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Welcome to A²!

Wednesday, October 26, 2016

Taoism and Our Understanding of Chinese History

Taoism ca
n help deepen our understanding of early Chinese history. First of all, Taoism is a little bit religion and a little bit philosophy. "Daojio" is the religion part, and "Daojia" is the philosophical works associated with it. The main idea under Taoism, at least in a western mind, is to go with the flow, get back with nature, and so on. Taoism can tell us a lot about Chinese history. It is believed that Taoism was created in the year 142, in western China. According to "Reconstruction Taoism's Transformation in China", by Ian Johnson, "The early history sheds light on China as a whole. China had never had an alternative political model other than the emperor. That was the model for over 2,000 years. But the early history of Taoism is different. It's a theocracy based around 'tianshi' [celestial masters]." This celestial master was supposed to make a new political structure called the "Great Peace". In this, everyone would be treated fairly. This was very different than the preexisting ideas of Confucianism. Taoism and Confucianism are very different from one another, so these ancient Chinese religions can tell us a lot about the ancient people living within them. In the article, it says "So the Taoist canon can be used as an alternative history, expanding on the official histories. It shows another aspect of Chinese society that you can't get from the zhengshi, or 'official histories.'" So in other words, we have a preexisting idea of Chinese history, but the ideas of Taoism can help expand that understanding, and even create new ideas on how ancient Chinese life was.