Classical Confucianism's Definition of Persons

Introduction

Classical Confucians believed in moral perfectibility through education, a tradition that marked Chinese culture and government for two millennia. From 136 B.C.E. to 1911, Chinas imperial system upheld blended versions of Imperial Confucianism (also known as Legalism or Neo-Confucianism) as a state philosophy, and most dynasties based crucial scholar-elite (roughly, civil service) exams on its main texts. However, Confucian scholars tended to denigrate the callings of merchants and warriors, and state Confucianism repeatedly ossified into rigid conservatism. This held China apart from the extraordinary scientific and mercantile progress of the West after 1500 and made it slow ...