2. Learning Objectives
• To be able to know the cultural status of other countries
• To be able to identify the differences of philosophies
• (dagdag pa po kayo hehehe)
3. Table of contents
CHINA
A. Philosophies
A1. Confucianism
A2. Taoism
JAPAN
01 02
Political Institutions Social Stratification
A. Philosophies
A1. Buddhism
A2. Shintoism
B1. Imperial Government
B2. Four Classes
B1. Samurai
B2. Farmer
B3. Artisan
B4. Merchant
5. PHILOSOPHIES
Chinese philosophy, the thought of Chinese culture, from earliest times
to the present. The keynote in Chinese philosophy is humanism: man
and his society have occupied, if not monopolized, the attention of
Chinese philosophers throughout the ages. The general conclusion
represented in Chinese philosophy is that of the unity of man and
heaven.
6. CONFUCIANISM
Confucianism is an ancient Chinese belief system,
which focuses on the importance of personal ethics
and morality. Whether it is only or a philosophy or also
a religion is debated. Confucianism is a philosophy and
belief system from ancient China, which laid the
foundation for much of Chinese culture.
7. A1. CONFUCIANISM
How did Confucianism impact
China?
How was Confucianism used in China?
Confucianism became the dominant political philosophy during
the Han Dynasty from 206 B.C.E. to 220 C.E. Because
Confucian teachings were conservative and told people to
maintain their role in social order, the philosophy was used by
the state to keep the status quo from that time forward.
In ancient China, Confucius' teachings had a great influence
on Chinese intellectuals, government (Han Dynasty:
Confucianism encouraged the government to give jobs to
educated people rather than nobles), society, and even
traditional Chinese culture.
8. TAOISM
Taoism (also known as Daoism) is a Chinese
philosophy attributed to Lao Tzu (c. 500 BCE) which
developed from the folk religion of the people primarily
in the rural areas of China and became the official
religion of the country under the Tang Dynasty. Taoism
is therefore both a philosophy and a religion.
9. A2. TAOISM
One of the main ideas of Taoism is the belief in
balancing forces, or yin and yang. These ideas
represent matching pairs, such as light and dark,
hot and cold, action and inaction, which work
together toward a universal whole. Yin and yang
show that everything in the universe is connected
and that nothing makes sense by itself.
Taoism (also called Daoism) is a Chinese
religion that developed a bit after
Confucianism, around two thousand
years ago. In contrast to Confucianism,
Taoism is mainly concerned with the
spiritual elements of life, including the
nature of the universe.
10. POLITICAL INSTITUTION
The CPC (Communist Party of China) leads the people in
promoting socialist democracy. The CPC integrates its
leadership with the position of the people as masters of the
country and the principle of rule of law. The essence of
Chinese socialist democracy is that the people determine
their own destiny. The direction of political development is
towards greater openness, transparency and accountability.
11. The ancient Chinese government had an established
monarchy type of government where the emperor or king
was the supreme power of authority and had an absolute
and unchallenged position in the country. An autocratic
and despotic monarchy ruled China was several years
where several dynasties who were sovereigns of Imperial
China formed the government. All these emperors were
termed as rulers of all under heaven by their subjects.
The political systems of Imperial China can be
divided into a state administrative body,
provincial administrations, and a system for
official selection. The three notable tendencies
in the history of Chinese politics includes, the
convergence of unity, the capital priority of
absolute monarchy, and the standardization of
official selection.
B1. POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS
12. FOUR CLASSES
Beginning about the fourth century B.C., ancient texts
describe Chinese society as divided into four classes:
the scholar elite, the landowners and farmers, the
craftsmen and artisans, and the merchants and
tradesmen.
13. B2. FOUR CLASSES
Under imperial rule, the scholar elite, whose exemplar
was Confucius, directed the moral education of the
people; the farmers produced food; the craftsmen made
things that were useful; and the merchants promoted
luxury goods. Because in theory the Confucian elite
advocated simple rural values as opposed to a taste for
luxury (which they viewed as superfluous, leading to
moral degeneration), the merchants who sold for profit,
adding nothing of value to society, ranked low on the
social scale (though, in reality, economic success had its
obvious advantages).
This system operated as a mechanism through which the state
replaced entrenched local hereditary landowners and rich
merchants with people whose authority was conferred (and could
easily be removed) by the state. Scholar-officials, unlike the other
three social classes, did not therefore constitute an economic
class as such, as their only power resided in their Confucian
ideals and their moral and ethical values. Nevertheless, the
landowners, the craftsmen, and the merchants were controlled by
the state and the state was administered by the scholar-officials,
who discouraged entrepreneurial endeavor and the accumulation
of wealth with the Confucian admonition that acceptance of
limitations leads to happiness.
