How an Empire was Centralized (1/5) The Natural Way

Here is the first of five sections about China's struggle for a centralization which I mentioned in the last article.

At the beginning of 1254, Rubruck, a Flemish missionary, finally crossed the Eurasian continent and met the World’s most powerful man — Möngke Khan, the supreme ruler of the whole Mongol Empire. Möngke was open to all religions and challenged Rubruck to defend his faith in a debate held before the Khan.

The major opponent of Rubruck was a Chinese Tuin (from the Chinese word “道人”, referring to a Buddhist) [1]. Unlike Rubruck, Tuins adhered to a polytheistic worldview, believing in numerous gods with specific abilities, both benevolent and malevolent, none of whom were omnipotent. This perspective was widely shared not only by Buddhists, but also by other Chinese intellectuals such as Taoists and many Confucians. 

Rubruck seemed to win the debate. He questioned his rival: “How can people serve so many gods in heaven and earth? ” The Tuin was unable to answer, and ended up drinking deeply [2].

However, Möngke didn’t convert to Christianity [3]. On the contrary, Buddhism gained favor during his reign. Just one year later, Möngke granted Buddhism a decisive victory over Taoism in a crucial debate [4].

Buddhism and Taoism are both polytheisms. It’s paradoxical that while the centralized imperial power in the East permitted its people to worship diverse gods, the politically decentralized West believed in only one God.

Considering Buddhism is a major topic in another chapter on India, let's begin by examining Taoism, a native Chinese religion.

Taoists aimed for immortality, initially through alchemical practices, often with fatal consequences. Around the 10th century, they shifted their focus from refining physical elixirs (“外丹”) to cultivating spiritual elixirs (“内丹”).

Till the early 12th century, Taoism's political influence reached its peak. Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty proclaimed himself a Taoist god. He even authored an elaborate book by himself to promote Taoism [5].

Ironically, Huizong lost his throne only a decade later, defeated by his nomadic neighbor. This outcome highlights the inherent conflict between Taoism's anti-civilization and anti-government principles and the demands of imperial rule. The Taoist scripture Tao Te Ching advocates abandoning wisdom, benevolence and justice [6], as they are all human constructs, not the natural order of the world. According to Taoism, only by aligning with the natural way can people attain longevity and immortality,  as the nature itself does. 

If an emperor demands that his people forsake justice, the government is undoubtedly doomed to swift corruption, as starkly illustrated by Huizong’s downfall. Yet, he question remains : why did Huizong embrace Taoism? Was he really unaware of the impending danger? 

What elevated Taoism as the official ideology is actually a conspiracy between Huizong and his people. They deliberately chose to ignore the justice, because the relentless pursuit of justice had caused significant suffering over the past half-century. 

Since Shenzong, the father of Huizong, initiated a drastic power centralization (which was called a reform, “變法”) in 1069, the empire had been embroiled in ceaseless factional strife. Both conservatives and reformers vied for the moral high ground of justice, making it exceedingly difficult to forge a consensus for policymaking.

The constant struggle intensified divisions and led to severe consequences for those involved. Regardless of affiliation, individuals faced demotion, imprisonment, exile, or even death. This widespread suffering eroded morale and discouraged people from speaking for justice. [7]

Huizong, while blatantly raising the government power, was also tired of arguing about justice. By his promoting of Taoism, this apathy extended throughout the nation.

Although factionalism had a long history in China, the conflicts of the late 11th century were unprecedented. For the first time, both sides appealed to universal laws (expressed by the Chinese word “道”, which literally means way)  rather than traditional ethical teachings [8]. Policy disagreements became ideological battles, where minor deviations could have serious, even fatal consequences.

The ability to construct compelling arguments was supplanted by the capacity to align with the prevailing power structure. As political authority dictated what was right, how universal laws were interpreted, and which side ultimately triumphed, substantive intellectual discourse had withered, leaving a ruthless moral vacancy, eager only for power.

