Widely acclaimed as one of the most important thinkers in Chinese history, Dong Zhong-shu stood out as an engineer who was responsible for the architecture of the thought in Western Han Dynasty (206BCE-25CE). His thought can be characterized as principally concerned with the role of the king in the cosmos....[ Read more ]

Widely acclaimed as one of the most important thinkers in Chinese history, Dong Zhong-shu stood out as an engineer who was responsible for the architecture of the thought in Western Han Dynasty (206BCE-25CE). His thought can be characterized as principally concerned with the role of the king in the cosmos.

Specifically speaking, Dong's system represents a wholesale commitment of how the apparently infinite powers of the king can be forestalled. This thesis will therefore focus on how Dong's system was contrived to reach this goal. It is the belief of the author of this thesis that his arguments are not convincing and his endeavors will end in failure.

In order to achieve this, it will introduce two concepts, namely, "political conception of cosmological order" and "political conception of dual authorities" followed by an analysis of how these concepts figure differently in his system in relation to the vocation of curbing the powers of the king.

In so doing, I believe that I would contribute to the research field of studying the thought of Dong Zhong-shu.