Why Confucian Books Should Be Burned

By chief editor Matthew Hamer

The Qin dynasty was full of strides in all fields of the country in a mere fifteen years. The country obtained a common currency, a common language, massive engineering feat and a set of standard laws but some drastic change must occur to kickstart these interventions and that was the burning of pro Confucian literature and scripture. "Destroying literature and persecuting Confucians was an extension of the original plans to consolidate the Qin dynasty composed by Qin Shi Huang("Burning Of The Books", Paragraph One).Initiated by Qin Shi Huang the book burnings exposed of scripture that would further delay these feats and accomplishments but once these books were burned the Qin dynasty could focus on more beneficial accomplishments like a wall to protect against the Mongols. By refining and consolidating the empire to just legalists, Qin Shi Huang could eliminate opposing groups leaving less tension between the empire and now that Confucians were gone there were less radical ideas that could slow the advancements in empire.

These pro Confucian literature works preach to people that all that matters is following the moral code and by doing this they did not make any strides to help better the early Chinese dynasty in the fields of culture, economics or politics. "This is further complicated when 200 years after the death of Confucius, the Qin dynasty decides to suppress Confucianism and burn Confucius' books"("Confucianism", Paragraph Two). The book burnings however halted and disrupted the spread of Confucianism and they proved to set back the teachings of Confucianism and along with legislative action Confucianism's parasitic concepts slowed the advancement of Legalism excelled. Once destroyed and expelled the new legalist polices helped mold China into a more efficient empire that began a short but prosperous period. It is for these previously listed reasons that I encourage the destruction of pro Confucius materials.