and Confucius
by Adam Graves
ASST 100 Fall 1999
The Rebirth of a Nation
Confucius and the Confucian Way
Communism in China
Communism vs. Confucianism
The Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution
China Today
Bibliography
Originally I wanted to write
a paper about the spread of Communism throughout China. I chose this topic
after my interest was aroused by a Chinese-made movie called “To Live”.
The movie traces a family’s existence throughout the period of Communist
expansion in China, the Great Leap Forward, and afterward. However, when
I presented the idea to Professor Heinz, she suggested that I instead attempt
to compare the Communist ideologies with those of Confucius, since our
course is centered in Asian culture, and not 20th century history or politics.
image from http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Paradise/6895
In researching this paper, I came across many promising sources. Unfortunately,
only a few of these directly compared the ideologies behind Confucianism
and Communism, and those that did, did so merely in passing. No “main source”
really presented itself during the course of my research; I ended up reading
parts of about 15 books (as well as several websites) about either Confucianism
or Communism but not both, and trying to make the connections myself. As
you will see though, I did get lucky a few times in finding relevant material.
Although the description for the “Course Project” states that we should
describe all of our sources one by one, I will only briefly write about
three of those that I used. Otherwise, this introduction might start to
look like a separate paper itself. Of course all of my sources are
listed in the bibliography at the end of the essay.
One of the most appropriate sources I found was the book “Religion under Socialism in China”, edited by Luo Zhufeng and translated from Chinese by Donald E. MacInnis and Zheng Xi’an. In the book’s preface, several questions that the author had in mind in writing the book are listed. The most pertinent questions among these for my purposes were, “What influence does religion have on social life and discipline? How can religion exist in harmony with socialist society?” (Zhufeng xvi).
Another book that was a great
help was “Asian Values and Human Rights: A Confucian Communitarian Perspective”,
by William Theodore de Bary. I used this book mainly to help me understand
the ideas and philosophy behind Confucianism, and how they have affected
the Chinese community.
image from http://atlasgeo.span.ch/fotw/
The last source I will mention
here is the book “The Communist Party of China and Marxism, 1921-1985:
A Self-Portrait”, by Laszlo Ladany, the man who published the weekly newsletter
“China News Analysis” for thirty years, beginning in 1953. It is a fascinating
historical account of the major events surrounding the Chinese Communist
Party (CCP) this century. This book was useful in helping me to comprehend
the reasons behind such pivotal events as the Cultural Revolution and the
Great Leap Forward.
So, with these sources and all the others, I tried to build a cohesive view of the relationship between Confucianism and Chinese Communism. As it turns out, the essay does include some political and historical information about China in this century, but I believe that the inclusion of these was unavoidable in building a proper and relatively thorough analysis.
This essay will give some
background on both Confucianism and Communism in China. It will point out
some of the Communist objections to Confucianism. It will also point out
some of the ideological similarities between the two, in an attempt to
explain how the Chinese people have been able to ultimately (although perhaps
not willingly)
accept Communism as a guiding force in their lives.
Confucianism and Communism have both played major roles in the shaping of China. But while Communism has been in China for less than 100 years, Confucianism has been a part of China for nearly 2500 years. There are differences between the ideologies of the two, and communists sometimes have felt it necessary to express their dissatisfaction with Confucian principles, in order to further their own party’s ideas about how the country should be run. However, some scholars have pointed out that the two schools of thought are also similar in many ways.
The rise of Communism in China has been one of the most important occurrences of the 20th century. Much has been said and written about this ongoing event. But to begin to understand the reasons behind Communism’s relative success in China, it is necessary to consider the beliefs and customs of the Chinese people before the spread of Communism in the country. The Communist Party did not spring up overnight, and it would not have lasted in China if it had not considered the collective psyche of the nation it hoped to rule. The relative success of Communism in China has often been partially attributed to the fact that its ideologies are similar to those of Confucianism, and therefore easier for the Chinese people to accept than a set of principles that might run contrary to those of Confucianism.
Confucius and the Confucian Way
Confucius was born in 551 BC, in
the current Chinese province of Shandong, and he died in the year 471 BC.
