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Commentators on China frequently find a continuity of imperial dynastic rule with the rule of the Chinese Communist Party, thus perpetuating the stereotype of Asian despotism, not knowing the character of the Chinese civilisational tradition of sage rule. Or else they predict, starting with the successors to Mao, a gradual transition to the full panoply of democratic and civil society under the influence of entry into the world capitalist economy. Conversely, there is a reverse politics by Chinese political leaders, Chinese intellectuals and many middle-class Chinese promoting the national civilisation of China and identifying it with the philosophy of Confucius. The paper argues that there is continuity, but it is neither of despotism nor of Confucianism. It presents a summary of sage rule and self cultivation and analyses how the Chinese republican state has transformed sage rule and popular self-cultivation into a quite different state relationship.Feuchtwang, Stephan (2012) “Chinese civilisation in the present”. The Asia Pacific journal of anthropology, 13 (2). pp. 112-127. ISSN 1444-2213. Published item via DOILatest publications2011. After the event: the transmission of grievous loss in Germany, China and Taiwan. Berghahn Books, London, UK.2011. “Exhibition and awe: regimes of visibility in the presentation of an emperor”.Journal of material culture, 16 (1). pp. 64-79.2011. “Afterword”. In: Shih, Fang-Long and Thompson, Stuart and Tremlett, Paul-François, (eds.) Re-writing culture in Taiwan. Routledge, London, UK.List of publications of Professor Stephan Feuchtwang on his webpageProfessor Feuchtwang's fieldwork photos