The xunzi as the basis of a metarational ruling ideology

I recently went through Joseph Needham's Science and Civilization in China, and in the second volume he skimmed a bit too quickly through Xunzi.

As a western analogy, my overall impression was of a Chinese Plato, broad and nuanced in many aspects.

I think all his teachings were lessons for that time and place, as he for instance rejected a deep understanding of the natural world that didn't provide immediate benefits -- that made sense back then, but would have failed to give us science as we know it. In the end, we have to look to ourselves to get us out of the mess we're in today.