
themselves to the good of the people and those who only thought about the
mean personal benefit. Confucius most probably included in the last rank
those nouveaux riches, who began to rise and distinguish themselves by
their wealth at the end of his life, when the social and economic changes in
the ancient Chinese society became already visible.
The second volume ends with a chapter devoted to the transition from
the old norms of social life to the new ones, which started shortly before
Confucius' death. Actually, that was the de-feudalization that accompanied
the iron age and the process of privatization in the feudal structure of the
Ch'un-Ch'iu period. It led T'ien-hsia to new forms of life before this
structure had developed completely or was transformed. In other words, a
non-finalized feudalism (here we do not mean formation in Marxist terms!)
was replaced by an epoch, in which there was no room any more for a
feudal-knight structure with its internal wars, intrigues and permanent
clashes in the struggle for the throne. One cannot say that all this happened
because chapters about the wise Yao, Shun and Yti included in Shou-king
were incompatible with the feudal structure (although formally its existence
was accepted in them; remember how Shun improved relations with his
vassals). But this great ideologeme with its profound meaning appeared in
historically necessary time. It coincided with objective economic,
administrative and political processes that began taking place shortly after
its appearance. And what is most important-it found its ardent supporter in
Confucius, whose activity in the sphere of transformation of old traditions
multiplied its force and efficiency many times.
Formally the chronicle Ch
'un-Ch
'iu ends in the year of the death of
Confucius. This could also be considered as the end of the Ch'un-Ch'iu
period. There is a deep internal sense in that because China became
different after Confucius. However, the border between the Ch'un-Ch'iu
and Chan-guo periods is usually dated taking into account the gradual
disintegration of Chin kingdom.