Contemporary Value Systems In China

This work illustrates China’s values and how they are practiced. After introducing readers to the theories, systematical structure, historical status, and influence of traditional Chinese values, it points out major developmental trends in connection with modernization. Further, it explores the significance of the contemporary reconstruction of Chinese values and argues that these values can be divided into three layers: values-based goals of national development, Chinese values concepts, and norms of values in a civil society. On this basis, it subsequently interprets the core socialist values “Prosperity, Democracy, Civility and Harmony,” the value concepts “Freedom, Equality, Justice and Rule of Law” and values-based norms “Patriotism, Dedication, Integrity and Friendship.”

This study compares the ever-changing cultural values of contemporary China and the contemporary United States. Surveying 2000-Shanghi area residents and villagers as well as 2500 US citizens, the authors examine to what extent there has been a loss of "traditional" values in the United States. The book looks at value systems in both cultures associated with family relationships, kinship ties, male-female relationships, and general interpersonal relationships - the fundamental social relationships comprising the social fabric of a society. The authors conclude that although both societies have experienced changes in this century, they have followed quite different paths. In exploring the extent to which this process has differed, the authors address the following questions: what traditional Confucian values persist in China after 40 years of communist indoctrination and the recent "invasion" of Western culture? How are fundamental human relationships viewed in the United States? How do these two societies differ today, both in adherence to traditional values and in the dynamics of value change? These and many more issues are explored.

This book provides a comprehensive examination of value changes of Chinese citizens, especially the younger generation, and how the Chinese authorities take efforts to adapt to such changes and refine its social control mechanisms. The book discusses three related themes through a series of topics. The first theme examines the changes in political attitudes and values among Chinese youths, comparing them to the older generations in the mainland and their contemporaries in Hong Kong and Taiwan. The second theme focuses on the recent development of social unrests, new pursuits that emerged in the Chinese society, and new means adopted by the Chinese protestors. The third theme touches on the responses of the party-state under the Xi Jinping administration, and how it has sophisticatized the machine of social control. With these three themes, this book also adds on to the understanding of regime stability of the Communist system in China, and how this system handles a variety of challenges brought about by dramatic social changes.

This Key Concepts pivot examines the fundamental Chinese ideas of ‘Civilization’ and ‘culture’, considering their extensive influence both over Chinese society and East Asian societies. The pivot analyses the traditional connotations of those two concepts and their evolution in the Sino-Western exchanges as well as their renewed interpretation and application by contemporary Chinese scholars. It analyses how the years 1840-1900 which mark a period of major transition in China challenged these concepts, and highlights how the pursuit of innovation and international perspective gave birth to new values ​​and paradigm shifts, and culminated in the May Fourth New Culture Movement. Considering the underlying humanistic ideas in the key concepts of traditional Chinese civilisation and culture, this pivot contributes to this series of Chinese Key Concept by offering a unique analysis of the conceptual evolutions brought about by the change of values in 21st century China.

Social Change in Contemporary China offers a wide-ranging examination of Chinese institutional change in areas of education, religion, health care, economics, labor, family, and local communities in the post-Mao era. Based on the pioneering work of sociologist C. K. Yang (1911–1999), and his institutional diffusion theory, the essays analyze and develop the theory as it applies to both public and private institutions. The interrelationship of these institutions composes what Yang termed the Chinese “system,” and affects nearly every aspect of life. Yang examined the influence of external factors on each institution, such as the influence of Westernization and Communism on family, and the impact of industrialization on rural markets. He also analyzed the impact of public opinion and past culture on institutions, therein revealing the circular nature of diffusion. Perhaps most significant are Yang's insights on the role of religion in Chinese society. Despite the common perception that China had no religion, he uncovers the influence of classical Confucianism as the basis for many ethical value systems, and follows its diffusion into state and kinship systems, as well as Taoism and Buddhism. Writing in the early years of Communism, Yang had little hard data with which to test his theories. The contributors to this volume expand upon Yang's groundbreaking approach and apply the model of diffusion to a rapidly evolving contemporary China, providing a window into an increasingly modern Chinese society and its institutions.

The resurgence of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism in the context of Chinese leadership values has emerged as a foundation for a new generation of leaders. The once-in-a-decade transition of China’s leadership witnessed the ascendency of a consensus-oriented fifth generation of leaders supporting a central authoritative figure whose priority will likely include the reconciliation of a waning communist ideology juxtaposed with its ostensible embrace of capitalism. How will Chinese Communist Party authority, ideology, and control address the encroachment of Western values that are centered on Roman law, Greek philosophy, and Christian religion which prioritizes individual freedom and democracy? This book examines the role of traditional Chinese values, ideology, and philosophy as a key determinant in modern China’s leadership succession. The author asserts that, as communist ideology wanes, Chinese leaders will turn to their own traditional values found in Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism to establish legitimacy to rule as they seek to promote Chinese prominence and greatness in the world. The author’s research assesses China’s promotion of its own traditional values in rejecting foreign value influence. Since the inception of modern China at the beginning of the 20th century, China’s leadership transition has evolved from an authoritarian, cult-like dictatorship to a consensus-oriented process. In researching this metamorphosis, this book offers social, political, cultural, and historical perspectives to demonstrate that Chinese human values and character factors have risen in prominence as key elements in the mandate of Chinese governance and leadership. The author concludes that Chinese leadership values and its study and diffusion across sectors of Chinese leadership—including business, organizations, and government—have become a means to accentuate Chinese values as a viable alternative to Western claims of absolute and universally accepted values.

This fascinating study is the first to compare the dynamic and ever-changing cultural values of contemporary China and the contemporary United States. Surveying 2,000 Shanghai-area residents and villagers as well as 2,500 U.S. citizens from all points of the compass, the authors examine the extent to which traditional Confucian values have persisted in China despite massive governmental attempts to obliterate them and, similarly, the extent to which there has been a loss of "traditional" values in the United States. The result is a sophisticated yet readable account of the value systems of two complex and powerful national cultures.

Drawing on the core values of western civilization, the author refines the counterparts in Chinese civilization, summarized as four core principles: duty before freedom, obedience before rights, community before individual, and harmony before conflict. Focusing on guoxue or Sinology as the basis of his approach, the author provides detailed explanations of traditional Chinese values. Recent scholars have addressed the concept of guoxue since the modern age, sorting through it and piecing it together, which has produced an extremely abundant range of information. However, given that the concepts and theories involved have been left largely unanalyzed, this book develops a theoretical treatment of them in several important respects. First, it analyzes the mindset of guoxue, examining the dominant ideas and values of the era from which the term “guoxue” arose, focusing on its connection to early changes and trends in society and culture, and distinguishing three key phases of development. Past scholars mainly had in mind the range of objects studied in guoxue when defining it, and what this book underscores is the meaning of guoxue as a modern body of research. Secondly, it assesses several phases in the modern evolution of the body of guoxue research from the beginning to the end of the 20th century, i.e., ending with the later phase of the National Heritage movement. Third and lastly, the book explores the various main modes of modern guoxue, which correspond step by step with the evolutionary phases of guoxue research.