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Confucianism advocates the political principle of governing the country through benevolence and winning people’s support through virtue as opposed to rule by force. Enlightened kings and emperors of ancient times governed the country primarily through benevolence and virtue. In the Warring States Period, Mencius （372？-289 BC） advocated this idea as a political concept: Only by governing the state with benevolence and righteousness, and by handling state-to-state relations on the basis of virtue, can a ruler win popular support and subsequently unify the country. The kingly way or benevolent governance epitomizes the Chinese people’s respect for “civilization” and their opposition to the use of force and tyranny.
King was originally the title for the “Son of Heaven,” namely, the country’s supreme ruler in the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties. From the Spring and Autumn Period onward, the power of the Zhou court gradually weakened and the kingdom disintegrated. By the time of the Warring States Period, any monarch could call himself a king. Up to the Qin and Han dynasties, king became the highest title granted by the emperor to a male member of the imperial family. In the political philosophical discourse of Confucianism, especially in the works of Confucius（551-479 BC） and Mencius（372？-289 BC）, a king represents heaven’s will and therefore ought to have supreme, unchallengeable power; at the same time, he is imbued with a high moral attribute and political ideals. According to Confucianism, to be a king is to unify or govern the country with benevolence and righteousness, or to win over people by morally justified means. Likewise, the pursuit of the kingly way means using benevolent and righteous means to unify and govern the country.
If one can make the people live in peace and happiness, he can unify all the land. In ancient China, a "king" (wang 王) was not just the one who held the highest power. Rather, he was a man who clearly understood the fundamental principle of maintaining harmony with heaven and earth as well as other humans and enjoyed popular support. To "protect the people" is to love and care for them, ensuring that they obtain the means of survival, receive education and live and work in peace. To "protect the people" is the primary function of the state or government, a prerequisite for winning the people’s hearts and minds; it is also the source of legitimate power. It gives concrete expression to the vision of "putting the people first" and "benevolent governance."
This term means to love and care for the common people. This is not only a sentiment which those who govern should have for the common people, but also an important principle which must be adhered to in governance. The ancient Chinese believed that those who govern should use specific policies and measures to benefit the people and enable them to live and work peacefully, free from sufferings and unwarranted infringements. This is the precondition or basis for those who govern to win the respect of the people. "Loving the people" was not only an important political concept - it also extended to the military sphere and became an important principle when raising armies to make war. According to this principle, the people of both one's own side and that of the enemy should receive caring love. This is a manifestation of the Chinese thinking "people first" and "benevolence and righteousness."
This term means safeguarding the people’s life. It first appeared in The Book of History. In the view of ancient Chinese, the mandate of heaven determined to whom supreme power in the human world belonged. The mandate was bestowed and removed according to predetermined principles. Virtuous rulers received the mandate, those without virtue lost it. The most important virtue for retaining the mandate of heaven was protecting the people, which was to ensure a safe and peaceful life for them, and this manifested the ruler’s love and care for his people. “Protecting the people” was a central goal of governance in ancient China.
The term means to benefit and provide for the people. Huimin (惠民) is a concrete manifestation of benevolent governance and loving the people, with focus on dividing wealth among the people and benefiting them. The emphasis is on placing the interests of the people first, so that they will support both ruler and government officials. Specifically this means all policies and measures must be in the public interest, must fulfill and ensure the real needs of the people, and keep wealth with them; they should not conflict with the public interest, or worse, be deceitful or resort to force.
This term means to provide the people with necessities of life and educate them. According to The Book of History, this is what constitutes good governance. To reach this goal, the ruler must manage well the “six necessities and three matters,” the six necessities being metal, wood, water, fire, land, and grain, and the three matters being fostering virtue, proper use of resources, and ensuring people’s livelihood. This concept of governance, which focuses on promoting both economic and ethical progress, is people-centered.
This term refers to the evaluative judgment or view of the people in a country or region, on an issue, phenomenon or incident which touches on their common interest and which has broad societal meaning. Ancient Chinese often took the “mandate of heaven” to be the basis and highest concept for the legitimacy of political authority and for policymaking, but in fact they often regarded the “will of the people” to be the principal source, content, and manifestation of the “mandate of heaven.” They also considered it to be the fundamental principle of a country’s governance, and thought that having or losing the will of the people determined the rise or fall of a country and political power as well as the development of state affairs. It is the core of the Chinese concept of the people as the foundation of the state. All enlightened Chinese statesmen past and present have regarded the “will of the people” to be the most important factor in governance.
Governance of a state should be guided by virtue. Confucius （551-479 BC） expounded this philosophy – which his followers in later eras promoted – on the basis of the approach advocated by the rulers in the Western Zhou Dynasty that prized high moral values and the virtue of being cautious in meting out punishment. Governance based on virtue stands in contrast to rule by use of harsh punishment as a deterrent. It does not, however, exclude the use of punishment, but rather highlights the decisive role of virtue in governance, and regards moral edification both as the fundamental principle and the essential means for achieving good governance.
