Although the title of "new Confucianism" is not exact with "East Learning" and it is not the original Confucianism, it is difficult to correct it now that it has become a historical fact. So I don't think it is necessary to write any more articles in this respect. The key is to understand its essence: "Neo-Confucianism" and "New Learning" are both new, which are not only essentially different from Confucianism represented by Confucius and Mencius, but also very different from Confucianism represented by Xunzi. The novelty of "new" lies in that it completely lost the academic orientation of Confucianism in the pre-Qin period, and then lobbied the rulers to explore doubts and seek truth from facts, and transformed itself into the so-called "Xue Jun" who catered to the political needs of the rulers and racked his brains to fabricate theories. Dong Zhongshu deserves to be called an "outstanding theorist", but his theory only serves autocratic kings. China's autocratic rule lasted more than 2,000 years after him, thanks to the continuous emergence of "outstanding theorists" like Dong Zhongshu.
Dong Zhongshu's moral education thought originated from his theological Confucianism. Dong Zhongshu attaches great importance to moral education from the viewpoint of "God's will is to teach morality without punishment", and he regards moral education as a dam to prevent rape and evil. The so-called moral education is to carry out Confucian ethics education in the whole society. The core of Confucian ethics is five kinds of interpersonal relationships, namely, monarch and minister, father and son, brother, couple and friend. The moral creed to deal with the relationship between "five ethics" should be benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and faith, that is, "the five permanent members". Among the "five virtues", Dong Zhongshu attaches the most importance to the monarch, father and son, and husband and wife. On the basis of "God's will" of respecting Yang and restraining Yin, he absolutes the hierarchical relationship and the master-slave relationship between them. This is the so-called "three cardinal principles of monarch": "the monarch is the minister's cardinal principle, the father is the child's cardinal principle, and the husband is the wife's cardinal principle". "Wang Dao San Gong" developed to later generations, that is, China feudal society? Quot "Confucian classics" and "three cardinal guides and five permanents" have become the basic content of moral education in feudal society in China.
"Three cardinal guides and five permanent members" was demonstrated by Dong Zhongshu as an eternal creed arranged by "God's will". He said that "the greatness of the Tao originates from the sky, and the sky remains unchanged, and the Tao remains unchanged." By "Tao" here, he means the moral creed of "Three Cardinal Principles and Five Permanent Principles". These morals are arranged for the world as the "paradise" of the "king of gods", and will never change as long as they are "providence". Dong Zhongshu's thought provided a theoretical basis for the rule of political power, monarchical power, theocracy, patriarchal clan system, husband power and clan in China feudal society.