China's Unresolved Issues

Something about the influence of Confucianism:
It embraces a secular worldview. Confucius believes that the world and its people are essentially moral, and that people should train themselves in benevolence and in humanity, and extend them to other people. His idea of morality starts from filial duty to fraternal submission to helping everyone. The government’s role is to teach people virtue and ceremonial rites.

It can thus be seen that Confucius’ ideals are practical, ethical, and orientated towards ‘now’, which contrast sharply with that of Plato or Aristotle, which are theoretical, metaphysical, and concerned about hereafter and the origin of life. The merchants are given very low status unlike in Western capitalism, which might explain why the attributes of Protestantism is not widely accepted by the Chinese population.

Confucius advocates a hierarchical organization. The nature of society should be family-based, and hierarchically organized. People’s fundamental loyalty and submission is to one’s family, not the state or the public. This kind of structure discourages independence and innovation.

The emperor is believed to serve as the connection of Heaven and Earth, and the humanity. Thus his right to rule is premised on his ability to maintain harmony between Heaven and Earth, him and his officials, and his officials and the people. To be able to achieve that, he must be morally upright, and perform ritual in the appropriate order. Revolution is permissible if the ruler is considered a mere commoner, and society then searches for the new ruler who is appointed by the Mandate of Heaven. This system permits a new ruler, but not a new system.

Birth forth from such a system is a group of educated elite which forms the scholar-gentry class. Officials and selected for their technical expertise as well as moral quality, which was evaluated via a nation-wide examination on the work of Confucius and his disciples. This system of rule by men, and not rule by law poses the question of how leaders should be appointed in the new age.