【 Guangming Forum · Reflections 】 Enriching the People, Benefiting Livelihoods, and Balancing Justice and Benefit - An Important Element of Excellent Traditional Chinese Culture ⑥ Politics | Culture | Tradition

【 Guangming Forum · Reflections 】

Author: Chen Yuanting

"Enriching the people and promoting good health" is a consistent ideological concept in the field of economy and economic work in excellent traditional Chinese culture, reflecting the people-oriented and moral principles of ancient Chinese sages and sages regarding economic and social development.

The earliest literature records of the term "enriching the people" can be traced back to the book "Guanzi". At the beginning of "Guanzi's Chapter 48 on State Governance", it is written: "The way to govern a country must first enrich the people. If the people are rich, it is easy to govern, but if they are poor, it is difficult to govern." Similar to Guanzi's ideas, Confucius also highly valued the importance of people's wealth and regarded it as the essence of politics. In the Analects of Confucius, the twelfth chapter of Yan Yuan records that Confucius proposed "sufficient food, sufficient soldiers, and people's trust" when answering the political questions of his student Zigong, and established the realization of people's abundant clothing and food as the three major principles of economic, political, and social stability. In the Analects of Confucius, Zi Zhang, Chapter 13, Confucius gave the answer of "enriching the people" and "educating them" in the face of Ran's doubts about "being both commoner and how to add them" and "being both rich and how to add them". He explicitly proposed the idea of "making the people prosperous first, and then educating them". The concepts of "wealth" and "sufficient food" mentioned here are actually the concepts of "enriching the people". If Confucius' students have developed his thoughts, they further proposed that "if the people are sufficient, which one should be equal to their shortcomings; if the people are insufficient, which one should be equal to their feet", emphasizing that a prosperous country must be based on the premise and foundation of enriching the people.

The pre Qin Confucianism deeply influenced the governing philosophy of feudal dynasties throughout history, and the idea of "enriching the people" has been passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years. Looking at the Chinese nation's millennial historical and cultural heritage, eradicating absolute poverty, building a moderately prosperous society in an all-round way, and pursuing common prosperity are today's solemn commitments and value pursuits of the CPC to the people, and also the contemporary embodiment of the Chinese nation's sages and sages' idea of "enriching the people". The origin of the term "Housheng" dates back even earlier than "Fumin", and can be traced back to the earliest surviving ancient literature compilation in China, the Shangshu. The Book of Documents is one of the "Five Classics" of Confucianism, and its "Da Yu Mo" emphasizes that good governance involves "six prefectures and three things". The six prefectures refer to the "metal, wood, water, fire, soil, and grain" in the material life of the people, and the three things refer to "righteousness, utilization, and well-being". In the early Tang Dynasty, the famous Confucian scholar Kong Yingda, when commenting on the Book of Documents, specifically explained: "To be prosperous, it means to collect less corv é e, to pay light taxes, not to seize agricultural time, to make people's livelihoods warm, and to have abundant clothing and food." The "Six Prefectures" and "Three Matters" in the Book of Documents are collectively referred to as the "Nine Merits". The core guidance and direction of the Six Mansions, Zhengde, and utilization are both "promoting good health". "Housheng" demonstrates a profound sense of enriching and nurturing the people, and is a symbol and purpose of good governance, as well as a manifestation of good governance.

The concept of balancing righteousness and benefit is another ideological achievement presented by ancient Chinese sages and sages to contemporary countries around the world. The excellent traditional Chinese culture emphasizes the values of "balancing righteousness and profit, and putting righteousness first", which is fundamentally different from the understanding of Western political culture and the political practice of Western countries. Palmerston, who served as Foreign Secretary three times and Prime Minister twice in the 19th century, has a famous saying: "There are no eternal friends, only eternal interests." This "famous saying" is not only the standard for Britain to handle foreign relations, but also the basic principle for Western countries to handle international relations in modern times. Pursuing maximum benefits and forgetting righteousness has become a true portrayal of Western political culture, and it is also a serious flaw in Western political thought and culture. As a stark contrast, the brilliant discourse of ancient Chinese thinkers on the relationship between righteousness and profit. Confucius straightforwardly put forward the viewpoint that "a gentleman is compared to righteousness, and a petty person is compared to profit" in the Analects of Confucius, which established a clear framework for the debate on "righteousness and profit" and established a basic value judgment standard for the later Confucian debate on "righteousness and profit". Xun Kuang proposed the viewpoint of "using righteousness to control benefits" when elucidating Confucius' thought. The Xunzi Grand Outline states: "Righteousness and profit are two things that a person has. Although Yao and Shun could not eliminate the desires and benefits of the people, they could make their desires and benefits outweigh their good righteousness. Although Jie and Zhou could not eliminate the good righteousness of the people, they could make their good righteousness outweigh their desires and benefits. Therefore, those who achieve righteousness and benefit are the rulers of the world, while those who overcome righteousness and benefit are the rulers of chaotic times." Xunzi's proposition of "having both righteousness and benefit" overcame the selfish and narrow pursuit of self-interest and forgetting righteousness; It also avoids the negative tendency of self suppression caused by one-sided promotion of "preserving natural principles and extinguishing human desires". Xun Kuang's viewpoint of "using righteousness to control benefits" involves how to properly handle the issue of striving for one's own interests and respecting the legitimate rights and interests of others. It has inherent consistency with Mencius's core idea of "respecting the elderly and the elderly, respecting the young and the young" and can be mutually verified and annotated. The concept of balancing righteousness and benefit has long been internalized as a value orientation and spiritual pursuit of the Chinese people in thousands of years of history, and has very obvious global significance. It is not only a guideline for personal cultivation and peace, but also provides unique Chinese wisdom for countries to handle complex international affairs today.

Emphasizing the concept of "enriching the people and promoting well-being, balancing righteousness and interests" together, a comprehensive and systematic economic ethics view has been constructed. This concept is not only in line with the basic principles of Marxism, but also in line with the spiritual core of excellent traditional Chinese culture. It can be said that achieving "prosperity and well-being, balancing righteousness and interests" is not only the policy proposition and pursuit of us Communist Party members, but also an important symbol of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the realization of national rejuvenation.

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