Biography:Zichan

Short description: Chinese statesman of the State of Zheng (died 522 BC)

Portrait of Zichan from Sancai Tuhui

Zichan (WG: Tzu Ch'an) (traditional Chinese: 子產; simplified Chinese: 子产) (c.581-522) was a Chinese statesman during the late Spring and Autumn period. From 543 until his death in 522 BCE, he served as the chief minister of the State of Zheng. Also known as Gongsun Qiao (traditional Chinese: 公孫僑; simplified Chinese: 公孙侨, he is better known by his courtesy name Zichan.

As chief minister of Zheng, a notable and centrally-located state, Zichan faced aggression from powerful neighbors without and a fractious domestic politics within. He led as Chinese culture and society endured a centuries-long period of turbulence. Governing traditions were then unstable and malleable, institutions battered by chronic war, and emerging new ways of government sharply contested.

Under Zichan the Zheng state prospered. He introduced strengthening reforms and met foreign threats. His statecraft was respected by his peers and reportedly appreciated by the people. Favorably treated in the Zuo Zhuan (an ancient text of history), Zichan drew comments from his near-contemporary Confucius, later from Mencius and Han Fei.

Background

Spring and Autumn period (770-481)

Late Spring and Autumn, circa 500

Zhou dynasty

By its military defeat in 771 BCE, later historians divide the Zhou (c.1045-221) into periods: Western and Eastern, as in retreat Zhou moved its capital over 500 km. east. The dynasty not only never recovered, it steadily lost strength during the Spring and Autumn period (770-481). At its start the Zhou government used the fengjian system. Differing from the feudal, kinship formed the primary bond between the royal dynast and local 'vassal'.

State of Zheng

The founder of Zheng was Duke Huan (r.806-771), brother to the Zhou King Xuan (r.825-782). The Zheng state by 767 had also moved its capital east, adjacent to Zhou's new royal lands. Strategically located, Zheng prospered by trade. In 707 Duke Zhuang of Zheng (r.743-701) defeated the Zhou King's invasion. This celebrated Duke is compared to the Five Hegemons. In 673 Zheng attacked the royal capital, killed the usurping ruler, and restored the prior Zhou King. Although Zheng's military then declined, it prospered, and survived many attacks by powerful neighbors. In Zheng later during the Warring States (480-221) "the centre of the political stage was occupied by the competition between clans". During that era's fierce interstate combat, Zheng met its demise in 375 BCE.

Family of Zichan

Zichan was closely related to the hereditary Dukes of Zheng state, hence also kin of the royal Zhou. As a grandson of Zheng's admired Duke Mu (r. 627-606), he was called Gongsun Qiao, "Ducal Grandson". Zichan was a member of the clan of Guo, one of the Seven Houses of Zheng. These clans led by nobility competed for power; yet the Guo was seldom the strongest. His ancestral surname was Ji, his personal name was Ji Qiao.

In 565 BCE Zichan's father, Prince Fa (Gongzi Fa), led a victorious campaign against the State of Cai. His military success, however, risked provoking the hostility of stronger neighboring states, e.g., Chu to the south and Jin to the north. Yet the Zheng leadership appeared pleased. Except Zichan, said a small state like Zheng should excel in civic virtue, not martial achievement, else it will have no peace. Prince Fa (Ziguo) then harshly rebuked his teenage son Zichan. Shortly after the Cai victory, but unrelated, Prince Fa was assassinated by rival nobles of Zheng. Amid internal power struggles, Duke Jian of Zheng (r. 566-530) had begun his reign.

Career profile

Path as state official

In 543 BCE, when nearing 40 years of age, Zichan became prime minister of Zheng state. Zichan's career path to the top position started in 565, and involved his finding a way through the unexpected sometimes violent events and social instabilities that challenged Zheng's political class. Selected events of his early career follow, the chief primary source being the Zuo Zhuan.

Since 570 BCE Zichan's father had been one of three leading aristocrats who directed Zheng's government. The head of state was the Duke of Zheng, but in fact this triumvirate of nobles kept control. In 562 BCE "armed insurgents" led by seven disaffected clan nobles, overthrew the government and killed all three rulers. Zichan survived, and rallied his clan. He "got all his officers in readiness... formed his men in ranks, [and] went forth with 17 chariots of war." Another "led the people" to Zichan's side. Two rebel leaders (and many followers) were killed; five fled Zheng. The ruling 'oligarchy' of elite nobles prevailed, the brutal tactics of the uprising failed.

