RECENT years have seen the publication of a vast amount of literature on Confucius, the ancient Chinese thinker, as the nation is gripped by a mania of tracing its cultural roots.

Some Confucian studies are serious academic works, others are kitsch potboilers whose authors try to reinterpret the classics and apply the sage's thoughts to a modern context.

The renewed academic interest, however, is less newsworthy than the decision of some to welcome Confucius back into the fold as a mentor of statecraft.

The Beijing Times reported on January 19 that officials in impoverished Wei County, Hebei Province, are trying to revive some core Confucian tenets to improve their work and public image.

From now on, county officials will be assessed and promoted on the basis of filial piety. The spouses and relatives of candidates vying for higher office will have to submit certificates of their moral credentials, for example, whether they have been filial at home to their parents. Otherwise, they risk being disqualified from the intense political jockeying.

The stakes are indeed high given the fact that one veto from naysayers is enough to dash any hope of career advancement. So far 11 officials have been denied the next rung up the ladder because of blots on their moral records, mostly related to strained family ties, the report said.

The change in the official appraisal and appointment system is the latest in a series of campaigns led by the county government since 2008 to rule the locale by a moral code.

The latest campaign has generated mixed responses. It was greeted with approval from a majority of local residents and grassroots officials, who argued that a Party cadre cannot be trusted with the public good if he mistreats his own parents or in-laws.

But the news also sparked a public outcry over what some perceived to be the blurring of the border that separates public virtues and personal ethics, which many consider a totally private matter.

Critics question the wisdom behind the new official promotion criteria, as filial piety is only a small part of the values that the public expects from the people ruling in their name.

Daniel A. Bell, a Tsinghua University philosophy professor, told Shanghai Daily on January 24 that the practice in Wei County, although consistent with Confucian teachings that morality should be practiced within the family before it can be extended outside it, does not incorporate other important elements such as civility and incorruptibility. Hence, it is an incomplete measure.

Bell, author of "China's New Confucianism," also observed that Confucius was always cautious about employing legal means to ensure scrupulous moral behavior. Instead, he emphasized the role of mediation and cultivation of personal integrity.

In the face of criticism, Wei County's Party chief Qi Jinghai defended the rationale for the measure to groom both able and upright public servants for government jobs. "Filial piety precedes all other virtues in importance in China. A man who flunks his moral test cannot be counted on to commit wholeheartedly to the Communist cause," Qi was quoted as saying in the Beijing Times.

Belated recognition

He added that criteria other than filial piety will also be included in the moral assessment, but didn't elaborate. The Beijing Times reported that other factors, including a candidate's poor neighborhood reputation or a family feud, could also jeopardize his or her prospects for promotion.

Nevertheless, the Wei County's example in selecting officials based on their grasp of Confucianism is unlikely to be widely replicated, said Bell, the Tsinghua professor, since the country has broad regional variations and what happened in Wei County, although a good start, didn't go much beyond moral preaching.

The episode coincided with the erection on January 11 of a statue of Confucius in Tiananmen Square, the third such statue after one of Mao Zedong and another of Sun Yat-sen.

This move comes at a time when Chinese authorities appear to be rehabilitating Confucius domestically after the sage was vilified during past political upheavals as the culprit behind the country's backwardness.

The erection of his statue, therefore, gave the sage long overdue recognition in the country's political tradition.

And at a time when rural China appears in headlines mainly because of forcible demolitions and bloodshed that follows - either connived at or actively assisted by local Party cadres - reviving Confucius might help the educated develop social responsibility and become more aware of the need to respect other people's interests, Bell told Shanghai Daily.

Notwithstanding the apparent benefits of rediscovering and endorsing Confucius, cynics remain skeptical of its significance in changing the thuggish behavior of some local officials. Recent scandals have shown that devious officials who were despised by their constituents could also be filial sons and daughters.

Xiao Zuoxin, former mayor of Fuyang City, Anhui Province, was called the most corrupt official in provincial history when he and his wife were sentenced in 2001 to death penalty with reprieve and lifelong imprisonment, respectively, for taking 19 million yuan (US$2.8 million) in bribes and embezzled funds.

Yet despite the just punishment, Xiao earned some sympathy as a "filial son known far and wide." He was reared by his mother alone after his father's death and known for his devotion to her.

Hebei University ethics professor Huang Yunming was quoted by the Xinhua News Agency on January 18 as saying that contrary to Western culture, where distinct boundaries are drawn between personal morality and public virtue, the distinction is not so clear-cut in China. Conventional wisdom has it that one has to be a filial son before he can be a virtuous mandarin.

Trusted gentry

But can we trust real mandarins to be nurtured today? In pangs of angst, my editor would often wax nostalgic during lunch about the good old days when noblesse oblige was still evident in many officials, especially the country gentry.

In ancient China, the emperor's decree rarely percolated below the county level. After the magistrate collected tax from peasants and recruited - often press-ganged - non-taxpaying men for corvee labor, the countryside was left to its own device and had to fend for itself against marauding bandits. Then the gentry arose, often patriarchs in tribes, organizing agricultural production and self-defense and mediating disputes among villagers.

According to historian Qin Hui, the gentry played a pivotal role in maintaining stability in China's countryside. Their mystique as exemplars of ancient virtues and rectitude lingers to this day.

But the qualities per se don't last as long. Inside many corrupt or at least mediocre officials we can discern a huge moral vacuum, to be filled only by aspirations to wealth and fame.

And for Wei County, a fixture on the list of national poverty-stricken localities, will Confucian ideas more than hold their own against the urge to boost GDP, the lifeblood of Chinese political life?

Of course, the Wei County government should be applauded for appealing to Confucianism, which professor Bell said signaled the beginning of a long-term process in readjustment of people's values.

My only hope is that this precedent in calling for Confucian virtues makes a real difference rather than ends up as yet another show of formalism or a development in plus ca change -- the more things change, the more they stay the same.