China: Promise Or Threat? A Comparison Of Cultures (studies In Critical Social Sciences)

Now, well into the second decade of the 21st Century, China is both ever present in global affairs, central to the global economy, and yet not well understood by most people. Routinely, political rhetoric in the United States rails against China as that great enemy waiting to dominate this society, and at the same time when China's economy slows down or there is a fear China is falling into a recession, the response in the economies of Europe and the us is to create great uncertainty and anxiety. Does China pose a threat to all, or is there a promise of great mutual benefit as we strive to recognize our common interests and or better understand our fundamental differences? This volume is an attempt at such a resolution. China: Promise or Threat?: A Comparison of Cultures Copyright Contents Foreword: A Fascination with China Preface Introduction: The Goal of This Book 1 Familism: A Threat to the Environment The “Public Sphere:” Rights without Obligations Two Types of Personal Association Personalization of Law 2 Exchanges of Threats: The Opium Wars International Relations: Britain Russia, Japan, and Germany The Chinese Experience: Threat and Disappointment Why Did China Not Defend Herself? 3 China and the US: A Balance of Power? Why Follow Thucydides? Chinese Classics on Warfare An Alternative to Thucydides: E.R. Service Promises and Threats Based on Economic Interests Real and Imagined Military Threats 4 Religions: Core Components of Cultures The Task at Hand: What is a Religion? Shared Origins of Contemporary Religions Governmental Interference with Religious Affairs 5 Religious Vitality in Contemporary China Types of Atheism in Party Politics Ancestor Worship: The Religion of China 6 Max Weber’s View of Religion in China 7 Daoism: China’s Native Religion The Fundamentals of Daoism Nature and Life Everlasting in Daoism Daoism as Seen by Confucians and Buddhists 8 Oracle-Bones: The Mandate of Heaven How to Change – Forward or Backward? The Splendid Age of the Oracle Bones 9 Confucius: Recapture the Lost Splendor Heavenly Mandate and Objective Order Finding Options for the Future The Party or the Family as “Church” in China? 10 The West: Individualism at Its Limits The Western Family as Fate and Tragedy Evolution of Kinship in the West 11 China: The Kinship Society Granet and the Analects: Cultural Evolution of Kinship in China Fei Xiaotong: Field Work on Contemporary Family Life in China Altruism and Selfishness: A Precarious Balance 12 China: A Threatening Promise to the West Summaries of the Chapters Concluding Queries about Threats and Promises References Index

In China: Promise or Threat? Helle compares the cultures of China and the West through both private and public spheres. For China, the private sphere of family life is well developed while behaviour in public relating to matters of government and the law is less reliable. In contrast, the West operates in reverse. The book's twelve chapters investigate the causes and effects of threats to the environment, military confrontations, religious differences, fundamentals of cultural history, and the countries' orientations for finding solutions to societal problems, all informed by the Confucian impulse to recapture the lost splendour of a past versus faith in progress toward a blessed future. The West has promoted individualism while China is locked in its kinship society.