| Summary/Abstract |
This article will critique three aspects of the conservative re-sacralization project deemed incongruent with China’s dream of a harmonious world. The first pertains to the prevailing Han-centric rendition of the Confucian tradition. Rebuttals are made in support of an emerging multicultural ‘global Confucianism’, an international movement that would further the Chinese quest for a universal ethical order. The next criticism relates to the proposal by conservatives for a Confucian church and the installation of Confucianism as China’s state religion. In response, counterarguments are advanced for the re-institution of ‘civil Confucianism’. One key issue is whether scholar-officials or clerics can restore a more holistic, pluralistic re-enchanted China. The final contention addresses the conservative melancholic Hobbesian worldview. The Confucian vision, I explain, is essentially sanguine and the clash of civilizations not inevitable. Moreover, China and the United States share core values for both to jointly sustain a harmonious world.
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