Chinese Civilisation in the Present

Bibliographic Data

ID7435855
AuthorsStephan Feuchtwang (corresponding author)
Year2012
Volume13
Issue2
Pages112-127
Publication date2012-04-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueCanberra Anthropology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0314-9099 • E-ISSN: 1740-9314
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14442213.2012.656692
OpenAlexW2103762718
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited23

Commentators on China frequently find a continuity of imperial dynastic rule with the rule of the Chinese Communist Party, thus perpetuating the stereotype of Asian despotism, not knowing the character of the Chinese civilisational tradition of sage rule. Or else they predict, starting with the successors to Mao, a gradual transition to the full panoply of democratic and civil society under the influence of entry into the world capitalist economy. Conversely, there is a reverse politics by Chinese political leaders, Chinese intellectuals and many middle-class Chinese promoting the national civilisation of China and identifying it with the philosophy of Confucius. The paper argues that there is continuity, but it is neither of despotism nor of Confucianism. It presents a summary of sage rule and self cultivation and analyses how the Chinese republican state has transformed sage rule and popular self-cultivation into a quite different state relationship. Keywords: Sage RuleModernisationSelf-CultivationChina Notes 1. For the contrast between these two classical points of reference, I rely on Puett (Citation2002, pp. 104–17) who also refutes previous scholars' taking these passages to mean that the emperor was a shaman. Rather, he was the unifying moral leader of humanity in its relation to Heaven. 2. I am indebted to Zito (Citation1997) for the concept of centring and the point that court ritual makes the invisible principles of order visible. However, I am extending it to the centring of places by focal buildings and the centring of dwellings by their ridge-poles and their shrines, as well as the centring of bodies, as gathering points of vital energies. 3. Associated with the first unifier of a Chinese empire, Qin Shi Huangdi, and often referred to as Legalist. Additional informationNotes on contributorsStephan Feuchtwang Stephan Feuchtwang is a Professor in the London School of Economics

Ancient history · China · Civilization · Communism · Democracy · Emperor · Political science · Politics · Sociology · State (computer science) · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Chinese history and philosophy · History · Law

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