During his lifetime, Confucius and his ideas were not well known. His philosophies
only became popular after his death. But starting with the Han Dynasty
under Emperor Wu (140 - 87 BC), and continuing into the 20th century, Confucianism
was accepted as the state ideology (www.insidechina.com). Over this astonishing
length of time, Confucianism has proven itself to be resilient, its message
as valid today as it was in the mind of Confucius two millennia ago.
image
from http://peacock.tnjc.edu.tw/
Confucianism teaches that every person is equal, but not by the same definition
of equality with which many of us are familiar. Here in the United States,
most of us subscribe to the notion that “all men are created equal”, that
we are all born with the same rights as human beings, and should therefore
be entitled to all the same privileges and opportunities. According to
the author Peter R. Moody, Jr., for a Confucian, equality is instead “expressed
through complementarity and harmony”. Confucians believe that “there is
an objectively valid moral Way inherent in the nature of things. This is
a standard for human behavior…” Differentiation between people (and the
social inequality that comes with it) is necessary for social order
(Moody 4).
image from http://www.bergen.org/AAST/Projects/ChinaHistory/
Many religions
have been present in China throughout the course of its long history. These
religions have helped to form Chinese culture, but most of the Chinese
people “have been indifferent to religion, and the number of true religious
believers has been only a small proportion of the total population” (Zhufeng
29). But the Chinese conception of religion differs greatly from the predominant
western conception of it. A major reason for this has been the prevalence
of the Confucian ideology among the Chinese people. “Confucian ideology…
neither negates nor supports religions, ghosts, or deities. When asked…
about serving ghosts and gods and the afterlife, [Confucius] said,
‘How can you serve gods and ghosts when you cannot serve man?’ and ‘How
can you know about death when you do not know about life?’” (Zhufeng 30).
From these rhetorical questions, it can be seen that Confucius did not
have religious motivations in developing his philosophy of life. Instead
he chose to focus his attention on the proper ethical conduct of real people,
and on teaching men to coexist harmoniously.
One of the fundamental principles of Confucianism is that human nature is basically good, and can be perfected with the help of ethics (Fitzgerald 18). Confucian principles also specify that self-cultivation is personal and individual. Under Confucianism Chinese society was, in the words of Chinese anthropologist Fei Xiaotong, “like the rings of successive ripples that are propelled outward on the surface when you throw a stone into water. Each individual is the center of the rings emanating from his social influence. Wherever the ripples reach, affiliations occur. The rings used by each person at any given time or place are not necessarily the same” (Madsen 54). By contrast, communists see improvement as a collective effort, something to be shared by the whole community (Chen 362).
In 1911, when the Manchu
dynasty was overthrown, the country was in poor shape. Poverty was widespread,
along with the hunger and desperation that necessarily follow. Many people
thought that modernization would be the answer, resulting in a subsequent
rejection of traditions (Ladany 4). Chinese political leaders and intellectuals
began to realize that the old ways of Confucianism were no longer helping
with the modern problems of China and its people. As a result, the Chinese
began to look abroad for answers.
image from http://www.ai.mit.edu/people/ftchong/china.html/
There was much interest in the 1917 October Revolution of Russia among
Chinese intellectuals. Although they mostly were not familiar with the
teachings of Marx, they were eager to find a solution to their own country’s
problems, and were inspired by the success of the Revolution. With the
help of a group of communists from Moscow called the Comintern, the CCP
was established in 1921 (Ladany 10). And so an attempt at the assimilation
of the Chinese people began from within.
The Chinese communists (at
least the majority of them) must have been well intentioned, with a true
desire to help their nation get back on its feet. This is evident in the
thoughts of Mao Tse-tung, revered chairman of the CCP until his death in
1976. He wrote about wanting to change what he perceived to be the negative
characteristics of the Chinese people, “For example, passivity must be
replaced by productive energy, and personal loyalty must be diverted from
family to state to create one citizenry out of a collectivity of kinships.”
