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Agriculturalism, also known as theSchool of Agrarianism, theSchool of Agronomists, theSchool of Tillers, and in Chinese as theNongjia (simplified Chinese:农家;traditional Chinese:農家), was an earlyagrarianChinese philosophy that advocated peasantutopian communalism andegalitarianism.
The Agriculturalists believed that Chinese society should be modeled around that of the early sage kingShennong, a folk hero who was portrayed in Chinese literature as "working in the fields, along with everyone else, and consulting with everyone else when any decision had to be reached."[1] They encouraged farming and agriculture and taught farming and cultivation techniques, as they believed that agricultural development was the key to a stable and prosperous society.
Agriculturalism was suppressed during theQin dynasty and most original texts are now lost. However, concepts originally associated with Agriculturalism have influencedConfucianism andLegalism, as well asChinese philosophy as a whole.[2] Agriculturalism has at times been viewed as the essence of theChinese identity.[3]
Agriculturalism dates back to theSpring and Autumn period andWarring States period, during a period known as the "Hundred Schools of Thought" whichflourished from 770[verification needed] to 221 BC. Throughout this period, competing states, seeking to war with one another and unite China as a single country, patronized philosophers, scholars, and teachers.
The competition by scholars for the attention of rulers led to the development of different schools of thought, and the emphasis on recording teachings into books encouraged their spread.[4] The result was an era characterized by significant intellectual and cultural developments.[4] The major philosophies of China,Confucianism,Mohism,Legalism, andTaoism, all originated from this period.
Chinese tradition attributes the origin of Agriculturalism to the Chinese ministerHou Ji, a figure known for his innovations in agriculture.[2] The Agriculturalists also emphasized the role ofShennong, the divine farmer, a semi-mythical ruler of early China credited by the Chinese as the inventor of agriculture. Shennong was seen as a proto-Agriculturalist, whose governance and focus on agriculture served as a model of the ideal Agriculturalist government.[2]
Xu Xing, a philosopher who defended Agriculturalism, settled with a group of followers in the state ofTeng in about 315 BC. A disciple of his visited the Confucian philosopherMencius, and a short report of their conversation discussing Xu Xing's philosophy survives.[5]
The rise of theQin dynasty in 221 BC saw the "burning of books and burying of scholars," that is, the purge of the Hundred Schools of Thought. This included Agriculturalism. The Legalist Qin dynasty was intolerant of other schools of thought, seeking to burn any text that did not adhere to the Legalist philosophy.[6] Because of this, few Agriculturalist texts exist, and most of what is known of Agriculturalism comes from critical assessments by other philosophical schools.[2]
The bibliography of theBook of Han (2nd century AD) presents Agriculturalism as one of 10 philosophical schools and lists 9 books belonging to that school.[5]
Agriculturalism is primarily a social, economic, and political philosophy. The philosophy is founded on the notion that human society originates with the development ofagriculture, and societies are based upon "people's natural prospensity to farm."[2] The Agriculturalists described the ancient political system, seen as ideal, as one where "the means by which the early sage kings led their people was to put agriculture before all other affairs...the reason why Hou Ji undertook agriculture was because he considered it to be the root of instructing the masses."[2]
To the Agriculturalists, the ideal society, modeled after that ofShennong's, is communal,agrarian, andegalitarian.[1] The Agriculturalist believed that the ideal government is led by a benevolent king, one who works alongside the people in tilling the fields. The Agriculturalist king is not paid by the government through its treasuries; his livelihood is derived from the profits he earns working in the fields and cooking his own meals, not his leadership.[7] SaidXu Xing, a prominent Agriculturalist:
The ruler of Teng is an upright and worthy ruler. However, he has yet to hear the Way. A wise ruler tills the land together with his people to make his living. He governs while cooking his own meals. Now, that Teng has granaries and treasuries means that [the ruler] inflicts hardship on the people to fatten himself. How can he be a worthy ruler?
— Xu Xing[7]
Unlike the Confucians, the Agriculturalists did not believe in thedivision of labour, arguing instead that the economic policies of a country need to be based upon an egalitarianself sufficiency.[7] The Agriculturalists supported thefixing of prices, in which all similar goods, regardless of differences in quality and demand, are set at exactly the same, unchanging price. They suggested that people should be paid the same amount for the same services, a policy criticized by the Confucians as encouraging products of low quality, which "destroys the earnest standards of craftmanship."[7]
Agriculturalism was criticized extensively by rival philosophical schools, including theMohistMo Zi, the ConfucianMencius, andYang Zhu.[2] Mencius criticized its chief proponentXu Xing for advocating that rulers should work in the fields with their subjects, arguing that the Agriculturalist egalitarianism ignored thedivision of labour central to society. He points out that other early Chinese rulers did not work in fields, yet were equally as successful and revered as Shennong.[7] Mencius dismisses Xu Xing as a "Southern barbarian with a twittering tongue."[7]
Due to its Legalist focus, theQin dynasty was thorough in itspurging of rival philosophical schools, including Agriculturalism. However, Agriculturalism in its heyday heavily influenced theagrarian policies of Confucianism, Legalism, and other contemporaryChinese philosophical schools,[2] and so subsequently many concepts originally associated with the Agriculturalists continued to exist in Chinese philosophy.
The transmission and translation of Chinese philosophical texts in Europe during the 18th century had a heavy influence on the development ofAgrarianism inEurope. French agrarianist philosophy, a predecessor to modern Agrarianism,ofFrançois Quesnay and thePhysiocrats,[clarification needed] are said to have been modeled after the agrarian policies of Chinese philosophy.[8]
