This is the first of a series of posts on China in honor of Chinese New Year.
Confucianism is a collection of ideas about ethics that dates back over 2,000 years. The ideal Confucian world looks back to a golden age, not forward, and emphasizes stability, harmony, social rank, and deference. Communism, by contrast, is a pseudo-religion based on “dialectical materialism” that views revolution as the mechanism whereby mankind will progress from a dreary present characterized by conflicts between classes to a future golden age of complete equality.
Mao, for perfectly understandable reasons, viewed Confucius as a despicable reactionary; his successors, however, see clear benefits to an ideology which encourages stability, and thereby props up their regime. As a result, the current government is severely conflicted about Confucius. Can the two ideologies be harmonized? People can overlook a lot as long as things are going well; when push comes to shove, however, the answer will be no.