gap between the workers and the peasants, the city and the countryside,
and mental and manual labor. In addition, Mao’s comment that
‘‘women hold half of the sky’’ became the rally call for women’s equal
status with men. Gender equality became a prominent goal during the
Cultural Revolution, which witnessed nationwide ‘‘affirmative action’’
that required representation of women in Revolutionary Committees
at all levels of administration. Second, following the Marxist-Leninist
doctrine of the proletarian dictatorship, the traditional Confucian
hierarchical pyramid was inverted so that the ruling class of the rich
and the intellectuals was pushed to the bottom of the social strata
while the former ruled class of the poor and the manual laborers was
lauded as the master of a socialist society. The status of the working class
reached its peak during the Cultural Revolution, when representatives of
workers and peasants sat on Revolutionary Committees of government,
educational, and industrial organizations. Third, Mao’s class-based and
ideological philosophy of leadership and organization was in direct
conflict with the Confucian philosophy of familial and relational loyalty
and commitment. It was no coincidence that Mao waged an ideological
campaign during the Cultural Revolution to denounce Confucianists
(ancient or modern-day) as the staunch champions of the old order.
Despite the above obvious conflicts, there are some common elem-
ents between Confucianism and socialism. First and foremost, Mao
and the Confucianists shared the Confucian rule-of-virtue approach to
government, the assumption of the goodness of the common people,
and the belief in the efficacy of moral education and enculturation.
Second, we see an interesting parallel between Xunzi’s stance toward
classic Confucianism proposed by Confucius and Mencius and Deng’s
stance toward orthodox socialism as proposed by Mao. While Deng
endorsed the fundamental tenets of Mao’s ideology just as Xunzi
endorsed these of Confucianism, both were more pragmatic and realis-
tic about the nature of human beings, and about the balance between
self-interest and public duty, moral education and material rewards,
and ideological integrity and economic development. In so doing, Xunzi
led the transition from Confucianism to Legalism and Deng led the
transition from orthodox socialism to market-oriented socialism.
While some Confucian beliefs and values are compatible with
the socialist doctrine, others are consistent with capitalist beliefs
and values. Weber conceptualized modern capitalism in terms of the
belief in, and the pursuit of, economic rationality (Poggi, 1983 ), which
14 Chao-chuan Chen and Yueh-ting Lee