fuck this

Question 1

Cherchen Man

Answer 1

Cherchen Man is the mummified remains of a man that date back more than 3000 years. Cherchen Man is important because the mummy stands at 6’6 and has caucasian features like brown hair, despite being excavated in the Taklamakan desert, a part of the modern day peoples republic of china. Cherchen Man represents the diversity of the area we now know as china, and also serves as a warning to historians not to project modern ideas of China’s boundaries into the past.

Question 2

jian’ai 兼愛 (“impartial caring”)

Answer 2

Impartial Caring is a central tennant of Mohism, the religion of Mozi. Impartial caring is the belief that we should treat all people as if they are family because people are all essentially the same. It aimed to solve conflict, because if everyone loved every person equally, there would be no war. Sprung from the ultra-violent warring states period, during which free thought was encouraged.

Question 3

King Hui and the Ox

Answer 3

King Hui and the Ox was a confucian narrative popularized by mencius. It was the story of a king who was about to sacrifice an ox but the oxes fear at the sacrifice convinced him to spare it. This is similar to another of Mencius’ stories in which he explains people feel sympathy when I child teeters over the edge of a well. This was a narrative mencius used to argue that human nature was good, and people need to nourish their goodness to transform into gentlemen.

Question 4

Tian 天 (“Heaven”)

Answer 4

Tian or “Heaven” replaced Di as the supreme god during the Zhou dynasty. The existence of Tian served as propaganda to justify the Zhou takeover of the Shang dynasty. Zhou came up with the “Mandate of Heaven” that explained that the most virtuous rulers got the mandate to rule from heaven, and explained that degenerate behavior lost the mandate of heaven, and thats why they overthrew the Shang who performed grizzly human sacrifice. The Zhou king was the son of heaven, and ruled in line with Tian, this is different from the inscrutible Di.

Question 5

fengjian 封建

Answer 5

The system of territorial bureaucracy under the Zhou dynasty was known as fengjian. This system relied on unbounded territorial states, these states were centered on large urban settlements which subsequently controlled smaller surrounding villages. These states did not have strict boundaries and rather had specific controlled settlements. The practice of the Zhou to define borders and establish states is the essence of fengjian.

Question 6

wuwei 無為 (“non-action”)

Answer 6

Non-action or wuwei was a core tenant of philosophical Daoists, and is similar in many ways to the Confucian idea of yielding. Daoists believe that a sage who has perfected their mind can overcome all worldly obstacles, and because of this excessive action is discouraged. Wu-wei’s similarity to the ideas of transformation in Confucianism display how interconnected these two religious schools are.

Question 7

Cloud Terrace (yuntai 雲臺)

Answer 7

Built during the Yuan empire under Mongol rule, the Mongols ruled far more land than any previous dynasty, and built the Cloud Terrace. The terrace was an archway that represented the dominance of the empire over both China’s farmland and the exposed north stepp. The arch contains six different languages and is an absolute declaration of strength as it shows that under Mongol rule they had no need for walls, and that walls were a sign of weakness rather than strength.

Question 7

Lady Hao

Answer 7

Lady Hao was one of many consorts of one of the first Shang kings. She is important because her tomb was left unlooted in antiquity. We can get a sense of the riches and material culture during the Shang dynasty by looking at her tomb. Features of this tomb such as the expensive bronzes and jades are significant because they are culturally similar to later chinese artifacts. Potentially the most important aspect of her tomb is that it can be easily identified as hers, the Shang are the first East Asian people to leave written records that have survived to the present day.

Question 7

Queen Mother of the West

Answer 7

A figure in early Chinese religion who resided on Mt. Kunlun, a mountain that was far away to the west. She was the main gate keeper of the Underworld, and once she let you pass you would enter an afterlife that resembled closely life on earth. This “carbon-copy” idea of the afterlife was the basis for wealthy elites to bring everything that they would need in the afterlife with them to the tomb. It also is an extremely class based vision of the afterlife, that favors the elites who are already happy in life and rich.

Question 7

rites/rituals

Answer 7

Rituals and rites were essentially the correct proceedings for life events in Chinese culture. Confucians found rituals extremely important, to them being educated was synonymous with knowing ritual behavior. Their ministry of rites was the ministry in charge of education. Rituals and rites initially seem removed from our everyday lives, but even modern-day funerals and weddings can be considered rituals. These Confucian rituals form the basis for the culture of all the following dynasties.

