The Early Confucian View of Harmony as Seen in Confucius' Analects and the Mencius

As is well known,Confucianism is characterized by its emphasis on harmony. How this idea is presented in early Confucian texts, and what it really means? These are questions which are expounded in this article.The Confucian thinking on the relationship between mankind and all other things in the universe,especially the relationship among human beings,are of(eternal) importance as long as there are human communities.It may be said that mankind in the twentieth century lost its belief in equality,whether substantial or formal,as a result of a series of experiments,which were aimed at a utopian society and accompanied with much excitement at first but finally left with nothing but despair.Against this backdrop the idea of moral community espoused by Confucian thinkers becomes more and more enlightening.The author is convinced that if mankind has more self-consciousness earlier or later it will understand that the Confucian thinking is able to make more contributions to the future harmonious society than any other ideal or idea,including the most popular one in today's world,namely,the one-person-one-vote system.