Confucianism became the state ideology of imperial China under the Han dynasty, especially during the reign of Emperor Wu.
Emperor Wu ruled from 141 to 87 BCE and supported policies that elevated Confucian learning within the government. In 136 BCE, Confucian classics were given special official status, and in 124 BCE the imperial court established an academy to educate specialists in those texts. These measures helped connect classical study with official careers.
The change did not mean that all other philosophies disappeared. Han government and society also drew on legalist administrative methods, cosmological theories, ritual traditions, and ideas associated with Daoism. Confucianism became the principal language of political legitimacy and elite education, while other intellectual traditions continued to influence policy and culture.
The Han achievement created a model that later dynasties repeatedly revived. Confucian education, examination culture, family ethics, and ideals of moral government remained central to Chinese political thought for many centuries, even though the exact institutional arrangements changed over time.