English Translation of Subversive Article by Liu Xianbin on the Need for Constitutional Democracy for China

刘贤斌：《走出东方专制主义藩篱》英文翻译

 

Indicted for subversion for writing essays like these, Liu Xianbin awaits trial in a Suining, Sichuan jail cell. He may be tried as early as the end of August 2010. Here is an English translation of Liu Xianbin's article on the necessity of China achieving constitutional democracy.

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TRANSLATION

 

Constitutional Democracy for China: Escaping Eastern Autocracy

 

 

by Liu Xianbin

 

Over the past several thousand years, China has been an autocratic country.This can be attributed to its deeply rooted autocratic culture and the and servile culture derived that grew out of it.

 

Like other cultures in the world, Chinese culture involved a pursuit of goodness and an aspiration for an ideal society and contained a basic universal value of mankind. Fore example, in the ancient times, the concept of the "whole world being one community" could be found in Chinese culture. The system that a king abdicates and hands over the crown to another person in the times of Emperors Yao, Shun, and Yu was a concrete practice of the concept of the "whole world being one community." To use a common expression, the "whole world being one community" means that the world belongs to the people under heaven. To use a modern term, it means the people are the master of the country. This is the most important thing in the core concept of democracy in modern politics. Later, two major schools of Chinese culture, Confucianism and Taoism, inherited the concept of the "whole world being one community." In their minds, the most ideal rulers were those who were able to implement the concept of the "whole world being one community." Mencius once said: "There is a way to win a kingdom: win the people, and the kingdom is your's. There is a way to win the people: win their hearts, and the people are won." What Mencius meant is that those who win the hearts of the people can win the kingdom and those who lose the support of the people can lose the kingdom. The idea can also be applied to modern democracy.

 

Moreover, Pre-Qin Confucian scholars also entertained many ideas which are in line with modern democracy. For example, in the Analects of Confucius, there is a story talking about "Fan Chi asking what constitutes wisdom." In the story, Confucius said: "We should employ the upright and put aside all the crooked. In this way the crooked can be made to be upright." The expression of "employing the upright and putting aside all the crooked" means that it is necessary to select wise and able persons to lead and manage this society. Mencius also said: "We should give honor to men of talents and virtue and employ the able." What he meant is that we should let those people with high moral standard and great capability to administer the country. This idea is completely in line with the goal of modern democracy. In addition, Mencius also severely criticized those autocrats and traitors of the people. He said: "When the prince regards his ministers as his hands and feet, his ministers regard their prince as their belly and heart; when he regards them as his dogs and horses, they regard him as another compatriot; when the prince regards his ministers as the ground or grass to trample upon, then they regard him as an enemy." When the king Xuan of Qi asked him how he considered the matters related to the King Tang of Shang destroying the King Jie of Xia and the King Wu of Zhou destroying the King Zhou of Shang, Mencius said: "He robs a good man is called a robber; he who harms a righteous man is called a barbarian. These robbers and barbarians are outcasts. I have heard of the execution of these two kinds of outcasts, but never the putting a sovereign to death." When these ideas of Mencius was introduced to the West, some say they influenced the French Revolution. Mencius' ideas do not favor autocrats who want to maintain their rule. Therefore When Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty read these remarks by Mencius, he was very upset. He went so far as to order the removal of Mencius' statues from Confucius Temples and personally deleted these remarks. Therefore, democratic idea in a simple form did exist in pre-Qin Confucian thought. These democratic ideas are not totally opposite to modern democratic theories.

 

Why did Western culture develop a political system of freedom and democracy while China got bogged down deeper and deeper in the mire of despotic dictatorship? I believe that one of the important reasons is that China's traditional culture only puts forward moral restrictions on the rulers but fails to design corresponding institutional restrictions. China's traditional culture only hopes that the rulers will carry out on their own initiative the concept of the "whole world being one community" but does not have a corresponding system to ensure that the rulers must carry out the concept of the "whole world being one community." In the minds of Confucian scholars and Taoist scholars, the most ideal rulers are "sages" who know everything and can do anything. The Scripture of Ethics describes how a sage can rule the world. The Analects of Confucius describes how gentlemen can refine their moral character so as to assist the sage to rule the world. Therefore, over the past several thousands years, the concept of "intelligent rulers and virtuous ministers" has always represented the highest ideal of the Chinese people. Undoubtedly, it is reasonable to put forward moral restrictions on the rulers. But this is not enough because moral restrictions are very weak in the face of power. Once the rulers get an absolutely unrestrained power, they might become degenerated and harm the interests of the people for the sake of their selfish desires.

