Mandate of Heaven
E233752
The Mandate of Heaven is an ancient Chinese political and religious doctrine that justified a ruler’s authority as divinely granted but revocable if they governed unjustly or incompetently.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Mandate of Heaven canonical | 20 |
Statements (48)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Chinese philosophical concept
ⓘ
legitimacy theory ⓘ political doctrine ⓘ religious doctrine ⓘ |
| appliesTo |
emperor of China
ⓘ
legitimate ruler ⓘ |
| associatedWith |
Chinese imperial system
ⓘ
Confucianism ⓘ Eastern Zhou ⓘ
surface form:
Eastern Zhou period
Son of Heaven ⓘ Western Zhou period ⓘ Zhou dynasty ⓘ |
| contrastWith | European divine right of kings ⓘ |
| coreIdea |
heaven can withdraw its mandate
ⓘ
heaven grants the right to rule ⓘ mandate is not hereditary by right but can be passed if virtue is maintained ⓘ natural disasters and social chaos are signs of lost mandate ⓘ only one legitimate ruler can hold the mandate at a time ⓘ rebellion can be justified if the mandate is lost ⓘ ruler’s authority is conditional on moral conduct ⓘ unjust or incompetent rule leads to loss of mandate ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin | China ⓘ |
| culture | Chinese civilization ⓘ |
| differsFrom | divine right of kings by making rule conditional on virtue ⓘ |
| emphasizes |
benevolent rule
ⓘ
moral governance ⓘ responsibility of ruler to the people ⓘ |
| hasAspect |
cosmological order
ⓘ
moral order ⓘ ritual propriety ⓘ |
| historicalOrigin | early Zhou dynasty political thought ⓘ |
| influenced |
Chinese political philosophy
ⓘ
East Asian concepts of kingship ⓘ Korean political thought ⓘ Vietnamese political thought ⓘ |
| language | Classical Chinese ⓘ |
| linkedConcept | Tianming ⓘ |
| precededBy |
Shang ancestral worship
ⓘ
surface form:
Shang dynasty royal ideology
|
| religiousBasis | belief in Tian (Heaven) ⓘ |
| symbolizedBy |
omens
ⓘ
portents ⓘ prosperity of the realm ⓘ success in warfare ⓘ |
| timePeriod | 1st millennium BCE ⓘ |
| usedTo |
evaluate moral quality of rulers
ⓘ
explain rise and fall of dynasties ⓘ justify dynastic change ⓘ legitimize overthrow of previous dynasty ⓘ |
Referenced by (20)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.