Question 7

heqin 和親

Answer 7

Heqin can also be defined as “peace through marriage”. Heqin was one approach to dealing with the Nomads utilized during the Han dynasty. They would offer up Chinese brides and riches to the Nomadic people while opening up greater trade to appease them. This achieved a brokered peace, but was a stop-gap measure and never truly solved the Nomad problem.

Question 8

Zhangjiashan Legal Texts

Answer 8

The Zhangjiashan Legal Texts were Qin-Han era texts reflecting the values of legalism. These texts reflect the growing size of China, as legalism as a system starts to exist to not only keep the people of China in check, but the laws also ensured that a bad Emperor could not bring ruin to China. There was also evidence of the Han trying to standardize measurements.

Question 9

Di 帝

Answer 9

Di was the supreme god during the Shang dynasty. He was the highest authority, and held ultimate power over the harvest and general fortunes. Importantly Di does not receive sacrifices, which implies that you cannot control or please Di, and that Di is beyond mortal influence. Di is replaced by Tian, but remains an important name in Chinese culture, eventually Huang Di becomes the word for emperor

Question 10

classical Chinese

Answer 10

Classical Chinese was a highly elite written language, that functioned as the lingua-franca of east asia. No one spoke classical chinese and only the well educated could write in it. It is a manufactured language used as a liaison between many people speaking mutually unintelligible languages. This language was essential in the communication between the Chinese, Koreans, and Japanese, and beyond that, simply between Chinese people who spoke different unintelligible dialects.

Question 11

huaxia 華夏

Answer 11

Huaxia can be translated as fluorescent and grand and is representative of being culturally Chinese. To be Huaxia means to live in accordance with the set of rituals, practices and behavior that is deemed correct in Chinese culture. Notably Huaxia is not an ethnic determination, and is based solely on cultural practices. This is important because it is used as the word for the Chinese people, but to be Chinese or Huaxia, had little to do with ethnicity and rather was a cultural determination.

Question 12

hangul

Answer 12

Hangul is the alphabetic system of characters used by Koreans. Because the Korean language has a different grammatical structure than Chinese, Koreans had to develop a new set of characters that fit their language’s demands. This is one of the reasons why Korean can be a uniquely challenging language to learn, because you need to learn the alphabetic system along with a substantial number of Chinese logograms to express the entirety of the spoken language.

Question 13

Zhongguo

Answer 13

Zhongguo is the most common moniker for China today. This phrase was first used during the warring states period and had a different connotation, simply referring to the “central states”. These were political entities that followed the cultural traditions of the Zhou dynasty. This is important because it lends credence to the fact that much of the cultural identity of China today began with the Zhou dynasty.

Question 14

ba 霸 (“hegemon”)

Answer 14

The Zhou continued to be the ruling dynasty far after they held the most power in China, by 700-500 B.C. the Zhou ruled in name only. Ba was the title of the protector of the Zhou, but in reality they served as the central ruler of China. The Zhou were so culturally important, that people didn’t want to face the backlash of overthrowing their dynasty, and the Ba would use the Zhou king as a puppet for their own devices.

Question 15

1. Identify two (2) continuities and two (2) discontinuities evident in the materials unearthed at the Ruins of Yin (i.e., the Shang dynasty) with later Chinese history. Be sure to illustrate each one with a clear example.

Answer 15

The Ruins of Yin contained evidence of a civilization that in some ways resembled later Chinese civilizations. The material culture of the Shang Dynasty was continuous with later chinese dynasties in that the riches represented in the Ruins included intricate bronzes and jades, as well as impressive pottery. The Shang is also the first evidence we have of the Chinese script, and despite it evolving over the years, the writing of the Shang are the Logograms that have evolved over time into the modern-day Chinese script.
Despite these surface level similarities, the Shang are radically different than every later chinese civilization in atleast two distinct ways. They participated in large-scale human sacrifices that would be seen as extreme in later dynasties, which actually one of the stated for the Zhou takeover of the Shang. With the Zhou takeover of the Shang they also displaced Di as the supreme god replacing him with Heaven. While Di still exists after the Shang fall, Heaven is the Supreme god of the following dynasties, and the worship of Di as an inscrutable all powerful god is unique to the Shang.

Question 16

2. What is the difference between popular and philosophical Daoism? Describe how each version of Daoism operates in practice, what segments of society engage it, and for what purposes.

