Chinese Culture and Modern Life

Author: Wei Zhengtong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-07-01
Features: The victory of the anti-Confucian movement, though it won cheers from young intellectuals, was ultimately based on irrational criticism rather than rational debate. It failed to win hearts and minds, sowing the seeds of ideological conflict in China for the next half-century. Traditional Confucian relationships such as father-son, ruler-subject, husband-wife, and elder-younger were, in essence, relationships of authority and obedience. The concept of human rights in democratic constitutionalism tended to equalize these relationships, directly undermining the value standards of the Five Cardinal Relationships. This led to the decline of the father, who represented family authority, and the ruler, who represented political authority. Based on his academic experience, Wei Zhengtong employs the knowledge and methods of the social sciences, using modern life as a dynamic reference point. He directs his gaze toward the transformation of traditional social culture and structure during China's modernization process, as well as the problems arising from the old ways of life. He focuses on several aspects most closely related to daily life, such as familialism, moral issues, parenting styles, and authoritarian personality traits. His goal is to identify the root causes of these problems and, in doing so, reconstruct the lifestyle of modern Chinese people and accelerate the modernization process.