The philosophical system based on the teaching of Confucius(551-479 BC), dominated Chinese sociopolitical life for most of Chinese historyand largely influenced the cultures of Korea, Japan, and Indochina. TheConfucian school functioned as a recruiting ground for government positions,which were filled by those scoring highest on examinations in the Confucianclassics.
It also blended with popular and imported religions and became thevehicle for articulating Chinese mores to the peasants. The school’s doctrinessupported political authority using the theory of the mandate of Heaven. Itsought to help the rulers maintain domestic order, preserve tradition, anduphold a constant standard of living for the taxpaying peasants. It trained itsadherents in benevolence, traditional rituals, filial piety, loyalty, respectfor superiors and for the aged, and principled flexibility in advising rulers. “Whilst thy father and mother live, do not wander afar.
If you must travel,hold a set course. ” Confucius 19 Chinese Adoption of the Philosophy TheChinese social culture has since adoption of Confucianism been very familyrelated. In order to understand the thoughts better, imagine your self at thattime. People were farmers and the ordinary way of life was to cultivate, whichmeans work hard, and to “produce” as many children as possible,preferable of male sex. The parents were responsible for their children for aslong as they could work, and thereafter the roles were overturned as thechildren had from there on to provide for the family. This shows how importantthe family relation was at that time (stressed by Confucius in his philosophy)and still is in China.
Let me repeat myself, the strongest link in the chain ofthe family was and is mutual “take care of” your beloved ones, becauseno one else would. This system has deep roots in the Chinese culture and itwould be easy to think that it’s not going to change in a very long time, butnonetheless I claim that a few years would suffice and I’m even convinced thatit will very soon. There are several reasons to that and my essay is intended toprove them. Developing a modern society China has one astonishing major problem:its population growth. The answer to the question “Why do the Chinese bearso many children ?”, was partially given above; they need children as aguarantee for the future and more children mean more workers in the householdsand on the land. Some nationwide campaigns were launched in the last decadeswhose aim was to restrict the number of children to one per couple throughvarious incentives and threatened penalties.
This worked quite well in the urbanareas, but in the country sides the one-child policy reportedly had anunexpected and terrible result: the number of female infanticides increased, dueto the fact that male children were more desirable as they worked harder. Experience from today’s “modern” societies shows that once wealth isestablished in a country, the population growth decreases. As an example can bementioned Europe: during the time before industrialization, and before the statehad a crucial social role, the growth rate was extremely high. Now when childlabor is prohibited and when there is a common wealth, the population growthrate is in some cases even negative.
China is undoubtedly looking into the lightof having a better economy, following the traditional path of a country movingfrom being agricultural to highly industrialized. If China will follow thisevolution, people’s mentality will change, just as it has changed in all thecountries where there has been a radical economical evolution. Once the statewill be able, through pensions and transfers, to take care of people who cannotwork, family relations will no longer be indispensable. I am not saying thatfamily bonds will be less important but the relation child-parent will be solelybased on love and attachment, not love, attachment and need. Being moreeffective, using fertilizers and modern machines will also reduce the need forhaving such a big share of the population working in the agricultural sector. More and more people will move to the industrial centers, and moving means insome way breaking family relations and rebelling to the ancient thoughts thatbuilt a whole way of life for countless generations.
The role of the state Thegovernment is becoming more and more important in the life of the Chinese peopleand unconsciously substituting the role of religion. The state is responsiblefor the elder, not the children like Confucianism states. This is very crucial,because if .
