OPINION> Zhu Yuan
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OPINION> Zhu Yuan
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Draw on wisdom of ancestors for system building
By Zhu Yuan (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-08 07:43
With a history of thousands of years as a unified nation, China and its people habitually look to the past as a mirror to reflect on what is desired today. This theme is typical in Chinese operas, in which almost all moralizations are based on past stories. Fed up as many Chinese have been with this habit, we still may benefit by drawing on the wisdom of our ancestors. "Politics and Governance In Chinese Dynasties," a book written by professor Li Konghuai from Fudan University, may provide us with a different angle to look at ancient Chinese politics and its political system. In the past several decades, when a too narrow or rigid interpretation of Marxism was worshipped as the sole methodology with which to look at everything, including history, almost everything ancient was considered bad. This way of looking at the past went to the extreme during the "Cultural Revolution" (1966-76), when even ancient upright and honest officials or great minds, who had been commended for hundreds of years, were accused of serving feudal emperors. This book is different. This author intends to explain with his research why China has remained a unified nation for thousands of years without being disintegrated. Apart from the inclusiveness and elasticity of its cultural power, which has proven to be an adhesive for national cohesion, he believes that the increasingly optimized political system made a great difference. Every dynasty in the history of China, upon its establishment, made it a priority to improve its political system by learning the lessons of the previous dynasty, and why it had been overthrown by peasant uprising forces. That made it possible for China's ancient political system to have evolved into a relatively efficient governing mechanism. The systems that ancient Chinese politicians designed reflected their understanding of politics, which included the mandate to balance different relationships. Politics included the relationships between the central and local governments, between the civil court officials and their military counterparts, between different groups of intellectuals and between the government and social communities. The political system was based upon the philosophy that the imperial authority was a boat, and its subjects were the water. Water can keep a boat floating and can also capsize it at the same time. The political system must be so designed to make sure public opinion could smoothly reach the top imperial authority. So government seats at all levels would have a drum for residents to beat in order to express their grievances. In our past, senior officials directly sent by the emperor on inspection tours would usually listen to grievances from residents on their way. All these measures were adopted to make sure "waters are placid enough to keep the boat floating rather than capsize it with turbulence." Whether we are aware or not, we are following our ancestors' political philosophy in many ways. Some local governments today set regular days for officials to receive visitors with grievances -- quite similar to what their ancient counterparts did. Of course, the country's political system is much more advanced. But looking back at how our ancestors designed political systems and how they understood politics may provide some food for thought on the necessity of political system reform today. E-mail: zhuyuan@chinadaily.com.cn (China Daily 07/08/2009 page8) |
