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4.2.2 Li
According to "Li", it was to act as the guidelines for proper conduct. They helped to guide someone who may be unsure of what would be the truly "benevolent" act in certain circumstances. Therefore, the performance of these rites was seen as essential for the development of a sense of moral propriety. As one historian described them, they were the "code of formal behaviors for stabilizing and disciplining ourever-changing circumstances." Li contains complex instructions to lead person’s behaviour, which is a key tenet of Confucianism. Li is what in English would be called good manners, or gentlemanly conduct. It provides the lubrication necessary to reduce social friction and it fosters the sublimating of self-indulgence in daily interaction. Basically, Li has a set of specific and complex rules to guide and evaluate a person’s activities, which is not like Ren. Of course, has been six basic classic books of China, which includes , , , and . Furthermore, the sole examination to be an official in ancient China was entirely based on the knowledge of these classic books. Now, Li has moved to the core of Chinese life, even though probably most of young Chinese haven’t really read the book of . For this reason, indeed, Chinese businessmen either consciously or unconsciously fulfil the stakeholder theory in management operation.
4.2.3 REN
In terms of REN, it generally requires people to be kind-hearted and benevolent in their day to day life. In Confucian philosophy, Ren was one of the most fundamental of all virtues, variously translated as humanness, warm-heartedness, or benevolence. Before Confucius'' time, REN was understood as the kindness of rulers to their subjects. It was gradually broadened to mean benevolence, still a particular virtue but no longer restricted to rulers. Confucius changed it to connote perfect virtue, which includes all particular virtues and applies to all men. Mencius and the Doctrine of the Mean went on to say that "REN is Ren"--that is, REN is the distinguishing characteristic of man. “Men of good will” is normally the most important principle to appraise a person, regardless his wealth or social class. Because of the essential position of Confucianism, China has a relatively consistent valuation, especially before current economic reform. Under those circumstances, a person’s behaviour was mainly influenced by Confucianism, which includes REN. For instance, if a person has broken the principles of REN, he would suffer big loss of reputation, trust, and friends as a consequence. At last, he may lose almost all the opportunities to successfully run his business. As mentioned above, because of close relations between family and business, possibly the family would face this unacceptable aftermath as a whole. Thus, managers of CFFs may work as hard a humanly possible to take stakeholders’ interests into account.
4.2.4 Differences between Confucianism and Taoism
The major difference between Confucianism and Taoism is the attitude to participate social activities. Taoism teaches that the only way to the unity is to follow natural law, while Confucians believe that it is by self-cultivation and the instruction of sages that humans come into harmony with heaven. Therefore, the center of the Taoism is that, a society might benefit from the principles of Wuwei, or active not-doing. On the contrary, the core of Confucianism is to persuade people to actively involve social affairs. During the Warring States period, Confucians criticised Taoism for its blindly following the natural way the thus being ignorant of human affairs. In the meanwhile, Confucianism highlights the social responsibility of Pifu, ordinary people. The important belief of Confucianism is that, Pifu, ordinary people, is definitely liable to national prosperity or depression. Therefore, even though they have admitted the importance of individual families, clearly they consider that national, or social, interests are more important than individual’s. It can be seen that, apparently, CFFs have an old-line tradition to care for stakeholders’ interests, social responsibility.
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