Abstract：“Yuande” (远德) originates from a story about Duke of Zhou, which was recorded in the Book of Documents referring to attracting and winning over the peoples of the Four Barbarians (四夷) through virtuous conduct, making them submit to the rulers in a pleasing manner. According to the Book of Documents, the submission of the Four Barbarians was originally a natural outcome of the virtuous governance of Duke Zhou. Later on, Confucius elaborated on “cultivating Wende (Civil culture and virtuous conduct) to attract others from afar”, arguing that in order to achieve the purpose of making distant people submit, it was necessary to “cultivate Wende”. Here, “cultivating virtue” has become a deliberate means, which is different from the Book of Documents. Since the Spring and Autumn period, people have developed a highly influential “Yuande” story based on this, that is, the Yueshang Clan (越裳氏) willingly surrendered to Duke Zhou due to his virtue. This story was very popular during the Han Dynasty and frequently appeared on various occasions.
In the early Han Dynasty, there was a tendency towards theorizing the concept of “Yuande”. Only when certain conditions were met could it become the recognized concept of “cultivating Wende to attract people from afar” by Confucian scholars. Firstly, “Yuande” referred to “Wende” rather than military suppression. Secondly, the people of the Four Barbarians should actively attach themselves to the Central Plains. Thirdly, “Yuande” must follow the order of “internal before external”. Moreover, Han Confucianism regarded the event of the Four Barbarians admiring the virtues of the Central Plains and voluntarily surrendering as an important symbol of national stability and world peace.
This model was also officially recognized by the Han Dynasty, and from then on, the criterion for world peace and good governance throughout the realm was no longer elusive and intangible, but were broken down into many tangible and quantifiable factors. The initiative of the Four Barbarians to join the Central Plains due to their virtue is an important criterion for judgment.
In the early Han Dynasty, the country was not strong but was influenced by the concept of “Yuande”. In the policy of pacifying the Four Barbarians, it tended to be gentle and rarely launched military campaigns. When Emperor Wu of Han ascended the throne, it coincided with the restoration of the national strength of the Han Dynasty. Emperor Wu began to resort to efficient military means to solve the problems of the Four Barbarians in order to achieve peace and become the Holy King as soon as possible. From then on, the method of subduing the Four Barbarians through military force became integrated into the concept of “Yuande”.
The pursuit of “Yuande” by Emperor Wu, as well as his frequent use of military force against the Four Barbarians, was driven by both the practical needs of the time, and the grand ambition of achieving a “peaceful world”. Therefore, it is the pursuit of “Yuande” for the outcomes, which reduced “Yuande” to merely barbarian submitting, while concealing its inherent moral and value-based connotations. The use of military force also deviated from the Confucian belief of “cultivating Wende to attract people from afar”, causing Emperor Wu to face many criticisms at that time and even later.
However, regardless of the situation, Emperor Wu’s expansion of the connotation of “cultivating Wende to attract people from afar” has gone beyond “Yuande” proposed from the pre-Qin to early Han dynasties, including not only the peaceful aspects of “Wende”, but also the military virtues that Confucianism dislikes, with military conquest as the core.
In summary, this article, based on the reality of the Western Han Dynasty and traces the early development and evolution of the concept of “Yuande”. The historical changes in the policy of the Four Barbarians in the early Western Han Dynasty focused on the expansion and adjustment of the connotation of “Yuande” by Emperor Wu of Han; the system demonstrates the role of “Yuande” in the Han Dynasty, as well as the various changes in its criticism and innovation. In terms of the evolution of the concept of “Yuande” from the early Zhou Dynasty to the Han Dynasty, we can see the process of ancient China developing mature policies and concepts for governing its frontiers. This had not only directly affected the frontier relations during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, but also established the basic model of frontier governance in China for the next two thousand years. Therefore, studying the interactions between the frontier concepts developed in the Pre-Qin period and the realities of later frontier regions will enhance our understanding of the intentions and reasons for the changes in frontier policies and legal systems.
