Leadership and Management in China: Philosophies, Theories, and Practices

regulations and systems. While Xunzi upheld the Confucian ideal of
benevolent and moral government, which he shared with Mencius,
he nevertheless severely criticized the theory of human goodness as
explicated by Mencius and proposed his thesis of human evilness in
direct refutation of Mencius’ thesis of human goodness (for a sum-
mary, see Xunzi, Book 23 [Introduction]: 139–150). Xunzi’s positions
on human nature are primarily presented in ‘‘Man’s nature is evil’’
(Book 23), but relevant arguments can also be found in his writings
on ritual principles, honor and disgrace, the correct use of names,
self-cultivation, and exhortation to learning (Xunzi, Books 1, 2, 4,
19, 22, and 23). In ‘‘Man’s nature is evil’’ (Xunzi, Book 23), the
opening sentence states: ‘‘Human nature is evil: any good in humans
is acquired by conscious exertion.’’ In defining human nature, Xunzi
distinguishes two terms,xing(human nature) andwei(human arti-
fice).^2 The essential distinctions Xunzi made betweenxingandweiare
summarized by Lau ( 1953 : 558).Xing(human nature) is that ‘‘which
is (1) made what it is by heaven, (2) cannot be learned, (3) cannot be
improved through application, and (4) is not the result of reflection by
the mind,’’ whilewei(human artifice) is that ‘‘which is (1) invented
by the sages, (2) can be learned, (3) can be improved through appli-
cation, and (4) is the result of refection by the mind.’’ According to
the definition ofxing, the most instinctive and spontaneous elements

Human evilness:

instinctive desires

and feelings

Self-cultivation

Human capacity of

consideration (lü)

Human goodness:

acquired human

propriety

Figure 2.1.Xunzi’s philosophy of human nature.
Note about self-cultivation (xiu sheng): (1) all human beings should self-
cultivate; (2) the more self-cultivation, the more goodness; (3) leaders are
differentiated from non-leaders not in terms of human nature but in terms of
goodness.

56 Yan-qin Peng, Chao-chuan Chen, and Xin-hui Yang