The influence of Taoism on China's traditional politics is mainly reflected in the theory and practice of the Taoist school of Huang Lao. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, social competition intensified. In order to cope with this situation, Huang first put forward the concepts of law, technique, potential, benefit and strength, which made the pre-Qin academic get rid of idealism and began to embark on the road of realism.

On this basis, Huang Laotao put forward the Taoist thought, which not only solved the legitimacy of the law itself, but also opened the way for Taoism to govern the world. In addition, the Huang family also put forward a series of political opinions, such as "Heaven", "Keeping women for men", "Gentleman being lenient with ministers", "quietism", "Simple folk customs", "Recuperating and ruling the country according to law", "Combining punishment with morality" and "letting a hundred schools of thought contend", which embodied the essence of ancient social politics in China.

Judging from the practice of governing the country by Taoism, both the Qi State under the rule, the Qin State under the rule and the later rule of Wenjing have achieved good governance results. Even after Confucianism replaced Taoism as the orthodox thought of the country, Huang Laojia's thought of governing the country did not completely disappear.

Many times, the rulers are "tyrannical and miscellaneous", as Xuan Di, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, said. In other words, sometimes it is "Confucianism outside" and sometimes it is "Confucianism outside and Huang Lao inside". Whenever the imperial system is partially restricted by subjective and objective conditions, the Huang Lao family will revive and bring economic and cultural prosperity.

Many emperors in the history of China, such as Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty, Song Huizong, Zhu Yuanzhang and Kangxi, have annotated the Tao Te Ching, the rule of the literary scene, the rule of Guan Zhen, the prosperity of Kaiyuan and Kanggan, the high economic and cultural prosperity of the Song Dynasty and the achievements of reform and opening up today, all of which are closely related to Huang Lao's thought, so there is a saying among the people that "the world should be ruled without chaos"

In addition, Taoism, Laozi, Zhuangzi and Yang Zhu also have an influence on China's traditional politics, and they represent the tendency of political seclusion and birth. Politically, intellectuals in China have formed a broad-minded attitude of "being rich will help the world, while being poor will be immune to it". At the same time, the ideal of Peach Blossom Garden of Laozi and Zhuangzi School attracts China people from generation to generation.

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Basic concepts of Taoist thought

If the center of Confucianism is benevolence, then the center of Taoism is nature. According to Taoism, although Confucian advocacy is good, it can only be achieved by strictly observing the law. A little carelessness will hurt the body internally and confuse people externally.

In the Song Dynasty, we can see the development of Confucian scholars to "preserve righteousness and destroy human desires". Tao is based on nature, driven by man's natural desire, and closer to man's life. Take nothingness as the body, weakness as the strength, adhere to one thought, and take the unity of things as the heart to achieve the combination of nature, wisdom and stupidity, and make things forget each other. This is a kind of benevolence similar to the sound of wood, so we are kind to Confucianism.

Taoism pays more attention to how to be natural, so it has five virtues of "nothing, uniformity, unity, weakness and simplicity". After completing the five virtues, it is natural to achieve the "benevolence" and "righteousness" advocated by Confucianism.

What people like is to have, get, be right, be superior and be happy. Taoism, which is not included here, is natural, only big, big, big, big. "Everyone knows the happiness of taking things, but they don't know the happiness of not taking things." It just shows the purpose of Taoism in pursuing nature. The extremes of nature, like babies, are ignorant and unaffected by physical properties. It can be said that it is natural. To reach this state, Taoism calls it the supreme man.

Reference source: Baidu Encyclopedia-Taoism