Understanding Chinese Confucommunism

On October 1st, 1949, in Beijing's historic Tiananmen Square, Mao Zedong, the leader of the Chinese Communist Party [CCP] proclaimed the People's Republic of China [PRC].Sixty-two years later, at the dawn of the 21st century, the picture of chairman Mao, still the indispensable domestic political talisman of Chinese communism, dominates Tiananmen Square.However, today's China is a philosophically challenging combination of formally communist political totalitarianism ["hidden" under the benign-sounding term of "socialism with Chinese characteristics,"]and state-sponsored mercantilist capitalism [the oxymoronic "socialist market-economy"],an entity dramatically different from the one Mao launched and ruthlessly lorded over until his death in 1976.The most intriguing symbol of this new, dynamic and increasingly affluent and influential China are billionaires with CCP membership!This and other anomalous elements mentioned throughout this essay, and its growing stature, render highly relevant the understanding of China as it has evolved , really is and behaves.Mao Zedong's positive legacy includes two lasting strategic achievements.First, the restoration of central authority-after a century of weakness ,which foreign powers had exploited for their benefit -and physical solidification and formalization of Chinese territorial expansion into Tibet, Xinjiang [East Turkestan] and other border areas.The second Maoist strategic achievement was the acquisition of nuclear capability.Beyond those contributions, domestically, Mao fed his people what Deng Xiaoping called an "iron rice bowl," mixed with shrill communist and nationalistic propaganda.The suffering Mao inflicted on his people, even for a civilization with an ancient tradition of harsh political totalitarianism and social injustice -Confucianism-which he replaced with communist "egalitarianism" -is downright unimaginable, particularly because it is so recent and on such a gargantuan scale.In the late 1950s, Mao thrust his people into the so-called Great Leap Forward , a technically flawed and humanly horrific experiment aimed at transforming China into an industrial power overnight ,using the nation's teeming millions ,and his will.The eternal symbol of the mad idea are the "backyard furnaces" -housewives and doctors producing steel..in the courtyards behind their homes and offices.The agricultural devastation caused by the Great Leap Forward brought about the death by starvation of tens of millions of Chinese.Mao next plunged his forcibly adoring people into the Great Proletarian Cultural [teenagers being encouraged to burn schools and torment or kill teachers] Revolution of sorts-in fact nothing more than an unscrupulous exercise to hold on to power-for the decade ending in 1976.Confucianism -a set of principles and regulations designed to achieve a smooth social environment conducive to stability-emerged in China in the 5th century BCE.Having dominated state and society for 2000 years, until 1949, it is only natural that Confucianism continues to carry powerful socio-political and cultural weight at all levels, notwithstanding three decades of Maoist chastisement.Politically, Confucianism is totalitarian and as such, useful in reinforcing China's present formally communist, thus non-democratic system, but properly formatted along growing nationalistic lines.Socially, Confucianism [like all other pre-modern traditions] postulates male supremacy which has easily survived the "classless" Maoist[in reality, all communist regimes are dominated by intertwined oligarchies of politically trustworthy elites representing all walks of life while the great majority of the population is mired in equal levels of squalid persecution] era.Buddhism and Daoism are China's main traditional religions.Confucianism is not a religion ,although Confucius [Latinized transliteration of Kong Fuzi -or Master Kong] the thinker and teacher after whom it is named-has always been revered by Chinese the world over.Both Confucianism and Communism place religion in subservience to the state , a reality reflected in the manner in which Beijing has been persecuting the Falun Gong Buddhist movement as well as those Catholic and Protestant groups not officially licensed , thus supervised , by the government.Beijing considers Tibet an "aberrant" entity since it represents a tradition in which religious and political authority are embodied in one leader -the Dalai Lama.The Confucian and communist traditions of relations between state and religion make it highly unlikely that Beijing will ever grant Tibet religious and cultural autonomy -the outgoing Dalai Lama's demand.Therefore, the PRC's promise to negotiate with the Dalai Lama in summer of 2008 , most likely was a tactical trick designed to contain international protests against Beijing's policy toward Tibet , prior to the Olympic Games.Beijing's future intentions regarding Tibetan politics may be indirectly expressed in the fact that it has chosen its own politically subservient Panchen Lama [the second most important religious leader in Tibetan Buddhism] in opposition to the one named by the present Dalai Lama in 1995.In the international context , Confucianism divides the world into one real civilization -China -and a multitude of inferior entities, the non-Chinese world.Historically, this China-centered, highly supremacist structure was perpetuated until the mid-19th century in Beijing's relations with most of East [except Japan] and Southeast Asia, through a tributary system, and with Europe [except Russia] and the United States in the form of the so-called Canton System [named after the southern Chinese port of Canton/ Guangzhou] which existed between 1720-1842.Indicative of the PRC's evolving identity is the fact that in the early 21st century, the still formally communist regime has launched a global campaign of cultural diplomacy designed to enhance its image and influence through a network of Confucius Institutes.Rudeness toward non-Chinese, even foreign leaders, is an integral component of Confucianism.Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper during an official visit in 2010,and US President Barack Obama while the official guest of the PRC, and at the environment conference in Copenhagen, in late 2009 , were subjected to insulting treatment at the hands of Wen Jiabao, the Prime Minister of China.Lu Shumin, Beijing's ambassador to Canada until 2008, left a notorious legacy of verbal crassness toward his host country.Canadian and American failure to react promptly and appropriately to unacceptable Chinese behavior is bound to encourage Beijing's "tributary-revolutionary" supremacist arrogance.Like individuals, nations respect nations which respect not only other nations but themselves as well.A Liberal China

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