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Mandate of Heaven

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The Mandate of Heaven (Chinese: 天命; pinyin: Tiānmìng; Wade–Giles: T'ien-ming, literally "Heaven's will") is a Chinese political philosophy that was used in ancient and imperial China to justify the rule of the King or Emperor of China. According to this doctrine, heaven (天, Tian) – which embodies the natural order and will of the universe – bestows the mandate on a just ruler of China, the "Son of Heaven". If a ruler was overthrown, this was interpreted as an indication that the ruler was unworthy, and had lost the mandate. 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be revolts following major disasters as the people saw these calamities as signs that the Mandate of Heaven had been withdrawn.

Mandate of Heaven - Wikipedia Jump to content From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Political doctrine of divine legitimacy in China "Tianming" redirects here. For other uses, see Tianming (disambiguation) . This article is about the Chinese concept of the legitimacy of rulers. For the similar concept in Western culture, see Divine right of kings . Mandate of Heaven An infographic showing the dynastic cycle of the Chinese dynasties, including the Mandate of Heaven Traditional Chinese 天命 Simplified Chinese 天命 Literal meaning "Heaven's command" Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Tiānm

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