The Economic Principles of Confucius and His School

being. If we are to measure the greatness of a historical personage, I can see only one standard applicable for the purpose: the effectiveness of that person’s influence according to its dimensions, duration, and intensity. If this standard is applied, Confucius was one of the greatest of men. For even at the present day, after the lapse of more than two thousand years, the moral, social, and political life of about one-third of mankind continues to be under the full influence of his mind.¹

Confucius has indeed been the maker of the Chinese people, but he himself did not spring from an uncivilized world. The date of the beginning of Chinese history is unknown, but it is certain that China has existed as a nation for at least six thousand years. The first legendary emperor, Pao Hsi, or Fu Hsi, is placed 2,402 years before the Confucian era (2953–2839 B.C.). After the period of the Five Emperors came the period of the Three Kings of as many dynasties, and it was during the Chou dynasty, the last of these three, that Chinese civilization reached maturity. It was after long periods of so-called sage-rulers who were regarded as the heads of both religion and government, at the highest development of Chinese civilization under the Chou dynasty, and in the most cultured state of the Duke of Chou, that Confucius appeared. Confucianism, the new religion founded by Confucius, is therefore not the religion of a primitive tribe, but the religion of a civilized people.

While this was the general stage of development preceding the advent of Confucius, it must not be imagined that actual conditions during his time were so perfect as to make the work of a reformer unnecessary. The age of Confucius was quite remote from that of the sage-rulers. With

¹ Confucius und seine Lehre, p. 4 et seq., quoted in Friedrich Hirth’s The Ancient History of China, pp. 242–3.