The East Asian Region: Confucian Heritage and Its Modern Adaptation

248 Pages·2014·7.46 MB·English

by  Gilbert Rozman

The East Asian Region

The East Asian Region
CONFUCIAN HERITAGE AND
ITS MODERN ADAPTATION
Edited by Gilbert Rozman
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY
Copyright © 1991 by Princeton University Press
Published by Princeton University Press, 41 William Street,
Princeton, NewJersey 08540
In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press, Oxford
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publicatton Data
The East Asian region : Confucian heritage and
its modern adaptation / edited by Gilbert Rozman.
p. cm.
Includes index.
1. Philosophy, Confucian—East Asia. 2. East Asia—Social
life and customs. I. Rozman, Gilbert.
B5233.C6E37 1991 181M12—dc20 90-37421
ISBN 0-691-05597-1
This book has been composed in Linotron Baskerville
Princeton University Press books are printed on acid-free paper,
and meet the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the
Council on Library Resources
Printed in the United States of America by Princeton University Press,
Princeton, NewJersey
1 3 5 7 9 1 0 8 6 4 2
CONTENTS
Preface vii
Contributors xi
INTRODUCTION
The East Asian Region in Comparative Perspective 3
GILBERT ROZMAN
PART I: Confucianization: The Deepening of Tradition
CHAPTER 1
The Chinese Family and the Spread of Confucian Values 45
PATRICIA EBREY
CHAPTER 2
The Confucianization of Korean Society 84
JAHYUN KIM HABOUSH
CHAPTER 3
The Legacy of Confucianism in Japan 111
MARTIN COLLCUTT
PART II: The Modern Transition: De-Confucianization
or Re-Confucianization?
CHAPTER 4
Comparisons of Modern Confucian Values in China and
Japan 157
GILBERT ROZMAN
CHAPTER 5
Perceptions of Confucianism in Twentieth-Century Korea 204
MICHAEL ROBINSON
Index 227

