Recently there has been considerable speculation that our citizens are fast losing their moral decency.

A host of reports are shameful reminders of the degree of decay.

On October 13, in a marketplace in Foshan, Guangdong Province, a two-year toddler named Yueyue was first knocked down by a van, then run over again by another vehicle.

A surveillance camera showed that over seven minutes, 18 people passed near the child lying in blood and made no effort to help. The child died on October 21.

Earlier this month in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, a civil servant who had graduated from Peking University had over four months physically assaulted his mother on seven occasions. He also beat and bit his father. On October 30, in response to overwhelming public outrage about his reported deeds, the unfilial son apologized to his parents on his knees.

Also on October 30, the China Kindness and Filial Piety Special Committee under the China Ethics Association kicked off in Beijing a "Chinese Filial Children" project aimed at turning out a million filial children in five years.

Some suspect that the committee, tapping public discontent, intends to make a profit by selling "filial piety" certificates to hypocrites.

There are myriad signs of tears in our moral cloak in recent years, but Wang Shiming, deputy director of the Office of National Spiritual Civilization Development Steering Commission, refused to believe our moral fabric is in tatters.

On September 27, he responded to concerns that some people no longer dare assist elderly people who have fallen to the ground, for fear of being sued for allegedly causing the original injury. Wang asserted that in judging the moral tenor of the times, a distinction should be made between the mainstream and the periphery of moral conduct.

Having made this distinction, Wang went on to say he is convinced the mainstream of Chinese society is morally sound.

For this he finds compelling evidence in, among other things, China's soaring economic growth.

To interpret GDP growth as a barometer of the national moral status is certainly original, but such a fallacious argument is easier to understand in light of Wang's official capacity.

In a commentary in the Guangming Daily on October 31, Shi He opined that excessive exposure of pervasive apathy towards others and exaggeration of the plight of good Samaritans are giving people strong hint: extending a helping hand might land yourself in trouble.

Shi proposed enactment in China of what's called in other countries a good Samaritan shield law that would protect people from possible litigation if they go out of their way to help others. But to suggest granting legal protection for acts of kindness is almost as absurd as mass-producing filial children.

There is also talk of the so-called "bystander effect," a phenomenon in which witnesses to a tragic event tend not to intervene when there are many bystanders; they appear to get "cues" from each other telling them not to get involved. By comparison a single person confronted with a similar situation might act on his or her better impulse, it is said.

Researchers view the moral decay issue from a theoretical perspective.

In an interview with the Wenhui Daily newspaper on July 4, Professor Zhao Dingxin, a sociologist on the faculty of the University of Chicago, approached the issue analytically.

Vacuum of beliefs

Zhao argued that while it might be true there has been moral decay, the perception of moral decay could have been exaggerated as a result of liberal media exposure of negative cases, or could be a result of popular maladjustment to the burgeoning pluralization of moral values.

Asked if advocating Confucianism today could help address the apparent vacuum of beliefs in China today, Zhao replied in the negative.

He said that in the wake of modernization, all religions - Christianity, Islam and others - have been significantly weakened. But these religions still survive to various extents because they have managed to hold on to their churches, mosques, and their institutional resources, he said.

Not so for Confucianism.

For the past century, there has been systemic demonization and destruction of Confucianism. During the May 4th Movement of 1919, there were such slogans as "Down with Confucian Temples!"

Today, the foundation that Confucian orthodoxy used to depend on - patriarchy and the imperial examination system - have been effectively smashed to smithereens. There can be no turning back.

Absent that foundation, Confucianism has been reduced to a school of philosophy that might appeal to some intellectually, but otherwise is expendable. The modern educational establishment no longer concerns itself with the cultivation of personal character and the passing on of traditional values, as did the old establishment.

As the education system degenerates into the production of graduates in specialized fields, that system is highly vulnerable to commercial and bureaucratic influences.

Instead of focusing on bringing out the best of human endeavors, educators today urge their students to "keep abreast of the times." This is the very opposite of what is expected of traditional education.

For instance, what is regarded as the first Confucian canon is Daxue (Great Learning), which sets out the purpose of education. This text links the seeking of knowledge to the cultivation of the person, then to the regulation of families, and then to management of state affairs. It illustrates why "the superior man must be watchful over himself when he is alone."

At the end of the text, it says that "In a state, pecuniary gain is not to be considered to be prosperity, but its prosperity will be found in righteousness."

"Great Learning" warns that "the accumulation of wealth is the way to scatter the people," to say nothing of the accumulation by improper means. Ironically, modern day statesman and economists have been so enchanted by the market and "pecuniary gain" that they seems to be interested in little else.

When a state flatters itself on its willingness to expose every fiber of the nation to the play of market forces, mindless accumulation, or growth, becomes a purpose in its own right. When getting richer than one's neighbors becomes the all-consuming, lifelong instinct, it is soon discovered that virtues such as loyalty, filial piety, and honesty are often cumbersome because they stand in the way of worldly ambitions.

In this context, it is less important to achieve a consensus on our moral decay, than to draw attention to circumstances that make the decay inevitable. Only by identifying such circumstances can we hope to bring about change.