An Op-ed article published in New York Times yesterday entitled 'A Confucian Constitute for China'  by Jiang Qing and Danile Bell -- both of them are leading figures of the contemporary political Confucianism. To see the full article, please visit:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/11/opinion/a-confucian-constitution-in-china.html?_r=2

I am impressed that New York Times published an article like this, which is good as it keeps my research relevant. But it's strange at the same time as I had been thinking a lot about what it means to me to observe the revival of Confucianism in China. Other than accumulating information and knowledge, what all these means to me? So I'm going to share a bit more on my personally feeling about this whole movement.


The word 'humane authority' seems bizarre, and you can only HOPE that the people in power will uphold this 'humane value'. The assumption is that there are 'Confucian scholars' who will uphold the value and they should be in charge of the government, but how and where you can find legitimate 'Confucian scholars' these days? (in my understand it is different from 'scholar who study Confucian classics')

When I read this article, I can't stop thinking about the passionate activists of the Confucian classic-reading education movement, the dedicated loving parents, and the hard-working lovely children whom I had met during my fieldwork research.  From the grass-root level, I can see why it make sense for them to go back to Confucian classics as the guideline to deal with all the changes, uncertainty and disappointment that they are encountering in a rapidly changing society. And the reason why they want their children to study the classics so that they can have the chance to gain the wisdom to deal with the same challenges that their parents' generation had faced, to be prepared and hopefully suffer less and have a chance to be happy (not in material sense).  After all, all societies need some kind of moral and ethical guidance, whether it's religious schooling, or secular one that the communist party had done 'so-well' in indoctrininating the school children with models of self-less communist spirit. 


What I can't see, however, is that how the current situation in China can help nurture the ideal kind of 'Confucian scholars' who can uphold the ultimate value in Confucianism to be righteous, and in Qing & Bell's word, 'humane'. More and more, people who have the conscience to speak up for social injustice, for freedom, for basic rights as a human being, had been brutally shut down, tortured, and suppressed. Sometimes I can't help but worry about the future of these children who study Confucian classics -- if it is as the activists claim that they learned the 'right way' to be a human being through intensive study of the classics -- what kind of disappointment they will face? and how much suffering that they have to go through in order to 'do the right thing'? 


But even if political transformation have miraculous became possible (with or without bloody revolution), who gets to decide that the 'new new' China is going to have a 'Confucian Constitution'? If it is not by the people (as Qing & Bell both against the model of Western democracy), will it be the people who already possessed some kind of political and cultural capital that get the power to decide? If so, isn't it just a change of outfit from a communist ideology to a Confucian ideology to cover and portect the interests of the dominant class? What could have been changed then? 


When Confucius was preaching his teaching in his time, he had the freedom of speech, to talk about what he believed in as true and right. He had the freedom to travel from state to state to preach his teaching to large group of audience. The audience have the freedom to attend , and not attend, and that they also have the freedom to choose to listen to the other 'Hundreds School of Thoughts'. Maybe Confucianism can only manifest in its best in this kind of condition, in which freedom and space are possible, that allow it shines together with the other school of thoughts.

Not Your Father's Confucius

Check out this article by Chris Livaccari on the new artistic interpretation on Confucius' image in contemporary China. Source: http://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/not-your-fathers-confucius

Australian news network report on the 'Come Back' of Confucius

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZueSWGnYmZE



an over simplified report, but it does has some interesting footage from the sishu.
I categorize the type of 'Confucius school' shown in this footage as part-time program, because it most like are one of those places that offer summer camp in high-price range.

BIG NEWS -- Confucius Statue removed!

(picture from the Maoflag.net)


I just read the stories from the New York Times.
To be honest, I'm not surprise by the flip-flopping at all. We see that kind of ambiguous attitude towards Confucianism already in the classic-reading education movement.

Honestly, I want to thank Chinese government for providing me so many exciting data to work with. =)

What make it even more interesting is that the Xinhua News -- one of the official media of Chinese government that address mainly to the English audiences -- has NOTHING about it. It is pretty unusual because that site has one of the highest concentration of news related to the term 'Confucius' (well, most of them has to do with the soft-power expansion of the Confucius Institute...)

My favorite quote from the NYT article is the voice of the leftist:

'Unrepentant Maoists celebrated the move on Friday. “The witch doctor who has been poisoning people for thousands of years with his slave-master spiritual narcotic has finally been kicked out of Tiananmen Square!” one writer, using the name Jiangxi Li Jianjun, wrote on the Web site Maoflag.net. '

The discussion about Confucius statue on Maoflag.net is a secret gem to reveal one of the underlying dilemma that this so-called 'revival of Confucianism' is facing, on top of the modernist. Just like secularization is commonly shared favorite by the communist and the 'rightist' liberals, so as anti-Confucianism ~~~

Debate about Confucian Education continues...across the Straits

Thanks to another big Confucius statue raised in Beijing, the issue of Confucian education is being brought under the spot light again by the media.

