Mandate of Heaven - in Contemporary China

In Contemporary China

The idea of the Mandate of Heaven was developed by the Zhou as an ideology of legitimation, and it continues to serve this function. By emphasizing the unity of the Chinese nation into pre-historic times, the concept legitimates the rule of a single centralised state and implicitly relegates any other potential power holders (both historical and contemporary) to positions of subordination or illegitimacy. Although the archaeological record shows clearly that multiple cultures and kingdoms existed in the area that was to become China, Chinese archaeologists continue to date all Bronze Age sites to the Xia, Shang or Zhou, implying that the territory controlled today belonged to the ancestors of the current Chinese state. In Chinese academy today the concept is not taught explicitly, but by tracing the origins of the Chinese state to the Xia, Shang and Zhou, rather than emphasizing the diversity of the actual archaeological record, the Chinese education system continues to promote the idea of the Mandate of Heaven.