Early Imperial Confucianism

Abstract This chapter examines the fitful growth and development of Confucianism from the Qin dynasty to the end of the Tang. It demonstrates that the tradition slowly gained influence at court and society at large—it was only in the Eastern Han that it became government ideology. Despite its loss of philosophical influence in the tumultuous Six Dynasties, Confucianism retained its importance because of the inroads it made into upper-class ritual life and its ability to accommodate other teachings. With the Sui and Tang unification of China, Confucianism once again extensively influenced both state and society. The catastrophe of the An Lushan Rebellion, though, caused Tang thinkers to re-evaluate the tradition. Many continued to embrace medieval Confucianism’s expansive and accommodating attitude, but a small minority began to envision the tradition in a new way, which would become the harbinger of Neo-Confucianism.