Shifting paradigms in theories of government

Recent scholarship has shed new light on Southern Song (1127-1279) as a watershed moment in Chinese history. This dissertation studies Southern Song discourse on good government against the background of a vast intellectual change during the period from late 11th century Northern Song (960-1126) through early Ming (1368-1644). In the aftermath of the New Policies (1068-1126), the full-scale state activist reforms that ended up in dynastic fall, Southern Song literati thinkers reflected on the consequences of this reform in history. Their discourse developed into a sustained constitutional discourse, which continued throughout Southern Song, forming a strong intellectual movement. They shifted the underlying paradigms of imperial rule through a critical historical assessment of the New Policies and a fundamental re-interpretation of classical antiquity. They changed the constitutional schemes in the received classics of antiquity, redefined good government by reviving the fengjian doctrine, and formulated constitutional plans for reorganizing state society relations for later imperial China. Their theories of government generally gained dominance in academe and defined the standard visions of imperial politics during the 12 th to 13 th century China. Finally, Jinhua literati who advised the founding emperor in the Ming Founding considered Southern Song constitutional discourse on good government for the enactment of Ming legislation. The early Ming case was an outgrowth of Southern Song constitutional discourse on good government. Since Southern Song, the Chinese literati redirected the course of government away from New Policies expansion and activism and toward an effective smaller government that relied on the self-generating forces of local society and local institutions.