The Continuning Debasement of Confucianism in China

Sorry for the blog silence of late: end of semester; grading, rehearsals for another play; the usual year-end business....  But I'm back.  And yesterday this story poped up on the news wires:

A Chinese group has launched its own peace award in the hope of rivalling the Nobel, following Beijing's fury at the decision to honour jailed dissident Liu Xiaobo.

The organisers will hand out a "Confucius peace prize" tomorrow, one day ahead of the Nobel ceremony in Oslo.

This is pathetic, on several levels.

First, and perhaps foremost, the invocation of Confucius here shows the bankruptcy of the neo-traditionalism that the CCP has to turn to time and time again as it struggles to find a narrative to legitimate its authoritarian rule.  They have already given us "Confucius Institutes," which are obviously tied to the soft power political calculations of the Party leadership.  That is, they are using Confucius and Confucianism instrumentally, as a means to enhance state power, without reference to the moral theory and practice (which would, in fact, allow peaceful dissidents like Liu Xiaobo to speak their mind) that under-girds Confucian thought. 

If they were really Confucians, CCP leaders would take much more aggressive action to limit profit-seeking hyper-growth and address the growing material inequalities in the country.  Mencius, for one, accepts inequality to a certain point, but he would require humane leaders to insure that people have sufficient means to carry out their Duty according to Ritual (1A.7).  A very large number of people in China (migrant workers, the rural poor, etc.) cannot live in that dignity.  The CCP leadership is very aware of the problem, but it chooses, continually, to champion growth over equality, and it has to because, absent democratic means of legitimation, it relies upon economic growth to buy off enough of the population to rationalize authoritarianism.

Party leaders are not Confucians, but they invoke Confucianism because they have no other narrative at hand, since the old Marxist-Leninist-Mao Zedong Thought thing is a dead letter.

Secondly, this new move to a "Confucius Peace Prize" is simply more of the same, but it is more of the same steeped in spite and anger and resentment.  This supposed alternative to the Nobel Peace Prize is not a considered and thoughtful development.  It is a rushed and ham-fisted effort to slap something together quickly to have a media event that can be used to keep the Olso award ceremony, complete with empty chair, out of the newspapers.  Indeed, it has been thrown together so hastily that the man to whom it is supposed to be awarded, Taiwan KMT politician Lien Chan, is not aware of it:

“We’ve never heard of such an award and of course Mr Lien has no plans to accept it,” said Ting Yuan-chao (丁遠超), director and spokesman of Lien’s office.

Makes me wonder if it will actually happen.

In any event, in its narrow political instrumentalism, it is obvious that the "Confucian Peace Prize" is un-Confucian.  And let's go to this excerpt of Analects 13.15 (Ames and Rosemont translation) to remember how Confucius himself understood criticism of government:

"Is there any one saying that can ruin a state?" Duke Ding asked.  "A saying cannot have such an effect," replied Confucius, "but there is a saying, 'I find little pleasure in ruling, save that no one will take exception to what I say.' If what one has to say is efficacious and no one take exception, fine indeed. But if what one has to say is not efficacious and no one takes exception, is this not close to a saying ruining a state?"

In other words, without conscientious dissent, the mistakes of rulers will go unchecked and the state will be ruined.  On these grounds, perhaps they should have given the first "Confucius Peace Prize" to Liu Xiaobo.

Finally, the whole thing is just stupid from a PR point of view.  What does the Party leadership hope to gain from all this?  They have already vilified Liu within China; indeed, they have been working hard at framing him as a traitor for almost twenty years, ever since his involvement in the protests of 1989.  The ersatz "Confucius Peace Prize" is simply unnecessary overkill from a domestic propaganda point of view.  And internationally it is a clear loss for the PRC.  Americans, Europeans, Japanese, Koreans, and people in various parts of the world will see it for what it is: a vindictive attempt to distract attention away from the Olso ceremonies, which will only have the opposite effect of drawing more attention to the empty chair. 

Pathetic....

Comments

[Greg]

Possible rationale for the creation of this "prize": inferiority complex?

I don't think I understand the mentality of the people in charge in China. From their actions, though, it seems they perceive the world from an utterly different view from other countries. Maybe those who came up with the idea for this prize pretty much just wanted to satisfy themselves, that "there's nothing we don't have a (superior) response to". Regardless whether it makes sense...

Just a thought. Thanks for the interesting read.

[The Western Confucian]

I agree that this Confucius Peace Prize is a bit silly. That said, and not to take away from Mr. Liu's noble efforts, shouldn't the Nobel Peace Prize be given to the man who "shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses," as its founder intended?

It seems a little rectification of names is in order here. The Nobel Peace Prize has become too political in recent years, a tool for Norwegians to thumb their noses at societies that are not as free and open as theirs.

T'and Dynasty scholars would have probably not found much to laud about contemporary Vikings.

[Chris]

Please stop conflating the Nobel committee with Norwegians. The committee is an independent organ that functions completely independently from the state, as it were.

The Chinese backlash has been entirely directed at the Norwegian government, in what is more likely than not an attempt to force it to put pressure on the committee to maintain its own bilateral trade agreements with China.

Didn't work.

[Frank]

The only aspect of Confucianism that China's CCP leaders genuinely uphold is its authoritarian strain, in which an unelected elite rules in a monarchical fashion over a populace of mostly passive pre-modern subjects rather than actively engaged modern citizens.