Confucian Traditions in East Asian Modernity

by Tu, Wei-Ming; Wei-Ming, Tu

• ISBN13: 9780674160873
• ISBN10: 0674160878
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-03-01
• Publisher: Harvard Univ Pr

Summary

How Confucian traditions have shaped styles of being modern in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore presents a particular challenge to the intellectual community. Explorations of Confucian network capitalism, meritocratic democracy, and liberal education have practical implications for a sense of self, community, economy, and polity. Seventeen scholars, of varying fields of study, here bring their differing perspectives to a consideration of the Confucian role in industrial East Asia. Confucian concerns such as self-cultivation, regulation of the family, social civility, moral education, well-being of the people, governance of the state, and universal peace provide a general framework for the study. The Confucian Problematik--how a fiduciary community can come into being through exemplary teaching and moral transformation--underlies much of the discussion. The contributors question all unexamined assumptions about the rise of industrial East Asia, at the same time exploring the ideas, norms, and values that underlie the moral fabric of East Asian societies. Is Confucian ethics a common discourse in industrial East Asia? The answer varies according to academic discipline, regional specialization, and personal judgment. Although there are conflicting interpretations and diverging perspectives, this study represents the current thinking of some of the most sophisticated minds on this vital and intriguing subject.

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction	p. 1
Confucian Education in Premodern East Asia	p. 21
Reflections on Civil Society and Civility in the Chinese Intellectual Tradition	p. 38
The Intellectual Heritage of the Confucian Ideal of Ching-shih	p. 72
Confucian Ideals and the Real World: A Critical Review of Contemporary Neo-Confucian Thought	p. 92
"They Are Almost the Same as the Ancient Three Dynasties": The West as Seen through Confucian Eyes in Nineteenth-Century Japan	p. 119
Confucianism and the Japanese State, 1904-1945	p. 132
The Japanese (Confucian) Family: The Tradition from the Bottom Up	p. 155
Some Observations on the Transformation of Confucianism (and Buddhism) in Japan	p. 175
Confucianism in Contemporary Korea	p. 191
The Reproduction of Confucian Culture in Contemporary Korea: An Anthropological Study	p. 202
State Confucianism and Its Transformation: The Restructuring of the State-Society Relation in Taiwan	p. 228
Civil Society in Taiwan: The Confucian Dimension	p. 244
The Transformation of Confucianism in the Post-Confucian Era: The Emergence of Rationalistic Traditionalism in Hong Kong	p. 265
Promoting Confucianism for Socioeconomic Development: The Singapore Experience	p. 277
Confucianism as Political Discourse in Singapore: The Case of an Incomplete Revitalization Movement	p. 294
Societal Transformation and the Contribution of Authority Relations and Cooperation Norms in Overseas Chinese Business	p. 310
Overseas Chinese Capitalism	p. 328
Epilogue	p. 343
Notes	p. 351
Glossary	p. 401
Contributors	p. 407
Index	p. 411
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