874 resistance and dissent: Asia and the Pacific of which Confucius and his follower Mencius (ca 371–ca 289 b.c.e.) were themselves prime examples While still adhering to a hierarchical aristocratic worldview, the shi often remonstrated with rulers whose misguided policies and moral behavior put them in danger of losing the mandate of Heaven When remonstration failed, they would sometimes leave their home states in search of a more virtuous ruler elsewhere In a sense, by thus “hiding” from a ruler through self-imposed exile to avoid moral pollution through forced collaboration, such traveling shi can be classified as moralpolitical recluses, demonstrating their dissent by resigning from office A more desperate form of protest is exemplified in the person and legend of Qu Yuan (ca 340–278 b.c.e.), a government official of noble birth who committed suicide to make a political statement and to vent his frustration over the destruction of his home state of Chu through the slander and pernicious influence of sycophants Before drowning himself in the Mi Luo River, Qu Yuan wrote the Li Sao (On Encountering Trouble), a long, allegorical poem in which he casts himself as a beautiful concubine neglected by the king Ever since, Chinese statesmen have often used similar metaphorical poetry—involving frustrated women, symbolically referring to the ignored voices of wise ministers—as veiled political statements of dissent While different in other respects, the Warring States philosophies of Laozi and Zhuangzi (fourth century b.c.e.) agreed that their age was so chaotic that whole-scale rejection of contemporary forms of government and social values through reclusive withdrawal was the only meaningful course of action In contrast, being firmly rooted in social philosophy, Confucius and his followers were unable to accept these radical forms of political protest, which to them amounted to “living with the birds and beasts.” In legalism, a Machiavellian political philosophy associated with the late Warring States thinker Han Fei (d 233 b.c.e.), dissent was no longer an option, and anyone showing resistance to the government would be ruthlessly suppressed The Han feizi, a philosophical work attributed to Han Fei, mentions a case of two sagelike retired recluses who were executed simply for wanting to live independently of the state By placing themselves outside the jurisdiction of the government and by being immune to the lure of monetary compensation and the fear of punishment, they were seen as subverting the authority of the ruler and thereby endangering the foundation of state control Legalist-inspired policies were adopted by the ruthless Qin Dynasty (221–207 b.c.e.), which consequently strove to discourage all forms of resistance, as exemplified in the infamous incidents of the burning of books and the killing of scholars to preempt dissension These examples of resistance illustrate how politically engaged individuals expressed dissent in isolation, through remonstration, reclusion, suicide, or allegorical poetry In other cases individuals grouped together to voice political disagreement Two such cases from the late Han Dynasty (202 b.c.e.– 220 c.e.) have often been linked to the fall of the empire: the party proscription and the Yellow Turban Rebellion The party proscriptions arose in the bitter feuds between the palace and the reformist officials of the imperial administration In his successful coup d’état in 159 c.e., the emperor Huan relied on eunuch (castrated) officials, whom he subsequently awarded with noble titles and political influence As the wealth and political clout of the eunuchs grew, the local elites and powerful officials came to view them as inefficient parasites sucking the lifeblood out of the empire through lavish spending University students joined the reformists in turning public opinion against the eunuchs through the use (one of the first in historical records) of critical essays, pamphlets, rhymed political slogans, and student demonstrations In 167 c.e., when the eunuchs responded by accusing the reformist movement of forming a faction and conspiring against the emperor, the reformist leaders were imprisoned and barred from office However, the death of the emperor Huan dealt a heavy blow to the eunuchs, and by 168 c.e some of the formerly imprisoned reformists were again occupying important government offices In 168 c.e the tide turned in favor of the eunuch who in 169 c.e launched the second great proscription, which lasted until the Yellow Turban Rebellion in 184 c.e and during which the accusation of factionalism was repeatedly used to discredit, imprison, proscribe, and even execute the enemies of the eunuchs Since in the Han Dynasty the classics were part of the repertoire of the educated, political elite, the discussion of factions in the Analects of Confucius greatly influenced Han conceptions of dissent: “The gentleman is sociable, but does not form factions.” The eunuch thus could shrewdly exploit the terminology of Confucius, one of the cultural heroes of the reformist tradition, against the reformist officials themselves The reformist movement used the pen to express opposition to the Han government, and the Daoist-inspired Yellow Turban peasant uprising resorted to armed revolt Together they contributed to the destabilization of the Han Dynasty, eventually leading to the disintegration of the empire under various warlords and many short-lived simultaneous courts during the Six Dynasties Period (220–589 c.e.) While the historical record for ancient China is relatively complete, the corresponding record for most of the rest of Asia is not Much of this history is shrouded in myth, legend, and conflicting accounts, usually by Chinese writers, including both contemporaries and those who wrote in later centuries A good example is provided by Japan The history of ancient Japan is conventionally divided into three major periods The earliest was the Jōmon Period, which extended from about 13,000 b.c.e to about 300 b.c.e During this period Japan was not a unified nation but a tribal society Following the Jōmon Period was the Yayoi Period, which extended from 300 b.c.e to about 300 c.e., though some historians believe that the Yayoi culture may have begun as early as 900 or 800 b.c.e A main distinction between the two cultures is that the