History of Chinese Legal Thought

Author: Wang Dongling, Editor-in-Chief
Publisher:
Publishing Time: Not Available
Features: A History of Chinese Legal Thought is the designated textbook for the National Higher Education Self-Tuition Examination. This course organizes history along the timeline ("the longitude") and weaves it with key figures ("the latitude"), elaborating on China's history spanning thousands of years from the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties to the period of bourgeois democratic revolution. From the perspective of social formations, it successively experienced three historical stages: the slave society, the feudal society, and the semi-colonial and semi-feudal society. The complexity of A History of Chinese Legal Thought is thus evident. This textbook divides the history of Chinese legal thought into five parts: the legal thought of the Xia, Shang, and Western Zhou periods during the slave society; the legal thought of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods during the transition from the slave society to the feudal society; the legal thought of the Qin, Han, to Sui and Tang dynasties during the feudal society; the legal thought from the feudal society to the Opium War (pre-1840); and the legal thought of the semi-colonial and semi-feudal society from the Opium War to the Xinhai Revolution. This division is actually designed to facilitate candidates' review, as each part has its own distinct characteristics, allowing for categorized understanding during study.
Part I primarily focuses on theocracy-based legal thought and patriarchal thought. This part is not a major emphasis in the book. Part II is relatively important, especially as Confucianism and Legalism hold significant positions in the study of Chinese legal thought. Part III spans from the Qin to the Tang dynasties, tracing the trajectory of legal thought from Qin's rule of law to the early Han Dynasty's Huang-Lao non-action, and then to the feudal orthodox legal thought of the mid-to-late Han Dynasty. Compared to other parts, this chapter is also not overly emphasized. Part IV discusses the legal thought from the Song Dynasty to the Opium War (pre-1840), which is a key focus of this course. The final part covers the legal thought of the semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, which is relatively important.