Why didn't modern capitalism appear in China —— Reading Confucianism and Taoism

Why didn't modern capitalism appear in China —— Reading the Digest of Confucianism and Taoism: In his book Confucianism and Taoism, Weber discussed the proposition "Why did modern capitalism only appear in the West and not in China" from the perspective of religious economic ethics. The reasons include two aspects: first, material factors, that is, social foundation; The second is the spiritual factor. Material factors and spiritual factors are interrelated. Spiritual factors are based on material factors, and the existence of material factors has its profound spiritual factors. In other words, there is a deep connection between Confucianism, Taoism and sociology in China. Weber believes that China's traditional sociological foundation is the real reason why modern capitalism did not appear in China. Keywords: material and spiritual factors of capitalism purify Confucianism Text: Weber's Confucianism and Taoism and Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism tell us a fact: China has superior social conditions, even though there are no social system obstacles encountered in the development of western capitalism, it has not produced capitalism. Contrary to Puritanism, Weber explained "why capitalism appeared in the West but not in China" from both material and spiritual aspects. The rational spirit of capitalism has no material factors in China, that is, the sociological basis of China, which is the basis of spiritual factors. Confucianism and Taoism expounded the material factors from four angles: city, monarch, feudal pension country, administrative management and agricultural system, autonomy, law and capitalism. Among them, there are five core and specific factors, namely, monetary system, cities and guilds, property system countries, clan organizations and legal systems. First of all, the rapid increase in the number of precious metals such as gold, silver and copper owned by China has led to the substantial development of the monetary economy. Weber believes that the use of money is an extremely important factor in the rationalization of economic activities, but this development has not broken through the shackles of traditionalism, but has strengthened it. Because China's regional concept is too heavy, although he has tried many times, he has never established an effective monetary system, which often makes trading a primitive barter way and an obstacle to the development of capitalism. Second, the urban organizations in China and even the whole East are completely different from those in the West, and have no political characteristics of cities. (Weber, 2003:58) Compared with western European cities, China's cities are not independent politically and militarily, but just patchwork of some rural areas. Because it is not an "identical body" with inherent political privileges, there is no citizen class in the sense of so-called self-defense soldiers living in cities in ancient western countries. (Weber, 2003:58) Similarly, due to the lack of formal laws to protect the free development of industry and commerce, only residents engaged in industry and commerce can form trade associations and realize collective self-protection. It is precisely because there is no such legal protection that the professional groups in China have embarked on a cold road of self-help unheard of in the West. This self-help also determines that China does not have a recognized, formal, solid and reliable legal basis to regulate free industry and commerce in a mutual way. (Weber, 2003:64) The reason why China does not have such a foundation is that cities and guilds do not have their own political and military power. (Weber, 2003:64) Third, the state model of property ownership is not conducive to the development of capitalism. Since Qin Shihuang established a centralized and unified country, China has established a national system closely related to politics, economy and etiquette. This system makes the country look at the extension of the royal family with special respect. The ethical thought of "monarch, monarch and minister, father, son and son" is endowed with sacred color. Officials are selected by examining their familiarity with Confucian classics and do not have professional knowledge of administrative management. This weakens the government's effective management of local affairs. Fourth, too much emphasis is placed on clan interests, and there is a lack of rational impersonal relationship in the guild, so that it is impossible to have commercial freedom and cooperative organizational forms. (Pan Yu,1999: No.4) Clan organizations played an important role in the ancient social life of China, which was composed of consanguineous families. Confucian family ethics with filial piety as the core has contributed to the maintenance and development of patriarchal blood relationship. Confucianism believes that all people should worship their ancestors, so ancestor worship and consanguinity based on farming economy are paramount. China people are more dependent on the relationship between relatives, so they can't leave their relatives to other social circles emotionally. Therefore, there is a lack of opportunities for economic exchanges. China people seldom develop a second group outside their relatives. (Mo Guoxiang, Yan Li, 2008: No.9) Clan organizations mainly exist in rural areas, and the authority of the central government is difficult to intervene, thus becoming self-sufficient autonomous organizations. Weber believes that family organizations provide a wide range of economic and other needs for individuals and hinder the occurrence of individualism; However, the family-style auxiliary industry has hindered the development of capitalist big industry, prevented family ethics from taking precedence over family interests, and hindered the development of universalism spirit necessary for capitalist production. (Pan Yu, 1999: No.4) Fifth, Weber believes that the ancient criminal law in China is essentially "ethical laws and regulations" or "codification of ethical laws", but it cannot guarantee the smooth operation of modern capitalism. (Pan Yu, 1999, No.4) China's traditional hereditary rule determines that its laws have the characteristics of anti-formalism and paternalism. From the legal point of view, China lacks rational and well-trained judicial officials. (Pan Yu, 1999: No.4) According to the above points, Weber believes that modern capitalism is difficult to produce under the system of China. Next, we will analyze why modern capitalism can't be produced in China from the aspect of spiritual factors. Confucianism and Puritanism are highly rational