PREFACE
THIS VOLUME is the product of an informal seminar supported by the
Mellon Foundation through a grant to Princeton University. From
1985 to 1987 the seminar regularly brought together local graduate
students and faculty as well as invited outside discussants to examine
various historical and comparative dimensions of the East Asian Con­
fucian tradition. We are grateful to the scores of participants who
contributed on those occasions to the shaping of this manuscript. Sa-
rane Boocock, Stephen Chiu, Deborah Davis, Sheldon Garon, Marius
B. Jansen, Ryoko Kato, Laurel Kendall, and Andrew Walder are
among the many to whom we are in debt. Our preliminary discus­
sions explored many more dimensions than those examined in this
book; no doubt others will carry the analysis forward with the advan­
tage of benefiting from our loose ends. We want to express our ap­
preciation also to Margaret Case and Laura Kang Ward of Princeton
University Press and two anonymous readers who helped to revise
this volume for publication.
The collaborative efforts in this book have been guided by the im­
age of an emerging, though still vaguely defined, field of study.
Viewed from a global perspective, it might be called regionalism,
since the primary concern is how one region in the world differs
from other leading regions. Seen more closely, this field involves the
comparative and interdisciplinary study of the countries within East
Asia. In this way, we can determine what constitutes the common re­
gional heritage as distinct from the specific national traditions. This
differentiation can best be achieved by examining the diffusion of the
regional legacy over many centuries and its adaptability in an era of
modernization and of state-sponsored movements intended to incul­
cate a new worldview. Our goal is to analyze a changing regional her­
itage interacting with national and interregional forces.
The Introduction approaches East Asia through comparisons with
the West, led by the United States and Western Europe, and the
North, centered in the Soviet Union. This exploratory discussion
highlights the special character of the East Asian region, briefly ex­
plaining what this region is and how it has developed.
From our overview comparing three regions, we search for a re­
vised typology of societies, reaching beyond the familiar categories of
capitalist and socialist, modernized and nonmodernized. In addition
to explaining the study of regions and identifying some topics useful
Vlll PREFACE
for the study of heritage, this chapter concisely reviews the Confucian
intellectual tradition, together with stereotypes of individuals and of
group relations within the region. It presents a general introduction
to the East Asian region.
Future research will likely present a vast panorama of interregional
comparisons. Our aim here is merely to trace some outstanding dif­
ferences and to indicate combinations involving both East Asian
traditions and outside elements. We recognize that over many centu­
ries the regional tradition interacted with distinct national traditions
and responded to changing societies, that over the past century and
a half it has combined with imported traditions and has been trans­
formed by modernizing societies, and that the pace of "internation­
alization" continues to accelerate. Not only does the region stand out
for its indigenous tradition and for its adaptations in the course of
borrowing, it also should be seen as a source of convergence. We
should consider the impact of East Asia as a leading region that fi­
nally becomes an exporter of its own regional legacy.
Throughout this book we ask what is Confucian about East Asia.
The Introduction reviews the central concepts in the Confucian
worldview and makes interregional comparisons with other world-
views. Part I considers what was essential to Confucianism in each of
three countries, and asks when it spread to successive groups in the
population. Part II continues by discussing what survived from this
tradition, and whether or not it was perceived as Confucian. The In­
troduction also considers the prospects for Confucian behavior in an
increasingly competitive and interdependent world.
We are concerned with Confucianism as it was practiced in diverse
settings. We view Confucianism as a set of rituals aimed at harmoniz­
ing human relations and more generally as a guide to social behavior.
We also see it as a method of governance, relying on a system of ed­
ucation and a clear-cut ordering of the society. It is a worldview, but
often not an exclusive one. It is a set of ideals, combined with the
means to achieve them at the individual, community, and state level.
These concerns lead us to investigate the social history, the sociology,
of East Asia.
Part I consists of three parallel chapters, each presenting a chro­
nology of the spread of Confucian values and behavior through one
of the East Asian countries. Although China was the birthplace of
Confucianism and, unlike Japan and Korea, was not conscious of an
imported doctrine, it is important to trace the spread of the attitudes
and practices of this worldview even within Chinese society. Only in
the second millennium after Confucius' death in 479 B.C. did the
practices that had become closely identified with his teachings be­
come widely disseminated among the Chinese people, and even in
PREFACE IX
the third millennium diffusion continued but remained incomplete.
In Korea the Confucian legacy was introduced later and did not
spread widely until the fifteenth century. In Japan mass acceptance
of Confucian principles was accelerated in the eighteenth and nine­
teenth centuries.
The three chapters on Confucianization in premodern times lead
us away from the better studied intellectual history of Confucian
ideas to the less explored impact of these ideas on the lives of individ­
uals in various social strata in their family setting, community activi­
ties, and education. For each country we seek to determine the timing
of the dissemination, the means by which it was accomplished, and
the groups most affected. Above all, our concern is with the degree
and character of Confucianization. In this way, we can better show
what is common to the regional tradition as well as what varies.
Japan was the last of the three to become Confucianized, and it
remained less so in the mid-nineteenth century than China and Ko­
rea. Yet, because of many factors, including the rapid spread of ed­
ucation and the competitive character of state sponsorship in a coun­
try with local government autonomy, Japanese Confucianism
acquired a more dynamic form. It was a stronger force for centraliza­
tion, less encumbered with particular forms of rule and elite selec­
tion.
Part II also reviews East Asia's three national paths, but concen­
trates on the modern era. It is concerned with the fate of the Confu­
cian tradition in an age of modernization and its interaction with cap­
italism and socialism. While some attention is given to national
perceptions of the Confucian heritage, more centers on the actual
persistence of the tradition, whether recognized or not, in various
spheres of life.
For comparative analysis it is necessary to distinguish different
types of Confucianism. Chapter 4 points to five types and compares
their presence in China and Japan. It stresses that Japan's Confucian
legacy was more favorable for modernization because the traditions
themselves were somewhat different. Moreover, Japanese built di­
rectly on these traditions, while Chinese leaders were often struggling
to repudiate their heritage. In combination with Western liberalism,
Confucian attitudes help to accelerate modernization. In combination
with the aggressive campaigns of radical socialism and their stifling
controls on the expression of traditional attitudes, modernization is
slowed in the long run, even if short-term mobilization may give the
illusion of rapid strides in the economy. Part II is concerned with the
modern fate of a tradition that once appeared to be dying, but in fact
proved to be unusually amenable to continued application.
Our objective is to explore some of the broadest contours on the