The second one, which originally meant religious sacrifices, indicates the combination of ritual forms, behavioural codes in accordance with the etiquette of human relations. Rituals are expressions of what makes us human beings, setting rules of decorum crucial for coexistence. Keeping in mind these two concepts, it is easier to understand the ambitious program of Confucius: to build a system in which order and wealth are both present by the constant recognition of hierarchy so that the miracle of Harmonious Society will happen. It is clear that Chinese culture underlines these values are not only spiritual a moral but also practical principals which permeate daily life, business and China more in general.
All this considered, is it possible to combine Confucian values with the concept of the Western modern state? For many years the answer was negative. The Confucian principles were considered the reasons for China’s backwardness: a society with great potential but sluggish and unable to innovate. According to Mark Elvin instead, China was living the “trap of stability”: the social-economic balance of China’s empire has not encouraged any project of renewal or innovation. This will happen later, after the Opium Wars and the collapse of the Empire in 1911. The XX century was the scenario of the encounter-clash between China and the West, which caused to China a traumatic inferiority complex. As a result, China has got on the chase of modernity. Still, now, it is a priority for the political agenda of CCP, the so-called New Era presented by President XI Jinping at the XIX Congress of CCP. Moreover, in the last twenty years, Confucius has been rediscovered and used by CCP as a tool for domestic policy and the launch of the “Peaceful Development” policy. The aim is to ferry China in a future in which innovation is not in contrast with the past, but instead an instrument of ramson.
The goal set by Chinese leaders to reach by 2020 the construction of a “moderately prosper” society; by 2020 and 2035 a “gradual modernization”, and by 2049 the realization of a “socialist, modern, strong, prosper, culturally advanced and democratic” nation seems to be on track. On the other hand, there are still many doubts about individual freedoms, a keystone of European modernization. The Chinese recipe could be different, but not for this reason less effective. Besides, Confucius, by saying “ whenever the Way of the Empire prevails, commoners should no express critics (Analects 16: 2)” underlines that common interest is far more important than an individual right.