 

Over the past two thousand years and more, China has been ruled by autocratic sovereigns, true "intelligent rulers and virtuous ministers" were few and far between. Most of them were mediocre and incapable. Some even were tyrants who ruled the country cruelly. They were what Mencius described as autocrats and traitors of the people who were harmful to the country. With regard to these rulers, the Chinese culture has failed to create an institutional check-and-balance mechanism. As a result, these fatuous and self-indulgent rulers and these tyrants were able to do whatever they wanted to do while the people of the country suffered from agonies and hardships. This is a sad story of the Chinese traditional culture. In fact, during the Spring and Autumn Period [ 770-476 BC] and the Period of Warring States [ 475-221 BC] when the Chinese culture enjoyed great development, Confucius, Mencius, Lao Zi, Zhuang Zi, and others should had a clear understanding of the rulers of all states of their times. In their minds, these rulers were not "sages and intelligent rulers" as what they expected and simply could not meet the moral requirements as put forward by Confucius, Mencius, Lao Zi, and Zhuang Zi. Under this situation, Confucius, Mencius, Lao Zi, and Zhuang Zi still did not think about the necessity of institutional restrictions. This is really unfortunate for the Chinese culture.

 

The Chinese culture's excessive emphasis on morality originates from the Confucian theory that claims human nature is good. Pre-Qin Confucian scholars believed the nature of a person is good and each person is born with a sense of kindness, a sense of shame, and a sense of shame right and wrong. They believed that people become bad because they are affected by the environment after their birth. Therefore, they believed that people can become a moral person with studies and personal refinement, as Mencius put it: "All men may be Yaos and Shuns." Because of this reason, they pinned their hopes of the realization of the ideal society on the moral refinement of each and every person. They urged people to unswervingly cultivate their moral characters. Particularly, they urged the rulers of the country to become sages or gentlemen with high moral standard through moral cultivation. This is completely different from the idea that human nature is bad as proposed by the Western culture. In Christian culture of the West, a person is considered as imperfect. Even a person with perfect personal character also has an original sin. Therefore, in Christian civilization, a person, however great he is, is considered as a person who is prone to make mistake or commit crimes. Therefore, when he is in power, people naturally will take precautions against him and restrict him. As a result, the theories of freedom, democracy, human rights, and constitutional government naturally emerge.

 

However, in the Period of Warring States of the Pre-Qin era, Xun Zi already questioned about the theory that claims human nature is good. In addition, he put forward a theory that claims human nature is bad. Later, Legalists [a school of thought in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, 770-221 BC] put forward various views on the basis of the theory that claims human nature is bad, urging that the rulers must always take precautions against their ministers and subjects and use a complete set of systems to control the thinking and action of their ministers and subjects. However, Legalists made a grave mistake. Instead of applying the theory that claims human nature is bad on the rulers, they put forward a series of proposals to deal with ministers and subjects. Not a single proposal is used to restrict the rulers. Therefore, the theories put forward by Legalists turned out to be an accomplice that helps establish and develop China's autocratic system. Since the Qin Dynasty, the rulers of successive dynasties in fact have madly clung to the advantages of the theories put forward by Legalists, although they superficially held Confucianism in esteem. This is what is called "exterior Confucianism and interior Legalism." They used beautifully worded Confucian terms to justify the legitimacy of their rule. Meanwhile, they used harsh law and severe punishment proposed by Legalists to suppress the ministers and the people. This is the major characteristic of eastern autocracy.

