‘CHINESE VALUES’ IN OFFICIAL SOCIO-POLITICAL DISCOURSE OF PRC: RE-INVENTION, RE-APPRAISAL OR A DISPLAY OF PERSISTENT NATURE OF CHINESE SOCIO-MORAL HERITAGE?

In recent years, socio-political discourse in China has been loaded with the notions that despite their ‘socialist’ qualifier, deeply resemble once disregarded Confucian values. The somewhat complicated history of the relationship of Confucianism and Communism in China raises a question about the motivation for such a move and feasibility of such endeavour. In search of the motivation behind the recent re-appraisal of the Chinese socio-cultural heritage, this paper will first briefly summarise the history of the demise of traditional values in the official socio-political discourse of the ‘New China’. Subsequently, by tracing the origins of the values that are fundaments of the notions of ‘Harmonious Society’ and ‘Core Socialist Values’, it will attempt to demonstrate how deeply the new official discourse is involved with a previously disregarded axiology. In the final section, it will argue, that re-appraisal of ‘Chinese Values’ is not a re-invention, a replacement of or supplement to the previous ideological framework, but rather a display of dialectical and persistent nature of Chinese socio-ethical cognition. In other words, propagated values, are not just a mere fabrication utilised for political purposes, but also an outcome of an ‘internal logic’ of Chinese culture, that can be summarised as “the eternal dance of Yin and Yang”.