Social Sciences in China (Chinese Edition)

No.9, 2014

 

The Shift towards Man in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties and the Religious Nature of Confucianism

(Abstract)

 

Hong Xiuping

 

The shift toward man during the Shang and Zhou Dynasties was a move from being god-centered to being human-centered. Not only was this the source of Confucian and Taoist philosophical thought; it also laid down the spiritual foundations for the further development of Chinese civilization and established the norms for its main trends. The shift towards man meant that as it grew, Chinese religion developed a distinctive people-centered relationship between man and the gods. Confucianism was deeply influenced by the religious tradition of the Xia, Shang and Zhou on the one hand, but on the other, it continued the shift towards man through its dual character of humanism and religion. The religious nature of Confucianism was embodied not only in its thinking about life and the Way of Heaven, but also in its attention to the human/divine relationship as seen in veneration for Heaven and ancestor worship. This duality of Confucianism has exerted an important influence on China’s acceptance of foreign religions and cultures. It was both an important precondition for the successful spread of Mahayana Buddhism in China and the prime cause of the repeated failure of efforts to propagate Christianity. The religious nature of the Confucian “humanism” that developed in the religious tradition handed down from the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties is an important resource for today’s new Confucians in their quest for theoretical breakthroughs. If we transcend the one-way emphasis on the Way of Heaven and man’s nature and destiny of Confucianism and pay heed to its religious dimension—the human/divine relationship evinced in veneration for Heaven and ancestor worship—we may be able to return more fully to the distinctive character of Confucianism.