(Hsiung 8). The spirit of communism can also be seen clearly in this quote
of the Communist leader Liu Shaoqi, “At all times and on all questions,
a Communist Party member should take into account the interests of the
Party as a whole, and place the Party’s interest above his personal problems
and interests. It is the highest principle of our Party members that the
Party’s interests are supreme.” (deBary 137).
image from http://library.adelaide.edu.au/guide/hum/asian/IntroChina.html/
An important point on which Confucius and the communists clearly diverged was the notion of how people should be governed. According to Confucius, law enforcement is not the proper way to guide people. Instead he preferred rites by which the individual is given respect. He wrote, “If you try to lead the people by regulations and order them by punishments, the people will evade these and have no sense of shame [in doing so]. If you lead them by virtue and order them through the rites, they will have a sense of shame and will correct themselves” (de Bary 30). By contrast, the resolute and harsh enforcement of strict laws is something that has come to be associated with Communism all over the world.
One similarity between the policies of the CCP and Confucius developed in the early 1940s. The Communist Party at this time began to realize that the expulsion of high-ranking members deemed to have acted improperly was not working. The Party was alienating too many of its members. Therefore, they adopted a policy of “rectification”, in which these members were expected to atone for their indiscretions by studying numerous documents and then reflecting upon their own pasts. Self-criticism was also urged by Confucius, “to make rulers of society embody the superior qualities expected of them… The stress of both Confucius and the CCP on moral cultivation has suggested… a continuity between Confucianism and Chinese communism” (Chen 325).
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
The schism in the ideologies of Communism and Confucianism helped to bring about the Cultural Revolution. Largely the product of a political power struggle and mass discontent among the Chinese people, the purpose behind the Cultural Revolution was to destroy all traces of the old culture (e.g. works of Chinese art and literature from the period of Confucian dominance), in an attempt to eventually erase old ways from the national consciousness, thus clearing the path for the supposedly new ideals of the CCP. To this effect, massive groups of students called “Red Guards” were mobilized beginning in 1966, with instructions to destroy the “four olds”: old customs, habits, thoughts, and culture (Thornton 292).
It is difficult to say whether the Chinese citizenry truly believed in the purpose of the Cultural Revolution or not. However, it seems unlikely that most people accepted it out of any motivation other than fear. After all, society had been guided by Confucian morality for well over 2000 years. Would they really be willing to release the past, and the art and work of their ancient ancestors, in deference to the Communist Party? It seems much more likely that the Chinese people accepted the Cultural Revolution because they had no real choice. People were forcibly moved to the conclusion that being an individual was not a good thing anymore; those who did not cooperate were punished severely for their perceived lack of loyalty to the CCP. Beatings and killings were not uncommon treatments for those who resisted.
Although the events leading up to it are much more complicated than described here, the Cultural Revolution is evidence that communists believed Confucianism and the old ways were a genuine threat to their existence.
image from
http://www.geocities.com/TheTropics/Paradise/6895/
Despite the differences between Confucian and Communist ways and the attempts
of communists to dispel Confucian ways, Confucianism still is evident in
the way that the Chinese people live today. The family unit is as strong
as ever, and individualism, although suppressed and hiding in the hearts
and minds of the Chinese people, will never be erased. This fact was certainly
proven by the 1993 incident at Tiananmen Square. The dominance of Confucian
values is not likely to change, as these ideals have been growing roots
in the fabric of Chinese society for over 2000 years before the Chinese
Communist Party was born.
de Bary, W. Theodore.
1998 Asian Values and Human Rights: A Confucian Communitarian
Perspective.
London: Harvard University Press.
Hsiung, James Chieh.
1970 Ideology and Practice: The Evolution of Chinese Communism. New
York:
Praeger Publishers.
Ladany, Laszlo.
1988 The Communist Party of China and Marxism: A Self-Portrait. Stanford,
California: Hoover Institution Press.
Madsen, Richard.
1984 Morality and Power in a Chinese Village. Berkeley, California:
University of
California Press.
Moody, Peter R., Jr.
1988 Political Opposition in Post-Confucian Society. New York: Praeger
Publishers.
Thornton, Richard C.
1982 China: A Political History, 1917-1980. Boulder, Colorado: Westview
Press, Inc.
Unknown Author
1999 Inside China Today. Electronic document.
http://www.insidechina.com/culture/relig.php3
Zhufeng, Luo.
1991 Religion under Socialism in China. D. MacInnis and Z. Xi’an, trans.
London: M.E. Sharpe, Inc.
Links
Inside
China Today
Pictures of
China