Jiang Shigong

Jiang Shigong (born 11 November 1967) is a Chinese legal and political theorist.His main research directions are jurisprudence, sociology of law and constitutional law.

Quotes

• The political principles and the political will of the State are above all else.
  • 法制与治理：国家转型中的法律 [Legal System and Governance: Law in a Transforming State] (2003), translated by Samuel Seppänen in Ideological Conflict and the Rule of Law in Contemporary China, p. 162
• The crucial questions in politics are not questions of right and wrong, but of obedience and disobedience. If you do not submit to political authority, then "If I say you're wrong, you're wrong, even if you're right."
  • 《乌克兰转型中的宪政权威》 ["The authority of the constitution in a Ukraine in transition"] (2004), translated by David Ownby in Rethinking China's Rise, p. 27
• Between friends and enemies, there is no question of freedom, only violence and subjugation. This is the reality of politics, a reality that liberals often do not dare to face.
  • 《乌克兰宪政危机与政治决断》 ["Ukraine's constitutional crisis and political decisions"] (2004), translated by David Ownby in Rethinking China's Rise, p. 27
• In human history, Britain may well have been the one and only nation to establish its political virtues completely on commercial operations, and to fully realize the rationalization of politics and morality.
  • China's Hong Kong (2017), p. 56
• Time and history constitute the real God.
  • China's Hong Kong (2017), p. 133
• This absurd way of looking at the development of democracy on this island is widespread among Hong Kong elites, and is undoubtedly the saddest page in the tragic modern history of China. Long colonial education has made some of Hong Kong's elite totally identify with the western world. Their mentality made them lose their ability to have objective judgment, reflection and critical thinking on the historical course of Hong Kong.
  • China's Hong Kong (2017), p. 194
• When Mao Zedong in his later years described himself as "a combination of First Emperor Qin and Marx," his ideology had already leapfrogged the Great Wall and touched the universal brotherhood of Communism.
  • China's Hong Kong (2017), p. 208
• Western civilization is built on a philosophical-theological tradition of binary antagonisms, between phenomenon and existence, life on earth and in heaven. In the Christian tradition, the ultimate goal and meaning of human existence comes from God in heaven, which is why the final goal of Western striving is to arrive at the realization of various versions of the "end of history". But in the tradition of Chinese civilization, the worldly and otherworldly realms are not strictly separated, and are both absorbed in a complete world where heaven and mankind are one. The goal and meaning of life for Chinese people was not how to get into heaven, but rather how to locate a universal, lasting meaning within the historically existing "family-state universe". For this reason, Chinese people, and especially politicians, all sought to establish their name in history through professional achievements.
  • "Philosophy and History" (2018), translated by David Ownby
• If the Chinese people want to realize the great revival of the Chinese nation and change the Western model of modernization through which the West has dominated the world, providing late-developing countries with the ‘China solution’ to modernization, they must engage in uncompromising struggle. ... "History looks kindly on those with resolve, with drive and ambition, and with courage; it won’t wait for the hesitant, the apathetic, or those who shy from a challenge" [Xi Jinping]. The former is the master who achieves victory through struggle, while the latter lacks the courage to struggle, and will necessarily suffer the fate of a slave.
  • "Philosophy and History" (2018)
• The world is driven by contradictory movements to produce developments and changes which in turn drive struggle and innovation. Marxism and Chinese traditional culture have a high degree of internal consistency on this point, which precisely constitutes the deep philosophical roots of the Sinification of Marxism.
  • "Philosophy and History" (2018)
• The roots of struggle lie in the necessary truth that contradictions propel society forward.
  • "Philosophy and History" (2018)