The New Confucianism of China - Book Report/Review Example

The New Confucianism of China China has become one of the progressive countries in the world in the last few years as it grows economically. For decades, it holds the position of being the most populated country in the world having its national population reach more than one billion. Because of the population, the country has a large pool of human resources that big companies have hired to work for them. As a result, the outsourced business processes to China had significantly boosted the economic status of the said nation. China had been known not only for its population and economy but also its rich culture and tradition. It housed the famous martial arts like karate and kung fu as reflected upon the movies and television shows in the past decades. They also had a rich tradition and beliefs like charms, spirits, feng shui, animal symbols and many more. They are connected with their ancient philosophies that served as guides to their daily living. One of those philosophies was started by the famous Confucius. The movement for the philosophy started by Confucius is called Confucianism. The system teaches the students regarding ethics and philosophy in life that guide the actions and directions in life of the followers. It started as a philosophy but later on it was mixed with cosmological beliefs and phenomena during the Han Dynasty. When legalism was scrapped out of the government system, Chinese had embraced Confucianism. Later on it was replaced during the time that Republic of China was initiated and the Three Principles of the People became the official guide of the country (Brodsgaard and Zheng 223). Confucianism focuses on the idea that each person can learn and develop to perfection certain abilities or ways through self-determination and effort. It revolves around the concept of humanism as the center of the ideology. Its three basic virtues are focused on ethics that the followers practice. They start with ren which is the concern for the wellness of others in the community. It involves being humane and genuine love and concern for neighbors. Next, yi is practiced to focus on being in the right moral disposition wherein there is no violation of the conscience. Then, the last one is li which focuses on the set of actions that are pleasing to the community. In addition, the action should follow the rules as modeled by li. By following the three core values, Confucianism advocates those core values to be as important as the life of a person; thus, giving up the life in any way just to uphold the ren and yi morals are necessary (Yao 326). The founder of the philosophy and movement had been fund of the local folk religion, but his ideology focused on the human without discrimination and supernatural elements. Confucianism has been viewed by many not as a stand-alone system but a support one to the other ideologies like Christianity, Buddhism, Marxism and Democracy. Despite of its consideration as a supplementary system for other philosophical systems, some problems may arise. One of the problems may be seen is the view on Confucianism as a moral alternative to liberal democracy. It can be seen that liberal democracy is connected to democracy which is considered as a system that is influenced by Confucianism. Liberal democracy is more than just a philosophical system as it is an organization primarily led by the government wherein the prevailing principle is liberalism. Political parties compete for the government position through a fair and free election. Then, the representatives elected to the positions are separated by government branches with different functions and guided by a drafted constitution. The constitution takes into account the needs and welfare of the members of the society especially the freedom and rights (Bell 4). It has been the most used system in the world today. Global harmony may be achieved through Confucianism as East Asian nations and other Asian countries influenced by the system were able to match the economic performance of the Western nations. Economy may not only be the measure for global harmony as social problems may be solved by Confucianism which focuses on the core values of people instead of being pragmatic or functional only. The leadership promotes self-control before changing others which may be absent in liberal democracy. Some may say that it works only in theory despite of the success in terms of economic performance as shown by the East Asian countries. Criticisms about Confucianism as the basis for the national system may be one-sided and may not be able to include all of the issues in a country that should have been tackled. Liberties may be sacrificed to uphold the values being taught by the tradition which other people may look at as very authoritative and suppressing. In contrast, Confucianism may be pointed out as a solution as it avoids the pitfalls of liberal democracy in terms of being lax. When it comes to family-like treatment, Confucianism may uphold the traditional concept of the family which starts from marriage between a male and a female. In short, the family is basically composed of a mother, a father and the children. In liberal democracy, the family order is loosened as compared to the strict concept found in Confucianism. Confucianism promotes hierarchical relationship which may be loosened by the liberal democracy. In liberal democracy, divorce, homosexuality, and crime rates were considered by others as the negative sides of the lack of social control which is in contrast with Confucianism. When it comes to the rights of domestic workers, they may not be much addressed under the Confucianism system because of the authoritarian and strict hierarchy shown by the tradition as compared to liberal democracy which considers everybody with equal chance and freedom. Next point would be the hukou system which shows the organized system of family register in China. People are categorized as urban or rural people that separate the citizens into groups with different benefits and rights. Some may view it as inhumane because only people in the urban areas have more access to freedom and self-decision. The control still remains upon the government. In contrast, liberal democracy showcases equal rights for citizens despite of socio-economic status as everybody has access to the same services that the government can provide. It can be seen in the urban slums brought about by the free movement. Those debates may be changed by a transformation in perspective and use Confucianism in a new light to slowly replace Marxism. Marxism has been considered to be authoritarian although there is economic equality by having the businesses run by the government and owned by the State. It means that the public owns the businesses and citizens may not be allowed to conduct their own businesses for personal gains. With the rise of issues like sexuality, crimes, morals, survival, financial conditions and many more rethinking may be necessary. Culture has also a big part to play in the performance of a nation when it uses a system to solve its problem and thrive to become a better country than it was before. Perhaps, Confucianism may provide a solution as it is the root tradition that existed in China for centuries. As traditional and ancient philosophies may hold true regarding self-education and control for the betterment of the society, it has been explored and popularized by some scholars like Professor Yu Dan. She made the lectures and book regarding Confucianism in modern context that made her book a best seller and a household name (Boden 22). It is even applied in learning as academic performance may be boosted other than the functional education as shown by Chinese schools observing Confucianism. Work Cited Bell, Daniel. Beyond Liberal Democracy: Political Thinking for an East Asian Context. USA: Princeton University Press, 2006. Print. Boden, Jeanne. The Wall Behind China's Open Door. Belgium: Academic and Scientific Publishers, 2008. Print. Brodsgaard, Kjeld. The Chinese Communist Party in Reform. USA: Routledge, 2006. Print. Yao, Xinzhong. An Introduction to Confucianism. USA: Cambridge University Press, 2000. Print. Read More