Zikong, the new Zheng leader after the failed 562 rebellion, prepared and issued a document declaring his autocratic rule. It provoked fierce opposition from the nobility and the people. Zichan urged Zikong to renounce the document by burning it in public. His rhetoric to Zikong used likely scenarios to illustrate a probable negative outcome. Zikong then burned it. In 553 BCE Zikong tried again to monopolize political power, supported by Chu state. But two nobles rose to fatally block him. The two formed a new triumvirate to rule Zheng, the third being Zichan, elevated now as a high minister.

Western Han painting, to suggest likely dress/appearance of Zichan (here: near contemporaries Confucius & Laozi)

Zheng state in 561 BCE had joined a coalition headed by the powerful Jin state to the north. Zichan as a high minister maneuvered to ally Zheng with the other small-state members, in order to lighten their burdens. The hedgemon Jin had required all 'northern league' members to make regular state visits to Jin, and each time to bring high-value gifts. In 548 Zichan wrote a convincing letter to Jin's chief minister. It criticized Jin for increasing the value of 'gifts' demanded. Zichan argued this worked against Jin's reputation. Worth more than the gifts was Jin's good name; on it rested Jin's virtue, the very foundation of Jin state. Zichan continued to lobby Jin on behalf of the small states.

In 547 BCE the Zheng people made war on the small state of Chen as pay back (a year earlier Chu state and Chen attacked Zheng, closing up wells and cutting down trees). With 700 chariots Zheng took the Chen capital. Yet Zichan directed military leaders to return without looting the city or destroying its sanctuaries; nor did the Zheng army seize hostages. For a military victor to harshly take war booty and vengeance was then customary in ancient China's multistate system. Zichan later defended Zheng's invasion of Chen to Jin's ministers.

A violent feud broke out between several elite nobles of rival clans. It threatened the unity of Zheng state. Initially Zichan had distanced himself to avoid the bitter conflict's social contagion. Yet his attention was solicited. By using the remedial details from a local tradition, as a guide, Zichan managed to bring the raucous disputants into negotiation, circa 543 BCE. The solution worked-out did not prove agreeable to all the parties, yet the bloody feud came to an end.

Zichan had remained a popular leader. Zheng's chief minister in 544 wanted to appoint Zichan as his successor. Zichan declined: the office was burdened from without by strong and aggressive rival states, and from within by constant feuding of the clans. In the end, Zichan was convincingly assured of a tolerable coexistence among the nobility. Such unity might be sufficient for Zichan to pursue reforms.

Reform programs

Zichan initiated actions to strengthen the Zheng state. Along with the several subordinate ministers, Zichan had strategized what reforms might work best over time, and improvised.

Agriculture was managed to upgrade the cultivation and harvest. He reset the boundaries of farmlands. Tax reforms increased state revenue. Administration of state operations were centralized, effective officials recruited, social norms guided. Commerce flourished. Laws of a penal code were published, in a break with tradition. Rites performed and Zhou-era customs followed. Divination for Zheng state was handled by its special minister. Interstate relations required constant vigilance, e.g., to meet demands for tribute. His negotiating skills were tested. Zichan had opposition and acquired a sophist enemy. He did not always succeed.

From the Han dynasty historian Sima Qian, his Shiji:

Sima Qian (c.145-86 BCE), author of the Shiji (Records of the Grand Scribe).

Tzu-ch'an was one of the high ministers of the state of [Zheng]. ... [Its affairs had been] in confusion, superiors and inferiors were at odds with each other, and fathers and sons quarreled. ... [Then] Tzu-ch'an [was] appointed prime minister. After... one year, the children in the state had ceased their naughty behavior, grey-haired elders were no longer seen carrying heavy burdens... . After two years, no one overcharged in the markets. After three years, people stopped locking their gates at night... . After four years, people did not bother to take home their farm tools when the day's work was finished, and after five years, no more conscription orders were sent out to the knights. ... Tzu-ch'an ruled for twenty-six years [sic], and when he died the young men wept and the old men cried... .