religions. Here, Weber gave the criteria for judging the stage of religious rationalism: "First, the degree to which religion got rid of witchcraft;" The second is the extent to which religion systematically unifies the relationship between God and the world and the ethical relationship between religion itself and the world. " (Weber, 2003: 279) According to this standard, ascetic Protestantism is the highest stage of religious rationalism. In principle, it eradicated witchcraft, even the sublimated form of sacraments and symbols. "Only here is the world completely disillusioned" (or disillusioned). (Weber, 2003:279) Confucianism failed to touch witchcraft from the aspect of active salvation, partly relying on the support of witchcraft system. Class is the most important embodiment of what we call religious belief. Because of the different nature of class, heaven and reincarnation pursued as the highest goal in religion can only be different. (Weber, 2003: 19) Although the ruling class in China is interrupted from time to time and often in fierce competition, it has always been a scholar for two thousand years. Their life style and values depend on the characteristics of Confucianism itself, and influence the development of capitalism in China. Scholars learn from Confucianism, whose ambition is to be an official, and advocate "learning to be an official", which is not conducive to the specialization and professional training of the industry. As the main ideology of the government, Confucianism does not belittle wealth itself. As the clear teachings handed down from the ancestors of Confucianism pointed out, for Confucianism, wealth is an important means to live a noble life, that is, to have dignity and to devote themselves to self-suggestion. With what means to improve people's problem, the answer is: "rich! ".Because only when people are rich can they live" without losing their identity and status ". (Weber, 2003:297) But Confucianism believes that wealth is unreliable and will disturb the noble balance of the soul. Moreover, it advocates that "scholars are the most respected" and "learning to be excellent is the official", suggesting that intellectuals should avoid pursuing wealth and fame, so as to worship their ancestors and honor their ancestors. Confucianism requires always keeping sober self-control to safeguard the dignity of people who are good at doing all kinds of things, while Puritanism ethics requires self-control to unify the adjustment standard with God's will in a planned way. (Weber, 2003:293) Confucianism takes an impartial position in dealing with things, while Puritan ethics puts these in a strong and solemn tension with the "world". (Weber, 2003:280) The kind of ethics that minimizes the tension in this world (in intention) is Confucianism, in terms of religious degeneration or actually rejection of this world. Confucianism believes that this world is the best of all possible worlds, human nature is good, and people are only different in everything and equal in principle. (Weber, 2003:280) Confucianism regards this world as a place to settle down. They have neither a God who transcends or redeems, nor talk about the transcendental realm of this world. Their religious consciousness is weak. Unlike Puritans, there is no concept of "original sin". They only pursue longevity, health, wealth and immortality after death. Confucian system is a radical "secular optimism" system, which unswervingly eliminates the pessimistic tension between the world and personal transcendence. For Confucianism, the correct way to save the world is to adapt to the eternal super-god order in the world: Tao, that is, to adapt to the social requirements of * * * living together in harmony in the universe, mainly: piously obeying the fixed order of secular power. For specific individuals, the corresponding centrifugation here is to transform themselves into a harmonious and balanced person in all aspects, a microcosm of the universe. (Weber, 2003:280) Puritans have the concept of "original sin", believing that people are born guilty, so they pay attention to diligence and thrift, hoping to gain God's favor. Weber tried to prove that the core of Protestant ethics is to confirm the value of human secular existence with the concept of vocation, and to make use of exchange opportunities in economic behavior to obtain expected profits in a reasonable way. People can only determine God's care for themselves and prove the existence of God by secular professional achievements. (Yu, 2004: No.5) That is to say, Protestantism, which was formed after the Reformation, changed the original practice of Christianity to give up earthly life. It is believed that only by continuous efforts and keeping promises can earthly people be guaranteed to reach the kingdom of heaven and become God's voters, that is, it is the unshirkable responsibility of Protestants to be thrifty and frugal. This religious ethics of asceticism after China's entry into WTO has cultivated a capitalist spirit with the highest responsibility of pursuing profits and increasing wealth, which is the driving force behind the formation of a happy capitalist system. Confucian ethics consciously places people in hierarchical personal relationships, and political and economic organizations are completely tied to personal relationships. In China, the cornerstone of all trust and all business relationships is obviously based on blood relationship or kinship-like pure personal relationship. (Weber, 2003:289) This expanded kinship hinders the objective form of economic and enterprise forms. Although Puritan ethics allows the existence of these pure personal relationships, they are always considered suspicious, and these relationships can never be compared with God's relationships. It is absolutely necessary to avoid over-strengthening the interpersonal relationship of deified creatures. Trusting people, especially those whose natural attributes are closest to their own, will hurt the soul. (Weber, 2003:293) Puritanism objectifies all these relations, digests them into rational "enterprises" and purely objective business relations, and replaces China's omnipotent tradition in principle, local customs and specific cronyism in officialdom with ideal laws and contracts. In fact, they promoted some individualism and eventually led to the emergence of rational and full-time political and economic forms. To sum up, the opposite of (Confucian) rationality adapting to the world is (Puritan) rationality transforming the world. (Weber, 2003:293) It is the difference between "adapting to the world" and "transforming the world" that explains why China does not have modern capitalism, but only appears in the West.