found first in the ancient text, the
Book of Rites. Keeping a large population in order required rituals of obedience codified within the family. The ideal of a cosmic totality made compliance into the highest moral virtue by painting a world of no conflict: Thus, people did not only love their own parents, did not only nurture their own children…In this way, selfish schemes did not arise. Robbers, thieves, rebels and traitors had no place and thus outer doors were not closed. This is called the Grand Unity (大同
da tong). [3]
Who would not want to live in a world without robbers and thieves? Which state would not treasure a society without any rebels or traitors? For commoners as well as rulers this Utopian vision of universal peace remained a powerful inspiration. In fact, when large scale revolts arose throughout Chinese history, this ideal came to the fore again and again, as was the case with White Lotus Rebellion of 1774 and the Taiping Rebellion of 1850. The stat