ABSTRACT
Confucianism has a complex history but, essentially, relies on two primary ideas: ren and xiao. For Confucianism, these two ideas are interdependent. It is everyone's duty to cultivate and nurture their humaneness by enhancing the quality and range of their human relationships. For Confucianism, all animals, whether human or nonhuman, have moral value. The standard position for Confucianism is as follows: The people love both plants and animals, and they can tolerate feeding animals with plants. In August 1973, the Chinese communist party's mass campaign to Criticize Confucius began in earnest. Confucius has become a symbol of one of China's cultural diplomacy goals to unite ethnic Chinese around the world and create a friendly environment for the conduct of international trade and diplomacy. Western-style Confucianism is likely to be Confucianism lite, without emphasis on filial piety and the attendant restrictions on property rights and adult children. Donald Blakeley has identified sixteen passages in the Confucian Analects, which involve nonhuman animals.
