A group of religious leaders from China visited the US recently. It by itself is an interesting news already, to see how the Chinese government is 'reaching out' to the international community in religious affairs. I had recently translated an article that discusses the impact of globalization on religion in contemporary China. It states that politics and religions is always intertwined throughout the history in China with politics situated above religion and have the power to control over how religious should be in society. In a sense, religion and politics are not separated because politics controlled religion. And if we understand Confucianism as a religion, that even reinforced the point because it is the state official ideology. The understanding of whether Confucianism is a religion is crucial in the understanding of the relationship between state and religion in China.
So, when I found out that there is a Confucian scholars among the religious leaders visiting China, I found that is pretty interesting. I see that as a statement of the government position in how they understand whether Confucianism is a religion or not .... it is a semi-religion! Definitely, the 'Confucian scholar' was singled out and does not belong to the 'religious leaders' category. Of course, officially, there are only five religions in China and Confucianism does not belong in it. However, the fact that they need a Confucian scholar to tag along with the visit of religious leaders also implies that 1) the special role of Confucianism in Chinese religious landscape; 2) we cannot talk about Chinese religion without talking about Confucianism; 3) Confucianism is an important 'spiritual ideology' for the government yet it is not officially religion.
http://www.religionandpolicy.org/show.php?p=1.1.2085
http://stories.globalatlanta.com/2008stories/016287.html
http://www.washtimes.com/news/2008/sep/15/religious-leaders-end-10-day-trip-to-america/
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Monday, July 14, 2008
Where is the revival?
This is the time to recap what I've been doing so far. I had conducted multiple interviews and participant observations in the past few weeks. Although I had identified certain area that I want to look into, the question of how to locate the revival is still a crucial one.
This point is confirmed by one of the activist I interviewed. He used 'boiling water' as a metaphor to describe the situation about the revivalism now. Without the support of the government and the obscure treatment from the media, which make it difficult to observe what's going on here now in China in terms of the revival. Like the bubbles in boiling water, things are keep changing and transforming every minute and it is hard to describe/ pin-point what is the current status is like.
For instance, in terms of learning about Confucian classics. Different groups who are doing it in different ways, have different purpose in mind and do it in different ways. There are private Shishu, which charges a lot for summer camp and extra-curriculum classes on reciting and reading the classics. There are also rural full-time schools that only teaches Confucian classics and serves as the only education institute in the area. And of course, there's free/ volunteer classes provided by individual and group. And when they talk about 'classics', the definition is also varied : some only refer to the Four Books (Confucians classics), some include classical literature, and some even include English classical literature.
Things could be even more complicated in terms of worshiping Confucius. I don't think that we can see this worship as a worship of deity/god at all. It is more appropriate to understand this as a symbolic political rituals. Two things I need to understand is the purpose of doing that for the state; and also the purpose of doing that as an individual.
I feel that there's revival. As one of the interviewee told me that 'yes, the government and the media had talked a lot about it. But they can only talk about it because there's this kind of interests from the people!' But to describe it what exactly had revived and how it is reviving, I'll still need more research and thinkings to sort it out!
This point is confirmed by one of the activist I interviewed. He used 'boiling water' as a metaphor to describe the situation about the revivalism now. Without the support of the government and the obscure treatment from the media, which make it difficult to observe what's going on here now in China in terms of the revival. Like the bubbles in boiling water, things are keep changing and transforming every minute and it is hard to describe/ pin-point what is the current status is like.
For instance, in terms of learning about Confucian classics. Different groups who are doing it in different ways, have different purpose in mind and do it in different ways. There are private Shishu, which charges a lot for summer camp and extra-curriculum classes on reciting and reading the classics. There are also rural full-time schools that only teaches Confucian classics and serves as the only education institute in the area. And of course, there's free/ volunteer classes provided by individual and group. And when they talk about 'classics', the definition is also varied : some only refer to the Four Books (Confucians classics), some include classical literature, and some even include English classical literature.
