Thanks for a well informed article, Cherry! I would venture to say that a great deal of the turmoil in Ancient China was caused by feudalism and the authoritarian leader’s mistreatment or ignoring the plight of the lower class (peasants). In the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, peasants do not own the land in which they live and farm, this caused many uprisings throughout the country. This did not change until the Han dynasty, who allowed peasants to own small parcels of land in which a portion of the crops were to be paid as taxes as well as having them obligated to a mandatory month of service to the government. . Confucianism is a set of rules in which governs how people should live. But in the long run it is detrimental to one half of society, women are to obey their father, then their husband, then their grown son. Women cannot own property or determine their own lives. Over reliance on Confucianism caused great harm to women in society in general. Confucianism may be a system of ethics but it certainly was unethical in the way women were treated. I believe that created the Asian attitude that women are to be valued less then men and that attitude is the reason the female babies are often left to die in times of famine. This attitude persisted through modern times. China’s “One Child” policy led to countless aborted female fetuses and sometimes the killing of female babies. This created the present day crisis where the number of males to females are approaching 2 to 1, slowing population growth and eligible female marriage partners to be ever decreasing. Legalism is often the tool of authoritarian rulers. Rulers can make any law and under the concept of Legalism, they can stay or grow their power as they see fit. The overuse of this concept by bad leaders has fomented many a rebellion by the lower class that crushed any dream of a united China. Taoism was very popular among the ordinary people of China because it offered comfort to people in times of struggle. Some rulers embraced Taoism as a way to show people that he empathized with them in the hope of being popular also. But the Taoist concept of “Wu Wei” or do nothing has brought down many a Dynasty in Ancient China. It is my belief that the modern day Communist/Capitalist government of China can be much improved for the people, if a bit of Democracy can be incorporated into its governing philosophy. Thanks for your great article, Cherry!