This term refers to the time of peace and prosperity envisioned by Confucian

scholars when all the people under heaven are one family, equal, friendly, and

helpful to each other (as opposed to xiaokang [小康] – minor or moderate

prosperity). Confucianism takes universal harmony as the supreme stage of

the development of the human society, somewhat similar to the idea of utopia

in the West. Its main features are: All power and wealth belong to the whole

of society; all people are equal and live and work in peace and contentment;

everyone is cared for by society; everything is used to its fullest and everyone

works to his maximum potential. In the late Qing Dynasty and the early

Republic of China, the term referred to the concepts of socialism, communism,

or cosmopolitanism that had been introduced to China from the West.