Mohist Traces in the Early Chunqiu fanlu Chapters

Introductions to Chinese Philosophy generally state that in Early Han times the dominant ideology of Han-Confucianism was a syncretistic product of Legalist, Mohist, Daoist, Cosmologist and other traditions. Yet, whereas Legalism, Daoism and cosmological thought are still discernible in distinct groups and texts in Early Han, Mohism seems to have entirely merged with Confucianism and lost any social or institutional identity. This merging did not happen all at once, Mohist influence can already be found in Warring States Ruist texts such as the Mengzi and the Xunzi. The identification of Mohist elements in Early Han Confucian texts therefore raises the methodological issue of whether these elements have not much earlier already “changed side” and have become an integral part of the Confucian school. The following paper will therefore only focus on Mohist traces in what can be recognized as innovative parts in Early Han Confucian texts that clearly go beyond Warring States Ruist discourses. Yet, a second methodological problem underlying this approach is how in general innovations may be identified as distinct elements in Early Han Confucian texts because many of the Early Han Confucian texts are in content and form not comparable to earlier Confucian texts. Therefore, we must restrict our search to those few texts which continue earlier text genres and topics because only these allow us, on a comparative basis, to clearly discern Han innovative text elements. However, not many Early Han Confucian texts lie in a continuous line with Zhou Confucian traditions. Three exegetical traditions might probably provide the only lines of thematic and genre continuity of Confucian texts leading from the Zhou to the Han dynasty. Some of the Liji chapters can be interpreted as a continuation of earlier interpretative traditions of ritual. A number of Liji chapters refer to Yili chapters, and although a dating of the Liji chapters proves difficult we can expect different layers of continuous exegetical development reaching up to Early Han as I have shown elsewhere.1 A second continuous tradition of Confucian text exegesis is reflected in the tomb manuscripts “Wuxing” and “Kongzi Shi lun” which have allowed us new insights into Late Zhou Shi exegesis and teaching practice.2 Apart from the Hanshi waizhuan, however, which is not so much