Later Development of the Classical Philosophical Ideas
3 min readBefore the founding of the Qin dynasty，the foundation of Chinese philosophy was laid.Nevertheless，it is by no means to say that there is nothing new to add or there were never ar guments or struggles in the Chinese academic field.We shall continue to discuss some later philosophical，political as wellas social works .
Dong Zhongshu and Wang Chong
Having founded a unified，centralized and authoritarian empire，the Han rulers felt the need of a philosophy that couldguide and strengthen their rule.They knew that political unifi cation had to be supported by the unification of thought.Not long before them，the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty hadmade an attempt to unify thought.
He had given orders that books be burnt and scholars be buried alive，and that the peo ple be prohibited from the study of any-thing but the laws thenin force.However，he had failed to achieve his goal.Only fif-teen years after he had unified the country，the dynasty he had founded was toppled，and various schools of thought were ac tive again.This made the han rulers realize that they ought to unify thought along different lines.Seventy years after thefounding of the dynasty，Emperor Wudi called on all scholars to present suggestions about effective government.He gotvaluable opinions from an outstanding scholar of the time.His name was Dong Zhongshu.
Dong Zhongshu
Dong Zhongshu was Confucian scholar.He presented a series of theories and policies.The emperor was impressed andused him as a high ranking official.But later he offended the emperor and was imprisoned for some time after he was re leased he devoted his time to writing and teaching It was said that he worked so hard that for three years he did not take a look at his own garden He suggested that Confucianism be made the orthodox philosophy，or official belief，and that all other schools of thought be discredited.Emperor Wudi accepted this sugges tion This decision had a tremendous influence on the devel opment of Chinese culture，for it put Confucianism into a dominant position.
From then on，in most dynasties，most scholars studied Confucianism，and only Confucian scholars were qualified to be officials in the government.But the Han rulers did not ban the teaching and discussion of other schools of thought.This policy was also followed by later dynasties Dong Zhongshu was also kn guides and five constant virtue s own for the three cardinal.
The three cardinal guides were：the prince was the guide of his ministers，the father was the guide of his sons，and the husband was the guide of his wife.The five constant virtues were：humanity，rightness，propriety，wisdom，and trustor thiness.These principles were to become an important part of the feudal ethical code and the theoretical basis of feudal rule According to Dong Zhongshu，Heaven had its will and purpose.It was Heaven that made the sun，the moon，and the stars move，the four seasons change，and all animals and plants grow and die.Heaven was kindhearted，so it made things pro duce one another：heaven was also severe so it made things overcome one another.Moreover.Heaven created a ruler to rule over the people.
This meant that Heaven wanted the peo ple to be ruled.When a ruler did something wrong，Heaven would be angry and would give the ruler warnings by causing strange natural phenomena to happen，such as eclipses，earth quakes，floods and droughts This theory-the interaction between Heaven and manhad a clear purpose.On the one hand，it was intended to showthat the ruler s position and power were given him by Heaven，and should not be questioned；on the other hand，the ruler should be virtuous and benevolent，and govern well.so as not to incur Heavens anger.Dong Zhongshu had a well-known saying：The Way is great because it originates in Heaven Heaven does not change；nor does the Way.”
