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The Influences of the Private and Public Interest to China
In the development of Chinese history, the philosophy of Confucianism plays an essential role that influences the behavior and manners of the Chinese citizens. The central argument of the philosophy of Confucianism is the pursuit of the altruism. For instance, Master Kong taught his students that the most important values that a man can have are the kindness and love for other people. In addition, Master Kong also taught his students that they should not force the things that they find challenging and unwanted to go onto someone else (113-114).[1.Russell Kirkland, "The Four Books: The Basic Teachings of the Later Confucian Tradition By Daniel K. Gardner." Religious Studies Review 33, no. 3 (2007): 264.
] The lecture of Master Kong shows that the central philosophy of Chinese culture is built on the theory of altruism. However, people find it reasonably common when self-interests seems to be the primary pursuit of most people, especially the governors. For instance, China has used the feudal monarchy until the fall of the empire of the Qing Dynasty. The centralized power represents the pursuit of self-interests of Chinese people. The altruism is more critical to the development of China because it is the direction that improves the country’s moral values from both the society and education while the pursuit of self-interest is the adapted strategy used to rule the country and self-development.
Definition of Selfishness under the Context of China
The pursuit of private interest can be illustrated as both the survival strategy for the country and the method of improvement for the people while having the possibility of causing negative results. The definition of the pursuit of private interest can be illustrated as the survival method from the countries’ perspective. In ancient time, the lack of communication makes each country take their own self-interest as the primary pursuit. For instance, in the Qing Dynasty, there is a trade war between the Britain and China. The cause of this trade war is that Britain wants to sell more opium to China and buy more tea from China while the Qing Dynasty has executed the restriction on the foreign commerce.[2.“Trade War” (Lecture, HIST/ASIA:1602 September 17, 2018).
] Both of the countries trigger this war due to their own private interest. In the side of Britain, it wants to perform the commerce business in order to gain profits and goods for itself. Qing China banned the opium commerce because it does not obtain more benefits than Britain. Moreover, the abusive usage of the opium also affects the average physiques of Chinese people. Under this circumstance, the pursuit of private interest is the method to survival for China. From another perspective, the selfishness can also be defined as the motivation for a person to achieve self-development. For instance, Heshen, an official in the Qing Dynasty, was accused of twenty crimes after the death of Emperor Qianlong.[3.Jonathan D. Spence, The search for modern China (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013), 69.
4.Spence, The search for modern China, 72.] Heshen is the representation of the extreme corruption under the extreme power. After Heshen is sentenced to death, the government discovers numerous extravagant properties, such as the houses that obtain hundreds of rooms, over thirty-six-pound pure gold, and so on.[] However, the corruption of Heshen does not interrupt the development of the Qing Dynasty. When Emperor Qianlong is in charge of China, the economy and population both increase. As one of the primary official, Heshen has done an excellent job. The pursuit of self-interest can indeed stimulate people to improve themselves and their countries. However, the pursuit of self-interest also makes people develop their negative desire. Therefore, the pursuit of private interest is the basic strategy for a country to ensure its survival while in the meantime, it can make a person lost themselves and caused damage to the society.
Definition of Altruism under the Context of China
In contrast, the pursuit of public interest is the direction of society’s development and the education to the citizens. Unlike the private interest, the pursuit of public interest is the central philosophy in Chinese culture. The society has been influenced by the central philosophy of China, the Confucianism. Before the Han dynasty, China actually has three main philosophies for the governor to use when ruling the country. Besides the Confucianist, there are the Taoist and the Legalist that once influence China deeply. However, since the revolution promoted by an official in the West Han Dynasty, Dong Zhongshu, all the philosophies have been eliminated out of the public sight, except the Confucianism (192).[. David R. Knechtges, ”Dong Zhongshu.” Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature: A Reference Guide, Part One, (2010): 192.
