China: Promise Or Threat?

Horst J. Helle held full professorships at the RWTH Aachen University, the University of Vienna, and the University of Munich. He worked at universities in other countries, including a year at the University of Chicago and, since 1996, in mainland China.

• Foreword: A Fascination with China, by David FasenfestPrefaceIntroduction: The Goal of this Book1. Familism: A Threat to the EnvironmentThe “Public Sphere:” Rights without ObligationsTwo types of Personal AssociationPersonalization of the Law2. Exchanges of Threats: The Opium WarsInternational Relations: BritainRussia, Japan, and GermanyThe Chinese Experience: Threat and DisappointmentWhy Did China not Defend herself?3. China and the US: A Balance of Power?Why follow Thucydides?Promises and Threats Based on Economic InterestsReal and Imagined Military Threats4. Religions: Core Components of CulturesThe Task at Hand: What is a Religion?Shared Origins of Contemporary ReligionsGovernmental Interference with Religious Affairs5. Religious Vitality in Contemporary ChinaTypes of Atheism in Party PoliticsAncestor Worship: The Religion of China6. Max Weber’s View of Religion in China7. Daoism: China’s Native ReligionThe Fundamentals of DaoismNature and Life Everlasting in DaoismDaoism as seen by Confucians and Buddhists8. Oracle-Bones: The Mandate of HeavenHow to Change – forward or backward?The Splendid Age of the Oracle Bones9. Confucius: Recapture the Lost SplendourThe Heavenly Mandate Shared by RelativesFinding Options for the FutureThe Party or the Family as “Church” in China?10. The West: Individualism at its LimitsThe Western Family as TragedyCultural Evolution of Kinship in the West11. China: The Kinship SocietyGranet and the Analects: Evolution of Kinship in ChinaFei Xiaotong: Field Work on Types of Family LifeAltruism and Selfishness: A precarious Balance12. China: A Threatening Promise to the WestSummaries of the ChaptersConcluding Queries about Threats and PromisesBibliographyIndex