Kingdom Report
www.kingdomvision.co.za
Week of 22 November 2025
China from Marx Revolution to Confucian Culture Poverty to Prosperity: A Lesson for Southern Africa
When China ditched Marx, Mao and Revolution in 1978 and decided their actual historical civilization comes from Confucius they went from abject poverty to national prosperity. South Africa can do the same if we decide we want a Christian civilization, not an endless National Socialist Revolution.
Confucius lived and taught from 551 BC-479 BC. This was the same time that Ezra was teaching the new Jewish settlers coming out of Babylon the Torah of Moses to teach them rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple and establish a witness and light to the nations. God's Kingdom civilization on earth.
Confucius was doing a parallel project in China at the same time. What a Chinese civilization should be. Two important teachings of his on government and personal morality from his writings gives you an idea.
(Analects 12.7):
“If the people are led by virtue and regulated by the rites, they will have a sense of shame and become upright.” This captures Confucius’s core political idea: a ruler’s legitimacy flows from moral excellence, not fear or force. He called this ruling by the Mandate of Heaven. A government has a mandate from heaven to rule if the rulers are moral and upright and if they better the lives of their people.
(Analects 12.2):
“Do not impose on others what you do not wish for yourself.” This is the classic Confucian version of the Golden Rule. Sound familiar?
The Chinese government is setting up Confucian Institutes all over the world. They are not exporting Mao and the Little Red Book. The Mao Culture Revolution from 1966 - 1976 destroyed what was left of a poor people into the absolute destruction of the national state.
After the death of Mao in 1976 they had to find a way out of the revolutionary madness. By 1978 Deng Xiopeng was the new leader and took the national identity back to their cultural roots.....Confucius
Before proceeding I wish to make a point....
Do not be surprised that while God was using Ezra to teach the Jews the laws of Moses on how they were to keep His laws in their new nation and in their personal lives.... at exactly the same time as Confucius was teaching in China. Paul writes in Romans 2:14-15...
"For when the Gentiles (China) which have not the law do by nature the things contained in the law (Confucius laws of good government, economy and personal behavior) ....show the law written in their hearts their consciences bearing witness"
Meaning God judges all nations and people - all people through God speaking through their conscience know what is right and wrong, God used Confucius in China to codify that in written law for the people of China on how their government must be run. Which lays a foundation for national prosperity and create technology for all to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ.
From 1978 after ditching Mao's little Red Book and revolutionary ideology they returned to their cultural roots as started the following route:
Confucius + education + plus good governance + technology + plus government infrastructure investment + private property and free enterprise.
In 40 years from national famine, mass poverty from 1978 to 2018 they lifted 800 million people out of hunger and poverty and created a world economic champion!
The same thing happened in Russia when they ditched 70 year of Marx, Lenin and cultural socialist revolution in 1991. They went back to their 1000 year cultural roots:
The Russian Orthodox church became the foundation of the Russian culture and they moved from poverty to prosperity.
Confucius teachings have been central to Chinese life and governance for over 2,000 years. It emphasizes moral integrity, social harmony, respect for authority, and family values. One key aspect of Confucian teachings is on individual cultivation – a person should strive to become a jun zi – the noble person.
To Confucius, a noble person must possess four critical qualities – ren, compassion; zhi, wisdom and knowledge; xin – integrity and reliability; and yi – righteousness and morality. Leaders are expected to possess all 4 qualities. To Confucius and his followers, one should strive to have both virtue and talent, combining moral integrity with capability (de cai).
On social governance, the core Confucian concept is “meritocracy”, achieved through royal exams (ke ju) and on-job performance records (zheng ji). This ensures the selection of the most competent to govern. Such selection process is distinctively different from the western “democratic” election process – it is data-driven and transparent rather than popularity- and emotion-driven.
The recent Civil Servant exam demonstrated the competitiveness of such a process – nearly 3 million applicants sat for the exam that would eventually recruit just 38,000 positions. The meritocracy system generates deep-felt trust in the governance institutions and the calibre of the people running them. The incompetent and lazy simply don’t get in.
The country is going through a dramatic transformation of economic development model and technological breakthroughs, moving from quantitative growth to qualitative growth. The most important political trend is the spread of governance focused on citizen welfare and problem solving rather than ideology.
This struck a chord as I recently read a survey, which put China among the world’s highest trust societies, along with the Nordic nations, long famous for their social cohesion. In my view, this is a development that has far greater and long-lasting societal impact than short-term economic growth or technological progress.
Across the world especially in the West and here in Africa....people do not trust their government. They also do not trust each other. That means brittle societies making running the affairs of the nation difficult. After all, in a high trust society, people’s default assumption is that strangers, institutions, and even competitors will act honestly, competently and without malice.
This produces a cascade of economic, social and psychological pay-offs hard to replicate any other way – lower transactional costs, cheaper credit, higher innovation velocity, and healthier, happier life.
Put simply, high generalized trust is the only public good that simultaneously makes markets larger, governments cheaper, people healthier and life more pleasant. Trust cannot be bought, only accumulated through consistent, observable reciprocity over time.
The Chinese trust in fellow citizens, the Party and the government, media, police, courts, banks, and universities is among the highest worldwide. According to a 2024 Harvard Belfer Center study, people’s trust and satisfaction of the central government is consistently over 90% in the two decades when the study was carried out bi-annually.
So, what accounted for the surprising rebound of trust in the Chinese society? I think four contributing factors are responsible for the transformation
- Technology
- Accountability system (especially the anti-corruption campaign)
- Social Credit System
- Revival of Confucianism
Technology enables trust
Technology is extensively used to reduce bad behaviours and lower the trust barriers. China has become a cashless society since the early 2010s. Mobile payment is prevalent and few carry cash anymore. Pickpockets and robberies barely exist as a result.
