Wén (Chinese: 文) and wǔ (Chinese: 武) are a conceptual pair in Chinese philosophy and political culture describing opposition and complementarity of civil and military realms of government. Differentiation between wen and wu was engaged in discussions on criminal punishment, administrative control, creation and reproduction of social order, education and moral transformation.[1]
The concept was formed during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, and best articulated in the 3rd or 2nd century BCE. However, until recently it was not much discussed by the Western scholars because of their inaccurate perception of the importance of Confucianism in the pre-imperial and early imperial era, and their understanding of Confucianism as pacifist in its nature.[2] An example of the last is provided by John K. Fairbank: “Warfare was disesteemed in Confucianism... The resort to warfare (wu) was an admission of bankruptcy in the pursuit of wen [civility or culture]. Consequently, it should be a last resort... Herein lies the pacifist bias of the Chinese tradition... Expansion through wen... was natural and proper; whereas expansion by wu, brute force and conquest, was never to be condoned.”[3]
- ^ McNeal (2012), p. 8.
- ^ McNeal (2012), pp. 1–6.
- ^ Yuan-kang Wang, Harmony and war: Confucian culture and Chinese power politics. Columbia University Press, 2011:14. Quote from John K. Fairbank, "Varieties of the Chinese Military Experience," in Chinese Ways in Warfare, ed. Frank A. Kierman Jr. and John K. Fairbank (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1974), 7–9.
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