Jiang Qing
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691154602
- eISBN:
- 9781400844845
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691154602.003.0003
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter proposes another institution—the Academy—that is meant to further restrain the power of parliamentarians. In Western constitutionalism, power is limited by means of rights. In Confucian ...
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This chapter proposes another institution—the Academy—that is meant to further restrain the power of parliamentarians. In Western constitutionalism, power is limited by means of rights. In Confucian constitutionalism, power is limited primarily by means of morality. The chapter explicitly invokes the seventeenth-century Confucian scholar Huang Zongxi's proposal for an Academy composed of scholar-officials who could question the emperor and appraise and adjudicate the rights and wrongs of his policies. It is careful to note that the Academy supervises, but does not run the state. Subordinate bodies exercise their own authority according to the principle of balance of powers and independence. The Academy does not interfere in these operations and hence its maintenance of religion and morality is different from that of a Taliban-style theocracy.Less
This chapter proposes another institution—the Academy—that is meant to further restrain the power of parliamentarians. In Western constitutionalism, power is limited by means of rights. In Confucian constitutionalism, power is limited primarily by means of morality. The chapter explicitly invokes the seventeenth-century Confucian scholar Huang Zongxi's proposal for an Academy composed of scholar-officials who could question the emperor and appraise and adjudicate the rights and wrongs of his policies. It is careful to note that the Academy supervises, but does not run the state. Subordinate bodies exercise their own authority according to the principle of balance of powers and independence. The Academy does not interfere in these operations and hence its maintenance of religion and morality is different from that of a Taliban-style theocracy.
Daniel A. Bell
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691154602
- eISBN:
- 9781400844845
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691154602.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This introductory chapter presents a scholarly work on Confucian constitutionalism, while seeking to establish a morally desirable and politically realistic alternative to liberal democracy. The ...
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This introductory chapter presents a scholarly work on Confucian constitutionalism, while seeking to establish a morally desirable and politically realistic alternative to liberal democracy. The modern neo-Confucians' focus on self-cultivation was too abstract to be relevant for the particular political needs of contemporary China. Surely, an adaptation of political ideals developed within the Confucian tradition is more likely to secure a Confucian way of life. The chapter proposes the concept of “political Confucianism” in contrast to the “self-cultivation Confucianism” emphasized by the neo-Confucians. Both traditions are necessary, but the most pressing task now is to revive “political Confucianism” that focuses more directly on the betterment of social and political order by legislating and legitimizing political institutions.Less
This introductory chapter presents a scholarly work on Confucian constitutionalism, while seeking to establish a morally desirable and politically realistic alternative to liberal democracy. The modern neo-Confucians' focus on self-cultivation was too abstract to be relevant for the particular political needs of contemporary China. Surely, an adaptation of political ideals developed within the Confucian tradition is more likely to secure a Confucian way of life. The chapter proposes the concept of “political Confucianism” in contrast to the “self-cultivation Confucianism” emphasized by the neo-Confucians. Both traditions are necessary, but the most pressing task now is to revive “political Confucianism” that focuses more directly on the betterment of social and political order by legislating and legitimizing political institutions.
Jiang Qing
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691154602
- eISBN:
- 9781400844845
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691154602.003.0004
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
This chapter turns to the third feature of Confucian constitutionalism: the symbolic monarch. It describes the state as a mysterious body from a distant past, and present-day people have an ...
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This chapter turns to the third feature of Confucian constitutionalism: the symbolic monarch. It describes the state as a mysterious body from a distant past, and present-day people have an obligation to maintain it and hand it down to future generations. A leader chosen by the current generation such as an elected president cannot express the state's historical legitimacy because the state also belongs to past and future generations. Whereas a hereditary monarch descended from a noble and ancient lineage is most likely to embody the historical and trans-generational identity of a state. In a modern-day Confucian constitutionalism, the tricameral legislature would exercise real political (legislative) power, the Academy would exercise supervisory power, and the monarch would exercise symbolic power.Less
This chapter turns to the third feature of Confucian constitutionalism: the symbolic monarch. It describes the state as a mysterious body from a distant past, and present-day people have an obligation to maintain it and hand it down to future generations. A leader chosen by the current generation such as an elected president cannot express the state's historical legitimacy because the state also belongs to past and future generations. Whereas a hereditary monarch descended from a noble and ancient lineage is most likely to embody the historical and trans-generational identity of a state. In a modern-day Confucian constitutionalism, the tricameral legislature would exercise real political (legislative) power, the Academy would exercise supervisory power, and the monarch would exercise symbolic power.
