Is China more Confucian than Korea?

Caring for parents is the most important duty emphasized by Confucius in The Analects.  And this article in the Chosun Ilbo (via Western Confucian) suggests that, on this score, South Korea and Japan fall far from the Confucian ideal:

Young Koreans in their 20s and 30s consider their career more important than their counterparts in other Asian countries and are less determined to support their parents than young people in China or India, a straw poll suggests.

In a survey of adults in their 20s and 30s in Korea, Japan, China, India, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and Hong Kong by Swiss Re, a reinsurance firm in Switzerland, 94 percent of respondents in China and 92 percent in India said they would support their aged parents. But a mere 46 percent in Korea, 44 percent in Australia, and 32 percent in Japan said the same.

Only 59 percent of young Koreans -- the smallest group among the countries surveyed -- said good family relationships are more important than their career.

I suspect this has much to do with the more thorough-going effect of industrial and post-industrial modernization in Korea and Japan as compared with China and India.  Even with the horrors of Mao's war on traditional Chinese society, familial and social networks survived into the reform era. The power of global capitalism is, however, proving to be a more power social corrosive than state socialism had been.  As economic reform, and its attendant social and cultural transformations, proceed, duties toward parents become more and more attenuated.  This is happening now in China, though it is more advanced in Korea and Japan. 

Think for a minute about that figure in the second paragraph above: 94 percent of young Chinese say they will support their aged parents.  But what does "support" mean (is there some sort of cross cultural difference here in how the term is translated and understood?).  For Confucius "support" would not simply mean money; rather it would demand time and attention and reverence.  Remember Analects 2.7:

When Adept Yu asked about honoring parents, the Master said: “These days being a worthy child just means keeping parents well-fed.  That’s what we do for dogs and horses.  Everyone can feed their parents – but without reverence, they may as well be feeding animals.”

Whatever they might mean by "support," I suspect that many young Chinese are not living up to that Confucian standard (I'm sure there are many conscientious Chinese young people, but many fall short of the Confucian model).  Consider this data:

The results of a pilot survey for the "China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study," showed 40.1 percent of urban citizens and 32.5 percent of rural residents live with their spouses only.

The survey covered 2,685 people aged 45 and over and their spouse in 48 communities or villages in Gansu and Zhejiang provinces.

However, 43.9 percent of urban people and 49.4 percent of rural people live with their children, according to the results revealed at the Second International Conference on Health and Retirement in China held at Peking University on Thursday and Friday.

...

Scholars said a more diverse support network was required to care for the elderly among the increasingly aging population.

If 30 - 40 percent of people aged 45 or older live only with spouses and not their parents, than it seems impossible that 94 percent of people are actually caring for their parents in the manner Confucius expected. Maybe respondents are saying the "right thing" but not really living up to it.

In China, the number of elderly people living alone or living in nursing homes is increasing rapidly.  Thus, we get rather bizarre stories like this:

A ROBOT standing 1.6 meters tall with twinkling eyes may soon become a best friend for lone elderly people, said a senior researcher on the Chinese project, yesterday.

"We are testing its precision functions and working on ways to reduce its cost," said Li Ruifeng, a member of the project with the Harbin Institute of Technology in Heilongjiang Province.

"We think we'll launch the robot in two to three years."

Li said the team hoped to price the robot at 30,000 yuan to 50,000 yuan (US$4,400-US$7,300), making it affordable for most of China's middle-class families.

The robot will fetch food and medicine, sound alarms in case of water or gas leaks and send texts or images wirelessly.

This is precisely what Confucius meant when he worried about treating parents like dogs and horses.

This is not a rap on China.  Rather, it is what modernization creates: extended family networks break down in the face of market pressures and the cultural practices that emphasize individuals over families.  It happens everywhere.  It has happened in Korea and Japan faster than in China, but it is happening there, too.

So, maybe China is a bit more Confucian than Korea....but, I would suspect, not for long.

Comments

[Bill]

The most important aspect of Confucian teaching is hierarchy - everyone has his/her place, and your behavior towards others depend on your position. Since Korea is a democracy. That is, anyone, in any station in life, has the same right to vote, for any candidate you think is right for the job. Position of the candidate is of no importance. That is a very unconfucian concept.

Therefore, China is way more confucian than Korea. And that will be the case for a very long time.

[The Western Confucian]

Excellent analysis, Prof. Crane. Yes, it is modernization (mistakenly refered to as "Westernization)) that is behind the lamentable decline of Confucian values.

[Bao Pu]

Hi Sam,

You are right to ask what "support" means in the study. But when you assert "If 30 - 40 percent of people aged 45 or older live only with spouses and not their parents, than it seems impossible that 94 percent of people are actually caring for their parents in the manner Confucius expected" I cannot follow you. Does Confucius say one must live with their parents? I don't think so. he mentions reverence in the quote you provide, yet this is not indicated by living with them. One might argue that helping your parents maintain their independence is an indication of respect. How do you measure reverence/respect?

But your point is a valid one: I do see family values declining and can see how modernization facilitates this. I believe a lot more young people are moving farther away from their parents in search of work. They often send money back to their parents, but visits often are few and far between. Obviously, this is occuring everywhere modernization takes place. I live over 1300 km from my parents and cannot give them much care. (Fortunately, I have two brothers still living in the same city.)

[gao]

To Bill, I am pretty sure the most important thing from Confucius is proactiveness.

[Carrot]

I would have to agree that China is more likely to be Confucian, not only because it originated there but you can see it in almost everything they have - say educational standards, architecture, and even during the Olympics!

[weiwei]

no matter which country is more Confucian ,For me,Confucian is is the essence of Chinese culture.