Abstract

In this book a voice opposing Confucianism has been criticized by Confucians who engage in the preservation of traditional values of Chinese culture. The key issue is whether the concept of concealment between relatives (qinqin xiangyin 親親相隱) should have a place in modern legislative systems. Two opposing camps accuse each other of having a narrow and short-sighted perspective. Confucians hold that people should have a higher tolerance of the crimes committed by their family members than of those committed by strangers. They claim that mutual concealment follows from the virtue of benevolence (ren 仁), the essential element of Confucian morality. However, the traditional point of view, namely that people ought to protect their biological relatives as much as they can even if it is against the law to do so, has been challenged by anti-Confucians. This is because they see the potential for corruption within Confucian theory.