Confucianism

Confucianism, also known as Ru'ism, is a political philosophy (and, to an extent, religion, although some argue that it is more of an organized form of Chinese folk religion) that first set a standard of Chinese culture, as well as East Asian culture as a whole. It practices five core tenets:
 * 義 (Yi) - Righteousness.
 * 信 (Xin) - Honesty and Trustworthiness.
 * 忠 (Chung) - Loyalty to the state, etc.
 * 禮 (Li) - includes ritual, propriety, etiquette, etc.
 * 孝 (Hsiao) - love within the family, love of parents for their children, and love of children for their parents

History
Confucianism was first conceived of by Confucius, taking heavy inspiration from Chinese folk culture, and made the Chinese people united under one and a love for the state. It was brought back with Neo-Confucianism to battle against Taoism and Buddhism. Currently, Confucianism still remains a strong influence in East Asia.

The May Fourth Movement
During the May Fourth Movement, when Chinese people began to pursue democracy, freedom and public morality, many students studying abroad brought back to China new ideas from abroad, and the spread of these new ideas almost always began by reflecting on and criticising the Confucian culture that had ruled China for some 2,000 years. During the May Fourth Movement, intellectuals who opposed Confucianism could be broadly divided into two factions:

Liberal Democrats
Their criticism of Confucianism was relatively mild, a democratic critique of the exclusive status of Confucianism. They did not want to outlaw Confucianism altogether, but rather wanted Confucianism as a political system to coexist with other political systems in a free game of pluralism. They offer the following critique of Confucianism:


 * Confucianism, with its emphasis on grand unification, makes it easy for Chinese to become ultra-nationalists and makes it more difficult for Chinese to accept foreign cultures and globalization.
 * Confucianism promoted the rule of man, which was at odds with the dominant liberal and democratic values of the international community at the time
 * Confucianism's emphasis on the importance of observing morality and encouraging the abandonment of basic human rights for the sake of inner morality is incompatible with the humanists' assertion that basic human rights are emphasized.

Communists
Communists were fierce in their criticism of Confucianism, which benefits from the fundamental opposition between communist ideals and Confucian ideas.


 * Communists aspire to a communist society in which everyone gets what they want, while Confucian supporters want a world of Great Harmony(大同社会 in Chinese) governed by a wise and virtuous ruler in which everyone observes morality.
 * Communists wanted to enter the ideal society through constant revolutions, while confucianists wanted to enter the ideal society through the middle way (a moderate, centrist reform).

After the May Fourth Movement, the influence of confucianism in China waned significantly.

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