Editing Dynastic cycle (section)

{{Short description|Classic Chinese Philosophies}}{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
'''Dynastic cycle''' ({{zh|t=朝代循環|s=朝代循环|p=Cháodài Xúnhuán|first=t}}) is an important [[political theory]] in [[History of China|Chinese history]]. According to this theory, each [[Dynasties of China|dynasty of China]] rises to a political, cultural, and economic peak and then, because of moral corruption, declines, loses the [[Mandate of Heaven]], and falls, only to be replaced by a new dynasty. The cycle then repeats under a surface pattern of repetitive motifs.<ref>Edwin O. Reischauer, "The Dynastic Cycle", in John Meskill, ''The Pattern of Chinese History'', (Lexington: D. C. Heath and Company, 1965), pp. 31-33.</ref>

It sees a continuity in Chinese history from early times to the present by looking at the succession of empires or dynasties, implying that there is little basic development or change in social or economic structures.<ref>"[https://books.google.com/books?id=VA5tKw11K8YC Dynastic cycle]," in {{cite book |last = Dillon, Michael |year = 1998 |title = China: A Historical and Cultural Dictionary |publisher = Curzon |location = Richmond, Surrey |isbn = 978-0700704392 |ref = none |url-access = registration |url = https://archive.org/details/chinahistoricalc0000unse }}, p. 87</ref> [[John K. Fairbank]] expressed the doubts of many historians when he wrote that "the concept of the dynastic cycle... has been a major block to the understanding of the fundamental dynamics of Chinese history."<ref>John K. Fairbank and Edwin O. Reischauer, ''East Asia: The GreatTradition''(Boston, 1960), p. 115.</ref>