 Reflecting on Neo-Confucian ideas of faction, three observations are in order. First, returning to de Bary’s conception of the “trouble with Confucianism” with which we began this section, Neo-Confucian principles make it difficult for proper Confucian ministers to establish a power-base of their own, in part because they are not supposed to have special commitments or loyalties to groups. Second, even if the primary axis of loyalty is vertical (to the emperor, public good, and more abstract notions like the Way), horizontal solidarity fits very well with key aspects of Neo-Confucian views of self-cultivation, such as the part that one’s community plays in developing an ethical “commitment”. In this light, and given the excesses to which the “one true faction” view can lead, it is tempting to conclude that the third view of factions described above is most attractive. Finally, recent scholars have disagreed about the significance of Neo-Confucian views of faction. One opines that