The relation between traditional culture and modernization has been the main ideological concern in Chinese intellectual circles for this century. However, because Chinese intellectuals were faced with the challenge of saving the nation from sub-jugation, ensuring its survival and studying new ideas from other nations, they could not develop a correct understanding of the value for a modern society of the traditional Confucianist culture. This hindered the creative transformation of that culture into a modern social vision. This problem still puzzles Chinese intellectual circles. This chapter will investigate the modern value of Con-fucianism in view of the modern rationalization of life.

To understand the modern value of Confucianism is to evaluate what Confucianism can contribute to China’s process of modernization. Therefore, we should first determine a criterion for this evaluation and at the same time explore its objectivity in order to ensure the objectivity of the evaluation.

The evaluative criterion is society as a composite of modern political, economic and cultural characteristics; simply speaking, it is modernity. Modernity is a generalized cultural category with three levels: the material, the institutional and the ideological. As Confucianism belongs to the third level, we shall limit the criterion for modern Confucian values to the system of modern values.

It is still too early to say what is included in the ideological system of modern values. According to the human being’s ultimate concern, we can only suggest some pointers using nature, society and historical construction as a threefold cultural background for summing up the experiences and lessons of the modernization process of many nations.

As the modernization movement began first in Western society, we can ask what the system of modern values, especially the actual modernization process in the West, includes in the eyes of Western scholars? Using rationality and individuality as its basic components, the system of modern society infuses the different fields and levels of social life with the following aspects:

(1) On the relation between human and nature, it develops the idea that men have absolute power to conquer and possess nature according to the anthropocentric tradition that "Man is the measure of all things". Therefore it values science as having the utmost efficiency.

(2) On the relation between persons and society, it develops the idea of a social contract that individual rights cannot be violated, and the democratic political view from classical libe-ralism and religious equality that "All are created equal by the God." Therefore, its primary value is that the individual has priority over the whole, and hence that the individual has priority over society.

(3) On morality it uses rationality to direct morality according to the rationalist tradition emphasizing that instrumental rationality has priority over human rationality.

(4) On values it gives priority to the physical over the su-pernatural, and to the material over the spiritual life.

Because the system of modern values in the West is planted in the soil of traditional Western culture, it leads to such insuperable cultural difficulties as the ecological crisis, the threat of wars, the tensions existing in human relations and the loss of morality. Therefore it cannot become the spokesman of human cultures, nor can it be the criterion for understanding the modern values of Confucianism. Correctly to understand Confucianism’s modern values, we must not center upon Western culture, but restructure the rationale of a modern value system.

The final aim of human activities is freedom and the develop-ment of human beings themselves. The rationality of a modern values system is based upon how it can offer the best conditions for promoting the most integral development of freedom. From this aspect, a rational modern value system should have at least the following three characteristics:

(a) On the relation between human beings and nature, it emphasizes the harmony between both and objects to overem-phasizing the conquering or ownership of nature by humankind.

(b) On the relation between human beings and society, it emphasizes their dialectical unity; it combines individual rights with individual social responsibilities and builds the relation between an individual and society as a whole so that each is both goal and means for the other; it objects to using the whole simply as a means to achieve an individual’s self realization as well as ignoring the free individual’s personal needs.

(c) On the relation between the human beings and itself, it emphasizes a high unity of spirit and flesh, spiritual and physical life, and objects to any choice of values which contradicts these two.

This is the basic requirement in order for the system of modern values to be rational.

Confucianism has as its scriptures The Book of Songs, The Book of History, The Book of Changes, The Book of Rites and The Spring and Autumn Annals. Humanity, justice, rites and intelli-gence are basic principles of its academic system. Its most im-portant internal component is Confucian values.

In history, Confucianism had different phases of its develop-ment, each phase having its own characteristics. But it retained typical ideas which formed the comparatively stable aspects of Confucian values. These ideas include mainly an emphasis upon:

(1) harmony, despising antithesis. The Confucian considers harmony, including that between men and nature, between men, and between nations and countries, to be the highest criterion and aim.

(2) the whole over the individual. The Confucian thinks that an individual’s values can be realized only in society as a whole, as that is the ground of one’s existence. Therefore, it emphasizes individual duties to society.

(3) morality over utility. The Confucian considers moral attributes to be the basic factors which differentiate the human from the animal. This puts special emphasis on the moral motives of behaviors and opposes what is utilitarian in human behaviour. Furthermore, the Confucian looks upon the moral duties safeguarding feudalism, e.g., being loyal to the emperor and being responsible for the country, as of the utmost utility, also called public interests. It opposes using individual interests as motives for behavior.

(4) spiritual life, despising material life. The Confucian specially emphasizes self-cultivation in morals, which is con-sidered to be more important than one’s material life.

