Contemporary East Asia and the Confucian Revival

The so-called Confucian revival which came to prominence at the end of the twentieth-century, and which is manifested in the philosophical stream of Modern Confucianism, is one of the most significant elements within new Asian modernisation ideologies. By providing new insights into the culturally conditioned structure of Asian societies, this book contributes to the improvement of political, economic and cultural relations between Western and East Asian countries. Most classical Western modernisation theories have assumed that Confucianism would have to be abandoned if East Asia wanted to develop a dynamic, modern society, claiming that traditional Chinese culture was impervious or even inimical to modernisation. Max Weber s well-known thesis that the Protestant ethic was an essential factor in the rise and spread of modernisation represents a sharp contrast to the notion which has gradually emerged over the last two decades in East Asia, and which argues that societies based upon Confucian ethics may, in many ways, be superior to the West in achieving industrialization, affluence and modernisation. In order to examine whether the abovementioned Eurocentric views of modernity are still applicable, this book uses the presumption that modernisation represents a complex process of social transitions which include both universal and culturally conditioned elements as a starting point for its analysis. Table of Contents 6 List of Tables 10 Acknowledgements 12 Editorial: The Confucian Revival and “Different Models of Modernity” • Jana S. Rošker 14 Foreword: Confucianized Rationality: Some Reflections on East Asian, Wisdom,and Science • Bart Dessein 26 Confucian Concepts, Ideas And Ideologies 42 1 Kangaku, kogaku, kokugaku, rangaku: Reinterpretations of Confucianism in the Nation Building Process in Japan • Luka Culiberg 44 2 Zhang Taiyan and “National Studies” • Hans Kuehner 64 3 Xu Fuguan’s Comparison of the Concept you in Zhuangzi’s and Kongzi’s Aesthetics • Téa Sernelj 84 4 Mou Zongsan’s Negation of the Moral Self: A New Dialectical Model? • Jana S. Rošker 100 Confucius and the World 114 5 Carving Out a Role for a Confucian China on the World Stage • Jyrki Kallio 116 6 Peace as Evenness? Reflections on the Peaceful Development Doctrine and Their Classical References • Helena Motoh 140 7 Confucius in Brazil: An Epistemological (and Historical) Problem • André Bueno 154 8 Confucian Ideologies in the Modern Japanese State Formation • Nataša Visočnik 170 Confucianism in the People’s Republic of China 188 9 Weaving Confucianism into the Official Party Discourse: From Hu Jinatao’s “Harmonious Society”, to Xi Jinping’s Communist junzi • Mugur Zlotea 190 10 In Search of Numbers and Substance: On a Current Confucian Revival in the PRC • Ralph Weber 212 11 Contending for the Truth: Confucianism in the Contemporary PRC • Dessein Bart 232 Book Review 254 12 Antigas leituras. Visões da china antiga • Barbara Pihler Ciglič 256 Contributors 264 Index 266