Historical Investigation Of Confucian Charity Thought And Its Realistic Benefit Of Ideological And Political Education In Colleges And Universities

From the sources and connotation of the Confucian charitable thought, this article analyzes its historical practice and efficacy at the level of the whole nation and the society. Combined with the practical work of ideological and political education of college students in China, it discusses the practical experience and significance as well as specific application of Confucian charitable thought to college ideological and political education.Confucian charitable thought was created by Confucius, which regarded “Ren” as the core thought. Mencius inherited the thought of Confucius including people-oriented, love and kindness and he further developed it into the policy of benevolence. On the basis of “Ren”, Mencius also proposed a theory of “people are basically good”, which was the foundation of Mencius charitable thought. Later some scholars of Confucianism further promoted Confucian charitable thought, such as Dong Zhongshu’s thought of “Human nature is to be taught and for the good”, Han Yu’s theory of temperament, Zhang Zai’s theory of “Love people and all things”, and Zhu Xi’s theory of “Li Yi Fen Shu”(meaning that man is an integral part of nature) as well as Wang Yangming’s theory of “To the Conscience", which indeed developed charity thought of Confucius and Mencius to different degrees. All in all, Confucian charitable thought regards “Ren” as the core thought and “Equality” as the foundation.Confucian charitable thought played a vital role in China’s long and profound history, which can be analyzed from two specific levels of state and society. Among them, the policies of equalization, kinda, public granary are the concrete practice of Confucian charitable thought of equality. Moreover, the policies of famine relief, medical relief, loving children and respecting the old with pension are the vivid reflection of Confucian charitable thought in implementing benevolent politics and protecting people. From a practical point of view, Confucian charitable thought has important theoretical and practical value to college’s ideological and political education.The thought of “Ren” helps to enrich the humanistic spirit of ideological and political education;Confucian “people-oriented thought” will help college students acquire a deeper understanding of the true meaning and significance of “respect others and understand others”; the thought of“Equality” will help to achieve a fair and equal opportunity in education, thus contributing to build a harmonious campus as well as a harmonious society. In order to integrate Confucian charitablethought into college’s ideological and political education, some measures can be taken as follows:First, making efforts to improve cognition of teachers towards Confucian charitable thought; the second is to spread the education of Confucian charitable thought through student organizations or associations; the third is to strengthen the spreading and educational role of public opinion.