Governing
To govern by virtue, let us compare it to the North Star: it
stays in its place, while the myriad stars wait upon it.
(II. 1.)
Another key Confucianist concept is that to govern people, one must first govern oneself. The King's personal virtue, when developed enough, is changed into a spreading beneficient influence on the kingdom. This idea is developed further in the Great Learning and is a tight link with the Taoist concept of Wu Wei: the less the King actually does, the more is done because of him. By being the "calm center" around which the kingdom turns, the King allows everything to function smoothly and yet avoids having to tamper with individual parts of the whole.

This idea may be traced back to early shamanistic beliefs, like that of the King (Wang, 王) being the axle between the Sky, the Men and the Earth. (The character itself shows the three levels of the universe, united by a single line.) Sitting at the right place on the throne, facing south, and once a year at the right time promulgating the new calendar, was, in short, the way to shine forth its might all over the world. Another (complementary) view is that this idea may have been used by ministers and counsellors to prevent aristocratic whims having bad effects on the population.

Meritocracy
In teaching there should be no distinction of classes.
Analects XV. 39. tr. Legge
Many western admirers of Confucius, like Voltaire or H. G. Creel, have pointed out a very new and quite revolutionary idea of Confucius: He replaced the nobility of blood by one of virtue. Jūnzǐ(君子), which meant "noble man" before him, slowly moved in his sayings to a new sense, a little bit like "gentleman" did in English. A virtuous plebeian who cultivates his qualities can be a "gentleman", while a shameless son of the King is only a "small man". That he allowed students of many classes to be his disciples (his teachings were intended to train future rulers), is a clear demonstration that he fought against feudal structures in Chinese society.

Although Confucius claimed he never invented anything and was only transmitting ancient knowledge (Analects VII. 1.), he did produce a number of new ideas. The particular idea of "meritocracy" led to the introduction of the Imperial examination system in China. This system allowed anyone who passed an examination to become a government officer, a position which would bring wealth and honour to the whole family. It is noticeable that the Western university system, which is now copied in China, was partly built with an eye on China's system of governmental election.

Confucius wanted to solve the problems of his times and, in his "flat" way to see things, he decided that choosing a minister regarding its own qualities instead of its filiation was the best way. He praised those ancient Kings leaving their kingdom to the most qualified ones, instead of their elder sons. Thus, his direct achievement was set up a school producing statemen with a strong sense of state and duty. This is known as Rujia, the School of the Literati.

As a result, a number of "intellectuals" during the Warring States Period and the early Han dynasty promoted the cause of Confucianism. During this period, China grew a great deal and the need for a solid and centralized corporation of government officers able to read and write administrative papers may explain this choice. This corporation of men chosen on the basis of their knowledge of ancient scriptures and ability to write political essays and poetry was an efficient counter against the remaining landowner aristocracy which was threatening the unity of the state.

Since then, Confucianism has been used as a kind of "state religion", with authoritarianism, legitimism , paternalism and submission to authority as political tools to rule China. Actually, most Emperors used a mix of Legalism and Confucianism as their ruling doctrine, often using the latter as an embellishment for the first. They also quite often used varieties of Taoism or Buddhism as their personal philosophy or religion. As with many other canonised men, Confucius himself would probably have disapproved of much that has been done in his name, and Confucianism, in its hollowly ritualist form, was far from his humanistic teaching.