On the Decline of Studies of Ancient Masters and Supreme Veneration of Confucianism in Western Han Dynasty

The indifference to the various schools of thought of the ancient masters did not start from Emperor Qin Shihuang who burned books and buried Confucian scholars alive. When supreme tribute was paid to Confucianism to the neglect of other schools of thought at the time of Emperor Wu of Western Han Dynasty, it was not that all of the ancient masters were banned from academic studies. What were exclusively venerated was the Confucian classics rather than the Confucian teachings. The tribute paid to the study of Confucian classics not only results in the replacement of the various schools of thought of the ancient masters in the educational system of officialdom, but also explains the decline of these schools in the history of the academic studies.