Human Rights and China
It is a little known fact, even to many modern Chinese,
that the Chinese were the first people in history who envisioned
and articulated a comprehensive declaration of human rights. It is a declaration
that, I believe, far surpasses, in its holistic and humane
vision, any other such declaration, including the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen (1789 A.D.)
and the American Declaration of Independence (1776 A.D.):
The
Commonwealth State
When
the perfect order prevails, the world is like a home shared by all.
Virtuous
and worthy men are elected to public office,
and capable men hold posts
of gainful employment in society;
peace and trust among all men are the
maxims of living.
All men love and respect their own parents and children,
as well as the parents and children of others.
There is caring for the
old;
there are jobs for the adults;
there are nourishment and education
for the children.
There is a means of support for the widows and the widowers;
for all who find themselves alone in the world;
and for the disabled.
Every
man and woman has an appropriate role to play
in the family and society.
A sense of sharing displaces the effects of selfishness and materialism.
A devotion to public duty leaves no room for idleness.
Intrigues and conniving
for ill gain are unknown.
Villains such as thieves and robbers do not exist.
The door to every home need never be locked and bolted by day or night.
These are the characteristics of an ideal world, the commonwealth state.
(From The Book of Rites, ca.1000 B.C.).
Moreover, in another document, the
Chinese advocated the kind of government that, they believed, would be necessary for attaining such a humane society. The document reads:
A
ruler knows how to govern when
poets are free to make verses,
people to
act plays,
historians to tell the truth,
ministers to give advice,
the
poor to grumble at taxes,
students to learn their lessons aloud,
workmen
to practice their skill and seek work,
people to speak of anything,
and
old men to find fault with everything.
(Address of the Duke of Shao. 845 B.C.)
Documents like these provided not only the Chinese philosophers such
as Lao Tze, Confucius, Mencius, Chuang Tze, and Mo Tze, but also some of the founders of the French and American revolutions a concept of human rights that was securely founded on a humanistic world view.
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