When you start off the day in the saddle, the sun already up, breathing fresh air beneath blue skies that disappear off towards the mountains in the distance, you could be forgiven for thinking you are riding out on the plains, and not, as in reality, up Chang’An Lu on your bike, with the Shaanxi TV tower off to your right. However, when you are heading for your 8 o’clock class of Chinese language learning, knowing, for a change, you are going to ace the written character test you are about to be given, it does all feel as good as life on the prairies. Happy days in downtown Xi’an, otherwise known as: the Epic Centre of Modern China.
*Though as a quick update, the above having been noted on Friday, I am now, Monday lunchtime, just recovering from cycling in a dust storm more representative of life for the Tuareg nomad than the prairie rancher. Oh Xi’an!
I will continue by briefly reflecting on an historical undercurrent of this modern China, that of Confucianism. I am in the process of attempting to write a second note built on last week’s reference to Chinese philosophy and Time, but, as I am one of the slowest readers in the world and I am coming at this material from a standing start, I may have to wait a week or so for any reflections to be forthcoming. So, I will here first outline a couple of things that have caught my attention this week in relation to this topic and that will maybe form the basis of a few more notes going forward. One is quite straightforward: it is a referral to a site I have known about for a while but haven’t spent enough time time visiting. It includes, as the sub-title of the blog goes, an articulation of “Ancient Chinese Thought in Modern American Life”, the Blog is called The Useless Tree.
The site is written by an American scholar of International Relations and Chinese Philosophy, amongst other things. He concludes a recent post – Modernization and Westernization – by pointing out that: “Some intellectuals, and perhaps some politicians as well, look to Confucianism to provide an antidote of sorts to modernization”, but he senses: “…that the former desire – for a fundamental alternative to modernity – is largely impossible, because so much of what China is now is so deeply embedded in modernity.”
Now, this may well be the case, however it does seem to the uninitiated there is still a benefit in discovering what value there is in Confucianism, to help us look at the questions raised by our present concerns about certain aspects of our modern world. Something I am of course sure the author would agree with. See his article Confucius and Educational Reform in Korea.This indeed is something for developing here.
The second thing that caught my attention, and that is seemingly related and will probably be reflected on more here as well, in the weeks to come, was an article I came across a few weeks ago, but that actually is a couple of years old, and that I just this week added to the China Articles page. The article is entitled: ‘Collective vs. Individualistic Societies.’ It is again interesting for the questions it can raise about our own societies, i.e. individualistic ones.
The article notes that: ‘Americans are more likely to see categories. Asians are more likely to see relationships. The individualistic countries tend to put rights and privacy first. People in these societies tend to overvalue their own skills and overestimate their own importance to any group effort… We in the West have a narrative that involves the development of individual reason and conscience… and then the subsequent flourishing of capitalism. According to this narrative, societies get more individualistic as they develop.’
That may well be us, but China is following, as noted above, this modernist path but doing so with quite different philosophical, social and cultural underpinnings. The author, although having developed a reasonably balanced interpretation of how notions of collectivism may challenge our individualistic preconceptions, ends up concluding with a quite predictable, although I didn’t see it coming in this case, throw away line of skepticism: ‘The rise of China isn’t only an economic event. It’s a cultural one. The ideal of a harmonious collective may turn out to be as attractive as the ideal of the American dream. It’s certainly a useful ideology for aspiring autocrats.’
For me, there does indeed seem to be more food for thought here than simply critique, not of course that criticism is not warranted, just that there are also things to learn. Sometimes it seems to me, we too often allow the dark to shroud the light, but there in, from all its interpretations, probably lies the crux. As always, we’ll see how we go from here.
A page of the more Xi'an Centred Notes
What Is It About Xi’an That Makes It Xi’an And Makes It The Place People Like To Live?
西安
Hello!
When I argue that modernity poses certain challenges to Confucianism, I do not mean to suggest that the philosophy is wholly inapplicable to contemporary life. At this point, I think that Confucianism is most relevant on a personal level, reminding us, as individuals, that we are embedded in social relationships and that we find our humanity and identity through those relationships. What I am more leery of these days are broader assertions that China is somehow a “Confucian society.” It’s not clear to me what that can mean in the 21st century. Thus, I also do not think Confucianism will play much of a role in the PRC’s “soft power” nor in the articulation of Chinese national identity. Perhaps there is something in the collectivist v. individualistic distinction, but we should not make too much of this. There may be more individualism in Chinese society and culture than we realize (think of all of those spoiled post-80s kids…) and more collectivism in “Western” society that we remember (my wife is taking care of her mother as I write this…).
Hello there Sam,
I hope I didn’t make it seem as if you were suggesting that Confucianism has no part to play in modern society. I was just trying to acknowledge the point you were making, that Confucianism is not a counterbalance or alternative to this modern China. Though, as you say, it may well have value on a personal level and, as I was thinking a bit more about, a means through which to look at our societies a little more- especially for someone like me who is coming at it from a point of complete ignorance.
I also wholeheartedly agree that a simple dualistic distinction, between individualistic and collectivistic societies, has no real meaning in reality. On the surface, as you point out, we can see a number of examples of the opposite being the case in, for me, British and Chinese societies. However, to use these models, and again I emphasize the fact of doing so coming from a base point of knowledge, to raise questions and to look into who we are and how our societies exist and could exist, is interesting and potentially challenging.
I appreciate your comment Sam and certainly recognize your points, I personally am looking forward to reading a little more and thinking a little more about this mixed up world of capitalism, Confucianism, collectivism and individualism, and everything else in between, and how they can all play out.
I also look forward to more comments as I get to grips a bit more with some of these issues. Cheers.