The Birth of Civil Society

Author: Xiao Xuehui
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2004-05-01
Features: The book is divided into five parts, in my understanding, in the following order: Education, Rule of Law, Commentary, Constitutionalism, and Academic Norms. It gives me a profound sense that Professor Xiao's heart is always tied to the individual, and this "individual" refers to the citizen in a democratic society or the process of democratization. Therefore, its academic foundation is rooted in rights, centered around the rights of the individual. I believe that Professor Xiao placing "Education" as the first part is closely related to her pain over the current state of education as an educator. The ideas in this section are consistent with those in her works "Education: A Necessary Utopia—Xiao Xuehui's Educational Reflections" and "Alone Fishing in a Cold River," offering remedies for the dilemmas and misconceptions in education. Her gaze often falls on marginalized groups (especially poor children), with the aim of calling for an education that aligns with the democratization trend, cultivating a civil society, alleviating current social conflicts, and avoiding large-scale social unrest. Thus, her writing is sharp but rooted in a sincere and compassionate heart. I sense a strength and a transcendent perspective in her words, and in my view, this strength and perspective are the hope for revitalizing national education.
The second feeling is that in the field of literary criticism, Professor Xiao demonstrates profound erudition and insightful perspectives. After all, her undergraduate major was philosophy at Sichuan University, and she has primarily researched ethics for many years, so there is a distance between her and literature. However, in the third part, "As an Academic—Reflections on He Manzi's Collected Academic Papers," Professor Xiao shows an extremely high level of literary theory, on par with a Chinese literature professor. Her line of reasoning and literary insights are unconventional and offer fresh perspectives. These insights are grounded in the entire history of Chinese literature, making her evaluation of Mr. He Manzi objective and fair. Mr. He Manzi is widely known as a satirist, but his other side as a scholar who bridges East and West and connects past and present is less recognized. Therefore, Professor Xiao's work reminds people to adopt a holistic view when evaluating a writer. Mr. He was a satirical writer with a critical eye, perhaps sharing some consensus with Professor Xiao: that criticism of the reality is beneficial for exposing flaws and "drawing attention to the need for remedy." Of course, Professor Xiao has been deeply concerned with freedom, democracy, and constitutionalism in recent years, so the fourth part of the book focuses more on her views on the current state of China. From "Moral Remedies for the Constitutional System" to "For Peace," her intent is to hope that the Chinese people can draw inspiration from the Western tradition of civil disobedience, with universal values, and ultimately contribute to the birth of a civil society. She quotes the medieval Aragonese citizens' oath to the king and the 1581 "Exile Law" that revoked their loyalty to Philip II, both of which illustrate that the legitimacy of rule depends on whether it respects human rights. Professor Xiao believes that there is a primal covenant between subjects and rulers, proving that the concept of rights centered on freedom is a universal idea among Westerners. And resisting state power by appealing to these rights to break the boundaries of the primal covenant is a tradition that has continued powerfully in the West. From this perspective, the freedoms of speech, press, and assembly enjoyed by Western citizens, as well as an independent judicial system that provides legal channels for citizens to oppose state crimes, are so scarce in China! Western citizens have a constitutional relationship between the individual and the state, while our "citizens" are more like subjects and slaves. The reason lies in the former's inheritance of the Greek spiritual civilization tradition, while the latter has been shaped by the two thousand years of autocratic rule under a unified empire, instilling in the people a mindset of "bowing to power, loyalty to a ruling family, unconditional obedience to the monarchy, and." Therefore, Professor Xiao urgently calls for the protection of citizens' rights through the constraint of state power. Of course, under the political climate of one-party rule and the promotion of party supervision over the party, this hope is nearly impossible. Thus, she deliberately introduces Western intellectual resources—Bromley's "The Logic of Freedom" and Scott Gordon's "Controlling the State—A History of Western Constitutionalism"—hoping that the Chinese people can "gain important insights from the free adventure, free belief, and the relationship between freedom and morality in another civilization, especially its profound self-reflection spirit," and remind them that "the relationship between the people and the state in constitutional states throughout history should be based on mutual loyalty and mutual protection." Our cultural tradition, as Mr. Li Shenzhi once said, "is dominated by autocracy," so Professor Xiao wrote "Diverse Cultures and Universal Values" and "For Peace" to remind people that many conflicts in contemporary international relations are cultural conflicts, urging us to guard against narrow nationalism and recognize universal values that align with human rights, such as democracy, the rule of law, peace, justice, and intellectual tolerance, as these are the prerequisites for maintaining cultural diversity resources.
Since war still exists, even with the threat of nuclear deterrence, Professor Xiao clarifies the concepts of "absolute pacifism" and "conditional pacifism." Her arguments here align with Rawls's view in "Justice" that "refusing to participate in any war under any circumstances is an innocent and inevitably biased perspective." Perhaps such views can help us better understand the Iraq War last year.
The last part of the book consists of texts opposing plagiarism of others' academic achievements. However, it also includes two ethics papers, "Humanitarianism as the Core Value of Ethical Culture" and "Exploring Moral Principles to Establish an Integrated Model—A Series of Research on Contemporary Chinese Ethical Culture," which indirectly reveal the depth of Professor Xiao's ethical research as early as 1997 and 1998. Of course, there are also principles for building a civil society, such as fairness, equality, mutual benefit, and partnership. Regarding the issue of opposing plagiarism and protecting authors' copyrights, the Ministry of Education of China issued the "Interim Academic Norms for Philosophy and Social Sciences Research in Higher Education Institutions" on August 26 (828《》A3), which can be seen as a government's attempt to make up for the risks of expressing independent opinions and innovative ideas in the current climate. As the ancients said, "A wolf may enter the fold late, but it is never too late to mend the fence." I also hope that the academic world will have more purity and integrity in the future, with more scholars like Professor Xiao Xuehui who are rigorous in their research.
Of course, "The Birth of Civil Society" is not a perfect work. There is also an undercurrent of emotion in the text, sometimes manifesting as a sense of indignation. This is a pity for an ethicist. However, considering Professor Xiao's difficult life—her experiences during the late 1990s and the psychological wounds inflicted by the autocratic regime—we naturally understand this aspect of her work. After all, she has endured hardships and silently toiled, tirelessly sowing seeds of civilization. I wish that the seeds of civilization in her works, like those in the Bible, can be planted more firmly in the soil of faith, so that they can inspire the awakening of a large number of people. In the words of Fu Guoyong, Professor Xiao is indeed a " of civilization in the contemporary era." As a distinguished ethicist, her entire cultural and social critique is built on solid academic research and profound humanistic cultivation, which is why it appears so clear and powerful. In her own words, her work has "profound historical depth, broad ethical reflection, and a complete and thorough understanding of human nature and its needs."