SUN WUKONG Beyond Confucius and communism By Wu Zhong, China Editor
HONG KONG - Confucianism ruled China intellectually and for real for more than
2,000 years - until early in the 20th century. Hence Confucianism has formed
the backbone of the Chinese cultural tradition, in spite of some contemporary
efforts to weed it out.
Ritual, or li, is no doubt a core concept of Confucianism.
There are conceptual rules to maintain the order of a hierarchical
society. In the Analects, the Master said: "Put people in their proper
places through roles and rituals, and let them gain a sense of shame, then they
will be orderly and live harmoniously."
To put it in a simple way, rituals in Confucianism are a set of norms to
maintain the order of a hierarchical society. In daily life people must
strictly follow rituals assigned to their social status - from how one should
be dressed and in what color, to the size and form in which one's house should
be built, to how one's funeral should be arranged.
If one performed rituals reserved for those on the higher rungs of the
hierarchical ladder of society, they would be regarded as overstepping their
authority - or even rebellious.
For example, in some dynasties, the color yellow was reserved for the emperor.
Anyone else who dared to wear anything in yellow would be beheaded. Also, the
dragon was the symbol of the emperor, and no others were allowed to use it. The
only exception in history was Confucius himself. The Confucius Temple in the
sage's home town of Qufu, Shandong province, is one story higher than the
emperor's office building in Beijing's Forbidden City. And the nine stone
pillars of the Confucius Temple are inscribed with dragons. This was because
Heaven and Confucius were the only two icons the emperor, self-proclaimed Son
of the Heaven, had to revere.
In modern China, particularly under the rule of the Communist Party, whose
original ideal was to eliminate social classes and build an egalitarian
society, many Confucian rituals have been dumped. And during the Cultural
Revolution (1966–76), Mao Zedong even launched a campaign to discredit
Confucius in an effort to scrap the ancient sage's remaining influence.
But ironically, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) today practices
Confucian-like rituals of sorts in its officialdom. For instance, according to
both written and unwritten codes, the size of housing allocated to officials
varies according to rank. A ministerial- or provincial-level official can have
a house or apartment of 200 square meters, and a prefecture-level official may
have 140 square meters. A ministerial-ranking official can be assigned an Audi
2.0 sedan or its equivalent at public expense. And only ministerial-level
officials or higher can fly first-class. There are even stipulations on the
numbers of dishes for official banquets hosted by officials of various ranks.
Further, after three decades of reform and opening up, China has successfully
turned the Stalinist socialism built by Mao into capitalism "with Chinese
characteristics". But in doing so, orthodox communist ideas have also been
dumped, leaving the nation in an ideological vacuum, which many Chinese
sociologists agree is a major source of moral confusion among mainland Chinese
people today. There are signs that the authorities are trying to revive
traditional thought, particularly among the young, to fill the ideological
void.
Whether the CCP is willing to admit it or not, today's China remains in essence
a hierarchical society. Hence, for Chinese authorities, Confucius' concept of
rituals, in its essence but not necessarily in its traditional form, can still
be used of to maintain social order.
However, the market-oriented economic reforms over the past 30 years have
decentralized not only the country's highly centralized command economy but
also its highly centralized political structure. This is evident if one looks
at the broad regional practices across the country. Policies handed down by
Beijing are often circumnavigated or totally ignored. As Zhang Baoqing, retired
vice minister of education, once put it, political orders from the power center
"cannot go beyond Zhongnanhai" (the complex of buildings in Beijing adjacent to
Tiananmen Square that serves as the central headquarters for the CCP and the
government).
Under this rampant regionalism, it's common for local officials to overstep
their authority. As reported recently in Chinese media, a county government in
Shanxi province modeled its office building after Tiananmen in Beijing. Many of
the local officials have housing much larger than is permitted for their ranks
and their cars are posher than those assigned to cabinet ministers in Beijing.
Were Confucius' rituals to be truly observed, these local officials would have
been at least sacked immediately, an action that would surely be applauded by
the public.
So last week, another piece of news drew the wide attention of the Chinese
media.
The central government currently requires all freshman university students to
receive military training on campus, beginning in September, and last week
pictures were posted on the Internet showing Wang Chunqiu, president of
Shandong University of Science and Technology, inspecting Shandong freshmen
undergoing military training.
Wang, wearing a Western suit and white gloves, and accompanied by a uniformed
army officer, was shown in an army-green jeep with the ceremonial license plate
Yuebin (Parade)-001, waving his right hand to a parade of students lined up on
a sports field. Wang's pose and clothes resembled those of former Chinese
president Jiang Zemin inspecting the People's Liberation Army in Tiananmen in
1984, in his capacity as the chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC).
After the pictures hit the Internet, several newspapers also carried follow-up
reports.
Grilled by the media, Wang's office explained that the president did it "to
boost the morale of the students".
The reports immediately sparked public anger. Many wrote to newspapers or
posted comments on websites slamming Wang for his "disgusting" performance.
They said a military parade was a serious matter and should be conducted
properly (note the influence of Confucian concept of rituals here). They
questioned whether it was necessary for Wang to display himself before a few
thousand students on campus in a military jeep.
"A military parade is something sacred and solemn. Not anyone can organize a
military parade without authorization," said one post on the official website
of China's state news agency, Xinhua.
The writer reminded readers of the downfall of Li Xingmin, the former party
chief of Bozhou city, Anhui province, a couple of years ago. To celebrate his
promotion as the No 1 leader of Bozhou, Li had organized the largest-scale
military parade in the city's history, spending 2 million yuan (about
US$265,000) of public funds and mobilizing local troops. His conduct obviously
overstepped his authority, as in China any mobilization of troops must be
authorized by the CMC. After being exposed, Li was put under investigation and
later convicted and jailed for corruption.
It remains to be seen whether Wang will be punished for any wrongdoing.
It's probably safe to say that Li and Wang did these things to inflate their
already large egos, and to show off their power. It is also safely said that
they aren't alone - quite a number of local officials have a similar mentality,
judging from their conduct.
Such scandals provide further evidence that China lacks a new set of moral
norms and code of conduct to keep in check the behavior of officials and
business people in particular and all citizens in general, after the ones
suitable to socialism have been smashed.
Aware of the problem, President Hu Jintao has put forward his idea of "Eight
Honors and Eight Shames", which is expected to be written into the revised
party constitution in the upcoming 17th Party Congress this month. They are:
Love the country, do it no harm.
Serve the people, do no disservice.
Follow science, discard ignorance.
Be diligent, not indolent.
Be united, help each other and make no gains at someone else's expense.
Be honest and trustworthy, do not spend ethics for profits.
Be disciplined and law-abiding, not chaotic and lawless.
Live plainly, struggle hard and do not wallow in luxuries and pleasures.
However, the Eight Honors and Eight Shames need to be clearly detailed beyond
standard CCP dogma into an operational standard of moral norms and conduct -
all of which could be regarded modern "rituals".
For his part, Confucius dismissed the rule of law in favor of rule by a code of
ethics. However, it is evident that today's China needs both to become a truly
modern nation.
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