BILLIOUD, Sébastien, and Joël THORAVAL. 2015. The Sage and the People: The Confucian Revival in China. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
JIANG FU, Lan. 2024. Confucius revisité. Du marchand confucéen à l’entrepreneur du XXIe siècle : Le phénomène rushang dans la Chine contemporaine (Confucius revisited. From Confucian merchant to twenty-first century entrepreneur: The rushang phenomenon in contemporary China). Paris: Hémisphères Éditions, Maisonneuve & Larose
JIANG FU, Lan. 2024. Confucius revisité. Du marchand confucéen à l’entrepreneur du XXIe siècle : Le phénomène rushang dans la Chine contemporaine. Paris: Hémisphères Éditions, Maisonneuve & Larose.
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1Based on Lan Jiang Fu’s doctoral dissertation defended in 2021, Confucius revisité. Du marchand confucéen à l’entrepreneur du XXIe siècle : Le phénomène rushang dans la Chine contemporaine (Confucius revisited. From Confucian merchant to twenty-first century entrepreneur: The rushang phenomenon in contemporary China) provides a fascinating account of the affinities between traditional Chinese culture, companies, and private entrepreneurs in China. Having been a prime target of criticism during the Maoist era, Confucianism’s reemergence in Chinese society from the end of the twentieth century onward has been spectacular. The Party-state’s increasing references to Chinese traditional culture and Confucianism are particularly noteworthy, from speeches by Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao with Confucian emphasis on “harmonious society” (hexie shehui 和諧社會), to Xi Jinping’s strong endorsement of Confucianism under the “Chinese dream” (Zhongguo meng 中國夢).
2This book draws from a body of scholarship on the resurgence of Confucianism in contemporary China. In The Sage and the People: The Confucian Revival in China, Sébastien Billioud and Joël Thoraval shed light on the multifaceted Confucian practices that emerged in China after the 1980s. They examined in a sophisticated way both grassroots Confucian initiatives and the official discourse on Confucianism, reflecting on why it is difficult to examine them through the concept of “religion” (zongjiao 宗教) imported from the West. In line with this literature, Lan Jiang Fu’s book discusses the entanglements between capitalism, “Confucian” entrepreneurs, and the Party-state in post-Maoist China.
3The book builds on rich and nuanced ethnographic fieldwork conducted in three private companies in 2016–2020 and carried out in three Chinese coastal cities (in Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong Provinces) characterised by high rates of development since the 1980s. These companies of various sizes (two small and medium-sized firms and one big company) specialise in the manufacturing sector (electronic devices, home, and kitchen equipment). The family nature of their management is worth noting.
4Part One evokes the historical roots of the concept of “Confucian merchant” (rushang 儒商) from the 1671–1687 period of the Ming dynasty, to its academic rediscovery from the 1980s onwards. The author points out the complexity of the Confucian revival in Chinese society, which indeed permeates society, and takes various cultural, religious, educational, patrimonial, economic, and touristic forms.
5Part Two sketches Confucianism in Chinese companies as an educative project, as underlined by the key term jiaohua 教化 (transformation of self and training dispensed to others). The study of classics such as the Analects (Lunyu 論語), the Rules of Disciple (Dizigui 弟子規), and the Great Learning (Daxue 大學) occupies an important place in the daily activities of these companies. Throughout the often-compulsory reading of these canonical texts, the employees’ behaviour and states of mind are supposed to be transformed to reflect the creation of moral citizens endorsed by the Party-state. The author also analyses the paternalistic and family-based leadership of the entrepreneurs who claim to be Confucian, along with their ecological commitment. For instance, some develop organic agriculture to provide support to the “left-behind” children of migrant workers who remain in the countryside (liushou er’tong 留守兒童).
