The Chinese Communists Are Not

Confucianists

by Yu Ying-shih
The following is an unauthorized translation of an excerpt from an interview with Prof.
Yu Ying-shih [via Skype] during a symposium in November 2014 marking the 65th
anniversary of the founding of Hong Kongs New Asia College (). Statements
in parenthesis have been added, and endnotes provided, by the translator for
clarity. The Editor

Ying-shih Yu, Princetons Gordon Wu 58 Professor Emeritus of Chinese Studies, has

been named the co-winner of the third John W. Kluge Prize for lifetime achievement in
the study of humanity. Here he is seen at his home near Princeton. 12/21/06 JERRY
MCCREA/THE STAR LEDGER
( July 2, 2015, New York City, Sri Lanka Guardian) Question: Senior Chinese
Communist leaders have visited the Confucian Temple in Qufu [In November 2013].
Also, recently-held national meetings in China have praised the Confucian values of
traditional culture, urged a return to these values, and stressed the significance of
developing these values in the future. In our recent conversation, I have admired your
continuation of the New Asia spirit of Prof. Qian Mu (1895-1990)[1], and your
attitude of reclaiming Chinese culture for the world. Looking at Hong Kongs
development, the influence of China on Hong Kong is after all quite strong, so how do
you see Chinas senior leaders presently promoting a return to Chinas traditional
culture affecting what you have referred to as cultural ecology? What do you think we

can expect from this generation of Chinas leaders for the ten or so years that they will
be in power? How will Chinese leadership developments affect Hong Kong and in
what way? Id like to hear your opinions on these matters.
Yu Ying-shih: Let me first discuss the issue of Confucianism. Ive already talked about
this on previous occasions but this is the first opportunity Ive had to discuss the matter
in Honk Kong in front of a large audience and Id like to talk a bit about this issue.
Confucianism can be taken advantage of [by people with ulterior motives]. The
traditional Confucianists, namely those whom the emperors honored, the
Confucianists of the three rules and the five virtues[2], the Confucianists who forbade
any form of criticism of ones superiors this is the Confucianism much beloved by
feudal kings and dynasties. Those of us who have done scholarly research on
Confucianism in the West often refer to this kind of Confucianism as institutional
Confucianism (). This kind of institutional Confucianism, however, is
completely different from the highly critical Confucianism I spoke about earlier.
Historically speaking, China has all along had two schools of Confucianism: the
Confucianists who were oppressed, and the Confucianists who oppressed others. So
from my perspective, for a certain organization (the Chinese Communist Party) on the
China mainland to honor Confucianism has similarities to those Confucianists who
oppressed others. Previously, this organization (the CCP) harshly criticized
Confucianism, and referred to Confucius as Old Kong Number Two ().[3] This
organization stated that Confucius never really made anything of himself. The criticism
grew so sharp that some CCP members asked, (not realizing that the criticism was of
the historical Confucius): Who let this fellow Kong into the communist party anyway?
Indeed, the name of Confucius was at that time subjected to all sorts of indignities.
But then in the blink of an eye, Confucius suddenly became popular again and now
there are several hundred Confucius Institutes throughout the world. The communist
mainland is advocating Confucianism and many mainland scholars are claiming to be
New Confucianists. As I said just a short while ago, Prof. Tang Junyi (19091978), and his friends such as Mou Zongsan (, 1909-1995), Xu Fuguan (,
1904-1982), Zhang Junmai (, 1887-1969), and others really did establish a new
Confucianism. The Confucianism that they advocated was a Confucianism of truly
learned individuals, a highly critical Confucianism, but absolutely not a Confucianism
that forbids criticism of ones social superiors.
For this reason I have often said that the communist mainlands support for
Confucianism at a minimum causes me as an individual a great deal of difficulty.
Nowadays I find myself avoiding the term Confucianism for fear that as soon as I say
Confucianism, others will think that my attitude toward Confucianism is that same as
that of the communist officials on mainland China. And that is why I say that, for a
certain organization [the CCP] on the mainland to support Confucianism amounts to
the kiss of death for Confucianism.
We need to be very clear about those who are real Confucianists and those who
borrow the term Confucianist in order to obtain political benefits from so-called

Confucian thought. If we are clear about these distinctions, then we need not hesitate
to discuss Confucianism, and we can continue to advocate the Confucianist view of
culture and the Confucianist critiques of society. We can also continue to discuss how
Confucianism combines with Western concepts of human rights, democracy, and
freedom.
There is one thing I want to raise here in passing. How were Western concepts such
as freedom, democracy, human rights, equality that make up the Wests universal
values transmitted to China? If you are doing historical research and tracing back to
the period just after the mid-19th century, you would find that these Western concepts
were brought to China by Confucianists.
Actually, at the outset the most fervent admirers of the Wests rule of law and
democracy were in fact Confucianists. Take for example Xue Fucheng[4] (,
1838-1894). Xue considered Great Britain and the United States to be the best
societies since Chinas Three Dynasties Period.[5] Likewise, Kang Youwei (
,1858-1927the Qing Confucianist and reformer) also believed that during the
Three Dynasties Period China had a democratic system. Kang added the term
democratic to the reigns of legendary emperors Yao (, circa 2333-2234 BC) and
Shun (, circa 2233-2184 BC) before the Three Dynasties Period. During that period,
succession to the throne was not hereditary but rather based on merit: whoever
performed his duties the best was selected by the Chinese to be their leader. So we
want to be clear about this: the real Confucianists from the outset expressed a great
deal of admiration for the modern Wests universal values. For example, [the Qing
Confucianist] Wang Tao[6] (, 1828-1897) held that the fact that British courts were
forbidden to use torture to extort a confession or obtain testimony was a political ideal
not seen in the world since the Three Dynasties Period.
Chen Duxiu (). Photo:
https://twitter.com/CraigClunas/status/595198956201713664

