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Asked by Mrs.toma from u.s. | Feb. 25, 2011 12:06
About:Northern Song

what is th relation between the song dynasty development of civil service and the confucian ideals of ren and li

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Answers (4)
Answered by Ms.DUNNO from United States | Mar. 16, 2011 13:19
817Reply
I REALLY DONT KNOW ABOUT THAT SORRY!!!
817Reply
Answered by abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz | Apr. 09, 2012 18:44
65Reply
go on google and look up song dynasty, then you can focus on Confucious...he is very interesting; Confucianism is a belief and the emporors made people pass tests about things involving that study. You should really find out more it really interests me when I am sitting in a classroom like a model student should, then screaming out every word right back to a teacher like you who should know this stuff already:)
thanks, have a great day mrs. t :DDDD
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Answered by China the Kid from Canada | Mar. 03, 2013 20:10
96Reply
The Song dynasty was constructed in the aftermath of the Tang dynasty, which had believed in Buddhism, as a result, the fall of the Tang was attributed to the rise of Buddhism, thus the Song government decided to wipe out Buddhism (a foreign religion) and bring back the old "pure Chinese" thought, Confucianism. Because the ancient Confucian texts were centered around the ideas of Han dynasty, the texts had to be "updated" to be of use in Song, almost a thousand years after Han, this new branch of Confucianism was known, unsurprisingly, as Neo-Confucianism.

As for civil service, that's almost everything Confucianism focuses on, Li is "the right way to conduct rituals" and not just religious ritualss either, from dealings between ruler and subject to day-to-day activities, everything that can be done (and is just) is considered a ritual. Ren is "the goodness and benevolence inside men that are needed to properly carry out Li", in other words, a person had to be good for the rituals to work, otherwise it'll be more of an act than sincerely doing what you're suppose to do. Confucians believed that power lies in one's ability to convince others of what is right through verbal, and not physical, means, so the military is looked down upon. Song, following this way of thinking, made the military exceedingly weak and instead concentrated its energies on its government bureaucracy. The Song can be said to be the weakest of the Chinese dynasties in terms of its military, yet the strongest in terms of government supremacy and stability.

Hopefully that answered your question!
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Answered by Eric from USA | Apr. 24, 2013 15:58
27Reply
Actually Confucianism predated the Han Dynasty but was very influential, hence the term "Han Confucianism".
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