Taoism is also experiencing the same kind of treatment?

I just came across these news articles today. The interesting thing is that it strike me how similar the pattern of this re-emergence of Taoism is similar to the revival of Confucianism. Well, after all, it's the 3-in-1 power that dominated the religious sphere of China in the past 1000 years (at least)...

Daodejing is now 'the Taoist bible' - interesting translation. This again raise again the question of the issue of how we can translate religious concept from one cultural context to another...like the Jesuit missionaries try to comprehend what Confucianism is and call it religion....

This is getting even more interesting now...
First Taoist Research Association Inaugurated
China to Build Harmonious Society with Wisdom of Taoism

A State project? or a local project? The Controversy of buidling the Chinese Cultural Symbolic City

Asia Times reports the debate of constructing a Chinese Cultural Symbolic City in Confucius' hometown in Shangdong during the two-week section of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC). Here's a full story reported in the Asia Times.

This is an good example to illustrate that why this who revival of Confucianism movement is a political project. As the editor indicates, local tourism is an important sources of income for many local governments. Obviously, the Qufu Temple of Confucius is not 'big' enough for the Shangdong government, they want it even bigger.

Wu's question about the representation of Confucianism as the 'Chinese culture' is valid. I see that part of this revival is about reclaiming traditions, but at the same time, these traditions are reinvented in order to gain legitimacy. This sounds very much like the nation-building project in Southeast Asia during the postcolonial period, when Islamic culture/identity were constructed as the core component of the new national identity and everything other than that became marginalized.

However, the context in China is different and that even the government have the same intention, it might not be successful. After all, it is not a post-colonial construction in China. Other intense social forces such as class and rural-urban inequality, internal migration, ethnic segregationist etc. which make this kind of 'cultural/national identity construction project' almost impossible to succeed.

Of course, this is just telling the story from one perspective. We don't know much about the Han Chinese, how they see these kind of 'Chinese culture' and whether they really see that a sources of unification. We only hear the politicians and scholars talk, but not the people who are in those movement, who are sending their kids to learn the Confucians classics etc. Thus, it is still early to have any conclusion.

Confucius Birthday Ceremony 2007

Since the fall of 1984, the Shangdong (northern part of China) government organizes the annual ceremony for Confucius’ birthday and a series of performing arts program under the name of ‘Journey of Confucius Birthplace’. In 1990, the program changed its name to ‘China Qufu International Confucius Cultural Festival’ and it was described as ‘an international tourism program that integrated the commemoration of the late philosopher, cultural exchanges, tourism, academic exchange, promotion of trade and economic development’. Over the years, the program expanded from one day to ten days. Ceremony for Confucius’ birthday, performing arts/cultural programs, trade shows (especially for ‘cultural’ products such as office stationeries, publications on the Classics and calligraphy) and academic conferences on Confucianism were included in the program. The politically meaning of this event had significantly shifted in 2004, when the Central government of PRC officially sponsored the event – commemoration of Confucius once again became the ‘state event’. In 2007, for the first time in history, the ceremony was co-organized by the Central government and the local government.

At the first glance, the involvement of the Central government it seems to be an attempt to establish some kind of political legitimacy by presenting itself as one chapter in a historical narrative of descent and authenticity. The party-state replaced the role of the emperor in this ancient ritual. However, the historical relations of the Communist Party with the imperial state and feudal system have been too antagonistic to make that argument plausible. While Confucianism was seen as the obstacle of China’s development in the earlier 20^th century and the rotten ideology that meant to be destroyed, how can we understand this dramatic change of state attitude towards Confucius in contemporary era?

CCTV Broadcast Part I
CCTV Broadcast Part II

Rap the Analects?

This might not seems totally relevant to the movement in China now, but an interesting song. I saw the Shangdong Television used that as background music when they were showing a segment about the revival of Confucianism during their broadcast of the 2007 Confucius Birthday ceremony.

This is a Taiwanese singer, who wrote this rap song and put part of the Analects into the lyrics (begining and the end of the song), the song's name = Confucius Says

Maybe the scripture readings classes should have the kids to learn this song......

Revival of Confucianism in China - Why do I Care?

2007 is the time when I first pay attention to the so-call 'revival of Confucianism' in China. What does that mean? Put it simply, we see that Confucianism is 're-entering' into the public space in China. Tang (2001) describes the ‘revival’ of Confucianism is signified by the discourse on the ‘religious nature’ of Confucianism among scholars and intellectuals. This movement, according to Yang (2007), is still at the early stage of development and received little notice by the Western scholars and media.

