Jiang Qing (Confucian)

Jiang Qing (simplified Chinese: 蒋庆; traditional Chinese: 蔣慶; pinyin: Jiǎng Qìng; born 1953) is a contemporary Chinese Confucian. He is best known for his criticism of New Confucianism, which according to him, deviated from the original Confucian principles and is overly influenced by Western liberal democracy. He proposes an alternative path for China: Constitutional Confucianism, also known as Political Confucianism, or Institutional Confucianism, through the trilateral parliament framework.

He believes that China’s ongoing political and social problems are to be solved by the revival of and commitment to authentic Confucianism in China. He also argues that Confucian materials should replace the Marxist curriculum taught in universities and government party schools.

For more than two thousand years, Confucianism has helped to define Chinese culture, tradition, and philosophy; it has contributed to a stable and harmonious society. The Chinese people held a very distinctive notion of the state, family, and social relationships such as guanxi. Nevertheless, challenges from foreign powers and internal problems in the country inevitably led to the political Xinhai Revolution when the people overthrew the Qing Dynasty. Fundamental changes to the orientation of the culture were necessary for China to continue to strive in the modern world. In the attempt to save Confucian morality, philosophers such as Liang Shuming, Tang Junyi, and Mou Zongsan advocated New Confucianism, which arguably came out as the byproduct of philosophical synthesis between Chinese and the Western values. Jiang believes this is problematic because it neglects the institutional dimension of the traditional Confucianism, or the wangdao (kingly system). In short, New Confucianism is not authentic due to its insistence on projecting Confucianism in terms of the modern Western political institution of liberal democracy.

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