Introduction to Ancient Chinese Heroes

Confucius was the most internationally influential Chinese. He lived in a vassal state in the 6th and 5th centuries BC. He hoped that the divided China of his time would value the emergence of a unified and strong central authority, and advocated that the upper classes should maintain their rule through rituals, benevolence, and virtues, that all people should follow the creed of loyalty to the Son of Heaven, filial piety to parents, and friendship to friends, and that women should be faithful and obedient to their husbands. But he failed to turn his ideals and theories into reality. Seven hundred years after his death, Emperor Wu of Han formally adopted his doctrine as the only official doctrine. Since then, successive emperors have followed suit. By the 7th century A.D., the Tang Dynasty had built a temple to Confucius, who was worshipped as a half-human, half-god saint. This custom continued for about 1,300 years. To Westerners, Confucius is a symbol of Chinese tradition. His ideas had considerable influence on the European Enlightenment of the 18th century. Confucius' ideas have also had a significant impact on Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, and also. From the English and Japanese vocabulary, we can see the trajectory that this great man has left on the world. There are three words about Confucius in English: Confucius (Confucius), Confucian (Confucianism), and Confucianisim (Confucianism). In Japanese, there are as many as eight: Confucius, Cowardly Sen (Confucianism and Buddhism), Confucianism, Confucianism, Confucianism, Confucianism, Confucianism, Confucius, Confucius, and Confucius and Mencius.

2 Sun Tzu:

He was the most influential figure ever to influence the development of world scholarship in China. He is generally believed to be the author of Sun Tzu's The Art of War (known as The Art of War). Although this view is not very reliable, the main content of the Art of War comes from Sun Tzu. This "world's first military book" has had a great influence on Chinese military science and military history for more than 2,000 years. Any Western treatise that systematically discusses the history of military thought must not fail to mention the world's oldest and most influential book of war. Liddell Hart, the famous modern Western military scientist, quotes from the Art of War on the title page of his masterpiece. There is a Japanese entrepreneur who manages his business with the Art of War, and has actually achieved great success.

The Art of War has also stood the test of time. Since the nineteenth century until World War II, German military scientist Clausewitz's single-minded emphasis on violence and bloodshed to achieve the political objectives of the war point of view, popular in Europe and the United States military science. But after World War II, with the emergence of nuclear weapons and the growing threat of nuclear war, his views have been discarded by many people. But Sun Tzu's idea of "giving up without a fight is the best of all possible worlds" has been adopted by more and more people as a military guideline for the nuclear age.

It is Sun Tzu's ideas, not those of Confucius, Lao Tzu or Xun Tzu, that are most accepted and respected in the West.

3 Laozi

Laozi is the most influential Chinese philosopher and the founder of Taoism. He is rumored to have been born in the 6th century BC, but his passing is unknown. Lao Tzu's philosophical views of ambiguity and obscurity, of knowledge and inaction (understanding the laws and not doing much) and of a primitive, natural life, are far removed from the Western tradition that prizes reason, emphasizes creativity and seeks to transform nature. Naturally, it is not praised and understood by many Westerners. Many Westerners only hear the name of Laozi, do not know the name of the doctrine of Laozi, do not know the doctrine of Laozi in fact.

4 Qin Shi Huang

In 221 B.C., Qin Shi Huang united China, which had been divided for centuries, and established a centralized system of power that has influenced the world to this day. The iron-fisted First Emperor levied taxes on the people and built water and earthworks. He also unified the country's weights and measures and its writing system. The mighty Qin Dynasty became so famous overseas that foreign countries called China "Qin" (Chinas). He was China's first statesman of global fame and its second most famous monarch.

Of all the ancient Chinese monarchs, the one with the greatest international reputation is Emperor Wu of Han. In the eyes of Westerners, he was the most effective emperor of ancient China, at the height of its power. He honored Confucianism as the official doctrine and strengthened the centralized system of power. He expanded the boundaries of China, conquered a large area south of the Yangtze River and part of Korea, and opened up the Silk Road, a far-reaching route of communication between the East and the West. He made the Chinese Empire as powerful as the Roman Empire at the same time. Some Western scholars consider him to be the Chinese Caesar, Alexander or Octavian.

5Han Wu Di

One of the most internationally acclaimed of China's ancient monarchs was Han Wu Di. In the eyes of Westerners, he was the one king for all time at the pinnacle of ancient China, and the most effective emperor of China. He honored Confucianism as the official doctrine and strengthened the centralized system of power. He expanded the boundaries of China, conquered a large area south of the Yangtze River and part of Korea, and opened up the Silk Road, a far-reaching route of communication between the East and the West. He made the Chinese Empire as powerful as the Roman Empire at the same time. Some Western scholars believe that he can be called the Chinese Caesar, Alexander or Octavian.