] From then on, the Chinese official philosophy to regulate the country is Confucianism. Confucianism promotes the practice of the altruism. Therefore, altruism has always been the direction of China’s development since the West Han Dynasty. People are taught to be kind to one another and help each other while the people who focus only on their own private interest will be claimed as the evil or bad people. Altruism is the moral judgment for the people in Chinese society. Another perspective to define the function of the altruism is that it is the material of the education. In other words, the pursuit of public interest represents the future development of the occupations of China. In the exam system of China, there are four books and five classics that ought to be mastered by the people who want to be qualified to be an official in the government of the Qing Dynasty. The four books include the Daxue, Doctrine of the Mean, Analects, and the Mencius.[. Kirkland, "The Four Books.” 264.
] In addition, the five classics contains the classic of poetry, the book of Document, the book of rites, the book of changes, and the spring and autumn annals.[. M Nylan, The Five "Confucian" Classics (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001), 3.
] These books are all the representations of the Confucianism. Therefore, the Confucianism, the representation of the altruism, is the central philosophy for the education of the Chinese students. Moreover, the education of China also determines the components of the government. In ancient China, the exam system is used to select the officials for the government besides improving the educational level (9).[. “China Before 1600” (Lecture, HIST/ASIA:1602 Fall, August 23, 2018).] In other words, the education affects more perspectives of ancient China than other countries. Therefore, the influence of the altruism contains the perspective of both the society and the education.
Influences of the Selfishness and Altruism to the Development of China
Overall, the pursuit of public interest causes more effect to the development of China than the desire towards private interest because that the influence of the society and education to the country are more profound and meaningful than the personal pursuit. From the perspective of the country, the progress of the country’s development is towards the altruism. This is also the reason why the emperors of China will claim the emperor in the former dynasty as the selfish villains. They are trying to separate themselves from these emperors under the feudal monarchy, even though they are also the feudal emperors. It is the feeling of shame when pursuing the private interest that transforms China from the feudal empire to a modern country. The society and the education are the fundamental components of the country. Therefore, the country’s development is based on the improvement of the society and education. Moreover, the society and the education tend to improve themselves towards the altruism. In other words, the public interest is the pursuit of China. On the other hand, the improvement of the international institutions, such as the United Nations, have enhanced the connection between the countries. Therefore, the pursuit of private interest is transferring to the pursuit of the public interest. More and more countries share benefits with other countries. In other words, the public interest is taking over the dominating status of the private interest. Therefore, the pursuit of the public interest influences the progress of China’s development while the private interest is becoming less and less dominant. It is the pursuit of the public interest that contributes to the improvement of Chinese history.
Conclusion
In conclusion, even though the pursuit of private interest and public interest both contribute to the development of China, the altruism is still the primary motivation that influences the development of Chinese civilization. The pursuit of private interest, or selfishness, is the basic survival method to the country and the strategy for the individuals to improve themselves. However, the promotion of the self-interest can cause severe issues for the people and the country, such as the event of Heshen’s death. In contrast, the pursuit of the public interest is the moral values for the Chinese civilization. It is the moral standard for the government to lead the public and the literature materials for the educational system in ancient China. Therefore, compared with the pursuit of the private interest, the pursuit of the public interest causes more influences to the development of China since the society and education are the major components of the nation. Also, the increasing international institutions stimulate the connection and communication between the countries. Overall, in the progress of the Chinese history, it is the pursuit of the altruism that shapes China from a feudal empire into the modern country.
Bibliography
“China Before 1600” Paper presented at Lecture, HIST/ASIA:1602 Fall, August 2018.
Kirkland, Russell. "The Four Books: The Basic Teachings of the Later Confucian Tradition – By Daniel K. Gardner." Religious Studies Review 33, no. 3 (2007): 264-264.
Knechtges, David R. “Dong Zhongshu”. Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature: A Reference Guide, (2010): 190–98.
Nylan, Michael. The Five "Confucian" Classics. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.
Spence Jonathan D., The search for modern China. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2013.
“Trade War.” Paper presented at Lecture, HIST/ASIA:1602 September 2018.
