Historical and Cultural Background of Academics in Han Dynasty

The Scholars of the Han Dynasty have made brilliant academic achievements in China’s history. These were never accidental achievements but instead resulted from abundant academic achievements of the pre-Qin times, as well as from the specific social and political background of the Han Dynasty. This chapter will discuss the historical background of academic achievements in the Han Dynasty from three aspects. First, the deep roots and driving forces of these academic achievements in the Han Dynasty were the radical social changes and transformations that took place in the Spring and Autumn period (770–476 BC) and the Warring States period (475–221 BC), when significant incidents such as economically abandoning “the well-field system” and politically abandoning the royal Zhou House and waging wars for hegemony occurred. Second, the direct foundation for the academic achievements in the Han Dynasty was the booming academic activity in the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period, which constituted the “axial period” together with Greece and India of the same time, when various new thoughts and different academic schools appeared, and the “Contention of Hundred Schools of Thought” became a popular phenomenon. Third, the specific social and political setting of the Han Dynasty conceived and stimulated new enormous needs for academic development, especially to support “Grand Unity” and to settle and develop imperial society; therefore, many new moves were employed to promote academic activities.