Conflicts of Loyalty between Family and the Ruler - Essay Example

Chinese Culture Considering the history of the world, China stands out as one of the countries with enormously rich culture that encompasses all spheres of life; from the political to the social nature of life. The Chinese culture also have immense contribution in the field of medicine where acupuncture as a mode of giving remedies to ailment is highly entrenched into their system and even adopted internationally as a conventional medication system. In this regard, the Chinese culture can be said to have profound spread in the cuisine, music, martial arts, visual arts as well as in the literature. In this paper then, I will give an in depth account of the Chinese culture in relation to the cardinal areas of interest. This is given because of the fact that like any other culture in the world, tension, and division did emerge because of some reasons and that is what informs the need of this paper- to assess the discordant that were realized in the Chinese culture. Conflicts of Loyalty between Family and the Ruler/Master In a governable society, there established a flow of command through which the system relies in making decision and by which norms and regulation are formulated. This hierarchical sociopolitical system is necessary whether formal or informal it does not matter (Colson 74). As such, the supreme organ of the society that remains the apex of guidance and consultation must remain respected by the subjects in whatever circumstances; this was the exact situation of the Chinese culture in which there was frequent disagreement between the subject and the ruler because of discontent on the way affairs of the society were managed. This took place despite the stringent regulation that the subjects are bound to respect the beliefs and decision of the ruler. Moreover, the respect for the ruler was highly enshrined by Confucius who demonstrated through the many of his writings how the families and the ruler should relate in their dealing. The fact that Chinese is expansive made the situation to worsen given that there was many dissenting voices to be considered in the event that an issue was to be decided. It was then obvious that other family’s interest would not be taken care of and will have to withdraw their loyalty to the ruler (Colson 123). Despite this, there were stringent rules and obligation that the ruler or the master had to be respected in all respect irrelevant of their action. This absolute respect was instituted to deter those who will have divergent opinion with the ruler from mounting criticism of the ruler in the public. In addition, this system of containing the diminishing loyalty allowed for totalitarian system of governance during the early days where the ruler was bestowed with express authority to that were not questionable in any way. The crude form of power that the rulers wielded was even accentuated beliefs that they should be criticized to offer better leadership to the people rather than guillotining the same people who have given power in trust of their leaders (Colson 146). Gender Issues and Power Relations between Men and Women Male chauvinism in relation to power is an issue that has affected al the nation including the developed nation today. The history of every country clearly demonstrates that gender factor played a very important role in the leadership and power struggle. In most tradition and societies, women were not allowed or trusted to hold leadership position or even partake on the selection of leadership. In the US for example, women were not allowed to vote until several civil societies movement fought for the rightful position of the women in the society that they started recognizing women through introduction of the universal suffrage. Moreover, China in the same breadth has suffered a worse discrimination tendency in light of the women and leadership. The discrimination was so fierce that it was apparent that no woman could be given leadership position, as they were regarded second-class citizen with little abilities. Thus, women were denied leadership position, since all such positions were men dominated throughout the hierarchy of power established. China is thus one of the countries with legendry denial of the women their rightful position to lead characterized with widespread power struggle and autocracy in the system. The established system of illegitimate power acquisition has also made the women to shy from seeking power and leadership given the fact that they could not marshal the wherewithal of brutal use of force. In this reference, women in china have been under siege to put a spirited struggle and ascend to the leadership position. Their efforts have been thwarted though out the system and that explains why up to today, China is not stable democratically and there are a lot of sanction in every part of women spiral to the ruling class. The Range of Responses to Supernatural Omens from the Secular to the Believing The uniqueness of china is best manifested in the sense of the secular lifestyle that is lead in the society. By default, the society seems to be based on absolute secular lifestyle in which religion is more first considered to be absence then reconsidered to be present. This kind of life has made the society to be fragmented into believing in many supernatural beings (Yu, and Fang 98). Much attention is paid to the super natural being that in the conventional religion that is known. The secularism system in China traces its roots right from the time of Confucius the need for the realization of robust economic growth as well as the scientific growth of the nation. Mao Zedong and the communist party in China voiced the same ideology in their teachings (Yu, and Fang 139). This system was entrenched so much in the country and it went parallel with the religious teaching, as there was a clear distinction of the two. It must thus be noted that in the contemporary society, these teachings do not hold and have remained obsolete with time. In the modern China though, many of the people confess that the beliefs of the secularism has lost touch with the economic reality and can no longer provide for the needs of the people. The religious beliefs in the country have been disregarded since they only serve to backtrack the people and because of these, democracy and science has been given a chance to take precedence in making meaningful changes to the people. The large temples and mosques that were relied upon for the spiritual fulfillment has today been only used for accounting for the rich history of the country as a demonstration of the rich historical background that need to be treasured but no longer used for spiritual guidance and beliefs (Yu, and Fang 144). In conclusion, China has a rich history in every aspect of life and this has served them in good and bad light. This has taken place in equal measure; they have demonstrated their strengths and weaknesses in the Chinese system. It is thus important that basic conventional law and order be the guiding principle in governance. It is time that the Chinese have realized that democracy and science are the best if a country has to move forward in terms of socio-economic growth. Culture is a very important recipe in retarding or accelerating development in a society based on how it remains flexible to changes that come with reality. Therefore, a static belief is detrimental to the society just like that of China has proven. Works Cited Colson, Mary. Chinese culture. Chicago, Ill.: Heinemann Library, 2013. Print. Colson, Mary. Chinese culture. London: Raintree, 2012. Print. Yu, Dong, and Zhong Fang. Chinese culture. Beijing, China: Foreign Language Press, 2004. Print. Read More