The Implementation of Confucian Principles in the Qing Legal System

However, there is another person who gets punished, Doctor Tang, Mr. Hsu’s teacher. Dr. Tang is the host teacher of the private school, and lives with all his students, taking charge in the supervision of his pupils. During the tribunal, Judge Dee told Doctor Tang, “You, a man of wide learning and many years experience, have failed miserably in your duties as a tutor. The crime of adultery took place in your house, and, as it were, under your very eyes…….you are strictly forbidden ever again to engage in the teaching of students.” [4]The Judge then proclaims to Mrs. Bee(though does not in fact punish her), “You failed in your duty of supervising the conduct of your daughter-in-law, and consequently two heinous crimes were committed in your house.”[5] This relates again to the Confucian theory of right relationships. The elderly should play his/her role as an older person in the Chinese society, or else the society will go without order, and though Mrs. Bee doesn’t get punishment, the words Judge Dee says clearly portray interpersonal relationships in Chinese society.

Legalism was very different from both Confucianism and Daoism because Legalism was the belief that people needed to be controlled because they were evil. Legalism is found in China and was founded by Han Feize. While it is unknown when Legalism was established, it is known that Han Feize was born in 280 B.C. so that gives a general time when legalism started. Legalism didn’t deal with much religious concerns but was more of a political philosophy instead. Citizens were seen to be responsible for actions of one another. A person who is considered guilty, their relatives and neighbors should be punished as well. This was a way to make sure that the laws are followed. The laws are strict with harsh punishments. People who spy on others and report anything that they do wrong to the authorities are thought to be doing right of the law. Both Legalism and Confucianism are belief systems within a group of people, not religions, and both are intended to lead to an orderly way of life, how they approach their teachings are complete opposed.

The idea of ruling a powerful government based on the principle of using two conflicting ideologies at the same time appeared foreign to most dynasties of early China. In early Chinese times, after the Period of the Warring States, two ideologies emerged: Legalism and Confucianism. Legalism stressed a strong central government that expressed harsh laws while Confucianism had a decentralized government, placing trust in conscientious and learned individuals to work together to solve political issues. These two schools of thought were in stark contrast to each other and, up until the Han dynasty, had never been combined with each other through government policy. The Qin dynasty, for example implemented a strict Legalist government while the

(C2C, Source 7). The Qin Law Code consisted of so many possible offenses that ordinary people often did not realize that they had committed a crime until they had been arrested. The Qin Law Code set specified harsh punishments for particular crimes. For serious offences, lawbreakers faced bodily mutilation, however minor offences still faced severe punishments. The death penalty was reserved for the worst criminals, especially those who threatened the emperor or the state. These unnecessary, cruel punishments are the reason Qin Shi Huang is a cruel and heartless

They want to emphasize individual virtuous behavior, both by the ruler and the ruled as well as highly recommending obedience and respect, “people should know their place, even under bad rulers.” Even the Han emperors decided to implement Confucius ideas after looking at their doctrine called The Analects. The book shows Confucian political value and social order which states that the aristocrats and the educated are of the highest degree, and then comes farmers, and finally, the merchants. Although both Confucianism and Legalism call for governmental hierarchy, Confucianism possessed an optimistic view of human potential while Legalists believe that a powerful government is necessary along with a carefully devised law rewarding for good deeds and punishing for bad

The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee takes place in Tang Dynasty China and it revolves around Judge Dee (Dee Goong An). Judge Dee was a magistrate (or a judge), who solved different crimes around China. In this book, it includes three main crimes and Judge Dee examines them all. Judge Dee included both Legalist and Confucian methods to help move along each case and eventually solve them. He used these different techniques to help him solve each case, but three certain Confucian values helped him truly become a good magistrate. The three Confucian values were Ren, Xiào, and Li. Judge Dee used all of these values in order to become a good magistrate.