Answer 16

Philosophical Daoism is one of the four main schools of thought in Chinese culture. Philosophical Doaists disliked all three other schools because of their use of logic and arguments. The Daoists believed that the ability to form a logical argument was simply the other schools of thought tricking you into believing what they believe. Philosophical daoism would largely be for the educated. This school of thought was all about cultivating virtue through non-action, meaning that they recognize the absurdity of the world, but remain responsible actors within it.
Popular Daoism refers to the Daoism practiced by priests, and a lot of the time served as a way to make money. Daoist priests would perform rituals and communicate with gods for the Wealthy. Self cultivation, and ideas of generating power are also largely popular Daoism.

Question 17

3. Why did the Yellow River play such a destructive role throughout Chinese history? What sort of countermeasures did both the state and neighboring communities adopt to try and prevent disastrous floods?

Answer 17

The Yellow River is the cradle of Chinese civilization, but it simultaneously often brought disaster to their culture. The Yellow River is extremely destructive to the surrounding lands because of its flooding. The Yellow river picks up huge amounts of Silt from the erosion it causes, and when it gets to the North China Plain it deposits this silt making the riverbed rise significantly each year. Because it is so far above the riverbed the yellow river often spills over.
Throughout history, many methods of controlling the Yellow River have been attempted. Early Chinese cultures would make sacrifices to the Yellow River to appease it, because it was supposedly the most powerful landscape spirit. Outside of religious worship of the river, another measure put into place was the construction of Dikes to try and control the flooding of the river. These dikes only work as a stop gap measure however and they still burst quite often.

Question 18

Xunzi spent a great deal of time talking about the virtues of funerals. According to Xunzi, why are funerals so important, what are the most important features of a funeral, and to what purpose are all these details directed?

Answer 18

Funerals are important to Xunzi, and one of the most important practices to him is to treat the dead as if they are alive. This means that they must be displayed within a certain time frame of their death, before they stop looking like themselves and decay. This is because funerals to Xunzi are dedicated to the living in attendance of the funeral and largely function to give people closure. Peoples intense emotions at the death of a loved one are dangerous, Xunzi believes because people are inherently evil we must give people ways to free themselves of these emotions or they will lead to strife.
He also expresses that people must be given proper adornment. He saw death as the completion of life, and a ritual for death must bring unity. These rituals are ways to bring out peoples unexpressed desires, and seeing the people in their entire glory, adorned in nice clothing can help to give people what they want.

Question 19

5. Consider the linguistic journey of an imperial official who grew up in Guangdong, took the exams in Beijing, and was later sent to the Shanghai region to serve as a magistrate. What languages would he speak or encounter in each one of these regions? In what written language would he have taken the exams and how would he have learned it?

Answer 19

Because of the incredible linguistic diversity of China, this imperial official would encounter several languages. Growing up in Guangdong the official would likely speak Cantonese from birth, and it would be his mother tongue. When he goes to Beijing he would speak Mandarin, and when he finally ends up in Shanghai he would have to learn Shanghai’s dialect of chinese as well.
The written language that he would use to take the imperial exams would be classical chinese, the language that the confucian classics were written in, and a distinct language from the written language used in everyday life. This is a language that is not spoken, and it would only be learned as a script.

Question 20

6. Discuss three major imperial innovations undertaken by the short-lived Qin Empire and later adapted and institutionalized by the subsequent Han Empire.

Answer 20

The Qin Empire are the first empire to implement legalism as its central system of power. All following Empires will in some way use the laws of legalism. Legalism gave strict rules with punishments to all people in society to keep China’s bureaucracy running like a well oiled machine. It is an adaptation as a response to a constantly growing China, and a world in which the emperor no longer can know every official.
The Qin Empire unified China, it brought together the warring states and founded the first empire. With this unification, the Empire also standardized currency, measurement, and writing in their unification. This is an important part of China building a greater national identity.
Finally, the Qin Empire coincided with the construction of the first frontier walls. They are often miscredited with the construction of the Ming walls, but despite this being a myth the Qin emperor played an important role in the construction and expansion of tamped earth frontier walls against the initial nomadic threat after 500 bc.

Question 21

Discuss three (3) major innovations that appeared for the first time in Chinese history under the reign of the Western Zhou dynasty.

