| dc.description.abstract | “Differences between Wang (emperor/ruling by benevolence) and Ba (feudal vassal/ruling by power)” is one of the core issues in Chinese political ideology mentioned in the East Zhou Dynasty. Although “the Wang was revered” in the records then, “the Ba were not dismissed”. “Differences between Wang and Ba” was mostly analyzed into two perspectives: political judgment and ethical judgment. In political judgment, “differences between Wang and Ba” was regarded as a political position or political power; in ethical judgment, the one whose motivations and manners of conduct were closer to perfection was named “Wang” and the one who was inferior to the Wang was called “Ba”. During that era, only Mencius held his own opinion against that of the majority, taking the approach of “reverence of the Wang and dismissal of the Ba”. He upheld such a viewpoint because of the objective environment at that time and his own theory of humanity.
After the East Zhou Dynasty, this issue was still keenly discussed. The Song Dynasty was another peak to discuss the differences between Wang and Ba. Zhu Xi (Chu Hsi) and Chen Liang once held a lively debate about whether the rulers in the Han and Tang Dynasty were “Wang”; however, because their basic assumptions of values were quite different, neither of them could convince the other through the debate. Nevertheless, in this debate it was brought up that under the framework of “Nei-sheng wai-wang” (internal saint and external emperors/not only an emperor but also a saint), the conflict of ethics and achievements sometimes could not always coexist. Later, a famous scholar, Mr. Mou Zongsan (Mou Tsung-san) also mentioned that the outstanding heroes were born to be leaders and he believed those historic figures and events could be tested through the historical judgment.
This study is mainly on the subject of “the differences between Wang and Ba”. I will show you the whole picture of the issue and its modern enlightenment with the backbone of Mencius’, Zhu Xi’s and Chen Liang’s arguments. | en_US |