6Part Three focuses on the intricate relationships between so-called Confucian business leaders, Confucianism, and the Party-state. Since Xi Jinping took office in 2012, the Party-state has placed renewed emphasis on traditional values. Xi launched a new campaign in 2015 around the slogan of “core socialist values” (shehui zhuyi hexin jiazhiguan 社會主義核心價值觀) in which traditional culture is stressed. However, political restrictions on grassroots and non-governmental organisations have also intensified. The author observes that many traditional private schools (sishu 私塾) have been closed in recent years. “Confucian” entrepreneurs also avoid delivering speeches in public. However, Confucianism is at the same time strongly endorsed by the central authorities. In 2019, for instance, Wang Qishan, the vice-president of the People’s Republic of China, delivered a speech at an international symposium celebrating the birth of Confucius. Meanwhile, numerous events have been organised by rushang to promote Confucianism, such as the Bo’ao Forum for Entrepreneurs since 2016.
7Lan Jiang Fu’s book is a significant contribution to the study of the renewal of Confucianism in relation to capitalism and the state in China in two ways. First, the book avoids reducing the complex Confucian phenomena to specific aspects – official ideology, ethics, or religious rituals – to account for it. Second, the author locates the renewal of Confucianism in relation to capitalism in a Chinese context, while drawing on examples from various parts of the world – Japan, France, or the United States. As the author points out, the Party-state indeed plays a central role in China’s economic and moral configuration, making it unique compared to the Western modern trajectory.
8Despite its significant contribution, the book has two main weaknesses. First, the author’s Introduction could have provided a more comprehensive theoretical framework on how the Chinese case relates to and diverges from Max Weber’s thesis on the affinities between capitalism and various religious ethics – Protestantism, but also Confucianism. This argument could have been more developed to highlight the specificities of Chinese capitalism. In this sense, the book lacks a cohesive discussion on these theoretical debates that could unify the subsequent chapters.
9Second, the author also draws on the theoretical framework of “reinvention of tradition” invented by Hobsbawm and Ranger to explore the resurgence of cultural tradition in China. The author could have delved deeper into examples as well as the literature on Chinese nationalism to support this theoretical frame. Additionally, the culturalist dimensions of the debate over “Asian values” in the 1980s could be worth exploring. The “moral crisis” discourse, positing the deterioration of moral values due to unregulated capitalist growth in China is also debated, as it remains impossible to garner sufficiently solid evidence, leading to the impossibility to assessing whether China is facing a moral crisis more than other countries. Overall, it could be worth exploring how contemporary Confucian representations relate to culturalism and Chinese nationalism.
10Lan Jiang Fu’s book remains a significant contribution to the relationships between Confucianism, self-claimed “Confucian” businessmen, and the Party-state in post-Maoist China, which speaks to studies of state-society relations, religion, politics, and capitalism in contemporary China. It is also an erudite yet accessible empirical account of Confucianism and companies, valuable to any reader concerned about contemporary Chinese society.
References
Bibliographical reference
Juliette Duléry, “JIANG FU, Lan. 2024. Confucius revisité. Du marchand confucéen à l’entrepreneur du XXIe siècle : Le phénomène rushang dans la Chine contemporaine (Confucius revisited. From Confucian merchant to twenty-first century entrepreneur: The rushang phenomenon in contemporary China). Paris: Hémisphères Éditions, Maisonneuve & Larose”, China Perspectives, 144 | 2026, 91-92.
Electronic reference
Juliette Duléry, “JIANG FU, Lan. 2024. Confucius revisité. Du marchand confucéen à l’entrepreneur du XXIe siècle : Le phénomène rushang dans la Chine contemporaine (Confucius revisited. From Confucian merchant to twenty-first century entrepreneur: The rushang phenomenon in contemporary China). Paris: Hémisphères Éditions, Maisonneuve & Larose”, China Perspectives [Online], 144 | 2026, Online since 01 March 2026, connection on 17 May 2026. URL: http://journals.openedition.org/chinaperspectives/20466; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4000/15zut
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