Confucianism originated at the grassroots level, and Confucianism was originally a study of funeral etiquette. Confucian scholars can't eat enough and wear good clothes.

Therefore, the pre-Qin Confucian thought was simple, emphasizing "benevolence/righteousness/ceremony", and did not see the restoration of Zhou rites and social order.

Qin took legalism and despised Confucianism;

At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang looked down on Confucianism, took Huang Lao's inaction, and entered the literary scene.

Dong Zhongshu injected monarchical power/unified theory, which was deeply loved by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and became the political mainstream.

In this turbulent era of Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, the red tape of Confucianism imposed by the Han government has failed to meet the needs of the times, the gate system and the theory of social orientalism have made scholars depressed and metaphysics prevailed, so they stood up as a typical representative of Cao Cao's Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.

The Tang Dynasty was open, and Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism contended, but the orthodox position of Confucianism was not completely lost, and it was interlinked with Taoism and Buddhism.

Confucianism returned to orthodoxy in the Song and Yuan Dynasties. In the Yuan Dynasty, Confucianism was completely adopted in the imperial examinations and became the official mainstream thought. Confucianism sank into the daily life of the family, and the theory of three cardinal guides and five permanents and the theory of moral divinity came into being as needed.

In the Ming Dynasty, industry and commerce sprouted, people were enlightened, traditional Confucianism developed again, mind learning led to conscience, and knowledge and action were integrated, which completed a Confucian enlightenment thought to the people.

Zeng Guofan was the last semi-sage of Confucian practitioners in Qing Dynasty, but there was no substantial development of Confucian theory.