Answer 21

The Western Zhou dynasty made many important innovations to Chinese culture, and in many ways, it is the start of what we think of as Chinese Culture. The implementation of literary narratives to justify their rule is important, because the implementation of Tian and the mandate of heaven will be an underlying factor for all following rulers. The Zhou argued that their ruler was virtuous because he had a special relationship with Tian, arguing that they were virtuous, and that if a king was not virtuous they would be dethroned naturally.
Another innovation made under the Western Zhou was the creation of the Confucian classics. The Confucian classics are incredibly important because they form the Eastern Literary Canon, and later dynasties will look to these books for knowledge. The Confucian Classics were said to hold all answers between heaven and earth, and if you had questions it was your fault for not interpreting them well enough. To be an educated person, you must read these texts.
The Western Zhou also come up with the idea of Fengjia, and create the first fleshed-out bureaucratic system in East Asia. Fengjia was the idea of creating boundaries and states, and the bureaucracy of the Western Zhou created a power hierarchy under the Zhou king. These were unbounded states meaning that they were centered around major urban areas and these urban areas had jurisdiction over smaller specific villages and towns. This was before rigid state boundaries.

Question 22

What sort of walls were built throughout Chinese history, and what sort of states built them? When was the wall that tourists flock to today built, and for what purpose? What, if anything, does the presence of so many walls in China tell us about Chinese civilization?

Answer 22

Walls have evolved throughout Chinese history and have served different purposes throughout it. The earliest walls made in China were Tamped Earth walls, which were made by building a wood scaffolding and then filling it with earth, these walls were simple earth walls. These walls were popular during the Warring states period when states would build walls around their cities to defend themselves against other Chinese states.
A major evolution of walls happened after 500 B.C. when people began to ride horses. The nomadic people became a superpower in exposed zones. Because of this new threat in Northern China’s exposed zones, The Chinese start to build frontier walls that functioned to keep Nomads out by artificially altering the landscape to be disadvantageous to horses. These frontier walls really started to be built during the Qin and Han period. These were during the Qin tamped earth walls, and during the evolved into sand, gravel, and reed walls, however these walls were not continuous and mostly served to guide invaders to choke points.
What tourists know as the Great Wall of China was not built until much later during the Ming dynasty, who built these walls once again to keep Nomadic invaders out. I say these walls because contrary to popular belief, the great wall of China is many sections of wall built during the Ming dynasty during the 1500s and 1600s. The construction of walls in China during the warring states period show the danger other states posed to each other, and the following frontier walls show how big the issue of Nomadic people is throughout pre-industrial history for China, and how they had no real solution for this threat.

Question 23

All of the Confucian and Legalist philosophers we have examined were staunch advocates of inequality. According to them, why is inequality essential to a harmonious society? By what different (though related) social or political principles do Confucians and Legalists expect such inequality to be manifested and regulated in society and government?

Answer 23

To Confucians and legalists, inequality allows large numbers of people to work together. Because not every task in human society is desirable we need a hierarchy to make sure things still get done. Xunzi said that for someone to sit down in a chair there also must be someone to pull that chair out.
Confucians believed that inequality was manifested and regulated through transformation. Only some people could become gentlemen, and were ready for transformation, and those who could not transform would naturally not achieve as much status or virtue in their lives.
Legalists looked at people like cogs in a larger machine of bureaucracy, and they used laws and jobs to enforce both inequality and an individual’s place in society. Han Feizi said that people should neither over or under step their job descriptions and instead should strive to serve there place in society. We can also see inequality in legalist punishments which are broken down by social status.

Question 24

“Heaven commanded Yu to spread out the soil, and to cross the mountains and dredge the streams. Thus, he cut off the trees to open land for plantation, taxed the subjugated people, and oversaw virtues. He made himself the partner of Heaven and rejoiced in the people, being their father and mother, and gave birth to our kingship. He showered himself with nothing but virtue, and the people also loved the bright virtue—he worried about all under Heaven. He used his illuminating goodness to expand and strengthen the fine virtue, and to strengthen fully those who were not diligent. He was filial, friendly, open, and bright; he was constant and even in loving sacrifice, having no ugly heart. He loved virtue and promoted marriage, which was also in harmony with Heaven and to be respectful to the deities.”

