(W.E. Talk) Chinese people never recognize hierarchy: Peking University scholar

(ECNS) -- "Chinese people never recognized hierarchy," Professor Zhu Suli from Peking University Law School said at the dialogue program "Cultural Relativity".

In ancient China, it was not easy to select political elites across the country. How did China's civil official system manage to be established earlier? Professor Zhu explained the selection of political elites in ancient China. "Political elite selection was actually a major challenge. Due to lack of unity, Western countries, including the U.K. and the U.S., did not manage to form a civil service system for a long time. China solved this problem at early stage.

According to Professor Zhu, first, Qinshihuang, the first emperor of Qin Dynasty (221-206 BC) unified the text. Secondly, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (202 BC-220 AD) paid supreme tribute to Confucianism while banning all other philosophies, the Analects of Confucius became a basic teaching material. This led to a unified examination standard for all local readers. The higher social status of officials also encouraged small peasant families to train their children to pursue a career. In addition, it was underpinned by a social consensus that "were the high-borns born high?" Heroes should not be asked about their origins. In Western society, it was the aristocracy that prevented the civil service from being established earlier.