Chinese President Xi Jinping has a moral and cultural crisis on his hands. For decades following the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Chinese leaders focused rebuilding efforts on economic prosperity and development, rarely providing moral guidance or encouraging cultural activities as a way to cultivate a balanced and well-rounded society. Now, nearly 40 years later, Chinese leaders are worried about the negative effects the lack of morality and culture has on the Middle Kingdom.
In response to this, Xi has pursued the revival of Confucianism as a state ideology. Confucianism was the dominant ideological school of thought for centuries and acted as the foundational cultural cornerstone. Tenants of Confucianism include an emphasis on social harmony, ethical behavior, social hierarchy, and respect for the elderly, and obedience to authority.
Reformist intellectuals by the late 19th century concluded that China’s weakness, vis-à-vis Western powers, was largely due to its conservative Confucian culture. They felt it made the society too hierarchical, stifled technological innovation, and fostered bureaucratic corruption.
Since that time, Confucian principles virtually disappeared from public discourse and social rhetoric in China, with most Chinese leaders rejecting Confucian thought and encouraging the public to embrace western ideals. President Xi, however, is now taking a different track.
Since emerging in 2012 as the President of China, President Xi has increasingly embraced and encouraged Confucian ideology. Many view this as a positive development that can help solve China’s moral and cultural crisis. However, the reemergence of Confucianism, coupled with recent worrisome trends on human rights abuses of Chinese women, including the arrest this month of China’s most prominent women rights lawyer, directly threatens women’s rights in China.
Under the Confucian hierarchical structure, women occupy the lowest social status. During her life, a woman is first subjected to the authority of her father, then her husband, and then her son. She has relatively no ability to control who she marries, where she lives, and has absolutely no rights to property or possession.
In the Analects of Confucius, a collection of sayings and ideas attributed to Confucius, insights into the status of women include, “women’s greatest duty is to produce a son,” and, “the women with no talent is the one who has merit.” It is not hard to see how the reemergence of this ideology could potentially thwart the advancement of women’s rights.
Dr. Kimberly Manning of Concordia University pointed out in an interview that, Jiang Qing, China’s most prominent New Confucian philosopher and Head of Yanming Confucian Academy, “Advocates that China develop along the lines of South Korea, where men earn higher wages and women can stay home to undertake their natural duties as filial daughter, wife, and mother.” These highly Confucian values are a roadblock to the development of the Chinese economy and the status of women in China.
Women are a key component to the strength of China’s economy. Currently, China is on the brink of a demographic crisis, with a shrinking labor force and a rapidly aging population. If the Chinese government began encouraging women to remain at home and out of the work force, it would be near impossible for the Chinese economy to maintain its strength.
Taken on its own, the argument that the revival of Confucianism is inherently bad for women is, admittedly, a stretch. Combined with alarming trends and an increase in the violation of human rights of Chinese women makes the Confucian revival look less like an effort to promote harmony and order in China, and more like an attempt of the CCP to continue its control over society.
Last March, the People’s Armed Police in China detained five women’s rights activists planning a public awareness campaign against sexual harassment on public transportation. Their detention sparked an international outcry.
China is known for arresting political dissentients and protesters, but the development of arresting women protesting sexual harassment indicates a deeper, more alarming trend in China.
A key question, of course, is whether a return to Confucian values will be embraced by a larger swath of society or be confined to the New Confucians themselves.
While many women in China will probably not embrace the New Confucian ideology, it will likely be forced upon them. President Xi’s record of silencing women’s voices when they take on an uncomfortable social or political issue is grim. For example, in early January an art exhibition centered on gender-based violence scheduled to open in a Beijing gallery was quickly shut down by local authorities. Moreover, last March, women donning wedding dresses, stained with costume blood and protesting domestic violence, were quickly shut down.
President Xi appears to have determined he has limited options except to impede citizens’ individual rights for the sake of stability. As leader of the CCP and the country, domestic stability must be his first priority. The increased influence of Western values and culture has led to an erosion of traditional Chinese values and a decrease in Chinese nationalism. A number of measures have been taken to make sure that foreign influence in China is controlled, including the Great China Firewall and the controversial Anti-Terrorism Laws. It is clear that the Chinese leadership is desperate to minimize the flow of foreign influence into China.
These actions suggest that for Xi, domestic stability in China is the top priority –making the violation of women rights and a return to a more traditional patriarchal society worth the sacrifice.
This line of thinking and justification, however, is grossly illiberal and miscalculated. Chinese women have proven over the last 50 years that when granted economic and social opportunities they flourish and become active and valuable participants in society and the economy. Currently, 70 percent of Chinese women are employed in the labor force, a figure that is higher than their American counterparts. Frankly, without women, the Chinese economy would have not achieved the impressive success and growth it has over the last 40 years.
Women are crucial to the continued growth, sustainability, and development of China. The Chinese government should seriously consider the negative consequences that the revival of Confucianism could have on Chinese society and economic prosperity.
Marginalizing and oppressing half of the Chinese population through a forced return to Confucian values is not the way to promote domestic stability. Instead, President Xi should honor the commitments he recently made at the UN General Assembly in New York City, declaring his unwavering commitment to advancing women’s rights. It is now on him to deliver on that commitment.
Madeline Fetterly is the program coordinator for the Clements Center for National Security at the University of Texas, Austin. She holds a graduate degree from the George Washington University in Asian Studies and International Development and is an advocate for global women’s rights. You can follow her on twitter @m_fetterly
