ABSTRACT
Modern Chinese scholars no longer show much of an interest in the Northern Wei dynasty’s legitimacy or traditional Chinese views on legitimacy. Traditional Chinese views of legitimacy resulted in abundant legacies that enabled the Chinese government currently in power to strengthen its legitimacy. The Chinese government nowadays not only aspires to the unification of China as its highest priority but also supports a kind of “renaissance” campaign that aims to rejuvenate traditional Chinese culture, such as Confucianism, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and so on. The traditional Chinese use of the All Under Heaven doctrine to validate legitimacy greatly affected other ancient East Asian states. The present Chinese government, as Weatherley suggests, mainly relies on three kinds of legitimacy resources: Outstanding economic performance, communist ideology, and legal administration. Although traditional Chinese views of legitimacy met a severe blow and have been replaced by other doctrines for more than a century, elements of this view still influence present-day Chinese politics.
