Confucius' ultimate ideal: Datong world

Last time we talked about Confucius' immediate objective, Xiaokang society, today we're introducing his ultimate ideal: Datong world.

Confucius framed the datong world in glamorous terms in his Book of Rites: the country is the common possession of all the people, those with moral integrity and talent would be selected to govern; people would keep their promises and live in harmony; caring not only for their own families and feeding their own children but also providing for all the aged; with adults able to give full play to their talents, and children properly brought up; the widowed, the kinless and the disabled all receiving proper attendant care; society despises those who waste wealth or idle away their days; nobody would covet money or engage in intrigues or conspiracies; theft and insurgency would be nowhere to be found; so that, at night, when families are sleeping, they would not even have to lock the door - what lovely scenes of society!