Moral and Political Meritocracy : A Confucian Perspective for Contemporary China

Confucian moral and political ideals concentrate on virtue cultivation (xiushen) and rule of virtue (dezhi). Confucianism emphasizes that everyone learn and exercise the virtues (such as xiao, ren, yi, zhi, xin, and he) by observing relevant familial and social rituals (li). Those who are virtuous and wise should become rulers and officials to lead people and govern society through virtuous means (rather than coercive laws or punishments), including setting up outstanding exemplars of the good life for people to learn from, formulating proper policies to promote people’s well-being and long term interests, educating people to pursue the good life, and willing to sacrifice some of their own interests, when needed, to serve people. This is to say, a central concern of Confucian moral and political thought is over issues regarding how rulers and officials should properly govern society. This paper argues that a substantive guidance is needed in directing present Chinese society – that is, the Chinese government must draw on a long-standing and well-established Confucian view on an essential component of human long term interests (namely, developing and maintaining an appropriate family-oriented way of life) to formulate proper policy and administer suitable measures to pursue the people’s long term interests. In short, this paper suggests a tripartite structure of authority regarding proper governance for Chinese society based on Confucian meritocratic thought.