This course aims to introduce the formation, development, and contemporary relevance of Confucian political philosophy. It examines (1) what Confucian virtue ethics looks like; (2) what kind of a political paradigm Confucianism supports; (3) what are the core stipulations of “Confucian virtue politics” and how it is distinct from Legalism; (4) how later Confucian thinkers during the Warring States period such as Mencius and Xunzi further developed Confucian virtue politics in a way corresponding with their distinctive account of human nature; (5) whether Mencius’s and Xunzi’s political theories can be captured in terms of “constitutionalism”; (6) the distinction between moral virtue and civic virtue in Confucian constitutionalism; (7) what implications can be drawn from classical Confucian constitutionalism for contemporary Confucian political theory; and (8) how to evaluate recent debate between Confucian meritocrats and Confucian democrats in light of Confucian constitutionalism.