Abstract

The unification under the Qin and Han dynasties was one of the great events in the history of the development of China. Not only did it establish an authoritarian centralized polity over all China; it also combined what had originally been different peoples and tribes of seven states into one unified people, known as the Han people. In response to the political unification and the merger of these peoples under the Han dynasty, Dong Zhong-shu [c.179-c.104 B.C.] constructed a comprehensive philosophical system, based on the Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals, that included a wide range of natural, social, and individual aspects of human life and was used as the theoretical basis of the current unification. At the same time it was an intellectual, philosophical reflection of this unification.