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Virtue, Law and Chinese Political Tradition: Can the Past Predict the Future?

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Abstract

This paper intends to build a case for a third alternative that can reconcile the two opposing views of democracy, i.e., the consensual vs. the adversarial, through a reexamination and reconstruction of Chinese traditional theories of political governance. The paper links the rule of virtue with consensual politics, and the rule of law with adversary politics, By focusing on the roles of virtue and law, and their importance to the acquisition and maintenance of original and utilitarian dimensions of political legitimacy, the paper proposes a hybrid version of democracy that will continue the dualist political tradition while enabling necessary political modernization.

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Notes

  1. See views expressed by “Charter 08,” available online, http://www.2008xianzhang.info/chinese.htm (accessed on June 2, 2014).

  2. See a discussion of the two forms of democracy by Mansbridge [2].

  3. See a discussion of the legitimacy and rule of benevolence by Guo [4].

  4. The Six Legal Codes of Tang (《唐六典》) was the most comprehensive legal codes up to Tang dynasty. It became the basis for legal codes of the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties.

  5. 《荀子·王制》:“故明其不并之行,信其友敌之道,天下无王霸主,则常胜矣。是知霸道者也。” Due to difficulties in translating these classics without losing some of original meanings, I intentionally cited the some of the quotes in Chinese.

  6. Lu Xun, 《且介亭杂文·关于中国的两三件事》; See also Youlan [7].

  7. Zhao Rui,《反经》,大体第一.

  8. Julia Annas, Virtue and Law in Plato, available on line, http://www.princeton.edu/~gthorari/annas.pdf (accessed on July 9, 2013).

  9. Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book II, translated by W. D. Ross, available on line, http://www.constitution.org/ari/ethic_00.htm (accessed on September 27, 2013).

  10. John F. Covaleskie, “Virtue, Liberty, and Discipline: Fostering the Democratic Character,” available on line, http://www.ovpes.org/2006/Covaleskie (accessed on July 9, 2013).

  11. Wang Hongsheng, op cit.

  12. Zhao Rui,《反经》, 政体第八.

  13. Ibid., 十三.

  14. Xiaoping [11]; Cunshan [12], available on line, http://www.yuandao.com/zazhi/7ji/rjdmbyrq.html (accessed on July 9, 2013).

  15. Mencius: IV A:9, cited in Sources of Chinese Tradition, Vol. 1, eds. WM Theodore de Bary, et al. (New York: Columbia University Press, 1960), p. 93.

  16. 《尚书·蔡仲之命》, “民心无常, 惟惠之怀.”

  17. 董仲舒,《春秋繁露。威德所生》,“发刑法以立其威,” “居主德之位, 操生杀之势以便化民。” This idea is also described as “德主刑辅” or “大德小刑.”

  18. This is an estimate based on the some historical record. Zhou Dynasty agricultural tax rate was 10 %. Qin collect at least 20 times more than Zhou, 《汉书·食货志》.

  19. Xiao Han, “‘Rescript for penitence’ and Chinese political governance,” available online, http://article.chinalawinfo.com/Article_Detail.asp?ArticleID=38687 (accessed on September. 27, 2013).

  20. The Chinese used in 《尚书·洪范》 is “无偏无党,王道荡荡.”

  21. 《国语·郑语》, “夫和实生物,同则不继。”

  22. 《左传·昭公二十年》, “以不济可,” “君所谓可,而有否焉,臣献其否,以成其可。君所谓否,而有可焉,臣献其可,以去其否。是以政平而不干,民无争心。”

  23. 董仲舒,《春秋繁露。保位权》.

  24. 《大清律例》, available online, http://www.alswh.com/ (accessed on September 27, 2013).

  25. For example,, in 1725, Nian Gengyao (年羹尧1679–1726), one of Yong Zheng Emperor’s officer made a mistake in a phrase used in his official report, Yong Zheng considered him to be disrespectful of himself, and charged him with 92 crimes. Nian Gengyao was ordered to commit suicide and the rest of his clansmen or friends were killed or put in exile.

  26. “Philosophy of the Law,” wikipedia.com.

  27. 《唐律疏议·名例》序, “德礼为政教之本, 刑罚为政教之用”

  28. See a more detailed explanation of original and utilitarian justification of political legitimacy in my article “Political Legitimacy a China’s Transition. Journal of Chinese Political Studies, Vol. 8, No. 1–2, pp. 1–16.

  29. 《尚书·蔡仲之命》,“皇天无亲, 惟德是辅.”

  30. Ibid. “以德配天”

  31. Bentham [17], Yan Jinfen’s [18] provides a detailed discussion of Chinese utilitarianism and neo-utilitarianism.

  32. Xie Qingqui, et.al., pp. 40–44.

  33. Pan [24]; see a critics of the paper by Zhao [25].

  34. The four cardinal principles include Marxism-Leninism, socialism, party leadership, and People’s democratic dictatorship. Deng Xiaoping, “Uphold the Four Cardinal Principles” (March 30, 1979), Selected Works of Deng Xiaoping, Vol. II, available online, http://www.people.com.cn/english/dengxp/home.html (accessed on September 27, 2013) [26].

  35. Jiang Zemin, “Speech made in the Central Conference on Ideological and Political Works,” June, 2000.

  36. CCP Central Committee, “Implementation Outline for Building Public Ethics,” Oct. 24, 2001, available on line, http://www.chinanews.com.cn (accessed on March 7, 2008); also see CCP Central Committee. “The Decisions on a Number of Issues relating to the Improvement of Socialist Market Economy),” adopted by the Third Plenary Session of the 16th Party Congress in October 14, 2003.

  37. Book of Rites, “Ziyi”: “民以君为心,君以民为体 . . . 君以民存,亦以民亡.”

  38. Analects, “Taibo:” “民可使由之,不可使知之.”

  39. See a discussion of unitary democracy by Jane J Mansbridge, op cit., p. 5.

  40. The discussion followed benefits tremendously from He Li’s paper on “The Chinese Intellectual Discourse on Confucianism and Its Impact on China’s Transition,” a paper presented to the 26th Annual meeting of the Association of Chinese Political Studies held in San Jose, Costa Rica, August 22–23, 2012.

  41. “Land of 40,627 Laws and Regulations More,” available online, http://www.searchamelia.com/land-of-40627-laws-and-regulations-more, (accessed on September 27, 2013).

  42. U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Correctional Populations in the United States, 2011, available on line, http://bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/cpus11.pdf (accessed on June 2, 2014).

  43. “ABA Market Research Department,” Market Research Department, American Bar Association.

  44. “List of countries by number of police officers.” Wikipedia.com.

  45. Jane J Mansbridge, op cit., p. 10.

  46. Aristotle, Politics, translated by Benjamin Jowett, Book IV.

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  1. Department of Social Sciences, Dalton State College, 650 College Drive, Dalton, GA, 30720, USA

    Baogang Guo

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Correspondence to Baogang Guo.

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The author wishes to thank Shaohua Hu, John Kennedy, He Li, Jack Waskey, and anonymous reviewers for their comments on the earlier version of this paper.

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Guo, B. Virtue, Law and Chinese Political Tradition: Can the Past Predict the Future?. J OF CHIN POLIT SCI 19, 267–287 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11366-014-9299-x

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