ORDER AMONG CHAOS

The author is professor of politics at East China Normal University in Shanghai

According to the Book of Rites, one of the five Confucian classics, the growing social chaos during China’s Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 B.C.) that put the goal of establishing a datong society—a great unity of peace and harmony—out of immediate reach made the philosopher fret. Nevertheless, he argued that positive steps forward could be taken by building a xiaokang society.

Literally translated as “small comforts,” has been a concept in Chinese Marxist theory and policymaking since then top leader Deng Xiaoping introduced it