Originally Posted by Lathdrinor
China's Confucianism was cause-and-effect. China didn't start with Confucianism. It started with shamanism and slavery: the Shang Dynasty was all about enslaving the other tribes and offering human sacrifices to the great spirits. Then the Zhou came along, curbed some of the excesses, instigated patriarchy, and society progressed a bit. But it was still a Machiavellian game of thrones, with the aristocratic houses at the top and everybody else suffering under their feudal ways.
The chief ideology of the Chinese elite, for most of its history, has not been Confucianism. Confucianism was a reactionary movement against the clannish militarism of China's warlord rulers (for it took a warlord to impose his will upon the peasant masses). The emperors of China were cold-blooded, fratricidal killers who instigated such murderous laws as "exterminating one's relatives up to the ninth generation" for daring to speak against the throne.
Yes, China's rulers were ruthless, but the masses weren't necessarily that much better. Constant banditry plagued the countryside, where corruption - then as now - reigned. Rich families dined on pork and wine while poor families starved to death on the streets. Gambling, prostitution, greed, burglary, drunkenness - these were all widespread in old China (and still are, in many ways). In light of all this, Confucius, it must be remembered, was a critic who spoke against the immorality of his time. By establishing rules of conduct and creating a common code of behavior, Confucius sought to restrain some of the bad behaviors that characterized Chinese society. Regardless of what effects the philosophy might have had, later, this was its origin and context.
Besides, I wouldn't blame China's lack of progress on Confucianism.
I think it has more to do with the fact that Chinese people dislike instability and change. Indeed, one might say that Asian peoples in general are very conservative (or were).
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