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Confusing Confucius in Contemporary China

C hina is composed of many pieces and places, and for Daniel Bell the biggest piece in the place lately is Confucianism. China, we are told on the dust jacket, “is embracing a new Confucianism that offers a compelling alternative to Western liberalism,” especially as there is a moral vacuum with the rise of capitalism and the erosion of Marxist ideology. Bell’s argument is evinced in a series of chapters—topical essays, really, many of which were published elsewhere in different forms—and the book is divided into three sections: politics, society, and education. A fourth part of the book, labeled “Appendices,” further explores the connection between Confucianism and politics by looking at Yu Dan’s bestselling reappraisal and reapplication of The Analects as well as at how Confucianism might inform constitutionalism. Each section can be read on its own merits, but the common thread running through the book is stylistic. Bell weaves individual anecdotes into the current fabric of the country, presenting these aspects of China as representative of the country and the direction of the system as a whole. For politics, Bell points to scholars and intellectuals who write regularly about Confucianism and insists that the fact that they do publish and have a readership is indicative of their growing hold on political discourse. Democratic alternatives, he argues, are on the wane as far as serious options about China’s future are concerned and debated, and Confucianism fills the void nicely, given its traditional roots and a persistent nostalgia for a simpler time. And where foreign policy is concerned, Bell is quick to point out that Confucian notions of morality might well affect the conduct of military practices in a more humane direction. For all of these notions, causality is at a premium in Bell’s approach. As someone writing as a philosopher, Bell fills that tradition nicely, making