Confucian Ritual System

Timeline

1. -800–-500Zhou royal house and the feudal states · Central PlainsWestern Zhou maintained order under the patriarchal enfeoffment and ritual-music system; during the Spring and Autumn period, lords contended for hegemony and overstepped ritual norms, causing old standards to fail and creating a historical opening for Confucian reinterpretation of ritual meaning.
2. c. -500–-221State of Lu and the states of the Central Plains · Central PlainsConfucius centered on 'restraining the self and returning to ritual,' emphasizing the unity of benevolence and ritual; Warring States Confucianism split into schools such as those of Mencius and Xunzi, stressing respectively innate goodness and moral transformation, and the equal weight of ritual and law, making ritual thought increasingly systematic.
3. -221–1Xianyang–Chang'an · ShaanxiQin replaced ritual with law, creating a rupture in the ritual system; early Han, Shusun Tong codified court audiences, and after Emperor Wu honored Confucianism, ritual combined with statutes and the recommendation system, gradually embedding Confucian ethics in imperial administration and education.