The Hindu Business Line : Confucian ethics, China and India

The urgent need in India is to raise investment in education and institute a blend of meritocracy plus inclusive growth, based on the principles of Confucian Ethics, which is expected to help China face the instability stemming from the rising inter-personal inequalities and the communist polity. The urgent need in India is to raise investment in education and institute a blend of meritocracy plus inclusive growth.

My knowledge of Confucian ethics was obtained from a reading of Confucianism and Modernization, published by Macmillan Press, London, in 1999. Its author, Professor Zhang Wei-Bin, now teaching in Japan, was my colleague in Singapore for a couple of years. He researched extensively on the Sage and his thoughts as well as the interpretations of his thoughts by later day scholars. I benefited from interactions with Prof Zhang.

The ethical principles advocated by Confucius, who lived in China some 2500 years ago, were enshrined in his most famous work, The Analects.

Ethics is derived from Greek word `ethos', which encompasses individual character and community or national culture. Ethical principles thus refer to those that mould the individuals at large and the nation or a community as a whole. Confucian ethics too set the ground rules for the conduct of the individual and society. Given below are concise and minimalist descriptions of what I consider as the six most important Confucian principles.

Natural equality and social inequality: Man is born naturally equal. Each man's social position is solely determined by his own quality in being human and has nothing to do with any external factor such as family background or race.

A good society should be hierarchically organised with virtuous and talented men at the top. One's virtue, efforts and talent are the only factors that determine one's social class. The objective of putting cultivated and talented people in important positions is to ensure that society benefits as a whole.

Welfare of the people and the benevolence policy: The real meaning of any government is to promote the welfare of the people. The government should provide social order and stability for people to enjoy life.

Mutual obligation rather than law in maintaining social justice: In Confucian tradition, social order and justice are maintained by mutual obligation in terms of virtue rather than law.

Market mechanism with government intervention: In a good society, the government should intervene as little as possible in people's economic affairs. Taxation should be as low as possible. The less involved in economic activities the government is the better for society. Yet, government should maintain public infrastructures (in particular, irrigation systems) in good condition.

Respect for hard work and appreciation of frugality: Confucian societies are characterised by high saving rates.

Emphasising social harmony and justifying rebels against corrupt governments: This, if taken seriously by those in power, they will hardly enjoy being corrupt and face a rebellion.

Confucius was described as the greatest advocate of popular education. He worked to make education accessible to all, to offer education for establishing character instead of for a mere vocation.

One can see important reflections of Confucian Ethics in the economic and social development of some of the East Asian economies. For instance, the economic miracle of Japan, almost totally devoid of natural resources, was largely due to the rapid spread of education as well as the fast development of modern science and technology.

Apparently, Japan was influenced by Confucianism for a long time, but it was only after the Meiji Restoration that Japan began fully practising the most important feature of Confucianism — social position determined by education and merit.

South Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan directly emulated Japan and benefited from investments in education and the establishment of rule of law that is simple and effective.

My oversimplified version of the essence of Confucian ethics comprises the following: Investment in education, high saving rates, meritocracy, respect for authority and rebellion against corruption. The first four, which have guided most of East Asia, however, might not mean the fifth. Thus, while Singapore has done exceptionally well on corruption plus the other three, most other economies in East Asia fall short of the ideal achievement on corruption perception (see Table). In fact, all of them are payers of bribes to the money-hungry politicians and policy-makers of the rest of the world.

China case

The case of China is interesting. Economic reforms since 1978 have transformed the nation, with enviably high levels of economic growth fuelled by high domestic savings and extremely high levels of foreign investment inflows.

The reforms, however, have effectively negated the Maoist equality in wealth and income. Today the extent of income inequality in China is just as high as that of the US. Corruption thrives in the country, along with all the evils of capitalist choices available in the market.

The most oversimplified version of the greatest challenge China now faces is the possible fallout of instability in the face of the logical and empirical incompatibility between rising inter-personal inequalities and communist polity. How, then, can China hold the flock together? The hope in the country's political elite seems to be that Confucius could help.

Will Confucian ethics help China? While the answer will be known in course of time, it is important to recognise that any spirit of rebellion and revolution against corrupt regimes could be easily stomached by a combination of the highly educated being rewarded immensely and the less educated subjected to rule of law plus respect for authority.

Lessons for India

More than the 13 agreements signed recently by India and China, and much more than the targets for bi-lateral trade, India could benefit significantly and substantially by using the key ethical principles of Confucius, notwithstanding the highly probable rediscovery of an Indian saint or sage who has proclaimed the same or similar or even more potent set of ethical principles. It does not matter who said the good things, what they are is what counts.

The urgent need in India is to raise investment in education and institute an Indian blend of meritocracy plus inclusive growth. In addition, we must work hard to get rid of our unenviable reputation for receiving and paying bribes.

(The author, formerly with the National University of Singapore and the World Bank, is Professor Emeritus, GITAM Institute of Foreign Trade, Visakhapatnam and Visiting Faculty, Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning — Deemed University — Prasanthi Nilayam. He can be reached at bhanoji@gmail.com.)

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