The
Mandate of Heaven (
Chinese: 天命;
pinyin:
Tiānmìng;
Wade–Giles:
T'ien1-ming4; lit. 'Heaven's command') is a Chinese
political ideology that was used in
Ancient China and
Imperial China to
legitimize the rule of the
king or
emperor of China.
[1] According to this
doctrine, Heaven (天,
Tian) bestows its mandate
[a] on a virtuous ruler. This ruler, the
Son of Heaven, was the supreme
universal monarch, who ruled
Tianxia (天下; "all under heaven", the world).
[3] If a ruler was overthrown, this was interpreted as an indication that the ruler was unworthy and had lost the mandate.
[4] It was also a common belief that natural disasters such as famine and flood were
divine retributions bearing signs of Heaven's displeasure with the ruler, so there would often be revolts following major disasters as the people saw these calamities as signs that the Mandate of Heaven had been withdrawn.
[5]
A brief flow chart depicting the flow of
auctoritas in the transfer of the Mandate of Heaven at the transition of
dynastic cycles.
[6]
The Mandate of Heaven does not require a legitimate ruler to be of noble birth, depending instead on how well that person can rule.
Chinese dynasties such as the
Han and
Ming were founded by men of common origins, but they were seen as having succeeded because they had gained the Mandate of Heaven. Retaining the mandate is contingent on the just and able performance of the rulers and their heirs.
