Dong Zhongshu (; 179–104 BC) was a

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

philosopher, politician, and writer of the

Han Dynasty The Han dynasty (, ; ) was an imperial dynasty of China (202 BC – 9 AD, 25–220 AD), established by Liu Bang (Emperor Gao) and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–207 BC) and a warr ...

. He is traditionally associated with the promotion of

Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or ...

as the official ideology of the Chinese imperial state. He apparently favored

heaven worship Chinese theology, which comes in different interpretations according to the classic texts and the common religion, and specifically Confucian, Taoist and other philosophical formulations, is fundamentally monistic, that is to say it sees the w ...

over the tradition of cults celebrating the five elements. Ultimately banished to the Chancellery of

Weifang Weifang () is a prefecture-level city in central Shandong province, People's Republic of China. The city borders Dongying to the northwest, Zibo to the west, Linyi to the southwest, Rizhao to the south, Qingdao to the east, and looks out to the L ...

by his adversary

Gongsun Hong Gongsun Hong (公孫弘; Wade–Giles: Kung-sun Hung; 200 – 121 BCE) was a Chinese philosopher and politician in the Western Han dynasty under Emperor Wu. Together with the more famous Confucian scholar Dong Zhongshu, Gongsun was one of the ea ...

, Gongsun effectively promoted Dong's partial retirement from political life, and his teachings were transmitted from there. However, he apparently enjoyed great influence in the court in the last decades of his life leading up to that.Sarah A. Queen 1996 p.36. From Chronicle to Canon: The Hermeneutics of the Spring and Autumn According to Tung Chung-shu. https://books.google.com/books?id=KBiyuzoiF7UC&pg=PA36

Biography

Dong was born in modern Hengshui, Hebei in 179 BC. His birthplace is associated with Wencheng Township (, now located in Jing Country), so in the '' Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals'' he is once mentioned as Lord Dong of Wencheng (). He entered the imperial service during the reign of

Emperor Jing of Han Emperor Jing of Han (Liu Qi (劉啟); 188 BC – 9 March 141 BC) was the sixth emperor of the Chinese Han dynasty from 157 to 141 BC. His reign saw the limiting of the power of the feudal kings/princes which resulted in the Rebellion of the Sev ...

and rose to high office under

Emperor Wu of Han Emperor Wu of Han (156 – 29 March 87BC), formally enshrined as Emperor Wu the Filial (), born Liu Che (劉徹) and courtesy name Tong (通), was the seventh emperor of the Han dynasty of ancient China, ruling from 141 to 87 BC. His reign la ...

. His relationship with the emperor was uneasy though. At one point he was thrown into prison and nearly executed for writings that were considered seditious, and may have cosmologically predicted the overthrow of the

and its replacement by a

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a Religious Confucianism, religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, ...

sage, the first appearance of a theme that would later sweep

Wang Mang Wang Mang () (c. 45 – 6 October 23 CE), courtesy name Jujun (), was the founder and the only Emperor of China, emperor of the short-lived Chinese Xin dynasty. He was originally an official and consort kin of the Han dynasty and later ...

to the imperial throne. He appears to have been protected by the Emperor's chief counselor,

. Dong Zhongshu's thought integrated

Yin Yang Yin and yang ( and ) is a Chinese philosophical concept that describes opposite but interconnected forces. In Chinese cosmology, the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy, organized into the cycles of yin and ya ...

cosmology into a Confucian ethical framework. He emphasised the importance of the ''

Spring and Autumn Annals The ''Spring and Autumn Annals'' () is an ancient Chinese chronicle that has been one of the core Chinese classics since ancient times. The ''Annals'' is the official chronicle of the State of Lu, and covers a 241-year period from 722 to 481 ...

'' as a source for both political and metaphysical ideas, following the tradition of the ''

Gongyang Commentary The ''Gongyang Zhuan'' (), also known as the ''Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals'' or the ''Commentary of Gongyang'', is a commentary on the ''Spring and Autumn Annals'', and is thus one of the Chinese classics. Along with the '' ...

'' in seeking hidden meanings from its text. He is also considered the originator of the doctrine of Interactions Between Heaven and Mankind, which lays down rules for deciding the legitimacy of a monarch as well as providing a set of checks and balances for a reigning monarch. Yangzhou - Dongzi Temple - P1070296

There are two works that are attributed to Dong Zhongshu, one of which is the ''Ju Xianliang Duice'' in three chapters, preserved under the ''

Book of Han The ''Book of Han'' or ''History of the Former Han'' (Qián Hàn Shū,《前汉书》) is a history of China finished in 111AD, covering the Western, or Former Han dynasty from the first emperor in 206 BCE to the fall of Wang Mang in 23 CE. I ...

''. Another of his major works that has survived to the present is the '' Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals'' in 82 chapters. The ''Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals'' bears many marks of multiple authorship. Whether the work was written by Dong himself has been called into question by several scholars including

Zhu Xi Zhu Xi (; ; October 18, 1130 – April 23, 1200), formerly romanized Chu Hsi, was a Chinese calligrapher, historian, philosopher, poet, and politician during the Song dynasty. Zhu was influential in the development of Neo-Confucianism. He con ...

, Cheng Yanzuo, Dai Junren, Keimatsu Mitsuo, and Tanaka Masami. Scholars now reject as later additions all the passages that discuss five elements theory, and much of the rest of the work is questionable as well. It seems safest to regard it as a collection of unrelated or loosely related chapters and shorter works, which could be subdivided into five categories. Most are more or less connected to the ''Gongyang Commentary'' and its school and written by a number of different persons at different times throughout the Han Dynasty. Other important sources for Dong Zhongshu's life and thought include his ''fu'' ''The Scholar's Frustration'', his biography included in the ''Book of Han'', his

and stimulus-response theorizing noted at various places in the ''Book of Han'' "Treatise on the Five Elements," and the fragments of his legal discussions. Dong Zhongshu's theory of 'original qi' (yuanqi or 元氣), the five elements and on the development of history, were later adopted and modified by the late Qing reformer

Kang Youwei Kang Youwei (; Cantonese: ''Hōng Yáuh-wàih''; 19March 185831March 1927) was a prominent political thinker and reformer in China of the late Qing dynasty. His increasing closeness to and influence over the young Guangxu Emperor spar ...

in order to justify his theories of progress via political reform. (See Kang Youwei 1987: Kang Youwei Quanji: Volumes one and Two. Shanghai Guji Chubanshe). It has been questioned, however, how correctly Kang Youwei understood Dong Zhongshu's thought. (Kuang Bailin 1980: Kang Youwei de zhexue sixiang. Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe).

References

Citations

Works cited

* Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (ed.) (1999) ''Sources of Chinese Tradition'' (2nd edition), Columbia University Press, 292–310. * * * David W. Pankenier (1990). "The Scholar's Frustration" Reconsidered: Melancholia or Credo?, ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'' 110(3):434-59. * Arbuckle, G. (1995). Inevitable treason: Dong Zhongshu's theory of historical cycles and the devalidation of the Han mandate, ''Journal of the American Oriental Society'' 115(4). * Sarah A. Queen (1996). ''From Chronicle to Canon: The Hermeneutics of the Spring and Autumn Annals according to Tung Chung-shu'', Cambridge University Press. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dong Zhongshu 179 BC births 104 BC deaths 2nd-century BC Chinese philosophers Chinese Confucianists Han dynasty philosophers Han dynasty politicians from Hebei Philosophers from Hebei Politicians from Hengshui Taoist immortals Writers from Hebei Chinese reformers