Taisu Zhang at Neo-Confucian Studies Seminar on 11/7

"Prof. Zhang will present a chapter from a book manuscript-in-progress, tentatively titled Legality in China. This chapter finds that law and legality provide the Party-state with significant amounts of perceived sociopolitical legitimacy even when they serve to strengthen governmental control and dominance. Specifically, the Chinese public is more likely to ideologically accept controversial constraints upon their freedom when those constraints are issued in a legalized fashion."

"This chapter makes four specific observations to suggest that across the long arc of modern Chinese history, political and intellectual elites seemed to collectively accept normatively thin understandings of law and legality to a far greater extent than what classical Confucianism could tolerate. In fact, much of this acceptance emerged as an explicit rejection of Confucian political morality."

Law and legality provide the Party-state with perceived sociopolitical legitimacy even when they strengthen governmental control and dominance. The Chinese public is more likely to ideologically accept controversial constraints on freedom when those constraints are issued in a legalized fashion. Political and intellectual elites across modern Chinese history collectively accepted normatively thin understandings of law and legality to a greater extent than classical Confucianism could tolerate. Much of that acceptance emerged as an explicit rejection of Confucian political morality. A meeting on 11/07/2025 from 3:30–5:30 pm will be held at the Heyman Center for the Humanities (74 Morningside Dr, New York, NY 10027). RSVP by Oct. 30 at 5pm to [e-mail] for a campus access code and a pre-circulated paper. Non-affiliated attendees must provide full name and email for pre-registration, bring valid ID, and arrive early. A group dinner at Happy Hot Hunan will follow; indicate dinner attendance when RSVPing.

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