Paying Supreme Tribute to Confucianism while Banning All Other Schools of Thought
Zhou Dunyi
Emperor Yan
Zhang Fei |
When Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty ascended the throne, it was urgent for feudal rulers to further strengthen the absolutism and centralism politically and economically. Taoist thinking that advocates quietism and inaction could not meet the above-mentioned political needs, while Confucianism featuring the unification of Spring and Autumn Annals, benevolent ideas and ethical concepts of the monarch and his subjects was in conformity with the situation at that time. Therefore, Emperor Wu applied Dong Zhongshu’s strategy of “Paying Supreme Tribute to Confucianism while Banning All Other Schools of Thought“. Since then, Confucianism became the ruling thought of the feudal dynasties, while Taoism and other schools of thought were degraded. |