Jiang Qing
Daniel A. Bell and Ruiping Fan (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691154602
- eISBN:
- 9781400844845
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691154602.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
As China continues to transform itself, many assume that the nation will eventually move beyond communism and adopt a Western-style democracy. But could China develop a unique form of government ...
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As China continues to transform itself, many assume that the nation will eventually move beyond communism and adopt a Western-style democracy. But could China develop a unique form of government based on its own distinct traditions? This book says yes. It sets out a vision for a Confucian constitutional order that offers a compelling alternative to both the status quo in China and to a Western-style liberal democracy. It is the most detailed and systematic work on Confucian constitutionalism to date. The book argues against the democratic view that the consent of the people is the main source of political legitimacy. Instead, it presents a comprehensive way to achieve humane authority based on three sources of political legitimacy, and it derives and defends a proposal for a tricameral legislature that would best represent the Confucian political ideal. The book also puts forward proposals for an institution that would curb the power of parliamentarians and for a symbolic monarch who would embody the historical and transgenerational identity of the state. In the latter section of the book, four leading liberal and socialist Chinese critics critically evaluate the book's theories and the author gives detailed responses to their views. The book provides a new standard for evaluating political progress in China and enriches the dialogue of possibilities available to this rapidly evolving nation.Less
As China continues to transform itself, many assume that the nation will eventually move beyond communism and adopt a Western-style democracy. But could China develop a unique form of government based on its own distinct traditions? This book says yes. It sets out a vision for a Confucian constitutional order that offers a compelling alternative to both the status quo in China and to a Western-style liberal democracy. It is the most detailed and systematic work on Confucian constitutionalism to date. The book argues against the democratic view that the consent of the people is the main source of political legitimacy. Instead, it presents a comprehensive way to achieve humane authority based on three sources of political legitimacy, and it derives and defends a proposal for a tricameral legislature that would best represent the Confucian political ideal. The book also puts forward proposals for an institution that would curb the power of parliamentarians and for a symbolic monarch who would embody the historical and transgenerational identity of the state. In the latter section of the book, four leading liberal and socialist Chinese critics critically evaluate the book's theories and the author gives detailed responses to their views. The book provides a new standard for evaluating political progress in China and enriches the dialogue of possibilities available to this rapidly evolving nation.
Kevin Carrico
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780520295490
- eISBN:
- 9780520967687
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520295490.003.0008
- Subject:
- Anthropology, Asian Cultural Anthropology
“Neo-Traditionalism in China Today” expands the analytical framework developed in this study of the Han Clothing Movement to interpret a series of distinct yet conceptually related ...
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“Neo-Traditionalism in China Today” expands the analytical framework developed in this study of the Han Clothing Movement to interpret a series of distinct yet conceptually related neo-traditionalisms and nationalisms in China today. The re-emergence of traditional education in the Chinese classics through Confucian academies is examined as a mystical response to the crisis in the contemporary educational system. The promotion of Confucian constitutionalism imagines an indigenous, yet logically flawed, alternative to the globalization of democracy. The rise of New Leftist thought, meanwhile, seeks answers in a cleansed Maoist “revolutionary tradition.” Concluding with a discussion of ethnic clothing and photography emerging from the rubble of the Wenchuan earthquake, this conclusion provides a basis for reflecting upon the Han Clothing Movement and its identity reconstructions as one example of broader trends in society today, seeking answers to the dilemmas of the present in an imagined past. Less
“Neo-Traditionalism in China Today” expands the analytical framework developed in this study of the Han Clothing Movement to interpret a series of distinct yet conceptually related neo-traditionalisms and nationalisms in China today. The re-emergence of traditional education in the Chinese classics through Confucian academies is examined as a mystical response to the crisis in the contemporary educational system. The promotion of Confucian constitutionalism imagines an indigenous, yet logically flawed, alternative to the globalization of democracy. The rise of New Leftist thought, meanwhile, seeks answers in a cleansed Maoist “revolutionary tradition.” Concluding with a discussion of ethnic clothing and photography emerging from the rubble of the Wenchuan earthquake, this conclusion provides a basis for reflecting upon the Han Clothing Movement and its identity reconstructions as one example of broader trends in society today, seeking answers to the dilemmas of the present in an imagined past.
