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Chinese Philosophy
Chinese ideology, the philosophy of Chinese nation, begins from the ancient times to the contemporary period. The important aspect of Chinese thought is humanism: human beings and the society have engaged, if not controlled, the consideration of Chinese thinkers all through the ages. Moral and political deliberations have outshined any theoretical assumption. It needs to be promptly added, though, that this humanism does not suggest any in consequence of an ultimate power or Nature. Rather, the overall conclusion demonstrated in Chinese ideology is that of the harmony of human beings and heaven. This essence of synthesis has been the feature of the whole past of Chinese thought.
Essential Values of Chinese Philosophy
Two main schools of philosophy were brought up in China about the middle of the early millennium BCE—Confucianism and Daoism (Taoism). Another main school of philosophical ideology, Buddhism, was brought to China from India in the course of the early periods of the first millennium CE. There was ultimately a union between numerous values of these three schools of philosophy.
The two main schools of philosophical thought provide a realm of social standards and fundamental worldview that, when united, can encourage creative occasions inside institutions. From a commercial viewpoint, the mixture of the two bodies as a metaphysical system is more valuable than the values of each school reflected independently.

This is for the reason that a commercial concern functions concurrently in numerous environments—communal, scientific, and financial, among others (Chang & Kalmanson 2010).
Confucian agreement and difference
The first question that should be answered if the nature of the essential values that can be extracted from Confucianism, which is presently enjoying a revival in the country, in addition to several other Confucius Organizations operating in the United States and internationally. Confucianism is repeatedly construed narrowly by Western nations as a system of stringent, custom-obsessed relegation, particularly inside the Chinese household. Nonetheless, Confucian standards offer more than just a proper code of pyramid. If anything, business organisations, not households, is now the dominant locus of communal hierarchies in contemporary China. The stationary country home is no longer the important unit of production in the economy of China; several thousands of rural Chinese have relocated to metropolises to provide labour for big, export-based industrial companies. It is consequently meaningful to ask if Chinese thought can offer leadership for invention in a contemporary, developed, sophisticated, high-tech and change-based business setting.
Confucianism promotes a lucid and humanistic methodology to all associations in sets and establishments. It does not relate exclusively to households and ruling families. It makes the assumption that human characteristic is the model good. Confucian philosophy puts a high importance on mutuality, peace and uprightness inside hierarchies and endorses a robust work principle. Standing within institutions should be determined by distinction or aptitude, not by an acquaintance, lineage or prosperity.
The code of respect by assistants for their bosses is well recognized. However, the novel Confucian thought is more multifaceted than this. There exists a Confucian saying that says, “harmonious while different” (Liu, 2003). Put differently, individuals in institutions should work amicably together while being tolerant of diverse positions and perspectives. Respect is a mutual value.
This mutual methodology to hierarchy differs, in concept at least, from the definitive Weberian, a drop-down form of business bureaucracy widespread in the western nations. There remains a clear pyramid, but the perfect Confucian system of corporate suggests a great extent of collaboration between personnel at diverse levels versus submitting to a modest unidirectional series of command. This characteristic should improve efficiency and encourage better internal distribution of resources, technology and investigation, and consequently greater prospects for modernization. It should be predominantly beneficial for staying up to date with the current economic environment of prompt change and strong worldwide competition.
Along with underlining the importance of reciprocity inside hierarchy, Confucius encourages people to pursue understanding and truth, aspect different aspects, and to evade inevitable conclusions and random resolutions. A person needs to think for oneself. Reception of criticism should be reciprocated between personnel of diverse positions. Throughout the ancient empires of imperial China, the ultimate Confucian consultant was watchful and did not refrain from providing educative advice to the monarch. Compliance with one’s seniors did not prevent productive types of complaint. Similarly, the Confucian model leader was righteous, compassionate and interested in the well-being of his people. In contemporary times, reciprocal critique can expedite the advancement of substitute concepts inside research and administrative groups; groups will then be more essential to the corporation.
Build up social capital
The Confucian standard of agreement inside hierarchy, although not constantly followed in practice, is progressive by Western principles. In the Western business chain of command, there is frequently a nonconformist tautness and feeling of conflict between senior and subordinate stations. Confucian principles support the growth of networks of associates that create “social capital” in a corporation. This, therefore, can be a means for future problem unravelling and innovation through all features of company processes. Workers in diverse sections of a business should perceive themselves as comparable and consequently supportive since they are all attached to the company’s undertaking or market purposes (Rosenlee, 2006).