Answer 24

This is the Bingong Xu inscription, which tells the story of Yu the great. The quote tells the story of the founding of the Xia dynasty, a virtuous past dynasty, and that we have no real evidence that actually existed. The word virtue appears incredibly often in the text, as well as heaven. This is because this was actually Zhou era propaganda.
The story of the Xia is important to the Zhou, because they use it as a narrative tool to help justify their own conquer over the Shang. The Zhou understood that by overthrowing the Shang they are taking an unprecedented action so they invented another dynasty before the Shang existed. This dynasty had a ruler with a special connection to Tian and who was virtuous, reflecting the values of the Zhou, and calling up a past, better time, for them to strive toward.

Question 25

“When the monkey trainer was handing out acorns, he said, ‘You get three in the morning and four at night.’ This made all the monkeys furious. ‘Well, then,’ he said, ‘you get four in the morning and three at night.’ The monkeys were all delighted. There was no change in the reality behind the words, and yet the monkeys responded with joy and anger.”

Answer 25

The quote is attributed to Zhongzhi, a philosophical daoist. This is an interesting text because it is Zhongzhi’s attempt to give narrative stories to a philosophy that rejects the idea of logical persuasion. Philosophical Daoists reject the other three schools of thought because they thought of them as snake oil salesmen, so Zhongzhi was tasked with writing a narrative explaining Daoism while simultaneously not contradicting himself.
The quote itself reflects how fickle human perception is, and plays with the idea that how people see the same thing greatly changes how they feel about it, whether or not there is a change in reality. This also relates to the Daoists’ recognition of the absurdity of humanity and their rejection of logic, pointing to the malleability of words.

Question 26

“Although winds and soils vary from region to region, there has been no separate writing system for local dialects. Only such peoples as the Mongolians, Tanguts, Jürchens, Japanese, and Tibetans have their own writings. But this is a matter that involves the barbarians and is unworthy of our concern. It has been said that the barbarians are transformed only by means of adopting Chinese ways; we have never heard of Chinese ways being transformed by the barbarians. … Now, however, our country is devising a Korean script separately in order to discard the Chinese, and thus we are willingly being reduced to the status of barbarians. … Is this not a great embarrassment to the enlightened civilization?”

Answer 26

This is a quote from a Korean elite who opposed the adoption of the Hangul system. The Hangul system was a new alphabet for Koreans that was meant to supplement Chinese characters in the written representation of the Korean language. Alphabetic systems were created in Japan and Korea because these nations have languages with tenses in contrast to Chinese.
Not all Koreans were in favor of adopting this new script however, and elites like the one in this quote thought that by changing the Chinese script they would become “barbarians”. This is because Korea is under a huge influence by the Chinese and looked to them as a Civilized nation. Because of dissenting voices it takes much much longer for Korea to adopt Hangul than for the Japanese to develop and utilize their own scripts.

Question 27

“Large rats! Large rats! Do not eat our millet. Three years have we had to do with you, And you have not been willing to show any regard for us. We will leave you, And go to that happy land. Happy land! Happy land! There shall we find our place. Large rats! Large rats! Do not eat our wheat. Three years have we had to do with you, And you have not been willing to show any kindness to us. We will leave you, A

Answer 27

This is a quote from the book of Odes. The book of odes is one of the five confucian classics. This was a group of texts created under the Zhou dynasty that claim to have the answer to all questions between heaven and earth. The odes were originally sung but we no longer have musical element of them. The topics of the odes ranged across the human experience.
This ode can be interpreted in a couple of different ways, which is typical of the Confucian classics. The ode can be interpreted on a surface level as a literal cry against rats by farmers. Beyond that it could also be seen as a criticism of the government who take too much of the farmer’s food. Criticizing government through literature is often more effective because you can hide behind the literal meaning as a defense for yourself.

Question 28

“Now suddenly a commoner named Wu Shih and his wife, the woman Lin, have accused their son Wu Liang-ts’ung of being unfilial. After repeated interrogations, their testimony has narrated all the details. I do not deserve to be prefect. I have not been capable of instructing the people in rites and righteousness and so have caused this sort of perversion to occur among the people. Day and night I can find no sanctuary from my shame and fear. … Wu Liang-ts’ung, though guilty of crimes deserving the death penalty, shall through our leniency be punished rather lightly. … The people in this region are basically easily amenable to transformation. It is simply because the officials have not been wise enough to train them and to encourage them that some of the ignorant have causally committed offenses.”

