity"\ > The *Odes* can inspire, can be observed, can be used for social communion, and can express grievance. — *The Analects* - Humanistic education - *The Book of Documents* (*Shangshu*): official historical documents from high antiquity - *The Book of Rites* (*Liji*): the institutional system and theory of the Western Zhou - *The Book of Music* (*Yue*): musical scores accompanying the *Odes* (lost) - Rites and music: regulation, cultivation, and shaping - *The Book of Changes* (*Yijing* / *I Ching*): divination, compiled during the Shang and Zhou - Symbols (64 hexagrams) + textual explanations - The seeds of ancient philosophical thought - Drawing on everyday experience, emphasizing the universal existence of contradiction and the unity of opposites - *The Yi Zhuan* (*Commentaries on the Book of Changes*): compiled during the Warring States period to explain the *Yijing* - *The Spring and Autumn Annals* (*Chunqiu*): the historical records of the various states during the Spring and Autumn period → only the Lu state's *Spring and Autumn* survived (edited by Confucius) → a chronicle history of Lu during the Spring and Autumn period - Initiated the chronicle style of historiography > Confucius taught using the *Odes*, *Documents*, *Rites*, and *Music*; he had about three thousand disciples, and seventy-two of them mastered the Six Arts.\ > — Sima Qian, *Records of the Grand Historian* (*Shiji*), "The Hereditary House of Confucius" - The editing, teaching, and transmission of the Six Classics # Pre-Qin Philosophy - The first flourishing period of ancient Chinese philosophy - Confucian, Mohist, Daoist, Legalist, School of Names, Yin-Yang - The living source of Chinese philosophy ## Confucianism - Founder: Confucius - *The Analects* (*Lunyu*) - Later successors: - Mencius: the inner world of the human, self-awareness, moral autonomy - Xunzi: the external world, "social sciences" and "natural sciences" - The Mencian line eventually became the mainstream of Confucianism: the "Way of Confucius and Mencius" ## Mohism - Mozi, *The Mozi* - Originally studied Confucianism, but noticed its emphasis on hierarchical distinctions; broke away and founded Mohism > Love all equally, benefit all mutually — *The Mozi* - Later Mohists: logic, natural philosophy (mechanics, optics, geometry) ## Daoism - Laozi, *Laozi* (*Daodejing*) - A realm beyond reality: the *Dao* → metaphysics - Successor: Zhuangzi, *Zhuangzi* > In the Northern Sea there is a fish, whose name is Kun. The Kun is so huge that no one knows how many thousand li it measures. It changes into a bird, whose name is Peng. The back of the Peng is so broad that no one knows how many thousand li it measures. When it rises in flight, its wings are like clouds hanging from the sky. When the sea moves, this bird journeys to the Southern Sea. The Southern Sea is the Lake of Heaven. *The Qi Xie* is a book of strange things. It says: "When the Peng journeys to the Southern Sea, it churns the water for three thousand li, and soars up to ninety thousand li on the whirlwind, and it travels for six months before it rests." The wild horses (heat-mists), the dust, the living beings blown about by the wind — when the sky is blue, is that its true color? Or is it so far away that there is no limit? When the bird looks down, it is the same as well. Moreover, if water is not deep enough, it cannot carry a great boat. Pour a cup of water into a hollow in the floor, and a straw will float on it like a boat; place a cup there and it will stick fast, because the water is shallow and the boat is large. If the wind is not strong enough, it cannot carry great wings. Therefore, for ninety thousand li, the wind must be beneath it, and then it can ride the wind; with the blue sky on its back, with nothing to obstruct it, then it can set its course for the South...\ > — *Zhuangzi*, "The Wandering of the Soul" (*Xiaoyaoyou*) - The pursuit of spiritual freedom ## Legalism - Reformers of the rising landlord class: reform, historical evolution, centralization - Made great contributions to the establishment of the Chinese feudal system and the formation of a unified feudal empire - Synthesizer: Han Fei, *Han Feizi* ## The School of Names (Logicians) - Logic - Two branches: - Hui Shi: "Contracting the same and the different" - Merging the two states of "sameness" and "difference" - His writings are lost; some of his views survive in the *Zhuangzi* - Gongsun Long: "Separating hardness from whiteness" - The two properties of "hardness" and "whiteness" in the same thing must be kept separate - *Gongsun Longzi* - Consistency of thought: advocates an analytic, atomistic mode of thinking - Different from the mainstream mode of thinking in ancient China ## The Yin-Yang School - Astronomers: observed nature, predicted the seasons, established calendars - Natural sciences and natural philosophy - Representative: Zou Yan, who attempted to establish a unified cosmology # Pre-Qin Historiography - The *Spring and Autumn Annals*: its main purpose is _evaluation_ of history - Meticulous choice of words to convey the author's attitude; highly condensed > "The Spring and Autumn style" (*“春秋笔法”*) - Later supplements and commentaries on the *Spring and Autumn Annals* became *Zhuan* (commentaries; *Zhuan* are expansions and explanations of the *Jing*, the Classics): - *The Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals* (*Gongyang Zhuan*) - *The Guliang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals* (*Guliang Zhuan*) - Historical patterns - *The Zuo Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals* (*Zuozhuan* / *Zuo Zhuan*) - Vivid storytelling - Emphasizes evaluation: punishing evil and encouraging good - Contains explicit commentary sections ("The gentleman says: ..." "This is (not) in accordance with ritual") - Sima Qian's *Records of the Grand Historian* (*Shiji*) was directly influenced by and inherited from the Pre-Qin historical works > ...I wish to explore the relationship between Heaven and humanity, to understand the changes of past and present, and to establish a school of my own.\ > — Sima Qian, "Letter to Ren An" # Pre-Qin Literature - *The Book of Songs*: short and refined, sung and danced, with repeated refrains