Shap Journal 2001/2002

Living Community

Modern Chinese Communities, Confucian Roots

Anne McCarron

China is a vast and diverse country with almost
a third of the world's population. Any
examination of Chinese community requires us
to look to China's cultural heritage. When we
do this, we are faced with two central questions: Firstly,
what is the Chinese model of society? Secondly, what is
the relevance of this model to modern communities? In
Chinese thinking, there is little distinction between society
and community and it is the idea of social stability that
dominates. In general terms, this model is based upon the
ideas developed by Confucian scholars and it is this
Confucian model of society that we need to examine.
Despite the turmoil of the twentieth century, the Chinese
people look to their own cultural heritage for answers to
the problems of the modern world. Chinese thinkers are
faced with the problem of how to communicate the
traditional values of Confucianism to a modern audience.
The feudal, aristocratic and patriarchal aspects of
Confucianism belong to the past. It is the application of
the ethical, religious and philosophic elements that have
modern relevance.

To understand Confucianism as a system of values that
inform social and communal actions, we need to look at
the fundamental ideas that form the system. The most
important idea is that of ren, and as we examine this
idea closely we can begin to understand the base upon
which social interaction rests. Ren has been translated
in many ways - virtue, humanity, goodness,
humaneness and many more. None of these is adequate
in conveying the complexity of the term. The etymology
of the character is the character for man combined with
the character for two, and it is the sense of self and
others that is important. It is this grounded sense of
community that dominates. The ideas that surround
self-cultivation are bounded by the sense of self and
others. In other words, one cultivates oneself in order to
benefit not oneself, but to benefit the wider community.
There is the ever-present idea that if each person
cultivates their 'original good nature' then family
relations will be harmonious, that when family relations
are in harmony the relations of the state will be
harmonious and when the relations of the states are in
harmony there will be harmony throughout the world.
From this we can see that peace and harmony in the
wider society are dependent on the attitudes and
behaviour of each individual within that society.

The majority of Confucian thinkers begin with the idea
that human nature is originally good and that although
this is lost in the ways in which we live, it is possible to
return to this originally good nature through self-
cultivation. Ren is the ultimate reflection of this nature.
Individual growth, family relations and social harmony
form the core ideals of society and as human nature is
seen as originally good, there is always the possibility of
social harmony existing. Self, family and society are the
three essential aspects of being human. Within the
Confucian system, as with many East Asian systems,
self, world and society form the web of life. This sense of
others makes it impossible to think in terms of
individuals as isolated as each person is part of a family
and of a wider society. The Chinese do not think of
community in the sense of individuals coming together,
for the Chinese are always together in community with
each other. Community is a given and it is the social
order that requires attention.

Chinese thinking developed from a rural base. The focus
has always been on the land, on the ways in which
people work together. The geography of China has
meant that agricultural activity has always demanded
co-operation. The irrigation schemes and the flood
defences included a group of holdings and the farmers
would necessarily work together to build and maintain
this infrastructure. The idea of being 'self-sufficient' is
one that does not occur in this way of thinking. This
agricultural base is, in effect, more central to Confucian
teaching that the imperial values of the elite. Like many
of the major cultural traditions. Confucianism has found
it difficult to make these rural based ideas relevant to
modern industrial urban societies. One of the ways in
which they managed this in the past was to emphasise
the dependence of the urban population on the labour of
the farmers for the food they bought in the marketplace.
Thus the ideas of interdependence were maintained.

In the past. Confucianism was identified with the ruling
elite, but modern scholars are striving to separate the
universal and inclusive aspects of the teaching and show
how they are a relevant and important element in
current ethical thought. There is a movement within
China that seeks to highlight the distinctive nature of
Chinese thinking and to contribute to the current
ecological and ethical debates. There is a rising interest
in the contribution that Confucianism can bring to
many of the current dilemmas that face modern society.

Confucianism develops three important principles. There
is the harmony and unity between humanity and nature
(Tien); harmony and unity between descendants and
ancestors; and harmony and unity between the secular
and the sacred. This sense of unity and harmony is so all
pervading and integrated that it has been difficult for
outsiders to discern it at all. One only has to look at the
idea, proposed by many, that China was a purely secular
society to see that it has often been misunderstood. What
these observers failed to note was the lack of separation
in all the above areas. China has in many respects hidden
its best face from the outside world. The upheavals of the
twentieth century have meant that it has sometimes
hidden it from itself. Yet the people have continued to live
together, albeit with great difficulty.

The ideas of harmony and unity are central to the
Confucian ideal. The sense that human actions can
affect the order of nature is a very modern view. It is one
that is in tune with the ideas of many ecological
movements and these movements in turn could learn
from Confucianism. The unity between descendants and
ancestors exemplifies our notion of continuity through
time. The unity between secular and sacred leaves open
the individual response to the sacred. Each person can
cultivate their sense of the sacred and manifest this in
their everyday actions and attitudes. The reciprocal
nature of this sense of harmony and unity is at the root
of Confucianism. No one is isolated and left wondering
about their place in the world. They belong to a family
community and this family community has links to the
wider community of village and state. This is an ideal
that has no place for the concept of stranger, everyone
is related in some way or other, everyone is a member of
a particular community and each community is part of
the wider social structure.

Those who seek to present Confucianism as relevant to
modern life face many difficulties. Many in China see it as
representing the oppressive traditions of the past and the
Communist government has presented it as the major
factor in China's past weakness with respect to other
states. Yet today there are many that seek to reveal the
universal and humane threads of Confucianism and to
make them central to a modern and industrialised society.
Confucianism has a humane core that links together all
the important elements in society. There is great emphasis
on each person's responsibilities within their families and
the wider communities. The Confucian ethical system is
based upon responsibilities and not upon individual
rights. Yet it is through the idea of responsibilities that
each person gains benefit, for as each person has
responsibilities towards others so they in turn become the
recipients of the responsibilities of others.

The more China opens up to the rest of the world the
more the people will look to their own culture to
formulate their political and social structure. Chinese
philosophers will provide the focus for future
development. This will open up the ethical and religious
structure of Confucianism to critical analysis and the
deep structures of the tradition can be revealed and used
to form a template for the further development of Chinese
thinking. The central theme of the tradition is one of
learning, to learn to recognise one's original good nature
and to act with care and awareness as to the needs of the
wider community. The Confucian ideal has always been
in conflict with social reality, yet the scholars would exert
themselves to see how even the worst situation could be
improved. There was always the central recognition that
any community was only as unified and harmonious as
the individuals within the community. The Chinese
thinkers recognised that the 'mood' of the family and the
wider society were made up of the mood of the
individuals. The focus on unity and harmony highlights
the fact that these are not abstract states but are reflective
of the outlook of individual people.

Confucianism can have a role in a modern, scientific
and technological age. All societies look to an ideal of
social harmony and peace between states, and propose
various methods for achieving this ideal. The two
thousand years of Confucianism have given the Chinese
people a strong awareness of human obligation. Self-
interest and personal advantage are restricted by a
strong sense of social responsibility and it is possible to
subordinate personal desires to the welfare of the
community. For the Chinese self-fulfilment does not
occur in a social vacuum. The individual develops only
in the service of society and as a member of a
community. There is little support for extreme forms of
individualism that let people ignore the needs of others.