| Topic: |
Religions > Atheism |
| User: |
"maff" |
| Date: |
13 Mar 2006 03:48:52 PM |
| Object: |
Can the Sage Save China? |
Can the Sage Save China?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11788162/site/newsweek/
Beijing is hoping a return to Confucian values will help quell growing
dissent, and inspire new loyalty.
By Benjamin Robertson and Melinda Liu
Newsweek International
March 20, 2006 issue - China's official buzzword these days is
"harmony." Whether the audience is Chinese or foreign, rich or poor,
Beijing's leaders are spreading the message: can't we all just get
along? After becoming president in 2003, Hu Jintao made the pursuit of
a "harmonious society" his personal mantra. Last week Prime Minister
Wen Jiabao echoed the same sentiment before the current session of
China's Parliament; the gathering has focused on improving health care
and education for the rural poor, who have increasingly been left
behind by China's economic boom. Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing has got
into the act, too, trying to market the message abroad. "The Chinese
nation has always pursued a life in harmony with other nations, despite
differences," he said recently. What few of China's top leaders
acknowledge out loud, however, is that Hu's slogan actually harks back
to a famous-and ancient-Chinese personality: Confucius.
Confucianism
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.atheism/msg/b1375b5d14052549
Is the wakening giant a monster?
http://tinyurl.com/iws6
A Blueprint for the Future
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.atheism/msg/a8545c8e949926bc
.
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| User: "maff" |
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| Title: Re: Can the Sage Save China? |
15 Mar 2006 05:47:17 AM |
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maff wrote:
Can the Sage Save China?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11788162/site/newsweek/
Beijing is hoping a return to Confucian values will help quell growing
dissent, and inspire new loyalty.
By Benjamin Robertson and Melinda Liu
Newsweek International
March 20, 2006 issue - China's official buzzword these days is
"harmony." Whether the audience is Chinese or foreign, rich or poor,
Beijing's leaders are spreading the message: can't we all just get
along? After becoming president in 2003, Hu Jintao made the pursuit of
a "harmonious society" his personal mantra. Last week Prime Minister
Wen Jiabao echoed the same sentiment before the current session of
China's Parliament; the gathering has focused on improving health care
and education for the rural poor, who have increasingly been left
behind by China's economic boom. Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing has got
into the act, too, trying to market the message abroad. "The Chinese
nation has always pursued a life in harmony with other nations, despite
differences," he said recently. What few of China's top leaders
acknowledge out loud, however, is that Hu's slogan actually harks back
to a famous-and ancient-Chinese personality: Confucius.
A Smoke Screen
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11788163/site/newsweek/
China needs better leadership, not another morality campaign.
By Minxin Pei
Newsweek International
March 20, 2006 issue - So China has at long last found something to
fill its "values vacuum." Once the party hoped that communist ideology
would bind the masses to its will. After the catastrophic Cultural
Revolution thoroughly discredited radical communism, Chinese leaders
quietly rehabilitated capitalism and later fostered a resurgent
nationalism to distract from the party's failings. Now Beijing is
assiduously reminding citizens of their Confucian heritage. The Great
Sage seems the perfect man for the job: by promoting him, authorities
look both patriotic and sympathetic, given his views on how rulers must
take the needs of the poor and downtrodden into account. And at the
same time, leaders can underscore more basic, if not self-serving,
virtues-like obedience to authority.
Confucianism
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.atheism/msg/b1375b5d14052549
Is the wakening giant a monster?
http://tinyurl.com/iws6
A Blueprint for the Future
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.atheism/msg/a8545c8e949926bc
.
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| User: "ltlee1" |
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| Title: Re: Can the Sage Save China? |
15 Mar 2006 06:48:46 AM |
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maff wrote:
maff wrote:
Can the Sage Save China?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11788162/site/newsweek/
Beijing is hoping a return to Confucian values will help quell growing
dissent, and inspire new loyalty.
