It's another year, what they have to say about the Confucius Birthday?

It had been four years since I first follow on the reports about the worship of Confucius' Birthday on 28 September. The high point, I have to say, was still 2007. The vibe was extremely strong back then -- not only because of the fact that it was my 'fresh' and 'new' discovery of this bizarre return of Confucianism in post-reform China. The context was different back then -- it was the year before the Olympics, and the state is working so hard to recreate Confucius as the cultural symbols for the nationalistic 'sports' event (they announced the five-selected-verses from the Analects as one of the slogans for the Olympics). The UNESCO was established in 2005 but actually presented the award for the first time in 2007, also added the excitement for this 'international' event. But above all, the direct funding from the Central Government sponsoring the rituals and 'upgraded' that as 'state event' , I believe, explains the significance of the event.

Journalists and scholars had a lot to say about the ritual in 2007. From the 'vacuum of Marxism' to the 'return of Confucianism', everyone has their opinion to raise even though no one can tell us (back then, at least) how the revival of Confucianism is ACTUALLY HAPPENING among the people. What happened outside of the ritual hall that only invited special guests were allowed to participate? (since I've tried to find a way to get 'inside' but failed to do so, with my foreign-graduate-student-with-no-connection status -- why the pity-the-student card doesn't work for me?).

2008, the vibe was still high. It's just few weeks after the Olympics, tourists are still lingering around China and it's one of the must-go 'cultural event'.

2009, mmm, I don't remember I see much report on that anymore, especially in the out-of-China media. That was the year when I tried to get access to the ritual in Qufu but failed to do so.

2010, what they have to say about the ritual? Up to now I still haven't found anything report on the Qufu rituals yet. I saw news about the Taiwanese rituals, performed by the President Ma Yingjiu (and then, people outside fighting for the 'wisdom brushes' for calligraphy, not quite sure where the transcendent power is coming from that granted the 'wisdom', since it's just a 2 minutes-segment in the evening news). And the Guardian has this report -- and it focuses on the resume of rituals in the Beijing Confucius temple and not the large cultural event in Qufu. But other than that, it seems that the 'Confucian teacher' and the scholar of Confucianism has nothing new and exciting to tell us. The narrative remains the same for the past few years -- state need new symbols for legitimacy; rapid social change created yearning for new ethical and moral guidance/anchor; it's something 'rooted' in Chinese people's mind and it's about time for it's return...

The kind of reporting is still remaining at the superficial level -- scratching the surface, highlighting the visual and the meta-narratives (which almost became too convenient to make as it had been the same for the past few years) without actually telling us the complexity of the revival of Confucianism in China more than 'the musician' who found it not that personally appealing. I know it's 'just' a newspaper report, but isn't it about time to develop some more insight into the phenomenon?

Picture of Children reading the Analects of Confucius at the Confucius worship in Tianjin from the Xinhua News. (source: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2010-09/28/c_13534300_4.htm)

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!

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

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.