When economics becomes a morality play

... just a comment from disparate readings in the past week –

Sowing and Reaping

The Mandate of Heaven means that Heaven shows its displeasure toward a leader via occurrence of natural disasters, disease epidemics, widespread political opposition and foreign threats. Harmony, in other words, does not obtain. It is an ancient Chinese meme, probably created in the Zhou dynasty to justify its defeat of the former Shang dynasty.

Am I too isolated, or has nobody written a short post about Mr. Xi’s third term and the apparent displeasure of Heaven? I mean, I don’t expect dire warnings about the end of the dynasty coming out of China right now, but everyone can see that Heaven is screaming Condition Red (as it were) for CCP. 

Confucianism - Freedom and Democracy 2.0

Is Confucianism a religion?

Appendix 7. What is the individual’s relationship to leaders and family and  others?   Mutual obligations …

Chinese is a relationship culture. Who you know can take priority over regulation and law, even more so than in the US. Confucianism is part of that ancient understanding of how the world works, although it is not the hidebound, patriarchal system sometimes portrayed in the west.

Below, some brief comments on how the relationship culture works with regard to families, leaders, and strangers.

Confucianism - Freedom and Democracy 2.0

Is Confucianism a Religion?

Appendix 6.  Do You Have to Follow Rituals?   No rituals – no civil society

In a word, yes. Rites are the right thing to do – when done for the right reasons. We may say that rituals are part of what makes for a civil society.

Confucianism - Freedom and Democracy 2.0

Is Confucianism a Religion?

Appendix 5. Are there Sacred Texts?   Are they the words of god?

There are no sacred texts purported to be the word of god. The closest one could come to sacred  texts are the four Confucian classics, defined by Zhu Xi in the 12^th century - the Analects of Confucius, Mencius, the Doctrine of the Mean, and the Great Learning. But the books are said to reflect the teachings of the human Confucius, not words handed down from god. The “Confucian” ideals were present in Chinese society hundreds of years before Confucius. These Four  Books became the central texts for primary education and for the imperial exams for more than six hundred years.   

Confucianism - Freedom and Democracy 2.0

Is Confucianism a Religion?

Appendix 4.  Is there a Confucian deity?   Is tian heaven, god, or sky?

In the past, some western scholars said no, probably based on lack of reference in Chinese texts to a personal god and the historical association in China with ancestor veneration and local folk religions. But from the time of the earliest writing (circa 1300 BCE, much later than in the fertile crescent and eastern Mediterranean) 上帝 Shangdi - the Shang dynasty term for supreme deity of the Shang – was mentioned.