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have been tolerated in the Confucian empire and are changing only because of the shift in mindsets in modern China. Inhuman practices may survive in liberal democratic systems, but they are illegal and violaters are punished when these are uncovered.

23. Ames, “Reflections on the Confucius Self,” 103–114.

24. In his work, Fingarette states that “the Chinese conception of unique individuality stands in contrast to the autonomous individuality which attends ‘the isolation of the European soul’ from other souls, and ontologically, from the illusory world of sensual perception” (quoted in Ames, “Reflections on the Confucius Self,” 109).

25. Elvin, “Between the Earth and Heaven,” 170.

26. Gernet, China and the Christian Impact, 147.

27. Xu Jiling, ” Zhongguo Zhishi Fenzi Qunti Renge de Lishi Tansuo,” 1016. One of the main point of Xu’s essay deals with the weaknesses of intellectuals, whom he calls youshi 游士 or yangshi 養士 (lit. roaming and fostered scholars). According to Xu, this is a symptom of their impotence in the face of political authority.

28. Solomon, Mao’s Revolution and the Chinese Political Culture, 4, 75–79, 128–129, 210.

29. Quoted by Xu Keqian, “A Different Type of Individualism in Zhuangzi,” 446.

30. Sun Longji, Zhongguo Wenhua de “Shenceng Jiegou,” 203–228. See also Muensterberger, “Orality and Dependence,” 37–69.

31. There are opposing positions, like that of Kwong-loi Shun (“Ethical Self-Commitment and Ethical Self-Indulgence”), who on the contrary observes “ethical self-commitment” in Confucian moral psychology, associated with self-respect and self-aware emotions: he argues the sense of disgrace (attitude toward ru 辱, referred to as chi 恥) in early Confucianism does not arise as a result of the opinions and judgements of others about one’s behavior but rather generated from one’s self-examination and self-expectation.

32. Kubin, “The Inconstant Monkey,” 7, and “Der unstete Affe: zum Problem des Selbst im Konfuzianismus,” 80–113.

33. Herrmann-Pillath, “Fei Xiaotong’s Comparative Theory of Chinese Culture, 28–29

34. de Bary, “Individualism and Humanitarianism in Late Ming Thought,” 150.

35. Li Minghui, “Rujia Chuantong yu Renquan,” note 22.