Zheng Yongnian: The status quo of China's ＂official and civilian＂ relationship and its future

Zheng Yongnian column

In today's concept of Chinese social science research, the relationship between & ldquo; National & rdquo; and & ldquo; society & rdquo; can be said to be the core of the core.People can ask, what other concepts can other concepts support the research of Chinese social sciences?In fact, this pair of relationships have been expressed because of its importance in real life. People have to delve into the problems they face and explore their future.But at the same time, from the perspective of research, many problems have also occurred.

If you want to study the relationship between & ldquo; national & rdquo; and & ldquo; society & rdquo; first assume the existence of & ldquo; national & rdquo; society & rdquo;Since modern times, most of the social science concepts including & ldquo; national & rdquo; and & ldquo; society & rdquo; are introduced from the West and directly used to analyze Chinese society.The problem is that when people use these concepts to analyze Chinese phenomena, they often forget to ask questions. Are these concepts used to analyze Western society suitable for China?In other words, do these social phenomena that Western concepts exist in China?

As far as the concept of & ldquo; society & rdquo; The concept of Chinese tradition has the concept of & ldquo; society & rdquo; and the concept of & ldquo;& ldquo; Society & rdquo; This concept came from Japan.In Asia, Japan first accepted Western thoughts and social sciences. When translating Western Society, it combined the traditional Chinese & ldquo; society & rdquo; and & ldquo;However, there have been problems here.In the West, both the country and the society are systematic or systems. There are borders and their own internal autonomy between the two.But as soon as I arrived in China, whether it was & ldquo; national & rdquo; or & ldquo; society & rdquo;, & ldquo; autonomy & rdquo;

In China, & ldquo; national & rdquo; omnipipients, in modern concepts, & ldquo; national & rdquo;Below the heavens, the king of the king & rdquo; the government can go deep into all corners of the society (at least theoretically) on the one hand, and on the other hand, it is also considered to have unlimited responsibilities.Without any system constraints, the concept of & ldquo; autonomy & rdquo; is not related to & ldquo; National & rdquo;Similarly, it is difficult to understand in China & ldquo; autonomy & rdquo;Because of & ldquo; National & rdquo; omnipipients, society's & ldquo; autonomy & rdquo; at least in real life, it is only an ideal that people have pursued in modern times.Therefore, in research and analysis, at best people can only assume that they exist.

In the West, the rationality of the existence of & ldquo; National & rdquo;Since the emergence of modern countries, this universal manifestation is in terms of law, employment, welfare, social policies, and so on.If the law is the foundation of the country, everyone is equal in front of the law, that is, everyone is equal in front of the country.Western countries develop from the principles of abstraction (such as & ldquo; one deed & rdquo; and & ldquo; Natural Law & RDQUO;) represent some abstract principles.

But because of abstraction, people in reality assume that the equality of various rights is equal. In modern times, all kinds of concepts related to citizenship have come from abstract concepts.This & ldquo; assuming & rdquo; in turn, it has a huge impact on real development.All the development of the West has almost been the product of these abstract principles.

West and China & ldquo; National & rdquo; change of concepts

In reality, this & ldquo; universal & rdquo; is also a result of & ldquo; to & rdquo;.In the long Middle Ages, the church was the main organization of the West, and the church claimed that it had & ldquo; universal & rdquo;In addition, after the disintegration of the Roman Empire, many cities have developed in the West, and the main body of the city is a businessman.The so -called & ldquo; National & rdquo; compete in many other organizations (churches, business organizations, cities), that is, & ldquo; National & rdquo; just one of the organizations.In order to compete with these other organizations, & ldquo; National & rdquo; also had to claim its & ldquo; universal & rdquo;.In this organizational structure, it is easy to understand & ldquo; society & rdquo; & ldquo; autonomy & rdquo;, so -called & ldquo; society & rdquo; is other organizations other than & ldquo; national & rdquo;

Different from the & ldquo; universal & rdquo; in China, in China, & ldquo; country & rdquo; more & ldquo; specialty & rdquo;China ended the feudal system that was highly scattered in the past during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and began the transition from & ldquo; home & rdquo; to & ldquo; national & rdquo;Makes the country reflect & ldquo; universal & rdquo;.Even if it is regarded as the most & ldquo; universal & rdquo; imperial examination system, it is only a part of the transformation of & ldquo; national & rdquo; that is, the imperial power does not want to be subject to his family and family.And turn to officials from the whole society.From this perspective, compared with the long -term political family tradition in the West, China's & ldquo; national & rdquo; more social.

