Wang Chong

Chinese philosopher

• Born: 27 c.e.
• Birthplace: Shangyu, Kuaiji, China
• Died: c. 100
• Place of death: Shangyu, Kuaiji, China

During the Eastern Han Dynasty, apocryphal literature became popular, supplementing humanistic and rationalistic Confucianism and supporting the belief in portents and prophecies. Amid this change, Wang Chong was a rationalistic, naturalistic, and materialistic thinker whose philosophy contributed to clearing the atmosphere of superstition and occultism and to enhancing the spirit of skepticism, rationalism, and naturalism, which later bloomed in the form of Neo-Daoism during the Wei-Chin period.

Early Life

Wang Chong (wahng choong) was born in Shangyu, Kuaiji (now Zhejiang Province), China, in 27 c.e.; he lived during the period of transition from orthodox Confucianism to popular Neo-Daoism. During that time, China endured a series of crop failures that resulted in widespread famine and suffered from rebellions arising from the government’s inability to find a solution to its people’s problems. As a result, Confucianism, on whose training advancement in the civil service was based, declined in popularity; the country began to search for another ideology. Without a cohesive philosophy, the Chinese state and society would fragment and crumble.

While the country was going through this upheaval, Wang Chong suffered his own difficulties, having been born into a family whose fortunes were already on the decline. His rebellious grandfather and father had less-than-successful careers in government service. Eventually, both were forced into an erratic lifestyle, moving from one job to the next. To compound matters, Wang Chong was orphaned when he was very young.

Nevertheless, he always expressed an interest in learning. He continued to read, even in the most difficult of circumstances, in the local bookstores, going on to study at the national university in the capital city of Luoyang (Lo-yang). There he met Ban Biao (Pan Piao; 3-54 c.e.), an eminent scholar and the father of the noted historian Ban Gu (Pan Ku; 32-92 c.e.). Much of Wang Chong’s education, however, was informal and irregular. While teaching himself, he did not follow any of the traditional scholastic methods or values. Thus he has been classified as a member of the Miscellaneous school.

Like his grandfather and father before him, Wang Chong worked as a government official, coming into conflict with his superiors as a result of his uncompromising personality. During the course of his career, he held a few minor official positions on the local level, serving without distinction. In 88 c.e. he retired from circuit government, a job he had obtained as a favor from Dong Qin (Tung Ch’in), a provincial official. He returned to his hometown and devoted the remainder of his life to teaching and writing.

Life’s Work

The intellectual situation in Wang Chong’s lifetime was complex. Confucianism was supreme, yet it was being debased into a mysterious and superstitious doctrine. In addition, belief in the unity of humankind and nature was changing: Humankind and nature were seen as mutually influencing each other, and these influences were thought to be exerted through strange phenomena and calamities. Heaven, though not anthropomorphic, was purposeful, asserting its will through prodigies that it used to warn mortals; on a smaller scale, spiritual beings exercised a similar influence.

Wang Chong rejected these beliefs, declaring that Heaven takes no action; that natural events, including prodigies, occur spontaneously; that there is no such thing as teleology; that fortune and misfortune occur by chance; and that people do not become ghosts after death. In addition, he insisted that theories must be tested and supported by concrete evidence. He did not believe that the past is any sure guide with regard to the present, saying that there is no evidence that the past is better than the present, and vice versa. In short, he believed in human logic and nature’s spontaneous manifestation.

Wang Chong also wrote three books: the Jisu jieyi (first century c.e.; ridiculing custom and decorum), in which he discussed the vagaries of politics and power. When he himself was out of power, he wrote the Zhengwu (first century c.e.; political affairs), in which he discusses the defects of the political system, and the Lun heng (85 c.e.; On Balance, 1907-1911), in which he calls for a logic based on tangible evidence and rejects superstition and speculation without foundation. Only On Balance has survived.

In On Balance, Wang Chong presented a variety of views on human nature. In it, he first quoted Confucius (551-479 b.c.e.): “By nature men are alike. Through practice they have become far apart.” He then turned to Mencius (c. 372-c. 289 b.c.e.), one of Confucius’s disciples, who saw humankind’s nature as originally good, especially during childhood, and explained evil in terms of the circumstances of their lives. He also quoted Gaozi (Kao Tzu), Mencius’s contemporary, who said that human nature is neither good nor evil: It is like the willow tree. Xunzi (Hsün-tzu), however, opposed Mencius, saying that “the nature of man is evil”; that is, just as a stone is hard as soon as it is produced, people are bad even in childhood. Dong Zhongshu (Tung Chung-shu) read the works of both Mencius and Xunzi and proposed eclectic theories of human nature and feelings: “Nature is born of yang and feelings are born of yin. The force of yin results in greed and that of yang results in humanity.” He meant that human nature and feelings are both good and evil, for they are products of yin and yang. Liu Zizheng (Liu Tzu-cheng) concurred, saying that human nature is inborn and not expressed, but feelings are what come into contact with things; thus, human nature is yin (evil) and human feelings are yang (good).

