Missionaries of Humanity: Popular Confucianism in China

American Affairs, Winter 2019

In a state where one may not criticize the regime, one learns the art of the unsaid. In China, as in the premodern West, a citizen can complain freely about bad roads or corrupt officials, but it is considered seditious to criticize the form of government. If a citizen does criticize rule by the Communist Party or disobeys the Party’s com­mands, those violations of law will go into her dossier and may affect her career prospects and freedom of movement. But what if you loved your country and harbored a strong conviction that the government’s ideology was doing damage to it? What if, for instance, you believed Chinese state education was damaging the character of its citizens, leaving them with kōng xīn bìng, the disease of an empty heart? What if you believed that ancient Chinese culture, the culture of Confucianism, offered cures for this condition, cures that would make China stronger, better, more humane? In this case, you would have to be careful what you said. You would have to learn the art of the unsaid…

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