MCLC: CCP is not Confucian (1)

[Denton, Kirk]

MCLC LIST
From: jjalvaro <jjalvaro at student.cityu.edu.hk>
Subject: CCP is not Confucian (1)
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I appreciate the painstaking refutation of Eric X Li’s interview ‘CCP is
not Confucian’. Toward the end of the post there are some comments on
Confucian discourse and the xiaokang shehui (moderately prosperous
society) in particular. This is all very interesting stuff and I would
like to add my two cents as well as expand the discussion to include the
CCP’s appropriation of another Confucian concept, hexie shehui (harmonious
society).

It seems that traditional topics re-emerged in CCP discourses with
increasing frequency shortly following the Tiananmen protests of 1989.
John Delury writes that in the 1990s the Party experimented with using
traditional values and Confucian political ideals to define the substance
of 'Chinese characteristics'. The Confucian influence in CCP discourse
achieved even higher status when President Jiang Zemin promoted the
xiaokang shehui concept in 2002. But Delury suggests that the term is
actually pejorative in its original meaning. In the Classic of Rites, did
not ‘moderate prosperity’ describe the unjust, imperfect world Confucius
saw around him in the sixth century BC? Confucius contrasted the fallen
condition of ‘moderate prosperity’, wherein coercive rulers barely
contained the effects of people’s unbridled pursuit of their own
self-interest, with the utopian vision of ‘great unity’ (datong).

In 1996, Alan Kluver wrote that political power in China rested in the
ambiguity of terms. It is difficult to contest socialism with ‘Chinese
characteristics’ if one does not know what ‘Chinese characteristics’
actually means. The ubiquitous ‘harmonious society’ is a semantically
expansive formulation, and, if China was a multi-party system, would
provide a theoretical platform for a broad coalition among political
parties from ultra-leftists to neo-liberals. Delury suggests that a look
at China's classics can reveal the ‘strategic ambiguity’ of the concept of
‘social harmony’ as it is used by CCP today. What stands out in the CCP
take on Confucian harmony is the simple logic that when harmony is
achieved, there is equality and abundance, and along with abundance, no
dissent. But in Confucian times there were courtiers critical of defining
harmony as simply the lack of dissent.  Harmony also implied compromise or
concord. The true classical meaning of harmony is actually tolerance and
openness to differences. In China, we find the highly ironic situation
where the promotion of ‘harmony’ is used to facilitate repression (where
dissidents are ‘harmonized’). The chronicles record that ‘the good
minister is like a chef who combines flavors to make a well-balanced dish,
or a composer who harmonizes notes and instruments to create a lovely
melody. Who eats soup made by adding water to water? Who listens to
musicians all playing the same strings on a single instrument? What kind
of ruler wants to silence dissenting views?’ (cited in Delury 2008).

The current use of the word ‘harmony’ means different things for
different people. Regarding the dubiety inherent in the term, Delury said
it best: To those who are benefiting most from China's sizzling economic
growth, ‘harmony’ implies social stability…that will protect assets. To
those on the sidelines…‘harmony’ is the renewed socialist commitment to
the welfare of the rural masses…To educated elites chafing at restrictions
on speech, media, assembly, and a variety of civil and political
liberties, ‘harmony’ hints at the toleration of dissent and gradual
implementation of democracy and the rule of law. To nationalists…‘harmony’
is a vehicle for the revival of Chinese values. To party
loyalists…‘harmony” signals reassurance to the political elite that the
party intends to maintain its monopoly of force…In the end, after all, the
CCP positions itself as the sole entity capable of maintaining peaceful
coexistence among the winners, losers, and critics of reform.

Delury, John (2008) 'Harmonious'  in China. Hoover Institute, March 31
2008, Policy Review 48. Retrieved
athttp://www.hoover.org/publications/policyreview/article/5798.

Kluver, Alan R. (1996) Legitimizing Chinese Economic Reforms: A Rhetoric
of Myth and Orthodoxy. New York: State University of New York Press.

Joe Alvaro