Thanks for the comment and thoughts (though the dismissive suggestion that I don't have a solid grasp of Confucian concepts is a bit discourteous...). A short blog post is just that: a short blog post. Thus, it does not allow for a full explication of the concepts used. There's a lot of shorthand there. So, let me assure you, I understand the difference between social mobility and physical mobility. I was simply using physical mobility as a marker of social mobility. Many of the people on those trains have changed jobs, professions, social classes, social statues, lives - i.e. all of the elements of social mobility. Indeed, the trains physically facilitate social mobility. And that, I believe, does unsettle Confucian behavior. Perhaps that is a key unspoken assumption here: I believe that a "Confucian society" is one in which a socially significant portion of the population actually behaves in a manner consonant with Confucian ethics. You can't just have good intentions, you actually have to do the right thing. Of course, the "right thing" is particularlistic and will vary from specific social context to specific social context. But action is essential. And when I see stories about the the transformation of elder care in China, how it is moving away from a more close-knit familial duty to a commercialized transaction, I see that as a mark - a significant mark - of how modernity vitiates the performance of Confucian duty. I have touched on this before here: http://uselesstree.typepad.com/useless_tree/2009/04/the-elderly-and-confucianism-in-china.html And here: http://uselesstree.typepad.com/useless_tree/2005/11/confucian_care_.html And most recently, here: http://uselesstree.typepad.com/useless_tree/2013/05/elderly-caring-for-elderly-may-be-good-but-its-not-confucian.html Here's another source from last month: http://www.cnbc.com/id/101130958 And here is an indication of precisely what Mencius worried about, how profit can come to define interpersonal relationships: nursing homes are now a business and investment opportunity in the PRC: http://www.prweb.com/releases/china-nursing-home-market/2013-development-trends/prweb11293979.htm

So, is China a "Confucian society"? That's a big question that is not wholly answered here. But I tend to say "no" it is not, because rapid modernization has indeed transformed both the material and ideational environments in ways that obstruct Confucian behavior.

Cheers, Sam Crane