asis on 'sign value', schools for the aristocracy and environmental degradation has directly distorted Confucianism if not undermined it totally with respect to traditional moral standards which are at the heart of the philosophy.9 In China it seems that Confucianism is always called upon to create a 'fig leaf legitimacy' to whatever agenda the government is pushing, no matter how contradictory. China, more specifically, does not seem to be able to call upon the beneficial aspects of Confucianism to aid in it development. In China what we see is definitely not an unfolding of Confucian traditions but rather a convenient use to give legitimacy to any agenda. As such China cannot be regarded as a Confucian state while at the same time not being able to escape the pitfalls of Confucian hierarchical arrangements which breed inequality.Japan on the other hand can be seen as a state that has used and adapted Confucianism as a social philosophy while at the same time being able to reconcile some of the contradictions which their Chinese counterparts have not been able to overcome. Japan has not only been able to effectively re-invent Confucianism to aid it in some way in becoming an economic exemplar in the region and the world, but it has also been able to combine what can be called "merchant Confucianism" with the best of Western practices. This also has to be understood within the context of the particular circumstances, following World War II, which pushed Japan by necessity to economic reconstruction and advanced modernization. In Japan, unlike in China, Merchant values became elevated and Confucianized rather than denigrated. As Pye points out, the Japanese turned to Confucianism with a completely different rationale: "the Japanese thus turned to Confucian rules of moral discipline and ethical imperatives into guidelines for aggressive action, both for the samurai warrior in making war and the chonin merchant in making money". 10 As su...