Wang Chong dealt with these theories eclectically. He considered that Mencius’s doctrine of the goodness of human nature referred only to people above the average, that Xunzi’s doctrine of the evil of human nature applied to people below the average, and that the doctrine of Yang Xiong (Yang Hsiung)—human nature is a mixture of good and evil—referred to average people. Although his statements seemingly indicate that Wang Chong believed in three grades of human nature, he actually took this approach because he believed that human nature is neither good nor evil.

Nature and its spontaneity Wang Chong explained in terms of skepticism and rationalism. He did not believe that nature (or heaven and earth) produces anything purposely; instead, all things are spontaneously created when the material force (qi) of heaven and earth come together. Specifically, the calamities and changes produced unexpectedly by nature are not for the purpose of reprimanding or rewarding humanity. Their occurrence is nothing but a spontaneous, natural manifestation, known as nonaction (wuwei). Discussing this subject, he said, “What do we mean when we say that Heaven is spontaneous and takes no action? It is a matter of material force. It is tranquil, without desire, and is engaged in neither action nor business.” Thus he rejected the teleological and anthropomorphic view of Heaven then popular among his contemporary Confucianists.

He developed his view of fate similarly. He believed that human nature and fate have nothing to do with a good or bad life: A good-natured person can be unlucky, and an evil-natured person can be lucky. He concluded that nature dictates its own course in and of itself.

Death he explained again in terms of skepticism and rationalism. First, he did not believe in the existence of spirits or ghosts because after people die they are not conscious and thus are not capable of doing anything for themselves, asking, “How can the dead be spiritual beings if such is the case?” He then continued, “When other creatures die, they do not become spiritual beings. Why should man alone become a spiritual being when he dies?” He gave further reason in terms of naturalism and rationalism: “Man can live because of his vital forces. At death his vital forces are extinct. What makes the vital forces possible is the blood. When a person dies, his blood becomes exhausted. With this his vital forces are extinct, and his body decays and becomes ashes and dust.” In short, he believed in nothing after death. Human death, according to Wang Chong, is like the extinction of fire: When fires are extinguished, their light shines no longer, and when people die, their consciousness has no more understanding. Here Wang Chong equated human (life) and matter (fire) in terms of material force (qi), which in turn is explained by nonaction (wuwei). Thus he can be identified as a materialist and naturalist.

Wang Chong also rejected the Confucian view that antiquity was a golden period in Chinese history. He believed in the equality of past and present, saying that the world was and is well governed because of sages and that it was and is ill governed because of unrighteous people; thus, good and bad governments, whether past or present, are not distinct. At times, however, he contradicted himself, saying that the present is better than the past. He came to this conclusion especially with the beginning of the later Han Dynasty (25-220 c.e.). The Han Dynasty’s power and glory reached its pinnacle when it gained territorial expansion and political stability throughout the country; credit for these achievements was ascribed to the virtue of Han Dynasty rulers. Wang Chong was neither anti-Confucian nor pro-Confucian. Although he gave the impression that he was no follower of Confucianism, he actually buttressed Confucianism through his rational skepticism and criticism.

Significance

Wang Chong believed in the power of nature and its spontaneity and stressed the importance of skepticism and rationalism. Yet he did not propose any new ideas. Instead, he attacked and accommodated the old ideas in an eclectic fashion. As a result, he is generally credited with ushering in the era of Neo-Daoism, which emphasized both the spontaneous power of nature (naturalism) and the critical ability of humans (rationalism) during the Wei-Jin period. Orthodox Confucianism was severely challenged by such emergent unorthodox ideologies as Neo-Daoism; Wang Chong, a typical Confucian scholar at heart, defended the basic Confucian tenets in his own unique way.

Bibliography

Chan, Wing-tsit. A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1969. This book contains a chapter on Wang Chong’s life, together with extensive excerpts of his philosophical writings taken from On Balance.

De Bary, William T., Wing-tsit Chan, and Burton Watson, eds. Sources of Chinese Tradition. 2d ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 2000. A brief introduction to Wang Chong’s writings in relation to theories of the structure of the universe.

Fêng, Yu-lan. The Period of Classical Learning. Vol. 2 in A History of Chinese Philosophy, translated by Derk Bodde. 1953. Reprint. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1983. Interprets Wang Chong’s philosophy.

Needham, Joseph. Science and Civilization in China: History of Scientific Thought. Vol. 2. 1956. Reprint. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991. The scientific aspect of Wang Chong’s philosophy is discussed.

Wang, Chong. Lun-hêng. 2 vols. Translated by Alfred Forke. 1907-1911. Reprint. New York: Paragon Books, 1962. An excellent, annotated translation of On Balance, the major result of Wang Chong’s philosophy.