Chinese Civil Servants More Capitalism-oriented

Civil servants in China are more prone to be law-abiding and have a healthier understanding on capitalism compared with Korean civil servants. This has been revealed in a research paper entitled, “Two Looks of Confucianism Culture,” which is the outcome of a two-year survey targeting civil servants in two countries and carried out by Kim Yong-pyung, professor from Korea University, and Chung In-hwa, professor from Kwandong University.

There were 600 participants, consisting of 200 Korean civil servants in their twenties and thirties, 200 Korean civil servants in over 40-years-old, and 200 Chinese civil servants in their twenties and thirties.

In an item questioning “the more law-abiding, the more harmful,” while 43.6 percent of Korean civil servants in their twenties and thirties and 45 percent of Korean civil servants over 40 years of age answered either “really so” or “generally so,” as low as 2.7 percent of Chinese civil servants in their twenties and thirties answered the same

In an item questioning “force is much closer than law in our society,” 35.9 percent of Korean civil servants in their twenties and thirties and 28 percent of Korean civil servant over 40 answered either “really so” or “generally so.” However only 18.1 percent of Chinese counterpart marked the same answers. Professor Kim evaluated, based on such results, that “the trend of obeying the law has settled in China, independent from whether or not the law is implemented in a democratic way.”

Also, in an item questioning “it is natural to inherit all property,” 20.9 percent of Korean civil servants in their twenties and thirties and 14.1 percent of Korean civil servants over 40 answered “yes.” And, 40.6 percent of Chinese civil servants in their twenties and thirties said “yes.”

In an item questioning “I will continue working in companies to which I have devoted my whole life, no matter how much pay the other companies offer,” 52.7 percent of Korean civil servants in their twenties and thirties and 76 percent of Korean civil servants over 40 gave positive answers. However, only 13.7 percent of Chinese civil servants in their twenties and thirties said “yes.” Such result, in fact, represents the prevailing understanding of market mechanism in China.

“The initial purpose of this research was to find out how similar Asian values—such as bureaucratic system stemming from Confucianism—the two countries share, but the result was so unexpected that even the researchers were surprised,” Professor Kim said.

Hyoung-Chan Kim khc@donga.com