In the book Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee (Dee Goong An), the main character is Judge Dee, a magistrate in China’s Tang dynasty. The roles of a magistrate include, but are not limited to, being a judge, detective and police officer. The book follows three of Judge Dee’s cases, the Case of the Double Murder at Dawn, the Case of the Strange Corpse and the Case of the Poisoned Bride. In order to be a distinguished and powerful magistrate, one must lead with Confucian and Legalist values. Judge Dee is an effective magistrate because he blends both Confucian and Legalist values seamlessly, and is well aware of the Tang dynasty’s social hierarchy.

Rulers who were well versed in their philosophies ruled their kingdoms in harmony. In China, laws played a big role in the everyday society. Laws during that period was very harsh. If someone had broken one of the laws, they would have been punished harshly. That was what Legalism was like back then. According to Legalism, laws had to be revised and have harsh punishments in order “to wipe out evil deeds”(Document 6). In Hinduism, the sacred law of the caste system was to have have a different laws for each districts. According to Document 1, the most popular guilds were “teaching the Vedas for a Brahmin, protecting the people for a Kshatriya, and trade for a Vaisya.” The lower castes, such as the Untouchables, were looked down upon due to

Belief systems are philosophies or religions that influence people’s lives. Many philosophies throughout the history of China have greatly influenced the daily lives of it’s people. Chinese philosophies held many important beliefs that both positively and negatively impacted the daily lives of China’s people. Two examples of these philosophies and their impact on the people of China’s daily lives are Legalism during the Ch’in dynasty, and Confucianism during the Han Dynasty.

The alternative to Confucianism was Legalism, and it advocated strict adherence to law as it believed that human nature was evil and needed strict rule.

Legalism is an ancient Chinese philosophy of administration that believes that humans are more inclined to do wrong than right because they are motivated entirely by self-interest. Shi Huangdi was the founder of the Qin dynasty. After conquering the seven kingdoms in ancient China, he halted the Warring States Period and took the throne as the first emperor of the unified Chinese nation. He ruled on the basis of Legalism. To prevent criticism of his rule, Shi Huangdi ordered that all books that seemed to be useless or against him be burned. This included all poetry from the Chou dynasty and all books written by Confucian scholars. The only books from previous eras that Shi Huangdi let off were the practical ones about medicine and farming. Focusing on the issue of media censorship, the current Chinese government governs in a similar way to the way Qin Shi Huangdi once governed. China still blocks and monitor citizens access to several social media services and shuts down media entertainment programs during government events. While some may see this as an extreme form of censorship, we must consider the fact that several other countries have similar policies in place.

Amidst the chaos of political instability and constant warring of the Zhou era, arose many intellectual thinkers that brought such a profound impact in the fields of politics, religion, and philosophy. Even to this day, their influence can be seen on the many matters of China. Confucianism became the paramount school of thinking and later significant philosophies such as Daoism and Legalism gained immense recognition as well. Each party had their own proposals for creating an idealistic political society where the many problems they faced in their everyday lives could be eliminated. All three approaches were very distinct but at the same time, they contained similarities as well. In my reasoning, I find that Confucianism and Daoism

Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism, are three Chinese ideologies in Classic China that held influence on how society should be, how to achieve order and what made government strong. Anyone that was a practitioner of these three philosophies would have had no idea how the Roman Republic or Empire worked in those regards. It would not be surprising if a Confucian, a Daoist and a Legalist had praise and dislike for how Rome was ran.

Firstly, Confucianism prized the rule of men over the rule of law; that is to promote harmony in the people over the interest of a ruler. If a ruler has appropriate personal conduct the government will be effective without needing to issue order. However, the ruler do not have the correct conducts, his orders will not be obeyed.

In china there has been no central rule in China for 70 years until the Song Dynasty created in 960. Things started to change in China, for example, the government started to aid the poor a lot more than what they have in the past. They were getting this money from the newly introduced income tax. This made a lot of people happy and everyone started to have more patriotism and pride. This pride gave the government a feel of legitimacy. Some of the major things the government is paying for is the roads, food, and education. Pottery at this time helps out the economy in China, because the pottery is so advanced that it was being exported for good money and it also led more people to come to China. Even though China was number one in the world for many things like technology and a sophisticated culture they were weak military wise (Holcombe p.127).