The Confucian model of the organization is, preferably, all-inclusive or nonlinear and organic. Senior and junior positions are harmonising instead of contrasting. That an essential principle of Chinese philosophy. Likenesses are more imperative than dissimilarities. It can be considered concerning yin and yang—diverse principles that are characterized by harmonizing features of one circular complete. Workers in diverse parts of a corporation should perceive each other as alike and, therefore, be more accommodative since they all share a connection to the mission of the organization or market goals. By concentrating on these objectives, they all have the chance to work, if in diverse ways, towards invention in the corporation.
Similarly, contrasting standpoints within the corporation need not be overruled quickly, as is the case with western nations. Disagreement is a comparative idea. The Confucian entrepreneur searches for resemblances and complementarities in contrasting perspectives—i.e., the way they can co-exist together—conceivably resulting to a ground-breaking combination of diverse ideas. This methodology will enlarge the world of creative prospects.
Daoist ‘effortless’ mastery
Confucianism is just one of organic philosophy in China with the prospect of contemporary business and administrative applications. Daoism also referred to as Taoism, is also a critical school of Chinese philosophy. Although Confucianism relates primarily to connections between individuals, Daoism centres more on the connection individual have with the physical and natural world that is around them. In contemporary business language, this relationship encompasses a firm’s whole technical and financial environment—comprising clients, suppliers, rival firms, financial institutions, government organisations, and foundations of goods and services technology.
The most celebrated academician of Chinese science, Joseph Needham, pointed out that China’s “… ‘organic’ notion of the planet was specifical that to which contemporary science is becoming when compared to the Newtonian automatic interpretation that succeeded up to the finish of the 19th century” (Makeham 2010). The author supposed that Daoism was a key source of motivation for Chinese knowledge in the pre-current period. The academician Jacques Gernet pointed out concerning China, “She fails to resemble the marginalization of opposition, the notion of the absolute, the constructive difference between mind and substance; she favours the ideas of complementarity, or exchange, inflow, of accomplishment at a distance, of an ideal, and the notion of order as an organic entirety” (Seok 2013).
Similar to Confucianism, peace, active balance and holism are essential Daoist principles. A person needs to live and labour in harmony with every aspect of the surrounding. According to the philosophy, learning conventionally implies understanding the dao—the dominant “life dynamism” as well as the “way of nature.” Such learning is, therefore, a system of environmental research. It is a persistent but not an inactive procedure. One pursues to observe the universe and all of its interconnections so accurately that, to foreigners, his or her determination will look as if it is graceful. Conventionally, Daoists designate this course as doing by “not-doing”. The Daoist learner expects to arrive at a place of greater consciousness where one impulsively believes in his or her ability to appreciate completely the surroundings. In contemporary terms, this point similarly comprises a mindfulness of ecological modification, which is a normal part of the technology and budget (demand and supply) of the industrial firm (Angle 2009).
New concepts can stream out of this concentrated and all-inclusive type of education. Stephen Mitchell, an interpreter with the Daoist classic, Tao Te Ching, points out that, “Maintaining the receptive permits the imaginative to ascend. Essentially, the creative and the receptive are corresponding sides of an undistinguishable procedure”. Winefreda Asor wrote that “The most prevalent method of evolving thoughts is to: …Be conscious of all things” (Shen, 2013).
Modern Period
Throughout the Industrial and Modern periods, Chinese ideology began to incorporate ideas from Western ideology as stages toward reconstruction and to raise concerns whether Confucian concepts should be reformed or even rejected. At the time of the Xinhai Revolution that took place in 1911, there existed numerous attempts, for example, the May Fourth Movement, to totally eliminate the ancient imperial organizations and traditions of China. Endeavors were initiated at the start of the 20th century to integrate democracy, anti-monarchism, and industrialism into Chinese ideology, conspicuously by Sun Yat-Sen. During the leadership of Mao Tse-Tung, Marxism, Stalinism, and different communist ideologies were made known to mainland China (Angle 2012).
Following the coming to power of the Communist Party of China in 1949, former schools of Chinese thought, with the exception of Legalism, were criticized as outdated, leading to their purge throughout the “Great Leap Forward” and “Cultural Revolution.” Their effect on Chinese philosophy, nevertheless, continues to exist. The present administration of the People’s Republic of China is attempting to motivate a type of market socialism (Angle 2009).
There are remarkable similarities between the Chinese philosophy and Singaporean ideologies. For instance, they both place a lot of value and concern themselves with the relationship between man and society. The Singaporean philosophy is also concerned with the way an individual can live a fulfilling and productive life, which is both ideal and for the general good of the entire society. Concepts of ethics and political, economic philosophy are considered more important and are prioritized over those of metaphysics and epistemology. A considerable similarity, however, relates to how the two republics perceives nature and oneself. They both consider that there is a strong relationship between nature and oneself such that Heaven is considered as the place of man in the cosmic order.