Mobile phones are registered under real name and burners are illegal.
Law enforcement deploys CCTV surveillance, cell phone position triangulation, and facial recognition extensively, making crimes exceptionally risky and costly.
In Chinese cities, residents scan the QR code, posted in communal spaces, of the police officer in charge of their area and can get in touch via WeChat in real time. As a result, violent crimes are virtually non-existent in cities large and small. Women can go out in the short hours at night with little fear of harassment. Physical security is taken for granted.
In Chinese urban daily life, 30-minute door to door delivery, self-help pick-up at Taobao’s drop sites, and 24/7 online customer service are the norm. Consumers make purchases with complete ease of mind. They leave merchandise at doorstep, unguarded, for return pick-up.
In most Chinese cities, average wait time for a Didi, China’s equivalent of Uber, is 2-4 minutes and costs one fifth of a ride in Singapore. Didi annually handles around 11 billion rides in China alone, identical to Uber’s global volume.
Real-time surveys, prevalent in commercial, government, and healthcare services, provide channels for instant feedback. Big data analytics help identify service bottlenecks and sources of complaints. Robots are taking up manual work, such as delivering towels and toiletry in hotels.
Technology provides a closed-loop system for constant service improvements, in addition to risk management and crime prevention. AI and humanoids will further improve efficiency and experience through automation and machine intelligence.
Earning trust through accountability
Food quality and pollution were major social issues in China at the turn of the century.
There was an infamous baby formula scandal in 2008 when a major producer, Sanlu Dairy, added melamine, a chemical compound, to fresh milk to boost the protein content of milk powder. This resulted in nearly 300,000 child victims who suffered urinary infections and other severe diseases.
Sanlu Dairy was shut down and its chairman and management team sent to prison. 26 people were prosecuted and received jail sentences, including the CEO. 2 individuals, directly responsible for producing and procuring the melamine chemical, were given the death penalty.
In the 2000s and early 2010s, many Chinese cities suffered under toxic air quality as a result of rapid industrialization, car growth, and coal-burning power plants. In 2013, Beijing had record-breaking 58 days above PMI10 heavy pollution threshold. The Chinese government started to enforce vigorous environment standards, closing down polluting factories, encouraging EV adoption, and shifting energy mix away from hydrocarbons to green energy.
President Xi personally prioritized environmental protection and green economy as national goals over GDP growth targets. The result is a nation-wide improvement in air and water cleanup. Beijing had only 4 heavy smog days with unhealthy PMI readings in 2024, mainly due to the sand storm from the Mongolian deserts.
As a byproduct, China has become the world champion in EVs and all forms of green energy – solar, wind, hydro, bio fuel, and nuclear power.
The most important thrust to regain public trust in government and institutions is the ongoing anti-corruption campaign that President Xi launched since the start of his term. Literally millions of officials from Politburo Standing Committee member to village chiefs have been investigated, prosecuted, removed and jailed in a running campaign that promises to go after “tigers” and “flies”.
Beijing’s anti-corruption program specifically has a 10-year accountability “claw-back” clause. It specifies an official is held accountable for any corruption or misuse of power during his term for up to 10 years after he leaves the post, It also requires a full audit when officials leave their posts, including for promotion or retirement.
Power without accountability is dangerous in both democratic and authoritarian systems. In the West today, government officials are seldomly held accountable for their actions on the job once their terms expire. As the sole ruling party, China adopts a life-time accountability system. Despite the shortcomings of the one-party system, trust can be built and sustained when accountability is strictly enforced.
Social Credit System to institutionalize trust
A central tool to enforce accountability and trust is the implementation of the Social Credit System, an initiative belligerently twisted into a dystopian social control tool by the dishonest western media.
The core aim of the Social Credit System is to build a high-trust society by rewarding compliance and punishing violations through disclosure and transparency.
The system has three components – government credit, enterprise credit, and individual credit. Individual credit contains many elements used for personal credit rating by credit card companies worldwide. It also includes civil/criminal records, litigations, disputes, etc.
Beyond individuals, millions of government agencies and businesses are assigned credit scores based on compliance records, consumer feedback, approval ratings (for govt agencies), and economic activities such as bad loans, litigations, environmental records, fines, or administrative penalties.
Credit records of government agencies are open to the public, while business and personal data is strictly controlled by the centralized social credit management agency. Firms and individuals with high data-driven algorithmic credit scores are awarded with faster permits, fewer audits, and lower insurance premiums, while repeat offenders are flagged in real time and costs are imposed.
Red-lists and black-lists are publicized to promote integrity and good behaviour in commercial, civic, and online interactions. This “put everything under the sun” approach of disclosure and transparency has significantly reduced trust barriers and improved individual, corporate, and government behaviours.
A Challenge for the Church and people of Southern Africa
It is time to drop the whole "National Socialist Revolution".
It is time to drop dividing the people by race and setting one group against another for
the sake of party votes.
It is time to drop "cadre deployment" and race quota deployment. It is time for meritocracy appointments in government and corporations.
We don't trust our government officials, our police, our law courts, our education system. We don't trust our safety anywhere in the country. We don't trust our future or our fellow citizens. This has got to change!
It is time for the Christian majority to say we want to create a Christian civilization in South Africa because we are a Christian majority and we want our Biblical values to be reflected in our national life.
If China had the wisdom to ditch all the Marxist revolutionary nonsense and rediscover their and recreate their civilizational roots....we can do the same here in South Africa.