The Systemic Harms of Confucianism to Chinese Civilization: From Ritualistic Obstruction to the Rebirth of Cosmic Wisdom

Confucianism has long been regarded as the ideological backbone of Chinese civilization. However, this paper argues that institutionalized Confucianism, far from being the essence of Chinese thought, has inflicted profound and lasting harm on the civilization. It has eclipsed the cosmic wisdom of “Dao follows Nature,” suppressed individual freedom and creativity, stunted the development of science and democratic governance, degraded women and nature, and constructed a rigid hierarchical and epistemic order. This essay critically examines these harms across multiple dimensions—education, science, politics, ecology, gender, and language—and calls for a radical civilizational reorientation: to leave behind the Confucian cage and return to Dao as the foundation of a renewed cosmic and ecological order, as advocated in the Lao-Yang Genesis Cosmology.