At the time of the political unification of Han Dynasty after Qin Dynasty perished and the culture transformation in the period when Emperor Jing and Emperor Wu ruled, Dong Zhongshu, the great Confucianist, went with the times, stating his ideas which included the great thinkers’ statements and inferring “yin” and “yang” according to the natural law. Based on this, he not only systematically finished his idealized design of political ethics but also found theoretical basis for the political legitimacy during Emperor Han Wu’s rule. And because of this, he involved himself in politics. However, because he was unable to have social intercourse with the people in the political circle, he had to leave sadly. It is worth noting that his ethic thought was transformed into mature and flecible one. In spite of this, Dong Zhongshu, who was honest, upright and above politics and wordly interests, could not escape from his personal tragedy and sighed sadly for his unrecognized talents in the centralized and autocratic society.%秦亡汉兴,政治一统;景武之际,文化转型;大儒董子,应时陈论;继轨先贤,弥纶众言;循天之道,推说阴阳。基于此,董子不仅系统地完成了理想化的政治伦理设计,而且为汉武时期的政治合法性寻找到了理论依据;董子随之走进政治,然而由于其无力于政治周旋,最后无奈地黯然退去。值得注意的是,他的伦理思想由此发生了某种转向并且趋于成熟与圆融。尽管如此,廉直清高的董子之于那个集权而专制的时代,仍然难逃个人悲剧之厄运,空留不遇之伤叹。
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