In other words, those of us who have a Confucian

background, warmly welcome the Wests universal values. Take for example Chen

Duxiu (, 1879-1942). Chen was the founder of communism in China, but when
he was in prison in Nanjing, he often said that he admired Confucius principle that
there should be no class distinctions in education (). At the same time, Chen
also admired Mencius remark[7] that he Mencius knew of Wus execution of the
tyrant Zhou, but did not consider that action equivalent to a subordinate assassinating
his sovereign. In other words, executing a tyrant is not the same as assassinating a
sovereign; it is rather the execution of an extremely cruel tyrant, and not an
assassination. In these remarks of Chens, he is telling us that in the works of
Confucius and Mencius there is much worthy of our respect. Chen said this in prison
and there is a record of his remarks.
There is still another person who strenuously promoted democracy Hu Shi (,
1891-1962). Actually, Hu Shi himself was a Confucianist and Hu greatly admired
Confucius. These days everybody puts the blame for the slogan down with Confucius
and sons [popularized during the May Fourth Movement of 1919] on Hu Shi, but in
fact Hu did not formulate that slogan. That slogan was the creation of Wu Yu (,
1872-1949), and Hu merely echoed it. Hu was of course extremely critical of some
traditional statements, but if you look carefully at the actions of Hu Shi the person, you
will see he was a classic Confucianist. So in that regard we can acknowledge that
Confucian values are completely consistent with the universal values observed in the
modern West, and Confucian values are most definitely not completely opposed to
these western values.
Another aspect we need to look at is that originally Christian and Catholic opposition to
democracy had strong roots, but this opposition was gradually overcome and, after it
was overcome, Christianity actually assisted in the development of democracy and did
not adversely affect it.
For this reason, I feel that the issues Confucianism faces on the Chinese mainland are
in fact simple, crude issues. Just because Confucianism has a good reputation, people
want to exploit it. Once they exploit Confucianism, it seems that Confucianism belongs
only to them. In fact, we need to look at the actions of these self-proclaimed
Confucianists. This is exactly what Confucius said: look at the person, look at their
behavior, and then you will see whether or not they are Confucianists.
Confucianists are considerate of others, and the Confucian Way consists of these two
words: honesty () and consideration (). Honesty is simply doing ones best, while
consideration means treating others with a considerate attitude; as Confucius said,
Do not do unto others what you would not have them do to you. This is the basic
teaching of Confucianism. If a political party or a government sends to jail anyone who
dares to utter even a minor criticism of their policies, can they be Confucianists? Thats
why I think it is very simple to identify real Confucianists. We definitely do not want to
be deceived by terminology, and become the slaves to linguistic labels.
[1] Qian Mu, 1895-1990, a scholar and founder of the New Asia College.
[2] The three rules and the five virtues: rulers rule subjects, fathers rule sons,
husbands rule wives; benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and loyalty.

[3] Confucius, whose surname was Kong, had an older brother, and the term old
number two () is a folksy way of referring to a younger brother. Traditionally,
however, Confucius name has been revered and Confucius referred to, not directly by
name, but indirectly by titles such as Great Sage, First Teacher, and so on.
[4] Xue Fucheng, (also spelled as Hsueh Fu-cheng 1838-1894) was a Chinese
diplomat who served as the Qing governments ambassador to Great Britain, France,
Belgium, and Italy.
[5] The Three Dynasties are the Xia (circa 2070-160 BCE), Shang (circa 1600-1046
BCE), and Zhou (circa circa 1046-256 BCE) dynasties.
[6] Wang Tao, who died in [sic] 1897, was the famous Chinese thinker who translated
Chinas ancient Thirteen Classics into English together with the Scottish sinologist
James Legge. In an annotation to the written version of the interview, several quotes
are given that support Wang Taos observations that British courts could not obtain
confessions or testimony by duress or torture. These quotes are taken from volume 4,
A Record of the British Government, from Wang Taos The Outer Chapters of the Tao
Garden Literary Records (), Hong Kong, 1882.
[7] In reply to King Xuan of Qis question about the propriety of Emperor Zhous
subordinate, King Wu, assassinating Zhou, his sovereign.
Ying-shih Yu (), Princetons Gordon Wu 58 Professor Emeritus of Chinese
Studies, joined the Princeton faculty in 1987 and retired in 2001. In 2006, Yu was cowinner of the third John W. Kluge Prize for lifetime achievement in the study of
humanity. Yu was recognized for playing a pioneering role in bringing previously
neglected, major aspects of Chinese history into the mainstream of the scholarship
and public consciousness. One of the worlds authorities on the Tang Dynasty, he has
researched and written extensively on every period of Chinese history, from ancient to
modern. He is the author of some 30 books that span more than 2,000 years of
history. (from the Emeritus Faculty page of Eastern Asian Studies of Princeton
University)
Related:
China Prepares Traditional Culture Textbooks for Its Officials, Caixin, June 18, 2015.
Q and A.: Michael Schuman on the Return of Confucianism in China, the New York
Times, April 2, 2015.
(Translated by Ai Ru)
Chinese transcription of Prof. Yus remark
Posted by Thavam