Considering that the Singaporeans and the Chinese have so much in common concerning philosophy, I would say the Singaporeans are slightly superior to the Chinese. The current Chinese philosophy is influenced to a large extent with the desire to move economically forward by incorporating several Western ideologies into their culture. Their way of living, therefore, has been considerably influenced by the way the Western people live their lives and have, in the process, overlooked some of the most important aspects of their philosophy. I dedicated myself not be influenced by any stereotypes in the analysis of the philosophy of China and how that philosophy has shaped their present relations with one another. Because there is a possibility of being subjective concerning my cognitive and reflective processes, it would mean that my analysis is influenced by other factors other than the available information on the philosophies of the two nations. The implication is that I tend to look at issues from a single point of view without considering the viewpoints of the other parties.
Cultural Stratification
The ideology of Confucianism reinforces a hierarchical class structure that places scholars at the very top followed by agriculturalists, artisans, and eventually business people and members of the defence forces. The system makes it possible for a great deal of social mobility; it was common for households to put aside money for investment in the education and progress of the first son in the family. However, the cultural hierarchy was overturned following the introduction of communism in the country and society, acknowledging the principles of a free society. As a matter of fact, the new system is still made up of the elite class at the top and the lower class at the very bottom. There are two major segments that make up the society: the gan bu, or politicians, as well as the mainstream poor. The culture of the Republic dictates that since both classes of the elite and the poor have similar interests and goals and consequently need to function in harmony for the common good. In actuality, the gap between the elite and the poor continues to grow. The cities are predominantly occupied by the wealthy while the peasant are mostly concentrated in the rural areas. Nonetheless, the farmers have started to relocate to the metropolitan areas to look for jobs in increasing magnitude, leading to the rise problems relating to accommodation and employment, and promoting a mushrooming class of poor metropolitan individuals (Seok 2013).
The responsibility of women was restricted to the domestic realm before the start of the 20th century while men controlled the major features of the community. However, in agriculture the role of women had a significantly wider designation. Starting from the 19th century, western impact began to penetrate the Republic with the establishment of girls’ missionary schools. With modernization, such prospects increased more and with the introduction of communism, women were inspired to take up roles outside the domestic realm. Currently, women have trained to become doctors, educators, sportswomen, business people, and specialised in other fields. The progress made by women has been considerable even though men still control senior positions in government and their occupations are better paying (Seok 2013).
In conclusion, the main schools of philosophy in the People’s Republic of China are Confucianism and Daoism, otherwise referred to as Taoism. The two main schools of philosophical ideology offer a body of social principles and fundamental perception that, when united, can inspire creative instances within institutions.  From a cultural viewpoint, the mixture of the two ideologies as a metaphysical system is more significant than the values of each school reflected autonomously.  This is for the reason that a cultural concern functions concurrently in several environments.
Confucianism encourages a lucid and humanistic practice to all relations in people and their environment. It does not relate completely to families and ruling families. It makes the supposition that human characteristic is good. Confucian philosophy places a high importance on mutuality, peace and righteousness inside hierarchies and validates a robust work principle. Status within institutions should be determined by distinction or aptitude, not by an acquaintance, lineage or prosperity. Similar to Confucianism, peace, active balance and holism are important Daoist principles. A person needs to live and labour in harmony with every aspect of the surrounding.
References
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Angle, S. C. (2009). Sagehood: the contemporary significance of neo-Confucian philosophy. Oxford, Oxford University Press.
Angle, S. C. (2012). Contemporary confucian political philosophy toward progressive Confucianism. Cambridge, Polity. http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&scope=site&db=nlebk&db=nlabk&AN=571766.Bottom of Form
Chang, W., & Kalmanson, L. (2010). Confucianism in context: classic philosophy and contemporary issues, East Asia and beyond. Albany, State University of New York Press.Bottom of Form
Liu, S.-H. (2003). Essentials of contemporary neo-confucian philosophy. Westport (Conn.), Praeger.
Makeham, J. (2010). Dao companion to neo-Confucian philosophy. Dordrecht, Springer. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=646306.
Rosenlee, L.-H. L. (2006). Confucianism and women a philosophical interpretation. Albany, State University of New York Press. http://site.ebrary.com/id/10579285.
Seok, B. (2013). Embodied moral psychology and Confucian philosophy. Lanham, Lexington Books.
Shen, Q. (2013). Dao companion to classical Confucian philosophy. Dordrecht, Springer. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=1538931.
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