[1] For more than two thousand years, Confucianism has helped to define Chinese culture, tradition, and philosophy; it has contributed to a stable and harmonious society.
Nevertheless, challenges from foreign powers and internal problems in the country inevitably led to the political Xinhai Revolution when the people overthrew the Qing dynasty.
The political situation at the time drove him to undertake studies of Marxism and human rights theories of the West during his university years.
Given his deep appreciation and knowledge of the classics, especially the Gongyang Zhuan commentary, and the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989, he was determined to find a solution for China's struggles.
This brought about his criticism of the New Confucianism, and his plan for China, which involved drawing on its own long-standing metaphysical moral and political values, as well as national identity, all of which are fundamentally different from Western ideologies.
[3] Arguing that New Confucianism is exclusively concerned with the existential life of human individuals and their minds, Jiang calls it Mind Confucianism, perhaps to highlight how it focuses on individual moral development rather the Chinese institutional aspect that Gongyang Zhuan advocates, more specifically the idea of wangdao (王道 "kingly way; benevolent government"),[4] loosely translated as “Way of the Humane Authority.”[5] Wangdao is a set of criteria for which a legitimate ruler meets.
First, it places excessive emphasis on the ideas of individuality and self-cultivation, causing familial and social relations to collapse.
Thirdly, New Confucians believe that through individuals’ self-cultivation of virtue, external social and political problems will be solved.
Moreover, it pays attention to historical lessons and strives to find a rightful form of governance, as illustrated by the idea of wangdao.
[9] Jiang has proposed a trilateral parliament system for China, which would consist of three houses, each representing the three kinds of legitimacy discussed in Criticism of New Confucianism.
Some scholars, for example Ruichang Wang, agree with Jiang's criticism of liberal democracy and his proposal of the trilateral parliament regime.
Bell, another supporter of Jiang, agrees that in order for a political transition to become successful in the long run, it must draw on the existing cultural resources, i.e.
Similar to Wang, he believes that Jiang's proposal of the trilateral parliament system is promising, but there needs to be some modification for it to become feasible and more effective.