Why did Confucianism decline?

Confucianism is the most important school of thought in China traditional culture, which has developed for thousands of years in the history of China. The decline of Confucianism can be attributed to many reasons:

1. Bureaucracy: With the development of Confucianism in the history of China, it was gradually controlled and utilized by the imperial court and became an ideological tool serving the bureaucrats and the ruling class. The independence and creativity of Confucianism gradually disappeared and became the official theory.

2. Academic rigidity: With the development of Confucianism, Confucian classics have gradually become a fixed canon, and scholars' research and interpretation of these classics have become more and more rigid, and the innovation and vitality of Confucianism have gradually disappeared, making it gradually lose its leading role in society.

3. Thought is challenged: With the introduction of modern science and thought, western rationalism and materialism began to enter China, which had a great impact on traditional Confucian thoughts and concepts, leading to the gradual decline of Confucian ideological status.

4. Political and social turmoil: The social and political turmoil in China in the late Qing Dynasty, various political thoughts and social movements emerged one after another, and the criticism and challenges to the Confucian tradition intensified, making the influence of Confucianism gradually decline.

5. Cultural gap: At the beginning of the 20th century, a series of political and cultural changes took place in China, and traditional cultural values and concepts were subverted and criticized on a large scale. In this historical background, Confucianism has lost its mainstream position.

To sum up, the decline of Confucianism is related to many factors, the most important of which is its bureaucracy and academic rigidity, as well as ideological challenges and political and social unrest.