In China’s history, Confucian values had a double influence over society. Positively, they ensured the nation’s independence and unity, produced harmonious human relations, and cultivated the responsibility of individuals to society; negatively, despising scientific rationality, they denied individual interests and self-development, causing one to be conservative, and to seek quiet, stability and safety. Their positive and negative influences co-exist and the ideological system of values has both its merits and its defects; it promises to be useful still in building an ideological system of modern values.

According to our comparative analysis of the basic content of Confucian values and of the rationality of the system of modern values, we can see the role played by the former in building the latter:

(1) The Confucian has the following choice of values in pursuing harmony: to overcome the ecological crisis, to restructure a rational relation between human beings and nature, to overcome the drifting apart and tensions in human relations due to the social division of labour and conflicts of interests, to end the threat of wars and to build a peaceful world.

(2) Confucianism emphasizes the whole, though with a tendency to deny the individual; it reflects a specific side of human nature, even onesidedly. It contains some elements of truth, which can be absorbed by a modern society for it relaxes the tension between individuals and the society caused by over emphasizing individuality. By mutual learning and making up for each other’s deficiencies, a new ideological system of values about the in-dividual and society can be developed alongside the Western individualism.

(3) The Confucian principle of morality and justice, though one-sided, strengthens the position of human rationality. It is helpful also in overcoming the drawbacks of the utilitarian idea that humans are governed by things. But we should reject the Confucian tendency to deny material and individual interests. Learning from each other and complementing each other’s deficiencies, Con-fucianism and utilitarianism can overcome the confrontation between morality and utility, instrumental means and goal.

(4) The Confucian emphasis upon the priority of spiritual life is significant for overcoming the cultural difficulties of lack of mental ballast and the spiritual wasteland caused by hedonism. It is helpful in building a new mode of development for individuals.

On the whole, Confucianism offers rich and valuable thoughts for restructuring the rationality of modernity. Its significance and value will be increasingly demonstrated as human history proceeds.

developwomen’s personality development. A modernized economy will enrich the female subject’s personality and open the possibilities for women to rediscover their self and improve their personality.

worshiped female goddesses and had beautiful legends concerning their authority. Female goddesses could not only repair heaven and make the earth, but could also create and multiply human beings. The worship of female goddesses reflects the authoritive position of female in material things and in producing human beings during primitive economic times. With respect to material production, their level then was very low. Women collected natural fruit, while men hunted for animals, but because of poor instruments men often came back with nothing, whereas the collection of fruit by women was the main source of food. In their state of group marriage, everyone knew his or her mother without knowing the father; child bearing was considered the business of women alone. In both material and human production women occupied a dominant position and were respected by everybody. With men they worked hard for the development of humankind, but did not ride roughshod over people by means of their position. Hence, their personalities were sound and beneficial. In such a time women had both position and personality, but they could not be said to have had independent individual personalities. They were conscious of a heavy dependence upon nature and human beings; there was no place for a sense of independent personality.

Progress in productive tools changed the natural division of labor. The rise of agriculture and livestock provided a new productive force. In addition, individual marriage replaced group marriage so that people knew their own parents. Child bearing was no longer a holy affair, but a burden binding women in the family. Men came to occupy the authoritive position in society originally held by women. With the establishment of the system of private property, women no longer had an independent personality, but became an exploited and oppressed part of men’s property.

The development of economy and the progress of the marriage relation need not have led to the loss of women’s personality, but the fact is just the contrary. We have seen several antinomies above: first, women invented primitive agriculture, contributed to the invention of fire and livestock farming, and helped to bring about the development of the economy and progress in history. At the same time, women showed themselves less competent than men in such productive activities as agriculture and livestock farming, which made them subordinate to men; second, women contributed to the continuation of the human race, but child bearing bound them in families and deprived them of the opportunity to take part in social activities; third, males created the culture and value system and made themselves subjects of the society, while treating females as object and tools. Although these are historical antinomies, they were inevitable for human beings in their efforts to free themselves for the bonds of nature. In a society of low productive power, it is an axiom that the weak are prey to the strong. The backwardness of production and its corresponding feudal system and culture could not provide room for an equality of both sexes. Therefore, for the progress of the economy it was unavoidable that women’s personality would be sacrificed. In the dark ages in China as well as in the West women could not participate in politics and the praiseworthy characters of the female were also distorted: women become jealous due to living together with their husband’s concubines; they became self effacing due to being subject to maltreatment; and they became narrow-minded through living for a long time in the boudoir without going out. In the meantime, the distortion of the male personality was manifested in another way. Many men were subordinate to other men due to the social system which gave primary to the father’s rights so that they had no personality of their own. In the family, marriage for the sole purpose of child bearing and expression of the sexual impulse without love alienated the human essence of males.

