The T'ang dynasty(A.D. 618-906) was considered to be one of the most important period in Chinese history : in particular, the history of law.
General Principles of the T'ang Code well reveals the essential spirit of the T'ang Law.
The publisher of T...
The T'ang dynasty(A.D. 618-906) was considered to be one of the most important period in Chinese history : in particular, the history of law.
General Principles of the T'ang Code well reveals the essential spirit of the T'ang Law.
The publisher of The Code believed that the criterion of the punishment should be derived from the Classics and should be based on the justice.
Characteristic feature of the Code is the fact that it pay attention to factors of social-status, youth, age,sex,and mental and physical condition when it determines an appropriate punishment for the same offenses. Moreover, these factors were operative in all cases,so that even members of the inferior classes could benefit from them. Even though the inferior classes(ch'ien-min : 賤民), were punished more heavily for same crimes than the commoners.
The breakdown of the T'ang order after the An Lu-shan(安綠山) Rebellion played important role in changing all the political and socio-economical structure in mid-T'ang dynasty. With this incident the system of servile people was also beginning to diminish from society. This role found fascinating parallels in the changes that occurred within the aristocracy at the same time.
The crisis of culture in scholarship appeared initially as a conviction that the cultural models of the past had not worked as intended. Gradually a far more enduring crisis of culture began to take shape, one that would consume the energies of intellectuals for the next three centuries : a crisis of faith in the ability of culture to influence human behavior.
There were clusters of scholars in the new generation ,each with its own program. Han Yu(韓愈:768-824), for example, found admirers in Li Ao(李翰 ). Chang Chi(768-830). Liu Tsung-yuan(柳宗元 : 773-819) had much in common with Han Yu, but was also associated with Lu Wen(772-811)
In contrast to the early. T'ang, the literary intellectuals of the latter half of the eighth century saw themselves as being in tension with the political order and their culture. Ku-wen encouraged this attitude and justified it. A Han Yu or Liu Tsung-yuan could be part of the system while still claiming the high ground from which to criticize it. The idea that individual scholars could find a tao(道) of the sage gave scholars groudns for claiming responsibility for transforming society.
The intellectual history of the Northern Sung has its origins in the conviction of the first few decades that wen was a value common to the realms of both politics and learning . But it also has its origins in the difference between the synthetic style of court scholarship and the moral outspokenness of Ku-wen(古文)