Dong Zhongshu

In thisChinese name,thefamily nameisDong.

Dong Zhongshu
Chinese	Đổng trọng thư
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Dǒng Zhòngshū Wade–Giles Tung3Chung4-shu1 IPA [tʊ̀ŋ ʈʂʊ̂ŋ.ʂú] Yue: Cantonese Yale Romanization Dúng Jùhng-syū Jyutping Dung2Zung4-syu1 IPA [tʊŋ˧˥ tsʊŋ˩.sy˥] Southern Min HokkienPOJ Táng Tiōng-soo Middle Chinese Middle Chinese Túng ɖjùwng-sho Old Chinese Baxter–Sagart (2014) Tˤongʔ N-trung-s l̥a

Dong Zhongshu(Chinese:Đổng trọng thư;Wade–Giles:Tung Chung-shu;179–104 BC) was a Chinese philosopher, politician, and writer of theHan dynasty.He is traditionally associated with the promotion ofConfucianismas the official ideology of the Chinese imperial state, favoringheaven worshipover the tradition of cults celebrating thefive elements.Enjoying great influence in the court in the last decades of his life,his adversary Gongsun Hongultimately promoted his partial retirement from political life by banishing him to the Chancellery ofWeifang,but his teachings were transmitted from there.

Biography

Stone statue of Dong Zhongshu, located atZaoqiang County

Dong was born in modernHengshui, Hebei,in 179 BC. His birthplace is associated with Wencheng Township (Ôn thành hương,now located inJing Country), so in theLuxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annalshe is once mentioned as Lord Dong of Wencheng (Ôn thành đổng quân).

He entered the imperial service during the reign ofEmperor Jing of Hanand rose to high office underEmperor Wu of Han.His relationship with the emperor was uneasy though. At one point he was thrown into prison and nearly executed for writings that were considered seditious, and may have cosmologically predicted the overthrow of theHan dynastyand its replacement by aConfuciansage, the first appearance of a theme that would later sweepWang Mangto the imperial throne. He appears to have been protected by the emperor's chief counselor,Gongsun Hong.

Dong Zhongshu's thought integratedYin Yangcosmology into a Confucian ethical framework. He emphasised the importance of theSpring and Autumn Annalsas a source for both political and metaphysical ideas, following the tradition of theGongyang Commentaryin seeking hidden meanings from its text. He is also considered the originator of the doctrine ofInteractions Between Heaven and Mankind,which lays down rules for deciding the legitimacy of a monarch as well as providing a set of checks and balances for a reigning monarch.

Bibliography

Temple in honor of Dong Zhongshu inYangzhou

There are two works that are attributed to Dong Zhongshu, one of which is theJu Xianliang Duicein three chapters, preserved under theBook of Han.Another of his major works that has survived to the present is theLuxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annalsin 82 chapters. TheLuxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annalsbears many marks of multiple authorship. Whether the work was written by Dong himself has been called into question by several scholars includingZhu Xi,Cheng Yanzuo, Dai Junren, Keimatsu Mitsuo, and Tanaka Masami.

Scholars now reject as later additions all the passages that discussfive elementstheory, and much of the rest of the work is questionable as well. It seems safest to regard it as a collection of unrelated or loosely related chapters and shorter works, which could be subdivided into five categories. Most are more or less connected to theGongyang Commentaryand its school and written by a number of different persons at different times throughout the Han dynasty.

Other important sources for Dong Zhongshu's life and thought include hisfuThe Scholar's Frustration,his biography included in theBook of Han,hisYin Yangand stimulus-response theorizing noted at various places in theBook of Han"Treatise on the Five Elements," and the fragments of his legal discussions. Dong Zhongshu's theory of 'original qi' (yuanqi or nguyên khí ), the five elements and on the development of history, were later adopted and modified by the late Qing reformerKang Youweiin order to justify his theories of progress via political reform. (See Kang Youwei 1987: Kang Youwei Quanji: Volumes one and Two. Shanghai Guji Chubanshe). It has been questioned, however, how correctly Kang Youwei understood Dong Zhongshu's thought. (Kuang Bailin 1980: Kang Youwei de zhexue sixiang. Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe).

References

Works cited

• Wm. Theodore de Bary and Irene Bloom (ed.) (1999)Sources of Chinese Tradition(2nd edition), Columbia University Press, 292–310.
• Knechtges, David R.(2010)."Dong Zhongshu đổng trọng thư".In Knechtges, David R.; Chang, Taiping (eds.).Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature: A Reference Guide, Part One.Leiden: Brill. pp. 190–98.ISBN978-90-04-19127-3.
• Loewe, Michael (2000). "Dong Zhongshu".A Biographical Dictionary of the Qin, Former Han and Xin Periods (221 BC – AD 24).Leiden: Brill. pp. 70–73.ISBN90-04-10364-3.
• David W. Pankenier (1990). "The Scholar's Frustration" Reconsidered: Melancholia or Credo?,Journal of the American Oriental Society110(3):434-59.
• Arbuckle, G. (1995). Inevitable treason: Dong Zhongshu's theory of historical cycles and the devalidation of the Han mandate,Journal of the American Oriental Society115(4).
• Sarah A. Queen (1996).From Chronicle to Canon: The Hermeneutics of the Spring and Autumn Annals according to Tung Chung-shu,Cambridge University Press.