Abstract:
Confucian philosophy’s heavy-handed role in Chinese governance is often taken as a given–particularly when looking at how Western thinkers have described East Asian development in recent decades. However, when looking at the case study of the Chinese government’s rule over Tibet, we find that the Communist Party inconsistently adopts Confucian values of governance depending on what strategies might be most convenient for asserting its authority over the region. Within this essay, I examine how the pivotal Confucian text, The Analects, describes what effective governance looks like. Using that framework, I evaluate the Chinese government’s stance on Confucianism with regard to the three principles of harmony, individual cultivation to create legitimacy, and morality to create order during the following three time periods: the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), the Opening and Reform Era (1979-1989), and the Jiang Zemin Administration (1989-2022). I then evaluate the extent to which the Chinese government’s treatment of Tibet can be considered Confucian during these time periods, using the same three criteria of harmony, individual cultivation, and morality. The Chinese government pursues actions that best allow it to maintain and assert its authority at the expense of earning the respect and support of its citizens– thus ignoring crucial Confucian principles regarding accountability in leadership. I thus argue that despite Chinese government rhetoric and the widespread assumption that Chinese governance is often Confucian, in reality, the Chinese government’s treatment of Tibet demonstrates that this is not the case.