China is a continental country, to ancient Chinese their land was the world. In an agrarian country land is the primary basis of wealth. Hence, throughout Chinese history, social and economic thinking and policy have centered around the utilization and distribution of land. In an agrarian country, agriculture is the major form of production, and commerce is the branch. So merchants were looked down upon. Ancient Chinese thought that not only is agriculture economically more important than commerce, but the mode of life of the farmers is also superior to that of the merchants.
Chinese believe that when the development of anything brings it to one extreme, a reversal to the other extreme takes place: everything involves its own negation. 时来运转， 否极泰来，塞翁失马焉知非福
Taoism and Confucianism differ because they are the rationalization or theoretical expression of different aspects of the life of the farmers. The Taoism idealize the simplicity of primitive society and condemned civilization. They also idealized the innocence of children and despised the knowledge. They made a sharp distinction between what is of nature and what is of man, claiming that what is of nature is the source of human happiness and what is of man is the root of all human suffering.
The family system was the social system of China. In a family living in a particular place, the ancestor worshiped was usually the first of the family who had established himself and his descendants there on the land. He thus became the symbol of the unity of the family, and such a symbol was indispensable for a large and complex organization.
The way of life of the farmers is to follow nature. They admire nature and condemn the artificial.
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