Religions in China: A Brief Introduction to Confucianism and Taoism

Therefore, in his book Religion in China: Confucianism and Taoism, Weber made a lengthy analysis of China's state, laws, cities, guilds, gentry class, orthodox ethics and heresy. In this way, we can construct: how do China people think (for example, the value orientation of traditionalism, the image of witchcraft world) and how do they do it (for example, property system, regime, heresy belief, etc.). Among them, the dialectical relationship led by Confucian tutors and intellectuals, on the traditional historical stage of China constructed by Weber, shows the solid vitality that makes the overall civilization and progress of China very different from that of the West.

Because of the different problems to be solved, although Weber's research still belongs to the historical category, its method is slightly different from that used by ordinary historians. In short, Weber pays more attention to some relatively unchanging phenomena throughout the whole civilization. Therefore, despite repeated changes in dynasties, the official system is different from generation to generation. In Weber's view, since Qin Shihuang unified China and established the dominant position of the property system, China is basically a country with a property bureaucracy, which has the general characteristics of the property bureaucracy (regardless of the rise and fall of monarchical power).