The industrial economy destroyed the natural sense of the family as the basic unit. Great quantities of labor were needed by large industry. This created opportunities for women to enter social life, to participate in economic activities, to earn salaries, and hence no longer to be the property of others. This provided a good basis for their positions as social subjects. In addition, the democratic system, corresponding to the industrial economy, promoted such ideas as "all are equal in terms of money"; "all are equal before the law", "all are equal before God". This gave rise to public opinion favorable to the independence of women as regards their personality. All this was helpful in awakening women’s personalities as subjects. In industrial society women actively fulfilled their obligations while seeking their legitimate rights and interests in activities which constantly improve their personality. However, the following elements in industrial society frustrated the development of women’s personality or even subjected it to certain deviations.

First, industrial production places the machine at the center; it aims at producing material objects and is determined by the investment of human power and other resources; it emphasizes physical labor and operational technology, and the proportion of physical labor is much greater than that of mental work. This situation is unfavorable to women; they suffer sexual discrimination in seeking a job, which hinders the establishment of women’s personalties as subjects.

Second, due to the backwardness of ideas in comparison to the progress of the economy, certain feudal ideas such as "the male has dignity while the female is humble" and "a woman should be subordinate to a man" still fetter women, and influence social expectations regarding their role and value. This gives rise to certain dilemmas for women in seeking their rights and fulfilling their obligations. Many women feel a tension between their role in society and in their family, and in seeking a position in social life while feeling a sense of obligation to be a good wife and mother.

Third, the male culture inclines women to be masculine: as society has long been dominated by men the behavior of successful men in social life is taken as the pattern for all people. As women have not created their own pattern of behavior, they must conform to the pattern of man’s behavior so that their role in social life will more easily be accepted. This stage cannot be surmounted until women fully participate as subjects in society. Although the slogans such as "equality for both sexes" play a great role in freeing women from the fetters of family to become subjects in society, they are harmful to the maintenance of the distinctively female personality. In China, a trend toward the masculinization of women was strong after the 1950s, and reach its height in the 1970s. The "Iron Young Woman" in the 1950s was very similar to the male physique; in the 1970s the dress, even the style of women’s hair, was masculinized. Coming into 1980s, people exclaimed with surprising that "there are no woman in this country"; they began to doubt whether the "strong woman" was perfect in personality. Women refused to be masculinized.

However, people have no answer to the question what is the ideal personality for women? They sink into puzzlement and inertia. Men are afraid of their wives being "strong women", and women themselves fear being "strong women". In order to be thought of as tender, many women do not dare to show their talent, but then they worry about being too feminine; they do not know how to mould their personalities. The solution to the problem requires further development in the economy as well as constant progress in ideology; one is complementary to the other.

The modernized economy is a great revolution over the traditional one and will bring about change in all facets of society. The female personality will be developed and improved in the process of the modernization of society and its ideal will be realized.

First, the productive mode of the modernized economy helps manifest the personality of women as subjects. In modern industry, what determines the production is no longer physical human strength, but the application of a high level of technology, which increases the proportion of mental work. Now in some developed countries, the proportion of mental work versus physical labor approximates 1:1, while the value created by the former far exceeds that created by the latter. Therefore, the application of high level technology will reduce or eliminate the physical inferiority of women in production, and enable women to give play to their superiority in patience, carefulness and nimbleness. This is obviously indicated in developed countries: in the U.K. women have more job opportunities than men.

Second, the operational mode of a modernized economy enables women to choose the job suited to them. The open, dynamic pattern of the economy enables women to find positions of their own in a wider range of social activity. In developed countries, women are exploring molding ideal personalities. They are not the traditional good mothers and wives who sacrifice themselves in a closed family context, nor are they the so-called strong women of industrial times. They develop their own standard and hope to get a valuable job with flexible hours and a good location; they hope to take account of both family and career. Some women give up work and become housewives while bring up their children, but their return to the family is for the purpose of educating their children and giving their children the natural love of a mother so that the children can grow soundly. In the meantime, they engage in further studies to give play to their potentialities or to develop their interests, so that they will be more competitive when they take up a career after their children have grown up. Such exploration is praiseworthy under the conditions of a modernized economy; it advances the civilization of the whole society.

Third, the high educational level of society, the high degree of democracy and the modernization and socialization of house work due to the modernization of the economy will enable women to elevate their quality as human beings, to demonstrate their personality, to strengthen their competitive power in social life, and to realize a sound personality. There will be a day when we need no longer emphasize that the male and the female differ and recognize that there is something common to both sexes. Then the peculiar and varied beauty of the character and personality of the female will demonstrate itself naturally in the world.

Of course, molding the female personality depends not merely on the progress of economy and is not merely a matter for women alone. It depends on the consistent efforts of the whole society; this requires theoretical work by scholars to find the incompatibilities and in time eliminate them.