Confucianism Of Han Chin Synthesis And Syncretion

Term Paper Draft Naresh Hing INT 196J 14 November 2014 Confucianism in Han China – Synthesis and Syncretion Abstract: The American Oriental Society suggests that historians consider the fall of the Han Dynasty in negative perspective, viewing the fall of the Han Dynasty as â€Å"the failure of Confucian ethics.† After scrutinizing the available information, one is led to think otherwise. The studies of Confucian traditions are mostly approached by historical and philosophical views. Based on the Chinese dynastic histories of the Han Dynasty period, the fall of the Han was caused by the political elites showing little to no interest in maintaining the Confucian form of government. This paper will analyze the synthesis and syncretism of Confucianism into the Han Dynasty. Introduction It was during the former Han Dynasty period that Confucianism developed from being the teachings of a few scholars at the end of the Chou period, to becoming the philosophy of the government. This had set Confucianism to become the dominating feature of Chinese culture and to affect a large portion of humanity. Consequently, it is interesting to determine how and why the implementation of Confucianism came about during Han China. During the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) this classical Confucian core was effectively synthesized with elements of what had originally been competing schools of thought, most notably the cos ­mological speculations of the Yin-Yang and Five Agents philosophies. (Press)