Lu Jia (; died 170 BC) was a Chinese philosopher and politician of the
Western Han dynasty.
He secured the nominal geopolitical submission of
Zhao Tuo
Zhao Tuo (), rendered as Triệu Đà in Vietnamese language, Vietnamese, was a Qin dynasty Chinese general and first emperor of Nanyue. He participated in the conquest of the Baiyue peoples of Guangdong, Guangxi and Northern Vietnam. After ...
's kingdom of
Nanyue to Han in 196 BC.
The ''
Book of Han
The ''Book of Han'' is a history of China finished in 111 CE, covering the Western, or Former Han dynasty from the first emperor in 206 BCE to the fall of Wang Mang in 23 CE. The work was composed by Ban Gu (32–92 CE), ...
'' credits him with having converted the Han dynasty founder
Liu Bang
Emperor Gaozu of Han (2561 June 195 BC), also known by his given name Liu Bang, was the founder and first emperor of the Han dynasty, reigning from 202 to 195 BC. He is considered by traditional Chinese historiography to be one o ...
to
Confucianism
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, Religious Confucianism, religion, theory of government, or way of li ...
. An anecdote tells that in an early meeting Liu scoffed at Lu's scholarly interests with the words "I do all my conquering from the back of my horse, what use have I for the Documents and Odes?" To which Lu replied, "once my lord is done with the conquering, does he also intend to do all his ruling from the back of his horse?" This brought Liu to a pause, and he subsequently requested that Lu compose for him a book of historical examples outlining why Qin had lost the support of the world and how Liu himself might gain and retain it. This became the 12-chapter volume known as the ''Xin Yu'' 新語 ("''New Discourses''").
''Xin Yu'' integrates the concepts of
yin and yang
Originating in Chinese philosophy, yin and yang (, ), also yinyang or yin-yang, is the concept of opposite cosmic principles or forces that interact, interconnect, and perpetuate each other. Yin and yang can be thought of as complementary an ...
into a description of benevolent rule and its relation to self-cultivation.
This combination of yin and yang with classic Confucian concept of benevolent rule was a precursor to writing of
Dong Zhongshu in the ''
Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals''.
References
External links
New Discussions 新語Original text in Chinese with embedded Chinese-English dictionary
170 BC deaths
2nd-century BC Chinese philosophers
Han dynasty government officials
Nanyue
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