Briefly describe the historical background of the emergence of Confucianism.

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Confucianism II Confucius’ Political Thoughts

• What is Confucius’ attitude toward law? “Lead them by means of government policies and regulate them through punishments, and the people will be evasive and have no sense of shame.” (Analects 2: 3) Fixed laws are instruments for regularizing behaviors, and could be manipulated

easier than traditional notions of right behavior Education through the powerful example of moral ruler-ship ultimately offered a

more lasting chance of creating order than laws that could be exploited once they were not tied to ethical concerns

Ruling by fixed laws is the evidence of the rulers’ avoidance of their obligations to teach and to provide moral examples

• According to Confucius, what is the ideal way to rule? “Lead them by means of virtue and regulate them through rituals and they will have

a sense of shame and moreover have standards.” (Analects 2: 3) “A ruler directs his ministers through established ritual protocols. A minister serves his ruler with loyalty” (Analects 3: 19)

Confucius’ Political Thoughts • When virtuous men lead by moral example, good government would

follow naturally.

• Possession of virtue allows one to win a following without recourse to physical force.

• “He who governs by means of his virtue is, to use an analogy, like the pole-star: it remains in its place while all the lesser stars do homage to it” (Analects 2: 1).

• “The virtue of a gentlemen is like the wind, the virtue of a small person like the grass. When the wind blows over it, the grass must bend.” (Analects 12: 19)

• A Chinese Idiom in Today’s China: “Win people by virtue”

Confucius’ Political Thoughts “Rectification of names” • The collapse of the political intuitions was due to the fact that those who had

power as well as those who occupied subordinate positions made claim to titles for which they were not worthy.

• There was a need to rectify the behavior of people and the social reality so that they correspond to the language with which people identify themselves and describe their roles in society

“If names are not rectified, then language will not be in accord with truth. If language is not in accord with truth, then things cannot be accomplished. “(Analects 13. 3).

“To govern is to rectify. If you lead the people by being rectified yourself, who will dare not be rectified?” (Analects, 12: 17)

“Good government consists in the ruler being a ruler, the minister being a minister, the father being a father, and the son being a son” (Analects 12.11).

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“A Chinese judge cannot think of law as an abstract entity, but as a flexible quantity as it should be personally applied to Colonel Huang or Major Li. Accordingly, any law which is not personal enough to respond to the personality of Colonel Huang or Major Li is inhuman and therefore no law at all. Chinese justice is an art, not a science.”

Lin, Yutang (1935). My Country and My People

Flexibility, attention to particular circumstances of the case, and the social, political and economic implication of the decision are the earmarks of wise conflict resolution.

A) A company is a system designed to perform functions and tasks in an effective way. People are hired to fulfill these functions with the help of machines and other equipment. They are paid for the tasks they perform.

B) A company is a group of people working together. The people have social relations with other people and with the organization. The functioning is dependent on these relations.

Confucius’ influences on Chinese Leadership Style • Ling (1991) found that Chinese leaders revealed their moral characters and

behavior as well as emphasized team performance and maintenance. Ling, W. Q. (1991). Leadership in the PRC. In: Z. F. Yang & S. R. Gao (eds). Chinese and Chinese Soul, pp. 409–448. Taiwan: Yuan Liu (in Chinese).

• Cheng and Chuang’s (1981) study found that both the subordinates and the leaders put emphasis on the leader’s behavior of setting an example and being selfless.

Cheng, B. S. & Chuang, S. J. (1981). Factor analysis of effective leader behaviours of rank-and-file military personnel in Taiwan: Relationships among leadership effectiveness, leader roles, and leadership styles. Journal of Chinese Psychology, 23, 97–106 (in Chinese).

Rate the importance of each of the following criteria for a good supervisor on a scale of 1-5 1 not important; 2 slightly important; 3. moderately important ; 4. important; 5. Very important

1. Beyond work relations, a good supervisor expresses concern about my daily life.

2. A good supervisor never avenges a personal wrong in the name of public interest when he/she is offended.

3. A good supervisor is like a family member when he/she gets along with us.

4. A good supervisor employs people according to their virtues and does not envy others’ abilities and virtues.

5. A good supervisor does not use personal relationships to obtain illicit personal gains.

6. A good supervisor acts with consideration of my feelings.

7. A good supervisor leads by “doing” rather than simply by “telling”.

8. A good supervisor leads by personal example for the job he/she expects I should complete.

9. A good supervisor respect for my personal feelings.

10. A good supervisor leads by setting a good example with his/her own conduct.

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Confucius’ influences on Chinese Leadership Style • Paternalistic leadership is the prevalent leadership style in Chinese business

organizations. • Paternalistic leadership combines strong discipline and authority with fatherly

benevolence and moral integrity • Authoritarianism

The leader’s behavior that asserts authority over subordinates and demands obedience from subordinates.

• Benevolence The leader’s behavior that demonstrates individualized, holistic concern for subordinates’ personal or familial wellbeing.