But the problem is that the center of & ldquo; Guo & rdquo; the center of the emperor is still the emperor.Although the emperor and the bureaucratic system have also been formed in history, this decentralization is more at the operation level, not the source of power.All the roots of the power of the bureaucracy are still imperial power, or in other words, the bureaucratic system is attached to the imperial power. The relationship between & ldquo; monarch and minister & rdquo;Although there are specifications & ldquo; Jun & rdquo; and & ldquo; ministers & rdquo; their respective systems (that is, & ldquo; ritual & rdquo;) The relationship between the monarch and minister is not a simple relationship between the two individuals, but in the actual operation, onlyIt can be manifested as an individual relationship as an emperor and a courtier.Theoretically, & ldquo; ritual & rdquo; also to restrict the act of the emperor, but at the practical level, & ldquo; Li & rdquo; Simplified as the minister's & ldquo; loyal & rdquo;

This dependent relationship also naturally extends to & ldquo; officials & rdquo; relationship.In fact, only & ldquo; officials & rdquo; relationships have never been in Chinese history, and there is no Western & ldquo; national society & rdquo; relationship.As mentioned above, in the West, both the country and the society are independent, and in China, society has never been such an independent organizational.Traditionally, whether it is & ldquo; society & rdquo; or & ldquo;Only when these marginal groups were changed when they changed dynasties.

In daily life, the so -called & ldquo; four people & rdquo;In & ldquo; Four Minfu; & ldquo; Shi & rdquo; absorbed by the imperial power, is dependent on the imperial power, & ldquo; farmers & rdquo; most of the state of & ldquo; Gong & rdquo;The most organized & ldquo; business & rdquo;Western & ldquo; autonomy & rdquo; concept and & ldquo;For the minister's & ldquo; loyalty & rdquo;.

This relationship has been maintained for thousands of years, and has not changed in modern times.Liang Qichao's observation is right. He believes that the Chinese only have the concept of the emperor, and there is no concept of the country. Only the loyalty to the emperor's individual is not loyal to the country.Indeed, for most Chinese people, & ldquo; national & rdquo; is too abstract, and the emperor is real.Mr. Sun Yat -sen said more direct, he said that the Chinese were a scattered sand.(The relationship between this kind of individual is easy to explain. Even today, if it is improper, it will cause institutional or even national & ldquo; Personal worship & rdquo;)

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The concept of most Chinese people to & ldquo; government & rdquo;

To this day, China & rdquo; is the relationship between the country & rdquo; and the relationship between society & rdquo;From the perspective of research literature, these already exist.For so many years, what concepts of the West have used, and Chinese scholars have also used the concept, followed by step by step.But from a practical perspective, has the relationship between the traditional & ldquo; the relationship between the officials and the people & rdquo has been changed?The answer is not very clear.

Most Chinese people have not regarded the government as a system, and they are just seeing government officials.For the government, they did not be a system of systems in their minds, and they saw only & ldquo; people & rdquo;.For example, in terms of political and business relations, the relationship between the two is not the relationship between the two physical organizations, that is, the government and the enterprise, but the relationship between the two individuals, that is, government officials and businessmen.Even in the field that best reflects the universal nature, although China has established countless laws and regulations like the West, this is not reflected in the behavior of various social groups.Once something happens, the Chinese still do not have much legal concepts. They will not first ask the law, but interpersonal relationships. The law may be a method of the last & ldquo; to have to & rdquo;Under such circumstances, it is difficult to establish the concept of rights of government power or the concept of social groups.

