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Ethics-Politics 85

After Emperor Wu of Zhou overthrew the Shang Dynasty through the Battle
of Muye, the Zhou ruling clique established a feudal kingdom on the basis of the
patriarchal clan system. The Zhou Dynasty “developed a political system that
unified the state-level and the family-level organizations” (Chen, 2007 p. 66),
forming a homogeneous pattern (同质模式) that integrated “the family with the
state” (Han, 2001, p. 61; Lü et al., 2004, p. 2 & Pi, 2007, p. 26). A good case
in point is the king of Zhou. He was both the political authority and the
patriarch of the Ji clan. “The state is a representation of the clan on the political
level, whereas the clan is at the core of the state governing structure.” (Tian &
Zang, 1996, p. 32) This indicates that ethical and political principles are
inseparable.
It is generally believed that there were two important principles underlying the
patriarchal system of the Western Zhou Dynasty: “loving one’s relatives” and
“honoring one’s seniors” (Gan, 2006, p. 26; Pi, 2007, pp. 160–163 & Yang, 2007, p.
60). The “Great Treatise” in The Book of Rites (《礼记 · 大传》) states, “Regulating
the hierarchical relationship to one’s ancestors and deceased father is a case of
honoring one’s seniors. Regulating the hierarchical relationship to one’s
offspring is a case of loving one’s later generations. Regulating the order of
brothers and cousins, gathering members of the same clan to dine together,
arranging them orderly according to blood relations, and making difference of
the relationship between them according to the rituals, are all truths pertaining to
humanity.” Although the “Great Treatise” mainly talks about patriarchal rituals,
they are directly related to political governance. In the paragraph quoted above,
“to regulate” means “to rectify.” Therefore, “Regulating the hierarchical rela-
tionship to one’sancestors andone’sdeceasedfatherisacase of honoring the
seniors” means “rectifying the relationship between oneself and his father and
ancestors,” and “respecting one’sseniors.”“Regulating the hierarchical rela-
tionship to one’sdescendants” means “rectifying the relationship between
oneself and one’s offspring,” or “loving one’sdescendants (恩爱后代)” (Liu et al.,
1993, p. 489). The last statement, “[the aforementioned] are all the truths per-
taining to humanity,” declares that human relations, viz. ethics, is the theme of
the book.
The book then goes on to say, “When the sagely king assumes the throne and
rules the world, he must begin with the way of humankind.” And “loving one’s
relatives” and “honoring one’s seniors” are discussed again. It can be justifiably
concluded that “loving one’s relatives” was meant to highlight the blood lineage
and the family affection between clan members, so as to maintain unity. The
principle of “honoring one’s seniors” similarly bears the dual meanings of ethics
and politics. Confucius remarked, “To his son and heir, a ruler is a father in terms of
blood relations, and a monarch in terms of politics. The ruler has both fatherly love