Drawing on comparisons between Chinese and Western political philosophy, this book discusses some essential elements of Chinese ancient political philosophy, such as the ideas of rights, foundations of law, the transference of power, democracy and other political issues as exemplified in classical Chinese political philosophy.

Foreword. Preface. Part I 1. The Theory of Daoyi: A Concise Treatise on Confucius’s Political Philosophy and His Argumentation about the Legitimacy of Political Power 2. "Law Comes from the Dao": The Philosophy of Law in the Silk Manuscript Yellow Emperor’s Four Canons 3. Transferring to the Worthies Rather Than to the Sons: The Political Philosophy in the Shanghai Museum Bamboo Slips Manuscript Rong Cheng Shi 容成氏 and the Question of Which School It Belongs To 4. Striving For Democracy: Confucian Political Philosophy in the Ming and Qing Dynasties Part II 5. Laozi’s View of Harmony and the Ideal of Social Justice 6. A New interpretation of "Preserve Great Harmony in Union, and the Result Is Advantageous, Correct, and Firm": The Relation Between Social Fairness and Utility in the "Commentaries on the Book of Changes" 7. The Confucian "Kingly Way for All Under Heaven" and Contemporary International Peace Part III 8. Freedom in the History of Chinese Thought: Vocabulary, Concept, and Idea 9. The "Cultural Liberalism" of Xu Fuguan 10. Xu Fuguan and Confucian Political Philosophy 11. On the Possibility of Dialogue between the Confucian Doctrine of "Humaneness" and Liberalism from a Humanistic Point of View 12. On Liang Qichao’s Idea of Liberty in His Earlier Works 13. A Review of Li Dazhao’s Social Ideal 14. Individual Freedom and the Ideal Society: The Ideas of Freedom of Yin Haiguang and Feng Qi in Comparison Part IV 15. The "Chinese/Barbarian Distinction" and Cultural Nationalism 16. Minben 民本 and Democracy: A Comparison of Political Ideas between China and the West 17. From Political Constitutionalism to International Political Constitutionalism: The Reasoning of Rawls’s Political Liberalism 18. Political Democracy and Chinese Democracy: Thoughts on Chinese Political Reforms and Regional Conflicts in the World Reference. Index