Marxism and the Rise of New Confucianism in Contemporary China

Abstract

Following the turn of the 20th century, Chinese intellectuals questioned the value of the Confucian tradition in its confrontation with European imperialism; the establishment of the People’s Republic of China entailed the introduction of a Chinese variant of Marxism-Leninism as the official ideology. China’s policies of opening up to the world that started at the end of the 1970s have transformed the country into a leading economic and increasingly also political power in the world. The growing social inequality resulting from this economic development has made one part of the Chinese population question the Marxist basis of the Chinese Communist Party, concurrently the validity of the capitalist model has also come into question. The similar economic growth of the so-called ‘Confucian’ Asian tigers (Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan) has, on the other hand, given rise to the concept of an ‘Asian developmental model’, of which traditional Confucianism is taken to be an important element. The revaluation of the ancient Confucian tradition that as a consequence ensued in mainland China is further inspired by the New Confucian movements in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the United States. It thus appears that the intellectual scene in contemporary China shows a variety of ‘ideological’ trends: advocacy of capitalism and liberal democracy, the continuation/redefinition of Chinese Marxism, a return to/reinterpretation of the Confucian tradition, or some combination of these trends. As such, contemporary China is witnessing a continuing ‘struggle for modernity’. This paper addresses this development in contemporary China, thereby focusing on the sociological divides that underlie this development and tracing these divides back in history.