Confucian Virtue Politics in Modern Times: A Reappraisal of Xu Fuguan’s Confucian Democracy

This article discusses prominent New Confucian Xu Fuguan’s account of Confucian democracy. By examining his thought, the article makes crucial contributions to both Confucian political theory and existing scholarship on Xu’s political thought. The main arguments revolve around Xu’s key distinction between Confucian ethics and politics. More specifically, Xu’s reading reconciles Confucian virtue politics with democratic rule by reconceiving Confucian reasoning for democracy and the normative features of Confucian democracy from the vantage point of intellectuals. Xu’s Confucian democracy is tailor-made for Chinese culture though it is open to global engagement.