Politically, the State of PRC provides financial sponsorship to the annual worship of Confucius in Qufu (Shangdong province) on his birthday since 2004 ; the government also establishes 'Confucius Institute' worldwide to promote the study of Chinese language and culture. As Daniel Bell (2006) suggests, the government is trying to use Confucianism to fill in the 'ideology vacuum' of the country -- since Marxism (together with Western liberal democracy) can no longer play the role of leading ideology, and religious sects and extreme nationalism are too radical for the Beijing government, promoting Confucianism is seen as the best way to protect 'social stability'.

Since the state 'opened-door' policy to discussion and promotion Confucianism, we then can see a series of social changes that illustrates how Confucianism is once again visible in Chinese social life. The worship of Confucius is revitalized again. Confucians Temples are once again became the site of worship and also a site of memory.

Moreover, there is a trend of revisiting the Confucian classics. Walking into any megabookstore in China, it is not difficult to find numerous publications on the Analects, Mencius, Xunzi and other classics of Confucianism. Although the study of Confucian classics had defined Chinese scholarship in past centuries, the current ‘revival’ of the classics has a different spin – the emphasis on ‘individual interpretation’ of the classics and how these meanings can be related to daily life issues. It is departing from the traditional scholastic tradition of word-by-word interpretation of the meaning of the Confucian classics. What I am observing now in China is a movement that is occurring within mass cultures – television, book and internet, in general public. Although scholars are participating in this movement, the ‘discourse’ is not an academic one; rather, the concern is to reinterpret the ancient wisdom to deal with everyday life issue. The Yu Dan phenomenon is one of the most significant examples.

Yu Dan is a professor of Beijing Normal University. In 2006, she conducted a 7-part daily lecture series analyzing the Analects on the popular program "Lecture Room" on China's Central Television CCTV 10. It brought about a surge in audience ratings. In December 2006, Yu Dan published her book Thinking about the Analects 論語心得. It sold 12,600 volumes in just one day, breaking the previous sales record in Beijing. In just one month, her book sold 900,000 copies. Sales of her book surpassed 1.5 million within 40 days of publication. It was definitely the hottest book in 2006. Media describes her book as a ‘Chinese version of Chicken Soup for the Soul’.

In addition, public schools started to develop new syllabus that includes of Confucians Classics (including the Analects). Other than that, the spreading of scripture-reading classes and institutes devoted to the study of guoxue (the ‘learning of the nation’); the emergence of traditional-style Sishu schools (private schooling that resonate with the pedagogy style in Confucius’ time); and the promotion of Han dress (Han fu, 漢服) are also identified as the signifier of the New Confucianism Movement (Yang 2007).

To me, the recent changing attitude towards Confucianism by the Chinese government is bizarre and intriguing. During the Cultural Revolution (1967-1977), Confucianism was considered as one of the ‘Four Olds’[1] that needed to be eliminated. Like other religions, which are considered as the ‘opiate of the people, Confucianism was considered as the ‘ideology of the feudal’. Three decades later, Confucianism regained its role as the ‘core cultural value’ of the Chinese people and the government. This is the phenomenon that can tell us a lot about the relationship between religion, state and nationalism; also, religion, secularization, late-modernity; globalization and identity etc.....and this is where I began my journey of exploring all these issues.

Reference:

Bell, D. 2006. China's leaders rediscover Confucianism. International Herald Tribune, 14 September 2006. (click here)

Sun, A. X. D. 2005. The Fate of Confucianism as a Religion in Socialist China: Controversies and Paradoxes. Pp.229-254 in Fenggang Yang and Joseph Tamney eds., State, Market, and Religions in Chinese Societies.

Tang, Y. 2001. Some Reflections on New Confucianism in Mainland Chinese Culture of the 1990s. Pp.123-134 in Gloria Davies ed., Voicing Concerns: Contemporary Chinese Critical Inquiry. Lanham: Rowan & Littlefield.

Yang, F. 2007. Cultural Dynamics in China: Today and in 2020. Asia Policy (4): 41-52.

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[1] The Anti-Four Olds campaign is one of the stated goals in the Cultural Revolution started by Mao Zedong in 1964. The four olds are referring to ‘Old Custom, Old Culture, Old Habits, and Old Ideas’. The definition is very vague and basically everything that exist before 1949 is considered as part of the ‘Old Culture’. Together with ‘foreign religions’ and ‘Jesus followers’, scholars of Confucianism are the victims of this political movement.