Prior to the Song Dynasty, such a situation was unimaginable. What enables a government to impose its universal ideology is a vast educational infrastructure, spanning the entire empire, down to the lowest administrative level [9], and complete with the capacity to appoint and print official teachers and textbooks [10]. They never existed before.

It was money that made all these possible. For the first time Copper coins replaced grain and silk as the primary tax medium, allowing for more efficient and flexible government spending. The central government of Song then became much richer than any former dynasties.

Owing to the government monopolizing the right to mint currency, the most critical power in Song’s economic life was eminently centralized. This economic centralization then pushed the empire toward political and cultural centralization, which ultimately manifested itself in Shenzong’s bold but flawed reform plan, an attempt to a super centralization.

Realizing the importance of the coinage power, Huizong went further than his father. He, as a Taoist, ruled in a natural way, which means doing nothing [11]. He almost gave up his duty as a politician, being obsessed with literature and art, and acquiesced in allowing his administrative agencies to multiply the issuance of currency to switch on a building boom, which inevitably caused a huge inflation [12]. Inflation then become a crisis, which made the political and cultural centralization ineffective, and gave birth to peasant uprisings. The astronomical costs of suppressing these riots further exacerbated the crisis.

While Song's national power was rapidly declining, a tough nomadic tribe, the Jin, appeared in the northeast. Jin’s cavalry quickly conquered a large area and went south to surround the Song capital.

In the harsh spring of 1127, after months of siege in his capital, Huizong and his successor resorted to bribery, offering the Jin immense wealth they had accumulated over decades. Yet this appeasement only intensified the Jin's greed. They eventually captured the entire Song royal family and sacked the capital brutally[13].

The reform to construct a highly-centralized regime ended up destroying itself, in the natural way.

Notes:

1 “道人”in Chinese originally referred to Buddhists, but also referred to Taoists (“道士”) at a later time. In Rubruck’s text it means Buddhists, while at the same time some texts from the South Song Dynasty (1127-1279, governing South China) had already used it to represent Taoists. See the section《回道人》、《武夷道人》from the《夷堅志》。P.S. I prefer to quote all bibliographies by their original name in their mother language, for the convenience that you can check them directly on the internet. Most ancient texts I quote can be easily find through Wikisource. 

2 This debate is recorded in The Journey Of William Of Rubruck To The Eastern Parts Of The World

, 1253-55, edited by William Woodville Rockhill (London, 1900),  pp.225-235.

3 Though Möngke’s mother Sorghaghtani had been a Christian for a very long time.

4 “As the five fingers are as regards the palm of the hand from which they project, so are all other religions as compared to Buddhism  (譬如五指皆從掌出。佛門如掌。餘皆如指。).” From 《辯偽錄》。

5 According to 《宋史·徽宗紀》, Huizong called himself as “道君皇帝” in 1117, and published his《宋徽宗御解道德真經》in 1118.

6 The original text is “絕聖棄智、絕仁棄義、絕學無憂。”

7 The best example may be the once leader of the conservatists, Su Zhe (蘇轍), who wrote a Taoism book (《老子解》) in his last years as well as Huizong.

8 Shenzong once said that he started to know about the universal law by the teaching of his later prime minister Wang Anshi in 1068（“始聞道、德之說，心稍開悟”. Here “道”means the universal law）. According to 《續資治通鑒長編》Vol.233.

9 According to 《文獻通考》Vol.46, the government required all its approximately 300 counties（郡） build official schools in 1102. It even asked the sub-districts of county to build schools.

10 Officials recruited by the national official exams are called “進士”。In the 168 years of the North Song Dynasty, it recruited nearly 20 thousands 進士, at least 5 times higher than the previous Tang dynasty which lasted for 290 years. According to 張希清《北宋貢舉登科人數考》。

11 Tao Te Ching says  “無為而治”, which means “govern by doing nothing”.

12 According to 《宋史·食貨下二》, Huizong government once minted new coins that worth double, triple, or even ten times the original value.

13 《靖康稗史箋證》, 確庵, 耐庵編, 崔文印箋證, 2010.