 

Therefore, no matter whether they were Confucianists, Taoists, or Legalists, they failed to put forward institutional restrictions on the rulers. This is a major shortcoming of the Chinese culture. In the pre-Qin era, there was still some freedom in Chinese society. Particularly, the class of literati and officialdom still had some rights of freedom. For example, Confucius once said: "A prince should employ his minister according to the rules of propriety; ministers should serve their prince with faithfulness." (Section 19, Ba Yi [eight rows of dancers at sacrifices], the Analects of Confucius) In other words, the loyalty of a subject to his king is conditional, which means that a king must respect his subject. If a king does not respect his subject, his subject has a right not to be loyal to his king. Therefore, when Confucius was elbowed out by others, he left the Kingdom of Lu. When Duke Zhuang of Qi was killed for vying for a woman, Yan Zi did not mourn for him. Mencius also once said: "When scholars are put to death without any crime, the great officers may leave the country. When the people are slaughtered without any crime, the scholars may remove." (Li Lou II) Therefore, in the pre-Qin era, there was not an inexorable relationship of dependence between the class of literati and officialdom on the one hand and the rulers on the other hand.

 

However, beginning from the Qin Dynasty when China's autocratic system of the imperial power was established, the class of literati and officialdom began to lose this freedom. They no longer had a free choice as to whom they want to be loyal to. Their rights, status, and even lives had lost the fundamental protection. According to the Ceremonies of Zhou, "the penal statutes do not go up to great officers." But in the autocratic society since the Qin Dynasty, autocratic monarchies held an absolute power to control the life and death of their subjects because the king "wants his subject to die, his subject has to die." Even the literati and officialdom with a higher social status lost their basic human rights. One can imagine the fate of commoners. Since then, each and every Chinese people had to subject themselves to the supreme imperial power, they lost the dignity, freedom, and rights as a human being. Every one became a slave who was used and trampled on by the despotic imperial power.

 

Under the role of the powerful despotic imperial power, the national character of the Chinese people also underwent a tremendous change. All people became timid, selfish, and sly. Sometimes, they even were distorted to the extent of abnormality. In order to protect oneself or to pursuit interests, everybody tried to attain his end by hook or by crook. Gentlemen with noble character had been decreasing in number. Villain culture and servile culture had become popular in this society. The moral teaching of Confucianism had become the moral empty talk which served to cheat oneself and others. It had become a decoration for the despotic imperial power. At the same time, the spread of the servile culture had encouraged the consolidation and development of despotism. Despotists were in urgent need of those who always did as they were told. In addition, they were very good at provoking and controlling the endless internal struggle between gentlemen and villains. It was through this internal struggle, they gradually consolidated their own autocratic rule. Therefore, the servile culture without dignity and freedom was an important condition for maintaining the despotism for a long period of time. All the calamities of our nation were not completely forced on us by the despotic rulers. Our national character and our culture also provided fertile soil for the growth and development of despotism.

 

Since despotic imperial power was not subject to restraint, the rulers could exploit the power in their hands without restrictions. Therefore, they unavoidably became corrupt and suppressed and plundered the people without any limit. When the people simply could not tolerate any longer, they would become reckless in desperation and rose up to resist, which resulted in severe social turmoil and recession. In this kind of turmoil, the economy, society, and culture would suffer from great destruction. Therefore, unrestricted autocracy is largely responsible for all the calamities of Chinese society has suffered over the past 2,000 years and more. In order to escape this cycle of calamity-destruction-reconstruction, it is necessary to establish a mechanism on the foundation of the culture which is skeptical of state power and which constrains state power, and clearly defines the distinction between the powers of the rulers and the rights of the people. From Western culture should be introduced the concept of constitutional democracy. China needs to absorb the essence of this principle and so protect the freedom and dignity of each person from the encroachment of state power. Only when the concept of constitutional democracy is internalized as an integral part of Chinese culture and becomes the basic concept of the nation, will we be able to remove conditions favorable to the growth of despotism. Only in this way can the happiness of our future generations be fundamentally guaranteed, and can Chinese society finally escape from eastern-style autocracy.

 

Written in "Baisheng Homeland" in Sichuan's Suining on 9 December 2009

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