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Wén (Chinese:文) andwǔ (Chinese:武) are a conceptual pair inChinese philosophy and political culture describing opposition and complementarity of civil and military realms of government. Differentiation betweenwen andwu 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 theSpring and Autumn andWarring 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 ofConfucianism 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 byJohn K. Fairbank: “Warfare was disesteemed in Confucianism... The resort to warfare (wu) was an admission of bankruptcy in the pursuit ofwen [civility or culture]. Consequently, it should be a last resort... Herein lies the pacifist bias of the Chinese tradition... Expansion throughwen... was natural and proper; whereas expansion bywu, brute force and conquest, was never to be condoned.”[3]
Attested inShang dynastyoracle bones, the earliest uses were in theposthumous epithets of certain Shang ancestors, the first recorded – conveniently, for both – beingWen Wu Ding.[4] The most common use case ofwen in the epigraphic record is in appellations to dead ancestors, where it shared semantic space of general positive eulogy with precisely the wordshuáng (皇) andliè (烈). Any bases for why one was selected over another are not apparent.[5]
The posthumous names of theZhou dynasty (1046–256 BCE) founders,King Wen andKing Wu, represent the two terms as standing in the "father-and-son" relationship.[6]Wen andWu became the most popular posthumous names ofregional lords during the Zhou dynasty, butWen in particular saw no usage until nearly the end of theWestern Zhou, when central power was significantly weakened, suggesting the possibility of royal exclusivity akin to a ritual trademark.[7]
The first archaeologically attested use ofwen andwu as common terms outside of posthumous epithets or as synecdoche for the Zhou founders dates to the Spring and Autumn period, where a ruler of the state ofQin used them to describe some of his positive qualities while asserting his assidiousness in acting as a responsible lineage head.[8] In the transmitted literature, the terms occur at the earliest strata of the earliest texts, theShijing and theShangshu, but the precise meaning ofwen in particular is indeterminate from context.[9]
Shuoyuan, compiled byLiu Xiang (77–6 BCE, Han dynasty), gives a classical example of the terms' balancing against each other:
King Cheng enfeoffedBo Qin [the Duke of Zhou's son] as the Duke of Lu. Summoning him, he addressed him, saying: "Do you know the Way of acting as the ruler over the people? ... Should you possesswen but lackwu, you will have no means to awe those below. Should you possesswu but lackwen, the people will fear you but not draw close. Ifwen andwu are implemented together, then your awe-inspiringvirtue will be achieved."[10]
