Notably it subjects Weber’s argument to critical scrutiny, arguing that he drew upon sources which infused the central European imagination of the time, constructing a sense of China in Europe, whilst European writers were constructing a particular image of imperial China and limited their understanding due to their lack of language proficiency. (1971), Culture in Crisis, Glencoe, Fox, H. (1994), Listening to the World. In the post-aristocratic societies of today the best we can hope for is a natural aristocracy of the Jeffersonian type. Ex oriente lux. Becoming biliterate: First language influences, Publishing Limited, Vol. students’ teaching, cultural and assessment-related context. He was recruited into the philosophy department at SYSU in Zhuhai as part of its “Hundred Talents” program, funded by the Chinese government, designed to bring international talent to China. The Learning Style Profile of Keefe and Monk (1.990) has been used. As far as I know, it is a unique document in the history of premodern meritocracy. Massive government funding has poured into the Confucius Research Institute (founded 1996) in Master Kong’s hometown of Qufu in Shandong Province, which sponsors a regular World Confucius Conference, various prizes, grants, and awards, and in general seeks to coordinate global research on Confucius. The Confucian tradition is a tool to think with; it deserves respect for its relative successes in the past and loyalty from those who love China’s traditions. There was no examination system, no “elevating the worthy,” no attempt to link meritorious rule with political legitimacy—all key elements in Chinese dezhi. not to express their opinions in public (Chan, 1999). Confucianism - even though it is not a religion in the strict sense and historically as heterogeneous as Christianity - can certainly be regarded as a functional equivalent of the Christian faith: Confucian values have exerted a profound and lasting influence on China (and East Asia) over a … © 2008-2020 ResearchGate GmbH. Confucius was a philosopher and teacher who lived from 551 to 479 B.C.E. Studies on Mainland students’ learning experience in Taiwan have mostly adopted quantitative methodology. (1990). His most recent book is Virtue Politics: Soulcraft and Statecraft in Renaissance Italy (Belknap, 2019). They would try “to improve democracy’s meritorious governance by injecting meritocratic institutions into a democratic regime.”. But in China the struggle to restore the lost virtues of the past has at least made a good beginning.