Things could be even more complicated in terms of worshiping Confucius. I don't think that we can see this worship as a worship of deity/god at all. It is more appropriate to understand this as a symbolic political rituals. Two things I need to understand is the purpose of doing that for the state; and also the purpose of doing that as an individual.
I feel that there's revival. As one of the interviewee told me that 'yes, the government and the media had talked a lot about it. But they can only talk about it because there's this kind of interests from the people!' But to describe it what exactly had revived and how it is reviving, I'll still need more research and thinkings to sort it out!
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Confucian Temple in Beijing
Starting from 25 June, I began a preliminary fieldwork about Confucianism in China. My plan is to visit scholars who are working/ researching about this topic, and most importantly, to see if I can find a group that I can do fieldwork with. So far, I had found one group that is very interesting. I am intruded by their organization because of their consistency. Furthermore, this is a voluntary group that is funded by private donation, which make this group more 'civilian' than the others I can find so far.
On the 3rd day I arrived Beijing (28 June), I visited the Confucian Temple. Before that, I went to the Lama Temple. It is an very interesting contrast because the Lama Temple is considered as 'religious place' by the government with the 'regulations on the size of incnese in religious location' at the entrance. I was so impressed by the amount of people who worship inside the temple and concluded that it is a house of worship. Contrast to the Confucian Temple, where there were no people who burn incense whatsoever. The number of visitors there in Confucian Temple were drastically lesser than the Lama Temple as well.
Having said that, I observed that there are few interesting things inside the Confucian Temple:
1) the exhibition hall that reconstructed Confucianism by emphasizing its impact AROUND the WORLD (in a way, making it as universal)
2) although there were no incense burning, a newly introduced way of worship to Confucius was introduced -- by putting a charms on the fenses set up outside the temple and also around the main hall in Imperial College
3) there was a Shishu inside the Confucian TempleTo me, new function(s) of Confucian Temple are being reconstructed.
On the 3rd day I arrived Beijing (28 June), I visited the Confucian Temple. Before that, I went to the Lama Temple. It is an very interesting contrast because the Lama Temple is considered as 'religious place' by the government with the 'regulations on the size of incnese in religious location' at the entrance. I was so impressed by the amount of people who worship inside the temple and concluded that it is a house of worship. Contrast to the Confucian Temple, where there were no people who burn incense whatsoever. The number of visitors there in Confucian Temple were drastically lesser than the Lama Temple as well.
Having said that, I observed that there are few interesting things inside the Confucian Temple:
1) the exhibition hall that reconstructed Confucianism by emphasizing its impact AROUND the WORLD (in a way, making it as universal)
2) although there were no incense burning, a newly introduced way of worship to Confucius was introduced -- by putting a charms on the fenses set up outside the temple and also around the main hall in Imperial College
3) there was a Shishu inside the Confucian TempleTo me, new function(s) of Confucian Temple are being reconstructed.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Who's Confucius?
I think I should explain a little bit more about the picture for this site. The key idea is that different presentations of Confucius represent different knowledge/power relationship. While there's a Catholic Church to regularized the image of how Jesus 'should' looks like (and of course there's controversy about the racial representation), there is no such institution to regulate how Confucius 'should' look like....until recently.
In 2006, the China Confucius Foundation announced a standardized image of Confucius (see Chinese news release here). The rationalize is that it'll help to propagate Confucian Culture to the non-Chinese audience. According to the General Secretary of CCF, Mr. Shuhua Zhang, 'Confucius is the representative of Chinese history and culture. His teaching is getting acknowledged by people from different part of the world. Thus, different images of Confucius may create obstacle to established an legitimated representation of Confucius' . ( "孔子是中国的历史文化名片，他的学说正被越来越多不同地域的民众所关注、认同，而孔子形象不统一，不利于树立世界范围内公认的孔子形象。”)
But then, who has the power to say which Confucius image to use?
