Pomen poznavanja kitajske idejne zgodovine za razumevanje sodobne kitajske družbe

Through the lens of the contemporary ideologization of the classical philosophic term harmony (he 和), the present article deals with the question of the relation between the Chinese tradition on the one side, and contemporary Chinese society on the other. First, it introduces the contemporary interpretation of the notion of harmony and reveals the reasons for its integration into the current revitalization of Confucianism. Through the analysis of classical Confucian texts, it then shows that the current interpretation is not founded upon the proto-democratic elements of original Confucianism, but rather upon the autocratic and state-generating line of Confucianism that was developed by Xunzi, who represents a bridge between Confucianism and Legalism. Through the analysis and interpretation of the classical notion of harmony it then indicates that the interpreta-tions generated by the crucial representatives of the Taiwanese Modern Confucians are – in contrast to those developed on the mainland – following the much more egalitarian and democratic lines of classical Confucian philosophy that were elaborated by Men-cius. In the conclusion, the author reveals the significance of such differentiations in the context of evaluating the political and social systems of contemporary China. This significance is not merely limited to the recognition of autocratic elements within con-temporary Chinese ideology, but also manifests itself in new possibilities of revitalization and upgrading of such elements of the Chinese ideational tradition, that can help us to generate a new, specifically Chinese model of democracy.