The Ideology of the Great Minds in the Pre-Qin Period of Time about the Propriety and the Law (Part One)

The ideology of propriety and the law is very important in the history of the development of thinking, especially the political thinking, in ancient China. This paper is devoted to the discussion of the ideology of the Great Minds in the Pre-Qin period of time about the and the Law. It goes to examine the spiritual connotation of Propriety and the Law, and the historic changes in the relation between the idea of the Propriety and that of the Law in the Pre-Qin days (the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period). Thus the paper traces back to this historic period of time which marked the dividing line in the history of political thinking in ancient China.