Can you catch the implicit cultural assertion in this story?
Execution for corruption is proportionate and accords with "China's national condition," a senior official said Thursday, as a disgraced former party chief from Shanghai, now confirmed to be behind bars, awaits trial.
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"As for the death penalty, different countries have different situations and different cultural backgrounds," Gan Yisheng, head of the party's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, said at a news conference.
"We still execute people who have committed serious economic crimes on consideration of China's national condition and cultural background. I don't think we can be criticized for this," Gan said.
What needs to be added here is that Confucius and Mencius, in their own writings, and virtually all Taoists, do not embrace the death penalty. Confucians believe in leadership by moral example and de-emphasized law and punishment. Taoists take an even harder line: a death penalty is a violation of the natural unfolding of Way.
Mr Gan, in asserting a cultural basis for the death penalty in China, is thus reminding us of the historical significance of Legalism, the political philosophy that very much emphasized harsh punishments, in Chinese tradition, as well as its continuing relevance in the political culture of the PRC.
In other words, he is telling us that China has been and is currently a Legalist, not a Confucian or Taoist, society and polity.
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