Chinese Journal of Sociology ›› 2022, Vol. 42 ›› Issue (6): 79-106.

Previous Articles     Next Articles

The Righteousness of ZunZun (Respect): The Emotional Principle of Traditional Chinese Political Ethics from the Perspective of Mourning Dress System

LI Songtao   

  1. School of Sociology and PoliticalScience, Shanghai University
  • Published:2022-12-29

Abstract: This article provides a theoretical exploration of the inherent spirit of the traditional Chinese political order. The study suggests that the establishment of Chinese political order is different at its origin from the power of paternal patriarchal system based on family property. Instead, it emphasizes the principle of ZunZun and righteousness of human nature in the establishment of a political order from Father (family) to Emperor(country). In Chinese civilization, there is a profound human foundation behind ethical relations, namely, benevolence and righteousness, which have the same ideological depth and height just as the rational tradition of the West. It became the source of the persistence of these private relationships in the process of modernization. Consequently, the Chinese have much more complex emotional principles besides power and interests when dealing with political various relationships. In politics, the inner emotional principle of political ethics, dominated by the monarch-subject ethics, was mainly the principle of ZunZun and righteousness. These two dimensions maintained and adjusted the specific patterns of monarch-subject relationship in the political order. On the one hand, in a hierarchical political structure, the monarch and his subjects should appropriately express their respect for each other in accordance with different rank positions; on the other hand, the moral code of emperor-subjects dictated that when the monarch became insolent and failed to abide by morality, out of self-respect his subjects could withdraw their support. This emperor-subject ethics with the emphasis on the righteousness of ZunZun, pondered and refined by Confucian sages, was condensed into the gigantic ritual system and it shaped the mental structure of the Chinese people. Although this relational ethics is difficult to be fully realized in history and reality, it still has a fundamental impact on the Chinese political order.

Key words: governmental behavior, monarch and ministers, QinQin, ZunZun, benevolence