15. PHILOSOPHIES
Japanese philosophers have historically interacted intensively with a
multitude of philosophies outside their native boundaries—most
prominently Chinese, Indian, Korean, and Western. So they have
benefited from a rich trove of ideas and theories on which to draw in
developing their own distinctive philosophical perspectives. As a result
Japanese philosophers have always been acutely attuned to the intimate
relations among culture, ways of thinking, and philosophical world views.
16. BUDDHISM
According to the Japanese Government's Agency
for Cultural Affairs estimate, as of 2018, with about
84 million or about 67% of the Japanese
population, Buddhism was the religion in Japan
with the second most adherents, next to Shinto,
though a large number of people practice elements
of both.
17. Buddhism was introduced to ancient Japan via Korea in the 6th century CE with various sects following in
subsequent centuries via China. It was readily accepted by both the elite and ordinary populace because it
confirmed the political and economic status quo, offered a welcoming reassurance to the mystery of the
afterlife, and complemented existing Shinto beliefs. Buddhist monasteries were established across the
country, and they became powerful political players in their own right. Buddhism was also a key driver in
fostering literacy, education in general, and the arts in ancient Japan.
Why is Buddhism so popular in Japan?
Buddhism also brought with it a political structure, advanced technologies, and
sophisticated cultural practices—including music, dance, a new writing system,
and above all, elaborate Buddhist art—that would revolutionize many aspects of
Japanese life.
A1 BUDDHISM
18. SHINTOISM
Shinto (literally “the way of the gods”) is Japan's
native belief system and predates historical
records. The many practices, attitudes, and
institutions that have developed to make up Shinto
revolve around the Japanese land and seasons
and their relation with the human inhabitants.
19. A2. SHINTOISM
What are the 3 main beliefs of
Shintoism?
How did Shintoism influence Japan?
Shintoism is Japan's indigenous spirituality. It is believed that
every living thing in nature (e.g. trees, rocks, flowers, animals -
even sounds) contains kami, or gods. Consequently Shinto
principles can be seen throughout Japanese culture, where
nature and the turning of the seasons are cherished.
Divination, water purification, and lustration (ceremonial
purification), which are all mentioned in the Japanese classics,
became popular, and people started to build shrines for their
kami. Ancient Shintō was polytheistic.
20. SOCIAL STRATIFICATION
The Tokugawa introduced a system of strict social
stratification, organizing the majority of Japan's
social structure into a hierarchy of social classes.
Japanese people were assigned a hereditary class
based on their profession, which would be directly
inherited by their children, and these classes were
themselves stratified with their own hierarchies.
21. Samurai were the noble [warrior] class in Japan and fifth on the Tokugawa
class hierarchy. The samurai constituted about 10% of the population and
functioned as soldiers in the employment of a lord in a master-warrior feudal
relationship.
There were social stratifications within the samurai class: upper-level samurai
had direct access to their daimyō and could hold his most trusted positions, with
some achieving a level of wealth that allowed them to retain their own samurai
vassals. Mid-level samurai held military and bureaucratic positions, and had
some interactions with their daimyō if needed. Low-level samurai could be paid
as little as a subsistence wage and worked as guards, messengers and clerks.
Positions within the samurai class were largely hereditary and talented
individuals could not rise above a few social steps beyond their birth.
B1. SAMURAI
22. Just below the samurai on the social ladder were the farmers and peasants.
According to Confucian ideals, farmers were superior to artisans and
merchants because they produced the food that all the other classes
depended upon. Although technically they were considered an honored
class, farmers lived under a crushing tax burden for much of the feudal era.
During the reign of the third Tokugawa shogun, Iemitsu, farmers were not
allowed to eat any of the rice they grew. They had to hand it all over to their
daimyo and then wait for him to give some back as charity.
B2. FARMER
23. Artisans were placed below the peasants because they were producers but
they produced non-essential goods. Artisans typically lived in urban areas,
and by 1800, as much as 10% of the population of Japan may have lived in
large urban areas, one of the highest levels in the world at the time.The
daimyōs and their samurai did not produce any goods themselves, but they
used the tax surplus from the land to fuel their consumption. Their needs
were met by artisans, who moved to be around the castles and were
restricted to living in their own quarter.
B3. ARTISAN
24. The bottom rung of feudal Japanese society was occupied by merchants,
which included both traveling traders and shopkeepers. Merchants were
often ostracized as "parasites" who profited from the labor of the more
productive peasant and artisan classes. Not only did merchants live in a
separate section of each city, but the higher classes were forbidden to
mix with them except when conducting business.
Nonetheless, many merchant families were able to amass large
fortunes. As their economic power grew, so did their political
influence, and the restrictions against them weakened.
B4. MERCHANT
