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Your Confucius

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.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/IJ03Ad02.html

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