The earlier Zuo Zhuan had also told of the people's appraisal of Zichan, a version similar to the Shiji, but differing in stages and detail. After one year the workers complained, griping about new taxes on their clothes and about a new levy against the land. Yet after three years the workers praised Zichan: for teaching their children, and increasing the yield of their fields.

Yet however skillful his statecraft, Zichan in his reformist role as proponent of advanced policies was not unique. Over a century earlier Guan Zhong (720-645), the chief minister of Qi, earned praise for his effective management. His innovations included administrative and military-agricultural innovations. The Qi state nonetheless maintained traditional Zhou rituals. As a consequence Duke Huan of Qi became the 'first' of the Five Hegemons, and a noted "paragon". Another reformist minister was Li Kui (455-395) of Wei.

Agriculture

Zichan's policy was to improve food production, the planting, cultivating, and harvesting of crops, as well as livestock. A minister's role during Eastern Zhou included managing agriculture. Techniques evolved. Farm implements of stone and wood were being replaced by iron. Yoked to oxen a metal plow increased the yield.

Zichan reset the boundaries of farm lands and the location of irrigation ditches, that often overlapped. Clan leaders controlled the farming of their lands. Moving the ditches was risky. For Zheng agriculture in 543 Zichan "carried out such reforms as grouping houses by five, responsible for one another, and marking out all the fields by banks and ditches."

Tax issues arose with Zichan's reforms. Zheng's revenues were chronically short, needed for defense, or to pay out tribute to neighboring states. The tax depended on judging a land's size and soil quality. Farming itself was changing hands, away from lineage communities, devolving to efficiently-run holdings of a small family.

Warfare intersected agriculture in Zichan's day. Chariots driven in battle by aristocrats were starting to be supplanted by infantry. Most foot soldiers were farmers. In the city-state hierarchy, the nobility dominated a larger rural population. Interstate competition intensified, rulers were pushed to maximize their military. Demands increased on agriculture, the chief source of wealth. As city-state people identified more with its productive territory, the status of Zhou lineage temples declined. Countryside "altars of soil and grain" multiplied, and rose in allegiance.

At a time when the people became more of a factor the elites had to address, Zichan earned an early reputation as providing for the popular welfare. His leadership reportedly took the opinions the people into account.

The laws of 536 BC

Bronze Cauldron (ding) decorated, of Jin state a few decades after Zichan

Context of legal act

In Zichan's reform of government one major focus concerned the law. Before Zichan, in each state the powerful hereditary clans, descendants of the Zhou lineage, had generally enforced their own closely-held laws and regulations. The contents of the law might be known only to a "limited number of dignitaries who were concerned with their execution and enforcement." Laws "were not made known to the public." "When the people were kept from knowing the law, the ruling class could manipulate it as it saw fit." Yet the traditional governance among the city-states was then faltering and dissolving in continually changing conditions. In many regimes the ministers, by maneuver or ursupation, were replacing Zhou-lineage clan rulers in whose name they had acted. The ministers began to assume direct state rule of the population. In 536 BC, Zichan had the legal statutes of his Zheng state inscribed on a bronze caldron or ding, and so made public, a first among the Eastern Zhou states.

Au contraire, one modern view questions this notion that no state had published its laws before the late Spring and Autumn period. Creel raises doubts that laws were kept secret. He refers to the existence of earlier laws mentioned in ancient writings. Creel mounts a direct challenge to several widely-quoted passages from the Zuo Zhuang that narrate: 1) how Zichan inscribed the Zheng laws on the bronze tripod ding in 536; and, 2) how Confucius criticized the similar publication of laws by a neighboring state in 513.

Yet the story of Zichan being first to publish remains the modern consensus. Zhao comments how the adverse political situation of Zheng "produced the legendary figure of Zichan, arguably the most influential reformer of his age. [Zichan's] most remarkable act was placing a caldron inscribed with Zheng's legal codes in a public place in 536". Judging by the fierce reaction generated, his action must have been considered "sensational at the time". A law whose text was available to those subject to it, would work to foster their awareness of proper civic conduct. Published laws served the state, 1) as a way of guiding the people, and also 2) as a more effective tool of control, because it warns as well as legitimises punishment of violators. Zichan "had the complete support of the people of Cheng [Zheng], he enjoyed a position of full authority there throughout his life."

