THEORY OF SOCIAL HARMONY

and sincerity is the way of man. Nothing can be achieved without sincerity’. Integrity refers to staying true to reality; sincerity is a specific demonstration of integrity; in other words, ‘Keep your integrity. That is the way of sincerity’. In China, integrity and sincerity have long been the basis of business operations. Confucian entrepreneurs have even transformed this tradition into their management philosophy.

The last is to practice diligence and frugality. Confucianism is a philosophy of life that champions an active mentality and opposes passivity. It supports perseverance and a strong will.

Confucius lived his life with this fighting spirit: ‘Attempt the impossible even if we know it is impossible’. In the Book of Changes, one may find this enterprising spirit: ‘As heaven maintains vigour through movements, a gentleman should constantly strive for self-perfection’. This statement is the embodiment of an active and enterprising attitude towards life. In terms of consumption, Confucianism advocates, ‘It is better to be frugal than extravagant’ and upholds the practice of frugality and discipline. In the chapter ‘Ba Yi’ of The Analects, Confucius said,

‘The practice of rites should be frugal instead of extravagant.’

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entrepreneurs, according to the concepts of Chinese essence, and Western utility. In the Chinese context, the theory of Confucian entrepreneurs is applied more often, and from the works of Yang et al. (2019), we also see a number of changes effected under the socialist ideology, among which the theory of Confucian entrepreneurs has the greatest influence. This is also the main reason why CSR has developed differently in both economies.

‘Striving to build a harmonious socialist society’ has always been a guiding philosophy of governance for the Communist Party of China (CPC), and it is also the core content of so-called socialism with Chinese characteristics. In the Sixteenth National Year of the Congress, in November 2002, China made ‘greater social harmony’ one of the goals of building the so-called Xiao Kang, a moderately affluent society in all respects. In the fourth Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee, ‘improving the ability to build a harmonious socialist society’ was explicitly stated as an important aspect of the Party’s ability to govern. The concept of harmony is derived from core values of Chinese culture, such as the traditional cultural ideas of

‘Gentlemen seek harmony but not uniformity’ and ‘Harmony is most precious’, which have led to the cultural heritage of the Chinese people advocating for harmony and peace. In fact, in Confucianism, the doctrine of the golden mean and the notion of harmony are also sources of the concept of harmony that profoundly influenced the social development of China during different dynasty periods (González-Díaz et al., 2021). This context has been discussed in regard to the theory of Confucian entrepreneurs, such as applying the principle of being amiable to beget riches to business practices for handling internal and external relationships.

The emphasis on the golden mean and the notion of harmony in Confucianism has had a broader influence on Chinese society as a whole, which is reflected in various aspects of culture, economy and law.

It is manifested as a rational and moderate concept of cultural development that opposes sweeping away all traditions, as well as notions such as ‘There is no construction without

destruction’ or ‘An omelette cannot be made without breaking some eggs’ with regard to cultural issues. It proposes the gain–loss dynamic in cultural development, meaning that for traditional culture, we affirm and deny, as well as carry forward and innovate. This approach is neither complacent nor supercilious. Instead, it advocates the gradual development of a nation’s culture advancing with the times, inheriting the good elements of its cultural traditions (Yang et al., 2019). This is similar to the thought of cultural conservatism that is popular in the Western world today.

With regard to the economy, Confucian ideals are manifested through policies aimed at

‘enriching the people’. Institutional arrangement that widens the wealth gap among different social classes is not favoured, and the excessive exploitation of the people by the ruling class is also opposed, as these are detrimental to social harmony and stability. Confucius was exceptionally clear that the concept of ‘enriching the people’ should ‘be of no concern lest the people be poor and only when what they have is ill-proportioned’, an ethic which is similar to that of the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle. The middle class becomes a stable force in society because it has stable material wealth and, therefore, a stable mental makeup (González-Díaz et al., 2021). From this, we can see that important factors of social harmony include smaller wealth gap, reliable material security and stable mental makeup.

With regard to law, Confucian ideals require that attention be paid to balance between different interests in legislation and the interests of the people, which should be given due consideration in legislation from the perspective of safeguarding the long-term and overall interests of the ruling class. Of course, because of historical limitations, the understanding of legislative justice in Confucianism differs greatly from that of today. The doctrine of the golden mean in the legal respect requires judicial justice. Confucius said, ‘If punishments are not

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properly applied, then people will have no standard by which to judge their actions’, which emphasizes the issue of penal justice. The judicial conceptions of Confucianism embody a simple humanitarian spirit. By today’s standards, a legislative and justice system based on justice and humanity is a guarantee for building a harmonious society.

To summarise the above literature, we can use figures to briefly describe the preliminary construction of the framework of comparative analysis of CSR in this study.

Figure 1.0: Framework of Comparative Analysis

As shown in the Figure 1.0 above, the analysis that seeks commonalities among the differences between Eastern and Western cultures is based on the theory of Confucian entrepreneurs. The cross-strait comparative analysis is focused on the Eastern context, including differences such as social harmony and Westernised Chinese culture.