Warring States Project | Implications

So what does all this mean, for a decently modern person?

The statesmen of the late Imperial period sensed that there was something, back there in the Classical period, that China had lost in the meantime, and needed to recover. Our results show that they were right, and show in detail exactly what that something was. That picture is less static, less blah, than the one in the usual textbooks. What, then, was Classical Chinese thought actually like?

It changed. It was different at the end than at the beginning.
It was human. It was not a creation of the ancient sages. Everybody helped.
It was not isolated. It interacted with other ancient cultures.
It valued freedom. Aspirations of individuals high and low were expressed.
It was submerged, not preserved, in the orthodoxy of the later Empire.

Here are some implications of our researches that might have interested the Manchu reformers, and may interest the present age. If anyone has another question, large or small, just Ask WSP.

Implications For:
- Asian Values Claims
- Chinese Humanity
- The Political Rights of the People
- Later Perceptions of the Chinese Past
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