Initial adverse reactions

For publishing the laws of Zheng, Zichan was criticized by some of his key contemporaries. It undermined the nobility, undercut their governing authority and their judicial role. Before, in making their legal judgments, the elite officials had applied to the facts their own confidential interpretation of what they viewed as the inherited social traditions. The end result of this shrouded procedure would be very difficult to challenge. By articulating and making public the legal statutes the people were better empowered to advance an opposing view of state law. Up until then ruling circles thought publishing the law would be detrimental, would open the door to public argument, bickering, and shameless maneuvering to avoid social tradition, its time-tested moral force. The situation was multi-sided, aa political roles were changing and the social tradition itself was in flux. Opening up laws to be viewed by the common people would eventually become a trend in ancient Chinese statecraft.

Deng Xi of Zheng (545-501 BC), for good or ill, acquired a reputation for provoking social conflict and civic instability. A child when Zichan published the laws, Deng Xi was a controversial official of Zheng with Mingjia philosophical views. Despite the probable corrosive activities of the Mingjia, Zichan in 536 had an historic bronze ding cast inscribed with Zheng laws, probably penal laws. As Deng Xi came of age, he challenged the state and its ministers, including Zichan. Some thought he studied trickery. The state of Zheng in 501 put him to death. Ancient documents are divided as to who ordered his execution. Most probably it was not Zichan.

A long 'letter' faulting Zichan for making the law public, was written by Shuxiang a minister of Jin and personal friend of Zichan. It marshaled strong traditional arguments against his publishing the penal laws of Zheng. Harshly accusing Zichan of grave error, it predicted future calamity. Both the letter to Zichan and his reply are in the Zuo Zhuan. In response Zichan claims he's "untalented" thus unable to properly manage the laws with a view toward the future generations. To benefit people alive today was his aim. Issues at stake here were long debated, e.g., by philosophers of the Warring States era that followed.

Urbanization during the Spring and Autumn period

Interstate relations

Zichan acted like a highly skilled realist in state-to-state politics. When the State of Jin tried to interfere in Zheng's internal affairs after the death of a Zheng minister, Zichan was aware of the danger. He argued that if Zheng allowed Jin to determine the minister's successor, Zheng lose its sovereignty. He eventually convinced Jin not to interfere in Zheng affairs.

The Zuo Zhuan also mentions a summer meeting in 517 BC shortly after Zichan died. The Jin minister asked about ceremony and li (ritual propriety) of an official of Zheng, who then recounts a speech by "our former high officer" Zichan. The Zuo Zhuan quotes it at length. It is the book's "grandest exposition of ritual and its role in ordering human life in accordance with cosmic principles", according to the modern translators. Feng comments on Zichan: "The idea expressed here... is that the practical value of ceremonials and music, punishments and penalties, lies in preventing the people from falling into disorder, and that these have originated from man's capacity for imitating Heaven and Earth."

As a philosopher

Birthplaces of philosophers, era of the Hundred Schools of Thought.

Zichan's political thinking is known from his words and actions as a minister of state. The kernels of his thought are thus found in the historical record, often in accounts of his exemplary conduct. His near contemporary Confucius mentioned him. In the next few centuries File:Birth Places of Chinese Philosophers.png his death, several Warring States philosophers wrote of him, on occasion creating suggestive contexts for his points of view. Zichan's public life earned him renown in his lifetime and a lasting reputation in ancient Chinese political thought.

During the course of the Spring and Autumn period when Zichan was minister "the old order broke down". The people "were bewildered by the lack of standards for settling disputes and maintaining harmonious relationships." The old clan-based hereditary houses were losing their social status as the dominant authorities, but the rising new state regimes were still fragmented, divided and conflicted, and their emerging role as the controlling power lacked traditional sanction. The era's instability led to an increasingly militant search for innovative social structures.

