Westerners’ Merits and Our Demerits

The distinction between the group and the individual constitutes the longrunning issue of Western culture. The whole of Western history can be viewed through the prism of this issue. Westerners, since they have been raised with and absorbed this issue, naturally possess many advantages that can be viewed in the light of these two perspectives. Those aligned with the perspective of the individual will be discussed later; those aligned with the perspective of the group can be roughly listed as follows:

These four points can also be covered by the expression “collective morality”, which refers to the principles that are indispensable to group-centered life. Collective morality is the very thing that the Chinese people lack, though in the past this largely went unnoticed until our contact with Westerners. Forty-five years ago, Liang Qichao advocated “the new democratic theory”, which was considered to be fundamental to the transformation of Chinese society that would save China. As I mentioned earlier, “collective morality” was the first topic he tackled, in exhaustive detail. I will explain this further below.

Let me start with the fourth point – the spirit of the law. Here a contrast will be made between Western law enforcement and the Chinese practice of favoritism. In a large collective, the only way to deal with the public effectively and to handle all kinds of administrative affairs as they arise is to make legal provisions and encourage strict compliance with those provisions by treating everyone equally, without discrimination. In this situation, little discussion is required, disputes can be avoided and public affairs can be handled quickly so that social order is enforced and public feelings can be calmed. Although it is inevitable that occasional cases may be neglected, disagreements are decisively resolved and disharmonies are worked through in a reasonable fashion. If it were otherwise, nothing could ever be accomplished. That is why the need arises for the rule of law. Between families or between members of the same clan, however, the situation is quite otherwise.