Mandate of Heaven
The Mandate of Heaven (Chinese: 天命; Mandarin: Tiānmìng; Cantonese: Tīn Mihng; lit. "Heaven's Command") is a Chinese Confucian political and philosophical concept, which advocates that the rise and fall of dynasties and the turnover of monarchies are not entirely within the control of human beings; the concept has been used to legitimize the rule of the king or emperor of China.
According to this doctrine, Heaven (天, Tiān, Tīn) bestows its mandate on a virtuous ruler, the Son of Heaven, who is the supreme universal monarch who rules Tianxia (天下; Tiānxià, Tīn haah, meaning "all under heaven", i.e. the world). Those who are supported by heaven will naturally be able to become emperors and kings, while those who are not supported by heaven will be weakened and perish. Thus, if a ruler is overthrown, this is interpreted as an indication that the ruler was unworthy and has lost the mandate. It was also a common belief that natural disasters such as famine and flood were divine retributions bearing signs of Heaven's displeasure with the ruler, so there would often be revolts following major disasters as the people saw these calamities as signs that the Mandate of Heaven had been withdrawn.
The concept of Heaven in Confucianism is viewed as the fundamental cause of all existence. It was elaborated by Dong Zhongshu as the source of the "Tao". Cheng Yi asserted that "Heaven cannot deviate from the Tao"; to him, Heaven is a manifestation of the Tao, referring to the principles of things, making the two equivalent. Chen Chun defined Heaven through the concept of "qi" (vital energy), which imparts individual characteristics to people, as the Mandate of Heaven, which is non-subjective and impartial. Zhu Xi believed that all human actions and their resulting causal relationships, as well as natural phenomena and events beyond human control, are collectively called the Mandate of Heaven — essentially the origin of all phenomena or the forger of their causal chains.
The Mandate of Heaven does not require a legitimate ruler to be of noble birth, depending instead on how well that person can rule. Chinese dynasties such as the Han, Ming, and Xing were founded by men of common origins, but they were seen as having succeeded because they had gained the Mandate of Heaven through virtue. Retaining the mandate is contingent on the just and able performance of the rulers and their heirs, requiring a constant cycle of moral rectitude and governance. If a ruler fails to provide good governance, engages in tyranny, or ignores the needs of the populace, it is believed that the Mandate may be revoked. The natural order, interpreted through the actions of Heaven, would then manifest through turmoil, leading to uprisings, insurrections, or even complete dynastic collapse.
The concept also extends to the ruler's family having divine rights, and was first used to support the rule of the kings of the Zhou dynasty to legitimize their overthrow of the earlier Shang dynasty. It was used throughout the history of China to legitimize the successful overthrow and installation of new emperors, including by non-Han dynasties such as the Qing dynasty. The Mandate of Heaven has been called the Zhou dynasty's most important contribution to Chinese political thought, but it coexisted and interfaced with other theories of sovereign legitimacy, including abdication to the worthy and five phases theory.
Today, the concept remains in use, although it has been vastly modified by the particularities of the Taiping Empire in the south and the United Socialist Republics of China in the north. The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, being a Nestorian Christian, reinterpreted the Mandate of Heaven as stemming from God the Father, who grants legitimacy to the Hong dynasty. Meanwhile, in the USRC, the concept has been largely replaced by the doctrine of the Mandate of the People, emphasizing popular sovereignty and the will of the masses rather than divine preference.