Well, legitimacy seems is coming from Confucian scholars, historian, artists and the offspring of Confucius (the Kong's family). Or, this is what the CCF 'thinks' that where the legitimacy should be coming from. However, if we get to understand the background of CCF, a quasi-government organization (receive financial support from the central government of the PRC), that's a whole different story.
Putting the political agenda aside, if we just look at it as a cultural issue, the image of Confucius raise series of interesting questions on representation. Lionel M. Jensen's book Manufacturing Confucianism(1997) had an in depth account on the Western construction of Confucius and Confucianism. While the West gained the power to define the culture of the 'Others' through imperialism and colonialism, it is an interesting twist to see how the Chinese government is regaining its power to define what Confucianism is about. Not to say that they had successfully done so, but when the issue of 'how to present Confucius to the global audience' became an issue, and the fact that the government is actually putting in resources to deal with it, that is something interesting.
In 2006, the China Confucius Foundation announced a standardized image of Confucius (see Chinese news release here). The rationalize is that it'll help to propagate Confucian Culture to the non-Chinese audience. According to the General Secretary of CCF, Mr. Shuhua Zhang, 'Confucius is the representative of Chinese history and culture. His teaching is getting acknowledged by people from different part of the world. Thus, different images of Confucius may create obstacle to established an legitimated representation of Confucius' . ( "孔子是中国的历史文化名片，他的学说正被越来越多不同地域的民众所关注、认同，而孔子形象不统一，不利于树立世界范围内公认的孔子形象。”)
But then, who has the power to say which Confucius image to use?
Well, legitimacy seems is coming from Confucian scholars, historian, artists and the offspring of Confucius (the Kong's family). Or, this is what the CCF 'thinks' that where the legitimacy should be coming from. However, if we get to understand the background of CCF, a quasi-government organization (receive financial support from the central government of the PRC), that's a whole different story.
Putting the political agenda aside, if we just look at it as a cultural issue, the image of Confucius raise series of interesting questions on representation. Lionel M. Jensen's book Manufacturing Confucianism(1997) had an in depth account on the Western construction of Confucius and Confucianism. While the West gained the power to define the culture of the 'Others' through imperialism and colonialism, it is an interesting twist to see how the Chinese government is regaining its power to define what Confucianism is about. Not to say that they had successfully done so, but when the issue of 'how to present Confucius to the global audience' became an issue, and the fact that the government is actually putting in resources to deal with it, that is something interesting.
Thursday, May 1, 2008
Religion in China on the Eve of the 2008 Beijing Olympics
Pew survey on the general religious landscape in China.
Well, Confucianism is not considered as religious affiliation here~~
http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=301
Well, Confucianism is not considered as religious affiliation here~~
http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=301
Monday, April 14, 2008
Ideology in China - Confucius makes a comeback!
A story about the revival published in the Economist in 2007.
Daniel Bell's Lecture on Confucianism
Daniel Bell is one of the most famous scholars on Confucianism. A political scientists and the first Westerner who acquired professorship in Tsing Hua University, he gave lecture on the TVO about the revival of Confucianism in contemporary China. His book is going to release the end of April, can't wait to see it.
Click here for the MP3 link to the lecture.
I'm in the process of transcribing the lecture, will post here when it's ready.
Today I found another link to an interview by Jesse Hirsh, basically he said the same thing
Click here for the MP3 link to the lecture.
I'm in the process of transcribing the lecture, will post here when it's ready.
Today I found another link to an interview by Jesse Hirsh, basically he said the same thing
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Exporting Confucian culture
The National Public Raido had a series on China, featuring the rise of Confucius Institute in the United States
Monday, March 31, 2008
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
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
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
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.
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.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Confucius Birthday Ceremony 2007
Since the fall of 1984, the Shangdong (northern part of
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
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......
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 inChina 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
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
Yu Dan is a professor of Beijing Normal University China Beijing
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.
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
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
[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.
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