Answer 28

This is an example of punishment of an unfilial son, and is a Confucian text. To a Confucian to be unfilial is a horrible offense worthy of death. Instead of receiving the death penalty the son receives a beating. This is because confucians believe in transformation, and the offenses committed in the area are likely committed because the peasants know no better.
A peasant may not be well informed on correct behavior of a confucian gentleman and committ offenses simply because of that fact. Filial piety is still so important to Confucians, and the idea of respecting ones elders, that the punishment to the son would still be considered rather harsh to modern readers despite it being “rather light” to the confucians.

Question 29

“Now if there were a man who, on seeing a little bit of black, called it black but, on seeing a lot of black, called it white, we would conclude that he could not tell the difference between black and white. Or if there were a man who, on tasting a little bit of bitterness, called it bitter b

Answer 29

This is a quote from Mozi, perfectly displaying his use of simple logic to achieve larger points. Mozi started Mohism, and preached the idea of impartial caring, and stressed the similarity of people to argue for universal peace and love. He was a prominant thinker during the Warring states era and its hyperviolence informed much of his thought.
This quote displays how he used logic to argue for his philosophy. He found the violence of the warring states period to have gone too far, and in arguing for peace he makes the simple argument that killing in war is immoral. In the quote he argues that if killing one person is wrong, attacking an entire state can not be the right thing to do, because in doing so you will kill far more people.

Question 30

“Words are not just wind. Words have something to say. But if what they have to say is not fixed, then do they really say something? Or do they say nothing? People suppose that words are different from the peeps of baby birds, but is there any difference, or isn’t there? What does the Way rely upon, that we have true and false? What do words rely upon, that we have right and wrong? How can the Way go away and not exist? How can words exist and not be acceptable? When the Way relies on little accomplishments and words rely on vain show, then we have the rights and wrongs of the Confucians and the M

Answer 30

The quote is attributed to Zhongzhi, a philosophical daoist. This is an interesting text because it is Zhongzhi’s attempt to give narrative stories to a philosophy that rejects the idea of logical persuasion. Philosophical Daoists reject the other three schools of thought because they thought of them as snake oil salesmen, so Zhongzhi was tasked with writing a narrative explaining Daoism while simultaneously not contradicting himself. Because of this you end up with a unique writing style.
This text clearly shows the recognition of absurdity that is central to Daoism. The text recognizes that as people we can’t know anything. Because the way is right, we can’t possibly understand the way. The text also directly criticizes Confucians and Mohists because they try to use logic to disprove each other. Zhongzhi says that arguments are just ways to trick people, and its impossible to truly prove who is right and wrong.

Question 31

“All this is done to make clear that these things will not actually be used. The dead man is treated as though he had merely changed his dwelling, and yet it is made clear that he will never use these things. This is all done in order to emphasize the feelings of grief. Thus the articles used by the dead when he was living retain the form but not the function of the common article, and the spirit articles prepared especially for the dead man have the shape of real objects but cannot be used.”

Answer 31

This is a quote from Xunzi about how to treat the dead, and why to treat them as we do. Xunzi was a confucian philosopher who believed mans nature is evil. He found funeral processions especially important because the strong emotions people have towards their loved ones’ death are dangerous if left uncontrolled.
Xunzi and confucians used rituals for people to express their desires. The dressing and presentation of the diseased is important to Xunzi because to draw out the feelings of grief, and to give the attendees closure at a funeral is paramount. To treat the dead body any differently would mean people would not get to see the person one last time for a grand send off.

Question 32

“Once in the past Marquis Zhao of Han got drunk and fell asleep. The keeper of the royal hat, seeing that the marquis was cold, laid a robe over him. When the marquis awoke, he was pleased and asked his attendants, ‘Who covered me with a robe?’ ‘The keeper of the hat,’ they replied. The marquis thereupon punished both the keeper of the royal hat and th

Answer 32

This is a quote from Han Feizi about his idea of legalism. Han Feizi argued in favor of strict rules and punishments. He also was in favor of a very regimented society in which every one fulfills their duty. People in Han Feizi’s philosophy were meant to be cogs in the machine of China, meant to make the Machine run smoothly.
The Quote is a narrative explanation of how a legalist ruler should run things. Marquis Zhao did the right thing in this scenario. The keeper of the robe will obviously be punished because he fails to be a cog in the machine. The reason the keeper of the hat is punished, and that overstepping his office was a mistake, is because people are meant to be subservient to their purpose, and by doing more than one is told, they make themselves dangerous. Someone who goes above and beyond will gain power, and people with power can break the machine.