This character is known as relating to wisdom or wise people. It is also associated with philosophy or philosophical principles.

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浅谈中国古代哲学起源 
qiǎn tán zhōng guó gǔ dài zhé xué qǐ yuán
This is a brief introduction of how ancient Chinese philosophy came into being.

Philosophers in ancient China came from a group of people, the wu shi, whose job was to practice divination and astrology, observe the sun, moon, stars and planets, and record historical events. The Shang Dynasty, founded by 1600 BCE, was dominated by the idea that fate could be manipulated by great deities. When the Shang was overthrown by the Zhou in 1046 BCE, the idea of attributing everything to deities was gradually replaced by a new political, religious concept, which was called the “Mandate of Heaven.”

 

This procedure can be illustrated by a famous Chinese myth. In this myth, Earth and Heaven are connected by a passage, through which humans can have direct contact with deities. When the mythological emperor Zhuanxu becomes furious at finding a lack of virtue in humans, he decides to cut the communication between Heaven and Earth. The separation of Heaven and Earth is interpreted as a representation of increasing social stratification. After the separation, humans have to face their own destiny. They begin to think about and explore social order based on reason. In this sense, this myth marks the start of social stratification in China’s rise to civilization.

Under the concept of the “Mandate of Heaven,” rulers had the right to explain natural or social phenomena. The wu shi, who used to interpret the world from a religious perspective, began to seek interpretation through reason rather than through practices of divination and astrology. This signifies how Chinese culture broke away from religion and started to develop independently, thus promoting the advent of Chinese philosophy. The wu shi attempted to not only interpret natural phenomena, but also understand and explain the world of humans, with the purpose of helping people who were lost after the collapse of religious belief centered on deities. This marks a fundamental distinction from western philosophy. It’s dominant view focused on how to solve problems in the real world and how to help people live better.

 

edited by REN GUANHONG