Research Fieldwork in China Round ONE --- focusing on the dujing movement and sishu

I have conducted my first round fieldwork in China to better understand the phenomenon of the revival of Confucianism focusing on the dujing 讀經(reading classics, especially Confucian one) movement and the development of sishu in contemporary China. Since 14 July till mid-October, I've visited different part of China including metropolitan cities (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hefei), the second-tier cities (Lanzhou, Chongqing, Xiamen) and the semi-rural area (e.g. Laizhou in Shandong, Loudi in Hunan). I had visited sishu and other forms of dujing education inistutions in these places; observed their classes; interviewed their principals, organizers, teachers and parents.

This trip is extremely rewarding in many senses.

First of all, I see the importance of 'locating the context' instead of just talking about the revival in a board/general sense. It is only through that we can have a more in-depth understanding of the social implication of this 'revival'. I found that the current analysis about the revival focus too much (or at one point, exclusively) on the political aspect of the revival. The key argument is that since there is a political and ideological 'vacuum' in the post economic reform China that Confucianism is being 'hand-picked' by the government as an ideological tool to 'fill the vacuum', through providing any set of 'narrative' (such as 'harmony' or 和) for its legitimacy.

I think that this is a valid analysis of the current political context for the revival of Confucianism. And I agree that such context is very important to explain why the revival is possible. However, what I disagree is that this should not be the only significant aspect of the revival. Even though the state's change of attitude towards Confucianism (or to a certain extend, manipulated the Confucian narratives for its legitimacy), that does not means that we can jump to the conclusion that everything's happening are state-led project and the activities and phenomenon that we can observe during the revival (such as the emergence of modern sishu, and the dujing movement) a 'less genuine' social movement.

To understand the revival of Confucianism not just another state-led project but a social phenomenon and has 'real' social implication, there are few main points that we need to be aware of:
1) According to Kang Xiaoguang's study (2008), dujing movement is the major activity that the activists in the revival of Confucianism are actually participating in. Therefore, if we want to observe and truly understand the nature and the CONTENT of the revival, this is an important aspect that should not be ignored.
2) Based on my initial fieldwork in China, there are many forms in promoting the reading of Confucian classics and they all have their own agenda other than allying with the state's policy. In many cases, dujing activists are actually facing the suppression from the state (e.g. the Shanghai Meng Mu Tang incident)

Currently, there is lack of organized study about the dujing movement in China. Therefore, the findings from my initial fieldwork will provide a general descriptions of the different forces that are active in promoting the reading of Confucian classics in contemporary China and the different forms of educational institutions that emerged from that.

I'll definitely share more later, after I recover from the hectic 3-month-around-the-country fieldwork tour. Stay tune.