Sunday Onsite Presentation Session 2

Chinese Studies

Session Chair: Yalei Zhai

11:25-11:50

68933 | ‘Is Human Nature Evil?’ – A Critical Analysis of Xunzi’s Rebuttal of Mengzi’s Appraisal of Human Nature

Paweł Zygadło, Xian Jiaotong-Liverpool University, China

‘The stereotyped, simple version of Chinese philosophy portrays Xunzi 荀子 as the opposite to Mencius 孟子. Mencius argues that human nature is good; Xunzi portrays it as evil.’ (Kupperman, 2000, 89).

Indeed, Xunzi, criticising Mengzi’s position, seems to be advocating that human nature (人之性) is originally evil/wicked. In the chapter On Evil (Human) Nature (性惡篇), he claims that what is natural in humans is evil (人之性惡), and what is good is a result of learning and appropriation (其善者偽). However, the fact that such learning and appropriation is possible begs the question about the ‘nature of nature’ in Xunzi’s thought. Moreover, the explicit claim about evil human nature is nowhere to be found outside the chapter dedicated to it. It makes one doubt the centrality of the notion in Xunzi’s philosophy, so readily ascribed to it by Chinese and some western scholars, or on the other hand, put under question the widely accepted perception of Xunzi’s position in this regard. This paper is intended as a detailed, critical analysis of the content of the chapter On Evil (Human) Nature in the Xunzi. It will then first determine the actual point of controversy between Xunzi and Mengzi. Second, it will discuss the method Xunzi’ applied in his analysis. Third, it will revisit the notion of ‘Evil (Human) Nature’ and demonstrate what and why the notion of nature means in Xunzi.

11:50-12:15

68620 | Policy Punctuations and Issue Diversity on the Chinese Government Agenda, 1949-2022

Xinwei Chen, Monash

University, Australia

Robert Thomson, Monash University, Australia

The policy agenda has been recognised as a fundamental feature of public policy in democratic regimes. It is central to both the practice and understanding of policy change and governance. However, systematic analysis of the policy agenda in China is rare. Using a new dataset of all China's five-year plans and National laws between 1949 and 2022, this paper analyses the policy agenda of the Chinese government and test the hypotheses on agenda change and diversity over time. The analysis uses the Comparative Agenda Project (CAP) coding framework to measure total political attention to particular policy issues. I found that the stability has been interrupted by periods of significant changes especially when leadership changeover involved. China, as the largest authoritarian regime, its policy agenda dynamics involved both small changes and big shifts. This indicates that the punctuated equilibrium theory is well suited to the agenda of the Chinese government. I also measure entropy to identify the dispersion of government attention across issues, which shows how the Chinese government agenda become more diverse over time. This can be accounted for by China's rapid economic growth, marketisation and modernisation. Overall, this paper describes and explains stability and change in China's policy agenda over the past 7 decades. It offers empirical insights on Chinese politics and policy making.

12:15-12:40

68670

| Confucian Family Values and Fertility Intentions: Understanding China’s Post-One-Child Declining Birthrates

Yalei Zhai, Shinshu University, Japan

China has a high-level fertility-preference culture because Confucian family values have long encouraged childbearing among the people. However, the one-child policy has greatly transformed childbearing decisions, resulting in a rapid decline in fertility rates. Despite the onechild policy (1979–2015) being replaced by a universal two-child policy in 2016 and a three-child policy in 2021, births reached a record low in 2019 and continued to decline. This study aims to identify a potential cause for the declining birth rate in the post-one-child policy era, from the perspective of the relationship between fertility intentions and Confucian family values. The data come from a survey regarding the fertility willingness of Tianjin residents (n = 660 women, aged 17–49 years). This survey demonstrates that the Confucian family values that prioritized a high level of fertility are still widely accepted among women of childbearing age. However, empirical results indicate that a stronger endorsement of Confucian family values does not predict greater fertility intentions. Particularly among young women, strong Confucian family values increase the willingness to raise only one child. Overall, as long as China’s society is ultra-competitive, without an overall social welfare guarantee, Confucian family values could prevent women from having more children, regardless of any implementable changes to the country’s birth policy.