T'ien Ming or Pontifex Maximus

There is a very old Chinese belief that a valid government needs a mandate from "heaven" [e.g., t'ien ming], and that any corruption experienced within the ruling classes or infrastructure, would remove that mandate. This ancient belief is most commonly attributed to the Chou kings who overthrew of the Shang. The Chou were largely regarded as barbarians by the Shang, but it was in fact the Chou who brought a political life to the t'ien ming concept.

The original t'ien ming involved the Chou defining the kingship as being an intermediary position between heaven and earth [you should by now, see where this is leading].

The handwritten Chinese character for lord or emperor [in essence - divine], "ti," demonstrates this in its own ideograph as it consists of three separate horizontal lines being joined together by a vertical line - thus representing the believed connection between heaven (the top line) and that of the earth (the bottom line). The relationship between heaven and the earth is mediated over by the emporer or lord or emperor; himself or herself being in fact, the center horizontal line. Hence the common suffix also added to so many Chinese emperors - Huang Ti; Wu-ti, Weng-ti; and so on.

Under the ancient belief, "heaven" wants that all humans be provided for in all their immediate and long-term needs - and it is the emperor, lord, or divine being, who is appointed by "heaven" to see that the welfare of the people is enacted upon in accordance with the divine will. This is the mandate, this t'ien ming.

The only way, according to the belief system, that one can know that this mandate has "passed", is the overthrow of an existing kingship or system of government, by another - if usurpation succeeds, then the mandate is "known" to have passed to the challenging victor; if it fails, then the mandate remains with the existing king or system of government. And the one defeated, is assigned the label of corruption, as it was this perhaps seen, or unseen corruption, which changed the favoring of the "heavenly" mandate.

Although a very old tradition, it remains a very important political and social concept in a great majority of Chinese culture. It not only provides a platform for understanding much of the political history in China, but it also has historical served as a "moral" political and ideological theory [a re-creation of sorts of Shang-Ti], which is supposed to prompt selfish acts and dedication of the government to the general populace, and imposes a moral universe.

This concept, is not at all unlike that which certainly occured to Constantine, as he declared himself, Pontifex Maximus, meaning that he was the self-proclaimed titular head of the Roman Pagan-Christian religion later to be referred to as Catholic, or universal, religion. It meant that he, Constantine, as the first in a long line of Roman emperors, and later simply called Popes - who believed themselves to be the mediator, between the heavenly will, and mankind on earth.

The Roman mediator is not Chinese, so perhaps one can see how the Chinese government might see any organized belief system as a threat to their monopoly on power - for if they are removed, the mandate they lose, and they will be assigned as "corrupt".

In both cases, it is and always has been politics - driven by religion - religion has historically held the reigns over government - each one, in its own way and culture, proclaiming the same thing - whether it be a "mandate from heaven" or "In God We Trust" - that they are the "kingdom from the heavens".

Or as the book of Revelation [Revelation Chapter 17] unravels the same mystery - who is this woman, this harlot, which the beast is carrying? False religion straddles the back of this political beast, attempting to influence its decisions and to control its direction - whether from Rome, from China, from London, or the Grand 'Ole US of A.