• Moral leadership The leader’s behavior that demonstrates personal virtues, self-discipline, and unselfishness.

Cheng, B.S,, Chou, L.F., Wu, T.Y., Huang, M.P., & Farh, J.L. (2004). Paternalistic leadership and subordinate responses: Establishing a leadership model in Chinese organizations. Asian Journal of

Social Psychology, 7, 89-117

What themes can be drawn from Confucius’ teachings on Education and Learning?

• Content of Education

• Ways of Learning and teaching

• The audience of the education

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Confucius’ three innovations that remained permanent features of Chinese civilization until today • Created the role of the private teacher

• Established pattern of student-teacher relations and the model of the professional teacher

• Created and established the content of education and its methods and ideals

• Broad liberal arts learning, including language, literature, history and ethics “Confucius taught four things: wen (behavioral matrix underlying the rituals of Zhou Dynasty. It denotes the arts associated with the Confucian view of cultural excellence), conduct, loyalty and faithfulness” (Analects, 7: 24)

• Confucius classics form the core of the education and establish the method of teaching them

• Accepted students of all social backgrounds and clearly established principle for doing so

“There has never been anyone who came with as litter as present as dried meat (for tuition) that I have refused to teach him something” (Analects, 7: 7) “In education there should be no class distinction” (Analects, 15: 39)

A Selected Chapter from the Book of Ritual (Li Ji) : The Ceremonies for visits between Gentlemen

1. How should the gentlemen set up the first visit?

2. What are the manners of offering and receiving a gift?

3. What are the etiquettes of receiving the guest?

4. What are the etiquettes of seeing the guest off?

A Selected Chapter from the Book of Ritual (Li Ji) : The Ceremonies for visits between Gentlemen

• How should the gentlemen set up the first visit? The visitor: “Now his honor so-and-so has commanded me to visit.” The host: “The gentleman who introduced us has ordered me to grant you an

interview.” First direct contact should be established through prior introductions by a

third party, a trusted intermediary.

Social Ritual • What are the manners of offering and receiving a gift?

• The guest: “without a gift, I cannot dare to come into your presence.” • The host: “I am not worthy of these ceremonies and so I must persist in

declining.” • The guest: “If I cannot have the support of my gift, I dare not pay you this visit.

So I persist in my request.” • The host: I also am decided in declining; but as I cannot secure your consent,

how dare I refuse?

• The gift receiver declines the gift several times before final acceptance

• In today’s China, people tend to decline the gift once or twice before final acceptance, in order to avoid any indications of personal greed.

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Social Ritual • What are the etiquettes of receiving the guest?

• “The host goes in by the right side of the door, the guest holding up the gift and entering by the left”

• “The bird is held up in both hands, the head to the left.”

• In today’s China: • In a meeting, the person with the highest social status is seated in the middle

seat, while the person with the second highest social status sits to the left of the center seat.

Social Ritual • What are the etiquettes of seeing the guest off?

• Same social status: the host should escort the guest outside the door • Gentleman-Superior: the host sends the attendant to escort the guest out

• In today’s China: • Guests of the same social status will often not only be accompanied to the

street, but also have the host hanging around with them until a taxi or other transport arrives.

Family Instructions of a Lineage

•What is a lineage？ A lineage is an organized group of descendants of a single,

specific ancestor The membership of lineage derives from one’s father’s lineage

A woman is a member of her father's lineage at birth, but at marriage she is transferred to her husband's lineage.

Lineages were particularly popular in the southern China

Family Instructions of a Lineage •The genealogy of a lineage Most lineages maintained written genealogies to record the lineage

membership, The genealogy usually began with the life story of the apical ancestor and

then included all lines descended from him Sometimes, family instructions for the lineage members are also included

in the genealogy

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Family Instructions of a Lineage • What were the functions of a lineage?

• The prime collective activity of a lineage was ancestor worship

Ancestral Hall for the permanent storage of ancestral tablets

In some regions, tablets over five generations old would be moved out of private houses and into the hall

Family Instructions of a Lineage • What were the functions of a lineage?

Management of lineage property  Some lineages owned certain property (such as a few fields) to provide income used

for the worship of shared ancestors.  In some cases, lineages had substantial holdings, and could afford to maintain loan

funds, catastrophe insurance, student scholarships, or even free schools for the benefit of lineage members.

Family Instructions of a Lineage • What were the functions of a lineage? Family disputes resolution (e.g., inheritance, disobedient children……)  In lineage organization, generational precedence trumped age

precedence.

Traditional Values of the Chinese Family System

• Filial piety

• Distinctive gender roles of man and woman • Diligence • Frugality • Willingness to identify with the larger family and its long-term survival

and prosperity Monthly meetings Family properties should not be divided Family graves should be well maintained Family instructions and rituals should be followed

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Central Values of today’s Chinese Family

• Filial piety • Diligence • Distinctive gender roles of man and woman？？ • Frugality？？ • Harmony with others • Willingness to identify with the larger family and follow the

rituals of the family • Emphasis on education and study