THEZHOU XUN周訓 AND “ELEVATING THE WORTHY” (SHANG XIAN尚賢)

Early China ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
pp. 149-178 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrej Fech
Keyword(s):  
Close Association ◽  
Political Order ◽  
First Century ◽  
Early China ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Fundamental Challenge ◽  
Peking University ◽  
Significant Extension ◽  
The Right ◽  
Lushi Chunqiu

AbstractThe present paper aims to investigate the idea of “elevating the worthy” (shang xian尚賢) as it appears in the newly found manuscriptZhou xun周訓. This manuscript is part of the Peking University collection (Beijing daxue cang Xi-Han zhushu北京大學藏西漢竹書), presumably copied in the first half of the first centuryb.c.e. In sharp contrast to most recently discovered manuscripts promulgating “elevating the worthy,” theZhou xunintroduces the meritocratic principle to support hereditary power transfer, by positing that the right to rule should be passed on to the most able son of a ruler. I argue that this position served several purposes. First, it provided a solution to the central problem of abdication discourse, namely, the conflict between the principles of “respecting worthies” (zun xian尊賢) and “loving kin” (ai qin愛親). Second, this interpretation of “elevating the worthy” entailed a significant extension of the number of potential contenders to the throne, challenging the system of primogeniture, the very cornerstone of political order in early China. This fundamental challenge appears to be deliberate and can be interpreted as an attempt to formulate a new paradigm for the ruling house of Zhou. The complete absence of the idea of Heaven's Mandate (tian ming天命) from theZhou xuncertainly underscores its radical departure from Zhou conventional claims to power. However, I argue that, given the close association between theZhou xunand theLüshi chunqiu呂氏春秋, it is also plausible that the former's theory was created to justify the Zhou's overthrow by the Qin 秦. In any case, theZhou xunprovides us with new insights into how the idea of “elevating the worthy” was applied to politics in early China.

A Tracer Study of ICT Graduate Students at Mzuzu University, Malawi

Mousaion ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chimango Nyasulu ◽  
Winner Chawinga ◽  
George Chipeta
Keyword(s):  
Language Processing ◽  
Mobile Application ◽  
First Century ◽  
Application Development ◽  
Job Requirements ◽  
Level Of Satisfaction ◽  
Information And Communication ◽  
Quantitative Design ◽  
The Right ◽  
The University

Governments the world over are increasingly challenging universities to produce human resources with the right skills sets and knowledge required to drive their economies in this twenty-first century. It therefore becomes important for universities to produce graduates that bring tangible and meaningful contributions to the economies. Graduate tracer studies are hailed to be one of the ways in which universities can respond and reposition themselves to the actual needs of the industry. It is against this background that this study was conducted to establish the relevance of the Department of Information and Communication Technology at Mzuzu University to the Malawian economy by systematically investigating occupations of its former students after graduating from the University. The study adopted a quantitative design by distributing an online-based questionnaire with predominantly closed-ended questions. The study focused on three key objectives: to identify key employing sectors of ICT graduates, to gauge the relevance of the ICT programme to its former students’ jobs and businesses, and to establish the level of satisfaction of the ICT curriculum from the perspectives of former ICT graduates. The key findings from the study are that the ICT programme is relevant to the industry. However, some respondents were of the view that the curriculum should be strengthened by revising it through an addition of courses such as Mobile Application Development, Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, Data Mining, and LINUX Administration to keep abreast with the ever-changing ICT trends and job requirements. The study strongly recommends the need for regular reviews of the curriculum so that it is continually responding to and matches the needs of the industry.

Defining the Center—Finding the Boundaries: The Challenge of Re-Visioning the Church in North America for the Twenty-First Century

1994 ◽  
Vol 22 (3) ◽  
pp. 317-337
Author(s):  
Craig Van Gelder
Keyword(s):  
North America ◽  
North American ◽  
American Culture ◽  
First Century ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Twenty First Century ◽  
Mission Field ◽  
The Church

It is becoming increasingly clear that we are experiencing a shift in North American culture that requires the church to think of North America as mission field. The thesis of this article is that the church will need to develop a new paradigm of mission to accomplish this. This article identifies 18 issues which such a paradigm of mission will need to address. These issues are discussed in terms of three aspects: (1) the context in which we live, (2) the gospel we seek to proclaim, and (3) the church which seeks to proclaim this gospel.

Open Democracy

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hélène Landemore
Keyword(s):  
Political Institutions ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
New Paradigm ◽  
Democratic Representation ◽  
The People ◽  
Laws And Policies ◽  
The Right ◽  
Turn Over ◽  
The Ideal ◽  
Ordinary Citizens

To the ancient Greeks, democracy meant gathering in public and debating laws set by a randomly selected assembly of several hundred citizens. To the Icelandic Vikings, democracy meant meeting every summer in a field to discuss issues until consensus was reached. Our contemporary representative democracies are very different. Modern parliaments are gated and guarded, and it seems as if only certain people — with the right suit, accent, wealth, and connections — are welcome. Diagnosing what is wrong with representative government and aiming to recover some of the lost openness of ancient democracies, this book presents a new paradigm of democracy in which power is genuinely accessible to ordinary citizens. This book favors the ideal of “representing and being represented in turn” over direct-democracy approaches. Supporting a fresh nonelectoral understanding of democratic representation, the book recommends centering political institutions around the “open mini-public” — a large, jury-like body of randomly selected citizens gathered to define laws and policies for the polity, in connection with the larger public. It also defends five institutional principles as the foundations of an open democracy: participatory rights, deliberation, the majoritarian principle, democratic representation, and transparency. The book demonstrates that placing ordinary citizens, rather than elites, at the heart of democratic power is not only the true meaning of a government of, by, and for the people, but also feasible and, today more than ever, urgently needed.

Analysis of the Evolution and Structure of Systems Biology

2012 ◽  
Vol 488-489 ◽  
pp. 1006-1010
Author(s):  
Chao Liu ◽  
Lian Fen Liu ◽  
Fu Guo Li ◽  
Nai Hua Jiang ◽  
Wen Juan Guo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Systems Biology ◽  
Molecular Interactions ◽  
Close Association ◽  
Physiological Responses ◽  
Biological Molecules ◽  
System Level ◽  
Biological Research ◽  
Research Practice ◽  
Research Model ◽  
Fundamental Challenge

Systems biology is a term used to describe a number of trends in bioscience research, and a movement which draws on those trends. Systems biology aims to understand the biology from the system level. The fundamental challenge of systems biology is to establish a complete, detailed description of the link between biological molecules and to study molecular interactions and the close association between the physiological responses. Systems biology methods in the system under the guidance will enable us to break the shackles of the old research model to study life from the grasp of the whole phenomenon. We must effectively grasp and follow the systems biology approach to guide our biological research practice.

Equal Rights, Privilege, and the Pursuit of Inequality

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard D. Brown
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Property Rights ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Order ◽  
First Century ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Equal Rights ◽  
Individual Property ◽  
Nineteenth Century America

While cherishing ideas of equal rights and equality, Americans have simultaneously sought inequality. The Revolution of 1776 committed Americans to the idea of equal rights, but just as fundamentally it dedicated the United States to the protection and increase of individual property and the power to direct it to heirs. Although equal rights and individual property rights have proved compatible with religious and ethnic equality, social and economic inequality, both meritocratic and inherited, have been integral to the American social and political order. Moreover, based on the emerging biologies of race and sex, the idea of equal rights for people of color and for women faced new barriers in nineteenth-century America and beyond into the twenty-first century.

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