Mandate of heaven

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For the book of this title, see Mandate of Heaven (book).

The Mandate of Heaven (天命 Pīnyīn: Tiānmìng) was a traditional Chinese concept of legitimacy used to support the rule of the kings of the Zhou Dynasty and later the Emperors of China. Heaven would bless the authority of a just ruler, but Heaven would be displeased with an unwise ruler and give the Mandate to someone else.

The Mandate has no time limitations, but a performance standard. The Duke of Zhou explained to the people of Shang, that if their king had not misused his power, his Mandate would not have been taken away. This means that a legitimate emperor need not be of noble birth, and in fact, dynasties as powerful as the Han dynasty and Ming dynasty were founded by persons of modest birth.

It is first found discussed in writings that recorded the words of the Duke of Zhou, younger brother of King Wu of Zhou and regent for King Wu's infant son King Cheng of Zhou. He is usually considered to be its first proponent. The notion of the Mandate of Heaven was also invoked by Mencius, a very influential Chinese scholar.

Eventually, as Chinese political ideas developed further, the Mandate was linked to the notion of the dynastic cycle.

This is very different from the European notion of Divine Right, which legitimized unwise rule instead of the overthrowing of it. Conversely, since a successful revolt was considered evidence that the Mandate of Heaven had passed, this meant that it was wrong to revolt, unless you won. The philosophical difference resulted in little practical difference.

"Mandate of Heaven" was also the very first era name of the Qing Empire.

The Shang and Zhou

The Mandate of Heaven concept was first used by the Zhou dynasty to justify their overthrow of the Shang dynasty and would be used by many succeeding dynasties to come.

The Shang legitimized rule by family connections to divine power. It was believed their founders had been deities, and their descendants went to join them in Heaven. Heaven was very active and interfering, in mysterious ways, in earthly rule, as is shown by the divination texts preserved from the later part of the Shang, the oracle bones. The Mandate of Heaven may be thought of as changing this divination legitimization to a feudal one—the world is a fief, held at Heaven's pleasure, which could and would be reassigned if the holder misbehaved.

Mandate of heaven

The Shang and Zhou

See Also