Talk:Moderately prosperous society

etymology[edit]

Da Tung (大同) and Xiao Kang (小康) are two different confucius concepts discussed in some ancient chinese literature. [1] We studied those in school, I just didn't retain any details besides the names. The lack of mentioning the ancient philosophy makes this article really incomplete. Someone should explain who first came up with the concept of XiaoKang.

Back in the 70s (?), the communist Chinese had a big campaign to reject and criticize confucism. But now they model their society after a confucius concept. Someone should comment on such switch in the trend.

Kowloonese 07:03, 30 Sep 2003 (UTC)

Xiao Kang appears in many forms in ancient Chinese literature; the modern version is based on the positive references. Da Tong and Xiao Kang in the Book of Rites, on the other hand, contrast a utopian state where everyone shares in harmony with a lesser, almost capitalistic society where each works to his own advantage and corruption is a fact of life. Ironic, given China's past and current situation, but probably not germane to this particular article.

--61.51.67.188 01:11, 17 Jan 2005 (UTC)

According to Baidu Baike, xiaokang was first used in the Shijing. Hanfresco (talk) 05:24, 16 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Ok, I have just confirmed that xiaokang indeed appears in Shijing, in 大雅-生民之什-民劳, in the very first line that reads: 民亦劳止，汔可小康. My classical Chinese sucks but I interpret this to mean "as long as the people don't stop working, xiaokang can be achieved."

fact tagging[edit]

I doubt that the FAO or any other international organization has used any statistic to give a precise definition to this term, worthy though such an effort might be. As an apparent fabrication from whole cloth will remove it if no support provided. 72.228.177.92 (talk) 19:28, 2 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Clarifying that a search of the FAO strongly supported, as does common sense, this skepsis. 72.228.177.92 (talk) 12:21, 5 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]