This expression refers to pursuing conciliatory and benevolent policies and offering benefits to tribes and groups in remote areas. It was a political concept adopted by successive governments led mostly by the Han people in their relations with other ethnic groups, tribes in remote areas not yet directly under their rule, and foreign states. It also represented an important component of the theory of winning over others by virtue. China was, as it is today, a multi-ethnic country. The Han-led government ruled over a large territory and believed that they had an advanced culture. They usually took a conciliatory approach based on the Confucian concept of benevolence in dealing with the tribes and populations in remote regions, rather than conquering them by force, with the goal of placating them and winning their allegiance.
A state which takes good care of its people is one with true power. A ruler will be trusted and supported by the people, and the state under such a ruler will be a solid stronghold only when the policies and measures made and implemented meet the people’s requirements and represent the people’s fundamental interests. This is a new theme derived from the concept of “loving the people,” which is the fundamental driving force of a state’s becoming strong and prosperous. It is also an extension and development of the concepts of “the people are the foundation of a state,” and “a benevolent person loves others.”
This term means that the people are the essence of the state or the foundation upon which it stands. Only when people live and work in peace and contentment can the state be peaceful and stable. This saying, which first appeared in the “Old Text” version of The Book of History as an instruction by Yu the Great, can be traced to Mencius’ (372?-289 BC) statement: “The essence of a state is the people, next come the god of land and the god of grain (which stand for state power), and the last the ruler,” and Xunzi’s (313?-238 BC) statement, “Just as water can float a boat, so can water overturn it.” This idea gave rise to the “people first” thought advocated by Confucianism.
The notion of the people’s will being the foundation, or the “roots,” of government comes from a dialogue between a king of the Shang Dynasty and Houfu (in a text found on bamboo slips of the Warring States Period). Houfu said to the king, “The people’s will is like the roots of a tree: they support the leaves.” By that he meant that public support was the foundation of the state, and without it the state or political power would perish. The ancients believed that a government was legitimate so long as it “followed the mandate of heaven and complied with the wishes of the people.” people’s wishes were a prerequisite of heaven’s will, and only if the state complied with the people’s wishes, would it enjoy lasting stability. This notion is identical to the concept that "people are the foundation of the state".
This idea was first put forward by Zhang Zai （1020-1077）of the Northern Song Dynasty, who held that people and things are all created by the vital force of heaven and earth, and thus are similar in nature. He advocated love for all people and things in the world, and his view transcended the old anthropocentric viewpoint and aimed to reach harmony between oneself and other human beings as well as between oneself and other creatures and things. It is the same as the idea that a true gentleman has ample virtue and cares for all things. This notion is an important part of the School of Principle of the Song and Ming dynasties.
The term means to have love for the people, and cherish all things in the world. Here wu (物) includes plants and animals, while ai (爱) implies using them in a measured and appropriate way. This was first proposed by Mencius （372？-289 BC） who differentiated natural emotions as: a love for close family, a broad compassion for other people, and a sense of cherishing for plants and animals. The love could be close or distant, but a person of virtue always begins with love of close relatives, which then extends to other people and eventually to all things in the world. Though this feeling starts within the family, it should extend beyond it, even beyond the human race to include plants and animals, to become a broad love. The goal is to achieve harmony within oneself, with others and with nature. Zhang Zai’s （1020-1077）concept that “all people are my brothers and sisters, and all things are my companions” is very similar.
The ancient Chinese believed that virtuous men followed the will of heaven in establishing a political regime and becoming its sovereigns; hence their success came from the mandate of heaven. This thought is similar to the Western notion of the divine right of kings; but it also emphasizes the wishes and will of the people, or people-centered thinking. In ancient China, this phrase was often used in praise of the founding of a new dynasty, and the implementation of major social reforms to justify its legitimacy.
Confucianists believe that the aim of a government official is to have people live in peace and contentment. Officials must always bear in mind the people’s well-being, be concerned about their suffering, and do their best to keep them free from misery. This embodies the Confucian concept of “benevolent governance,” a fine Chinese ethical tradition and the responsibility of those with lofty ideals, working for social prosperity and the people’s well-being. This concept is well expressed in the line “Worry before everyone else has to worry, and feel happy only after everyone else can feel happy” in “Memorial to Yueyang Tower” written by Fan Zhongyan ( 989 -1052 ), an eminent minister of the Song Dynasty.
Relying on moral strength will bring prosperity, whereas relying on violence will bring doom. The saying is described in The Book of History (as cited in Records of the Historian). De (德) refers to morals, grace, and integrity. Li (力) refers to coercion, violence, and military power. Under the influence of the political and ethical principles of the Confucian school, since ancient times the Chinese people have been advocating benevolent governance virtue (winning over people with benevolence) as opposed to rule by force (wielding power over people), believing that only by relying on benevolence can the ruler hope to win people’s hearts and minds, resulting therefore in a positive synergy that brings about prosperity. Rule by force, on the other hand, can merely coerce people into submission, but cannot achieve genuine and lasting harmony and unity. This is true not only in managing an entity or governing a country, but also in handling relationships among countries. As a principle for managing international relations, the term suggests that wanton engagement in military action or attempting to completely dominate others are incompatible with the development of civilization. Only by observing moral principles and trusting one another can sustainable peace and security be achieved in the world.
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