Grassroots Activism of Ancient China

This book examines Mohism as a movement in early China. To analyze how the Mohists pursued power, the author analyzes nonviolence as a goal and strategy of the Mohist movement, the Mohists’ creation of strategic knowledge, and their quest for a personhood that made their activism possible.

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This book examines Mohism as a movement in early China, focusing on the Mohists’ endeavor to create power for themselves. Fashioning themselves as grassroots activists who practiced transgrassroots activism, the Mohists hoped to impact the elite by gaining entry in its community, and by influencing it from within. To create a less violent world, they deployed the strategies of persuasion and strategy but did not discard counterviolence in their dealings with the ruling class. To execute their activism, the Mohists produced knowledge that they thought would enable them to employ their nonviolent strategies as well as to mount armed resistance to aggression. Moreover, to ensure that they were capable of practicing their transgrassroots movement so as to change the elite and the world, the Mohists paid significant attention to their personhood, developing a self-cultivation tradition which encouraged the Mohists to move beyond human conditions for self-improvement. The book concludes by situating Mohism in the history of nonviolent activism, and in that of negotiation and conflict resolution.