Taoism and Confucianism in Early Han Dynasty

Though,in early years of West Han Dynasty,Shu Suntong helped Emperor Gaozu set up rituals in accordance to Confucian concepts,Confucianism was not thought highly of.The Confucian idea of de-centralization could not be accepted at that time when Lu Gu popularized his idea of civil and military rule in his The New Book and Emperor Gaozu tried to get rid of military commissioners with different family names.Furthermore,both Wendi and Jingdi,successors of Gaozu,did not pay much attention to the Confucian scholars.In contrast to the low status of Confucianism,Taoism,due to the concept of non-interference,met the requirements of political and economic development of West Han in the early decades and thus became the fundamental ruling ideology those years.The dominance of Taoism for 70 years was not challenged until the reign of Han Wu Di,who made Confucianism the official philosophy and enshrined it.