Confucius protrayed in Chinese Movies

In 2009, one of the most 'eye-catching' events that highlight the revival of Confucianism could be the release of the movie 'Confucius'. The Hong Kong actor Chow Yunfat plays the role of Confucius. I am still looking forward to the releasing of this film in the US, so that I'll have the chance to see it. ( <The Confucius>, directed by Hu Mei)

In September, I went back to Hong Kong to see a showing of another movie about Confucius directed by Fei Mu, one of the leading film directors of China before 1949. The film was lost for decades and had recently been restored by the Hong Kong Film Archive.

I am not a film aesthetic person nor a film critic. However, what interested me are the socio-historical context and how it related to the cultural and social symbolic meanings of these two films. I am all ready for serious work for comparison, but I can only do that when I have the chance to see the 2009 version of 'Confucius'.

To look at the historical context, 1938-40 when Fei Mu's version was being made and released, China was still in the middle of WWII with Japan. The message of yearning ( for peace; for a 'savior' for the nation; for 'restoration' of the 'values') and condemning (war; traitors; the fall of morality) were not subtle at all in the movie. And it made so much sense once you look at it together with the historical context.

2009 -- China is 'rising' to be one of the largest economic powers in the world. There is no war (at least, not for the Chinese). Yet, Do they still need a 'savior' to salvage their declining morality? if so, is Confucius the person to do so? I doubt it. Not that I disagree that the Confucius is lack of the cultural capital to do so (and his possibility being transformed into the ultimate moral symbols for the nation by those who are able to). I just don't see that the current regime (who also control the film industry, btw), will allow Confucius to be transformed as such role in a movie. And by 'such role', I mean, a sacred sage for the nation.

The sacredness of Confucius in Fei Mu's version can be found at the very beginning of the film -- in which the birth of Confucius was being narrated together with the birth of Jesus and Buddha. Throughout the film, Confucius always dominated in the 'sacred' places among his students (on top of the hill; on top of teaching altar etc) and the kind of suffering they experienced together after Confucius decided to travel around and preach his teachings is (to me, at least) highly resembled the kind of master-disciple sufferings that we read in the bible story. A normal citizen was being tortured and killed, and he cried out 'Oh Heaven*! Please send a sage to save us the people!'. And this sacred role of the Confucius is further reinforced towards the end of the film, with a song dedicated to Confucius that says 'Confucius, Confucius, the Great Confucius! your teachings will be passed on for thousands of generations, and it will be around in this world'.

Portraying the sacred does not make Confucius 'other-worldly', after all, he is still human. In fact, in Fei Mu's version, the story of Confucius continue -- he failed his preaching work, returned home, and suffered the loneliness of aging (when most of is disciples left and only his grandson had stayed with him). He did not got raised up to the Heaven by the supernatural power and left this world, he stayed here and suffered just like all of us. And that probably added the sacredness to the morality that he preached, as he had stood firm to it with his life.

I wonder how the same story will be told in the 2009 version. Or, would it be a 'same' story at all. Can these sacredness still exist? I seriously doubt it. The meaning of 'being religious' had been transformed drastically since 1949 in China. The inferiority of being religious is not just condemned by the elitist intellectuals of the Chinese Enlightenment era that highly influenced by secularism, but it is administratively challenged under the atheistic regime. Marxist scholars, including the recently deceased and former chairperson of the Institute of World Religions in the Chinese Social Science Academy Ren Jiyu, had identified that Confucianism is a religion. Therefore it is as problematic as the other religions and required strong administrative order (if not complete destruction, like what happened during the cultural revolution) to control it. As Julia Ching states, 'Marxist scholars have shown sensitivity for discerning religious directions and sentiments in tradtional philsophical teachings. Presumably, this effort is motivated by the insistence on atheistic humanism, accompanied as this is by the need t osearch out religious trends if only to manipulate or oppose them' (Ching 1990: 126).

Since sacredness easily give people (especial social scientists like US!) the impression of 'religious' (and does constitute the quality of being religious, sociologically speaking), it is alarming to have too much of it. So what kind of 'Confucius' they will portray in the movie? or to put it in a profane way, will Confucius have an affair with Nanzi in the movie? I can't wait to see!!

More reviews of the 2009 Confucius:

http://twitchfilm.net/news/2009/12/new-trailer-for-confucius-hits-all-the-right-notes.php

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgiM1ubNCYc -- Trailer

Reference:

Ching, Julia. 1990. Probing China's Soul: Religion, Politics, and Protest in the People's Republic. San Francisco: Harper & Row.

US House of Representative 'wasting' time with Confcius?

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.92add9d8b299aef692d2ebae569be1ca.c81&show_article=1

US lawmakers honor Confucius, but some grumble

The US House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly but not without some complaints Wednesday to honor the 2,650th anniversary of the birth of the Chinese philosopher Confucius.

Lawmakers voted 361-47 -- with 13 voting "present" and 11 absent altogether -- to celebrate the Chinese philosopher and "his invaluable contributions to philosophy and social and political thought."

Some of US President Barack Obama's Republican critics had grumbled about voting on the symbolic resolution at a time when the United Statesis locked in two wars and faces a bitter debate over legislation to remake US health care.

"He who spends time passing trivial legislation may find himself out of time to read health care bill," quipped Republican Representative Jeff Flake of Arizona.

Democrats pointed out that Republicans have pushed for a symbolic resolution to honor a recent demonstration outside the Capitol that drew tens of thousands to protest Obama's agenda.

The ancient teachings of Confucius (551-479 BC), centering on peace and social harmony, have enjoyed a renaissance in China in recent years, after being suppressed in Maoist China.

Obama channels Confucius to connect with Shanghai students

Obama channels Confucius to connect with Shanghai students

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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.

More on the English translation on the 'Confuius from the Heart' by Yu Dan. 

http://china.org.cn/books&magazines/2009-06/09/content_17912997.htm

Confucianism and Democracy

Daniel Bell's articles on The New York Times. 

Yu Dan's Book being translated into English

Telegraph talks about it. 

And of course, the Xinhua News has to talk about it too~~Confucius goes international (in the way that they want!!)