Introduction

Since his ascension to General Secretary of the Communist Party of China on March 14, 2013, Xi Jinping has actively advocated Confucianism for political purposes. Xi is the first Communist President to have visited Confucius’s birthplace, Qufu, in over twenty years and the first to have attended a birthday party for Confucius. International news sources have noted that Xi frequently quotes Confucius in his speeches and books, stressing traditional culture as
the “foundation” and “wellspring” of the Communist Party.
 
We may ask ourselves: How has Xi Jinping used Confucian rhetoric to promote his twenty-first century political ideology? In short, Xi has showcased himself in three ways: Xi as Confucian sage, Xi as father, and State as family (due to word constraints I will focus on Xi as Confucian sage).
 
Xi’s Image as Modern Sage
 
Xi Jinping uses the value of virtue rooted in filial piety to validate his high degree of morality. In his book, How to Read Confucius and Other Chinese Classical Thinkers, Xi articulates that: “Before entering politics and governing a country, one should cultivate one’s temperament, sentiments, and morality”. This reflects the connection between the character and the duties of a ruler; filial piety maintains that the ruler can lead people and promote social harmony due to the ruler’s high sense of moral self-cultivation. Xi conveys his understanding, to the public, of how filial piety applies to and can be adopted for rulers, who can use virtue as a basis for their power. By focusing on the individual morality of a ruler, Xi promotes himself as having the “temperament, sentiments, and morality” worthy of a ruler in order to lay claim to his political position and governance. Beyond elevating himself as the most honorable leader by focusing on moral cultivation, Xi highlights himself as the wisest leader by quoting Confucius: “If you were to lead the people correctly, who would not be rectified?”7. By drawing upon Confucius, Xi puts himself in conversation with the moral authority of imperial times. He seems to highlight himself as the modern sage by promoting the political ideology of the ancient sage. While Xi presents himself as the most virtuous man of the people, he also showcases himself as the most well-versed man in the Confucian classics, which gives him legitimacy to command respect from his subjects. An article from The Economist, titled “Confucius Says, Xi Does”, even states that: “Two emerging cults are on display in Qufu…One surrounds the ancient sage himself…The other culture in Qufu surrounds the country’s president, Xi Jinping”. This passage reveals the large degree to which Xi has reimagined the birthplace and cult of Confucius; it highlights how Xi’s public promotion of Confucius links Xi closer to the ancient sage. By casting himself as a Confucian sage, Xi Jinping asserts his model of authority and displays himself as the rightful, worthy ruler.
 
Xi takes advantage of the hierarchical nature of filial piety’s value of virtue applied to rulers: “If you govern with the power of your virtue, you will be like the North Star. It just stays in its place while all the other stars position themselves around it." The North Star, in this quote, seems to evoke the traditional concept of son of heaven (tian zi), in which heaven, representing the will and order of universe, selected the most ethical, fair ruler to preside over the people. Just as tian zi was used as a justification for rulers in imperial China, Xi seems to align himself with tian zi to legitimize his power and raise himself above those who have less power. By referencing filial piety’s relation between ruler and subject during the imperial era, Xi Jinping advocates for specific kinds of power dynamics, in which he can maintain and lead a hierarchy as the ultimate moral ruler. He adapts this sense of tradition to emphasize the importance of a tradition of virtue by the ruler, a tradition of order in government, and a tradition of deference by subjects to the ruler. Xi’s practice of grounding his political motivations in the ancient practice of tian zi and in the historical focus on virtue, a concept referred to as neo-traditionalism in sociology and political science, allows him to promote his moral authority. By portraying himself as the only one with the power of virtue, Xi reinforces the inherent hierarchy and loyalty in this relationship of subject and ruler.

Bibliography 
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1) Fenzhi Zhang, How to Read the Confucius and Other Chinese Classical Thinkers (CN Times, 2015), 55
2) Ang, Sik-Liong. "Filial Piety and Good Leadership". Ph.D dissertation, University of Brunei Darussalam, 2012
3) Vincent Goossaert and David A. Palmer, The religious question in modern China (University of Chicago Press, 2011).
4) Paul Michael Linehan, The Culture of Leadership in Contemporary China: Conflict, Values, and Perspectives for a New Generation (Lexington Books, 2017)
5) "Confucius Says, Xi Does," The Economist, 2015