However, in the actual social operation process, especially in terms of social governance, this demand has been reflected.The reason is simple, that is, at the material level, modern society has come.Since modern times, many Western ideas have been introduced to China, but Chinese society has no deep soil or material foundation, so ideas have only stayed at the ideological level.But the practice since the reform and opening up has changed this situation.The emergence of factors such as industrialization, population flow, and Internet, traditional society has disintegrated, and social development inevitably shows & ldquo; universal & rdquo;, that is, many phenomena that Western society has occurred in China has also occurred in China.

In this case, the relationship between the previous & ldquo; government citizen & rdquo; relationships have become inevitable.Although all other social changes in East Asia, what reforms will not lead to China & ldquo; officials & rdquo; relationships have completely evolved into the West & ldquo; national society & rdquo;After that, it must be transformed, that is, the relationship between the two individuals to the relationship between the two entities.

The core question here is & ldquo; border & rdquo;.Although China is still & ldquo; Infinite government & rdquo;, this does not mean that there is no border between the government and the society, and there is no their own fields.Today's social development in China and the West shows the opposite trend.In the West, this development manifests as the country's & ldquo; social & rdquo;.With the establishment of the system of & ldquo; one person, one vote & rdquo; and the social forces invaded the political field. It can not produce a valid government, but also the government's & ldquo; autonomous & rdquo;Under normal circumstances, democracy has become the most conservative government.Although various social forces want to change, they can also effectively express their opinions in the political process, the end result is the opposite, that is, no change will happen.

Instead, in China, the trend of social forces & ldquo; nationalization & rdquo;At the objective level, with the disintegration of the traditional social structure, autonomous social forces are naturally generated and fast.However, as far as the government is concerned, it is not ready to accept such an autonomous social organization; on the contrary, the government still uses traditional methods to absorb social organizations and use social organizations into a dependent product of the system.With the development of economy and science and technology, the government's ability to absorb social forces is rapidly strengthening, especially in preventing social self -formation.Therefore, there is no autonomy space in society and cannot produce an institutionalized society.

But social forces & ldquo; Nationalization & rdquo; can not be equivalent to the strength of national power.As a result, not only the society is very fragile, but the country is also fragile, which leads to the phenomenon of & ldquo; weak country & rdquo;.On the one hand, the infinite government, the boundary is unlimited, everything is in charge.A government that is in charge must be the weakest government, and everything is in charge, but everything is not well managed. This government is the weak government.As far as society is concerned, there is no autonomy, you cannot organize yourself, you cannot manage yourself, and everything is for the government. This is a weak society.

In the long run, & ldquo; The weak government & rdquo; The cost of governance is getting higher and higher, that is, this situation is unsustainable and unsustainable.To change this situation is to transform the traditional & ldquo; officials & rdquo; relationships into modern & ldquo; national society & rdquo;How to transform?People can apply the principles of government and market relations to the national social relations of the Third Plenary Session of the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.If the principle of dealing with government and market relations is & ldquo; so that the market plays a decisive role in resource allocation and better play the role of the government & rdquo; then the principle of dealing with national and social relations can be expressed as & ldquo;In the process, the decisive role and better play the role of the government & rdquo;.

If so, the government should not only allow the emergence and development of the autonomous society.Only in this way can society organize itself and manage itself.The government's & ldquo; better role & rdquo; reflected in supervision of society to avoid the emergence of & ldquo; bad society & rdquo;And this & ldquo; supervision & rdquo;It can also be foreseeable that in this process, the country itself will become more powerful, because when the country no longer rely on traditional methods to govern modern society, it must be innovative and developed.Methods to govern modern society.

The author is the director of the East Asia Research Institute of the National University of Singapore

The article only represents personal point of view

Zheng Yongnian: The status quo of Chinas ＂official and civilian＂ relationship and its future

West and China & ldquo; National & rdquo; change of concepts

The concept of most Chinese people to & ldquo; government & rdquo;