T'IEN MING

( (Chinese: Mandate of Heaven), ) Pinyin Tian Ming, in Chinese Confucian thought, the notion that heaven (t'ien) conferred directly upon an emperor, the Son of Heaven (T'ien tzu), the right to rule. The doctrine had its beginnings in the early Chou dynasty (c. 1122221 BC). The continuation of the mandate was believed to be conditioned by the personal behaviour of the ruler, who was expected to possess i (righteousness) and jen (benevolence). If the emperor's personal life became immoral or his rule tyrannical, some Confucianists taught that he had not only lost his right to rule but should be removed by revolution, if necessary. Chinese historians consequently make much of the dissolute life of the last emperor of each dynasty, thereby confirming the Confucian principle that heaven itself had withdrawn its mandate and had passed it on to another.