Zichan is "depicted in the [Zuo Zhuan] as one of the wisest men of his time, and also as a leading statesman in the small ancient state of [Zheng], which was under constant threat of extinction by its powerful neighbors". In his person evidently Zichan practiced the traditional li ceremonies and elite virtues of the fading Zhou dynasty (endorsed by Confucius). In his political craft, however, Han-era historians could see him as able to anticipate the later Legalist philosophy of the Warring States period, i.e., skillfull in the promulgation and enforcement of newly articulated laws. Such enforced obedience to state-wide standards would better secure the political control of events by the ministers.

The Zuo Zhuan quotes at length from the words spoken by Zichan. His thoughts tended to separate the distant domains of Heaven and the near domain of the human world. He argued against superstition and acted to curb the authority of the Master of Divination. He counseled the people to follow their reason and experience. Heaven's way is distant and difficult to grasp; while the human way is near at hand.

Confucius

Tomb of Confucius at Kong Lin in the city of Qufu (then of Lu state).

Confucius (551-479 BC) was almost 30 when Zichan died. Only in the generation after Zichan did Confucius, an unsuccessful office seeker, establish the literate tradition of an independent, private teacher in China.

As a near contemporary, like Zichan, Confucius was "born in [this] period of great political and social change", a centuries-long revolutionary "upheaval caused by forces beyond his control and already under way." Prof. Creel notes scholarly speculation about the original sources Confucius used in his teaching; he comments that the Zuo Zhuan quotes at length "several statesmen who, living shortly before Confucius... expressed ideas remarkably like his." They were "advanced in their thinking".

The Han historian Sima Qian lists Zichan as one of the six teachers of Confucius.

There were, of course, issues on which Zichan and Confucius did not agree. Confucius, then only 15, did not comment when Zichan caused the laws of Zheng to be published in 536. Yet when later in 513 the neighboring city-state of Jin published its laws, Confucius clearly made known his strong opposition. Such actions undercut the traditional authority of the Zhou-dynasty kings and the city-state nobles who ruled in their name, which scheme of governance Confucius consistently idealized.

Another area of disagreement touched on the human capacity to draw insights from observing society. Confucius taught about an ability to discern, from today's repetition of civic events, the distant future. By careful observation, change in the customary rites of a dynasty can indicate the course of its social history many generations hence. Zichan, however, at a decisive moment of political conflict, was known to confess thet he was not talented enough to make such future predictions. So he tailored his decision only for the people of Zheng then living.

According to the Lunyu, Confucius nonetheless spoke well of Zichan. In his personal conduct and attitudes, Zichan seemed to represent the traditional virtues Confucius advocated.

The Master said of Tsze-ch'an that he had four of the characteristics of a superior man: in his conduct of himself, he was humble; in serving his superiors, he was respectful; in nourishing the people, he was kind; in ordering the people, he was just."

The Lüshi paired Confucius and Zichan (who in this translation is called 'Prince Chan'). Both are praised as talented state ministers who led their countries to significant achievements. Both became widely regarded as successful governors who directed others to accomplish the tasks of administration.

Mencius

The Mengzi of Mencius refers to Zichan. A perplexed disciple questions Mencius about the conduct of Shun, one of the legendary sage kings. Shun's hostile parents and family lied to him. Shun mistakenly believed them, but he did not reveal a corrupt nature thereby. Shun believed their lies because of his regard for his parents. A life of virtue is then discussed.

Mencius compared sage king Shun here to an episode about Zichan, when he had believed a dishonest servant. Zichan had given his groundskeeper a live fish to keep in a pond; instead he cooked and ate it. He later told Zichan the fish was alive and swimming in the pond. Zichan was happy that the fish "found his place". Hearing this from Zichan, the servant mocked his reputation for wisdom. But not Mencius, who concluded: "Thus a noble man may be taken in by what is right, but he cannot be misled by what is contrary to the way".

Yet Menzi in another episode disapproved of Zichan's 'small kindness'.

Bibliography

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See also

• Hundred Schools of Thought
• Traditional Chinese law
• Ancient Chinese political systems
• Interstate relations during the Spring and Autumn period
• Ancient Chinese states
• Duke Huan of Zheng
• Duke Zhuang of Zheng
• Zheng Mao
• Deng Xi
• Shen Buhai
• Chinese nobility
• Outline of ancient China