Recently, there have been frequent reports about “special training schools”—prisons that openly detain teenagers and indoctrinate them with the most reactionary Confucian ideas. The existence of such things requires a certain social foundation, which I feel is the extremely strong control of the feudal patriarch over their children in China.
Logically, the more thorough the revolution, the deeper the roots of the old system are dug out, making it more difficult for the old system’s products to restore power. China is a country that has experienced socialist revolution and the proletarian Cultural Revolution. Its critique of feudal and bourgeois ideas in depth and breadth far exceeds that of other countries in the world. Why, then, does China still retain so many remnants of feudal patriarchalism compared to other major imperialist countries (especially Western imperialist countries)?
Because contemporary China is a very disgusting Confucian society, it is built on a set of reactionary hierarchical systems of respect for elders and distinctions between superiors and inferiors, and it is a brutal oppressive system against the exploited classes, as well as a system that creates division among the people and spreads reactionary ideas. It not only maintains the rule of those with vested interests within the family—the parents—but also upholds the reactionary ruling class in society—the exploiting class (bourgeoisie), which is why it has been valued by successive ruling classes (especially the conservatives among them).
Confucius’ disciples have openly admitted that one of the core aspects of reactionary Confucianism is the filial piety hierarchy: “Those who are filial and respectful are rare to offend superiors; those who do not offend superiors and like to cause trouble have never been seen. … Filial piety and respect are the roots of benevolence!”
The main reason is still that China has restored its monarchy, and the counterattack is very crazy. At the same time, China has a history of racial slavery and patriarchal system, and has long been engaged in feudal patriarchy since ancient times.
In other words, Confucianism has been rooted in China for too long. When the feudal production relations were just being eradicated, the socialist period had only been around for more than twenty years, so it was very difficult to completely eliminate this residual poison. Moreover, this feudal patriarchal system of Confucianism was consciously reestablished by the exploiting class afterward, so to this day, many remnants of this feudal patriarchal system still remain.
It feels like this: capitalism has been restored in China, so it is relatively easier to revive old ideas and old culture. Although in form it is not as Confucian as Japan, internally there is already a clear hierarchy of superiority and inferiority.
It cannot be explained merely by residual factors; it should be said that the existence of reactionary Confucianist思想 (思想, sīxiǎng) has its class basis, and the Zhongxiu (中修, Zhōngxiū) reactionary government consciously utilizes and propagates the Confucian制度 (制度, zhìdù). In fact, the attitude towards Confucianism has always been a focal point of fierce debate between progressives and conservatives in history, especially during socialist China, where the bourgeoisie has always used it as an ideological tool for restoring capitalism.
The华修 (Huáxiū, Huáxiū) group’s successful restoration of capitalism, especially after Deng Xiaoping’s revisionist group came to power, naturally led to a vigorous promotion of Confucianism. However, the Confucian潮流 (cháoliú, trend) only became particularly popular in the past twenty years, with various Confucian products—such as Guoxue (国学, Guóxué) classes, women’s virtue classes, Yuzhang Academy, special training schools, and so on. Why? Because it was in the last twenty years that China’s revisionist group completed its transition to social imperialism.
On one hand, after turning to imperialism, Zhongxiu politics became darker, requiring more reactionary ideological weapons, thus increasing the propaganda of Confucianism. But more importantly, the revival of Confucianism has social class roots, namely the powerful bourgeoisie and stubborn petty bourgeoisie formed over decades of capitalist restoration in China. They are the masters of the family, oppressors of wives and children, and vested interests of feudal patriarchy, naturally maintaining Confucian order. Especially as Zhongxiu imperialism has increasingly headed towards bankruptcy amid multiple economic crises, a large number of small and medium bourgeoisie and petty bourgeoisie face extinction, and the intensifying oppression and exploitation have also provoked resistance from wives (women) and children. They are using Confucian weapons more and more to maintain their rule.
However, just as capitalism is destined to perish, Confucianism is also destined to perish. When the class supporting it itself is about to die out, how can Confucianism, which has lost its material foundation, exist independently? Our task as Marxists is to continuously expose the essence of Confucianism, fight against it, and more importantly, through the proletarian revolution, thoroughly destroy the material basis—capitalist social system—that supports this reactionary思想 (思想, sīxiǎng).
This also has family-related reasons. As others have said, under the rule of Zhongxiu, China implements a reactionary family slave system, where children are mostly considered private property of the father. Zhongxiu removed the communes and other grassroots organizations from the Cultural Revolution era, leaving room for capitalism to develop and undermining socialist construction and revolutionary masses.
Later, with the so-called “spring breeze” blowing, all kinds of demons and ghosts came out, the foremost being the resurgence of the family slave system—population trafficking exploded after the reform and opening-up. This is essentially a revival of the old society. There are many points that can be discussed, and I will continue to answer when I have time.