By Benjamin Robertson and Melinda Liu
Newsweek International
March 20, 2006 issue - China's official buzzword these days is
"harmony." Whether the audience is Chinese or foreign, rich or poor,
Beijing's leaders are spreading the message: can't we all just get
along? After becoming president in 2003, Hu Jintao made the pursuit of
a "harmonious society" his personal mantra. Last week Prime Minister
Wen Jiabao echoed the same sentiment before the current session of
China's Parliament; the gathering has focused on improving health care
and education for the rural poor, who have increasingly been left
behind by China's economic boom. Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing has got
into the act, too, trying to market the message abroad. "The Chinese
nation has always pursued a life in harmony with other nations, despite
differences," he said recently. What few of China's top leaders
acknowledge out loud, however, is that Hu's slogan actually harks back
to a famous-and ancient-Chinese personality: Confucius.
More empty preaching by Mr. Pei.
"The Confucian mandate of heaven must be regained, not through empty
preaching,
but by good governance."
Of course, China needs good governance. But good governance also need
moneyl. For example, the European style socialistic model is only
possible with high level of taxation. In addition to corporate and
personal income tax, property tax and etc. European countries also
extract high value added tax, i.e. sales tax, ranged from 17.5% to
25%. High level of taxation will of course decrease the amount of money
available for business investment and consequently slow down economic
expansion.
A foreign Chinese expert had commented that dynastic China was ruled by
the Confucius "smoke and mirror." He is right. Statecraft is ultimately
soulcraft. (According to Buddhism, the whole human existence is nothign
but delusion.) If confucianism can help during this transition period
toward either the European social model or the American capitalistic
model, or somewhere in between, then confucianism should be promoted.
A Smoke Screen
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11788163/site/newsweek/
China needs better leadership, not another morality campaign.
By Minxin Pei
Newsweek International
March 20, 2006 issue - So China has at long last found something to
fill its "values vacuum." Once the party hoped that communist ideology
would bind the masses to its will. After the catastrophic Cultural
Revolution thoroughly discredited radical communism, Chinese leaders
quietly rehabilitated capitalism and later fostered a resurgent
nationalism to distract from the party's failings. Now Beijing is
assiduously reminding citizens of their Confucian heritage. The Great
Sage seems the perfect man for the job: by promoting him, authorities
look both patriotic and sympathetic, given his views on how rulers must
take the needs of the poor and downtrodden into account. And at the
same time, leaders can underscore more basic, if not self-serving,
virtues-like obedience to authority.
Confucianism
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.atheism/msg/b1375b5d14052549
Is the wakening giant a monster?
http://tinyurl.com/iws6
A Blueprint for the Future
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.atheism/msg/a8545c8e949926bc
.
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| User: "" |
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| Title: Re: Can the Sage Save China? |
13 Mar 2006 05:25:14 PM |
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maff wrote:
Can the Sage Save China?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11788162/site/newsweek/
Beijing is hoping a return to Confucian values will help quell growing
dissent, and inspire new loyalty.
Papering over problems in this way won't work. The current situation
and social climate is the opposite of Confucian values. Widespread
corruption and greed is the opposite of Confucian principles: unity,
morality, respect for authority, and the importance of hierarchical
relationships.
There is a phrase in America for this kind of effort to inspire new
loyalty to a corrupt CCP: polishing a turd.
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| User: "maff" |
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| Title: Re: Can the Sage Save China? |
15 Mar 2006 05:51:53 AM |
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wrote:
maff wrote:
Can the Sage Save China?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11788162/site/newsweek/
Beijing is hoping a return to Confucian values will help quell growing
dissent, and inspire new loyalty.
Papering over problems in this way won't work. The current situation
and social climate is the opposite of Confucian values. Widespread
corruption and greed is the opposite of Confucian principles: unity,
morality, respect for authority, and the importance of hierarchical
relationships.
There is a phrase in America for this kind of effort to inspire new
loyalty to a corrupt CCP: polishing a turd.
Halliburton and Bushie fascists are professioals compared to CCP or
nayone else.
Report: Iraq war costs could top $2 trillion
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0110/dailyUpdate.html
New study takes into account long-term costs of healthcare for wounded
soldiers.
By Tom Regan | csmonitor.com
A new study by Columbia University economist Joseph E. Stiglitz, who
won the Nobel Prize in economics in 2001, and Harvard lecturer Linda
Bilmes concludes that the total costs of the Iraq war could top the $2
trillion mark. Reuters reports this total, which is far above the US
administration's prewar projections, takes into account the long term
healthcare costs for the 16,000 US soldiers injured in Iraq so far.
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