It is interesting to see how the proposal of bring back Confucian classics to the existing education system had been sort of portrayed negatively by media on both side --mainland China and Taiwan.

In the recent gathering of National People's Congress in March 2011, a representative from Hubei Peng Fuchun proposed government control over the 'over-heated' popularity of the classic-reading education movement. He argues that having children to receive classics such as Dizigui, Sanzijing, and other Confucian classics are 'anti-democracy, anti-science' and is the obstacles for modernization of education in China. Although he recognize the the values in Confucian classics, he sees the importance of government intervention in standardizing the text and make sure that only the 'appropriate' materials (pro-science, pro-democracy) are included.

In Taiwan, students are protesting online against the government decisions to make studying Confucian classics mandatory in school. Teachers and students question the usefulness of the text in changing students' behavior (namely, bullying). Liberal media, however, sees the problem more along the link with Peng in mainland China -- that is, Confucianism contradict with the value of democracy and modernization. And of course, we know that what Peng meant by democracy may well be very different from the Taiwanese' understanding of democracy.

The logic of modernization is still prevailing in the discourse of Confucianism. Its compatibility with the 'modern' had been an issue for scholars and intellectuals since the May-fourth movement in the early 20th century. The question is till remain unresolved.


What make it even more complicated, as suggested by Joseph Tamney and Linda Chiang (2002), is that China is simultaneously influenced by the modern and late-modern development in which self-actualization ethos, globalization and the lost of the naive faith in persons are shaping Chinese social life. That is, in my understanding, while the work of 'de-secularizing' the role of Confucianism from political and other social institutions is yet to be completed, the challenge of late-modern society and the yearning for solution to crisis of meanings is already kicking in. Therefore, we see that while on the one hand, people are crying for the 'threats' (regardless of validated empirically or not) of Confucianism to modernity. At the same time, one cannot completely reject the re-emerging public roles of Confucianism.

As Peng correctly put it: ' There are needs to raise awarness in studying Guoxue (or, 'National Studies') in our time. The Chinese economy is rising, so as our pride to our national identity. We now see the values in the ancients traditions that we had abandoned before. There are lot of good things in our traditional culture, which is even better than those in Western society. There are things in Chinese traditional culture that we need to continue and transmit. Furthermore, there are too much competition in economic sphere and too little seeking of satisfaction in spiritual life in our society. We need the traditional culture to fill the gap, providing value and emotional support to our spiritual needs'. [ 国学热确实有其时代需求。中国经济崛起，中国人民的民族自豪感提高了，过去曾经抛弃了很多老祖宗的东西，现在看来，很多传统文化、传统思想是很好的，甚至比西方社会的东西还要好。这让很多人开始重视中国传统文化的传承和发扬。

　　另外，在当前的社会上，经济层面的追求太多，精神层面的追求确实很少，我们需要国学来弥补，寻找传统文化所传承的价值观念和情感的支持，是一种精神寻根的需求。]

Confucianism filling the spiritual vacuum -- the next question is: how and why?

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)

Confucius Invasion?!

Obviously, Confucianism in classroom is not only an issue in China, but also in the US!!

But wait a minute, it's not really about 'Confucianism' here per se, the parents are upset about the invasion of 'communism' .....

Communism under the name of Confucianism, that, my dear readers, is the dilemma of all!

Sources: http://www.sgvtribune.com/ci_15909074

Tensions swell over Confucius Classroom; board member retains lawyer

Read more:http://www.sgvtribune.com/ci_15909074#ixzz0xqsXxF1v

By Maritza Velazquez, Staff Writer

Posted: 08/26/2010 11:04:07 PM PDT

Education

Get the scoop on schools, teachers and students. Visit our Education pagefor more articles and photos.

INDUSTRY - Tension surrounding Hacienda La Puente Unified's plans for a Confucius Classroom accelerated Thursday night as vocal opponents of the Chinese government-funded program threatened a recall and one board member has secured a lawyer to protect himself from slanderous comments.

Following a 4-1 vote in January, a group of opponents have spoken at nearly every board meeting in an effort to persuade board members to abandon the Chinese language and culture program, funded by the Chinese Language Council International, or Hanban.

Board members Thursday delayed a vote on an agreement to partner with a Chinese university to develop the Confucius Classroom at Cedarlane Middle School. According to the agreement, Yunnan Normal University would provide guidance, study abroad opportunities, books and reference materials to the Chinese language and culture elective class. In addition, two university representatives would serve on an advisory board for the program, also made up of district administrators, parents and teachers.

Opponents continued to assail the program at the school board meeting Thursday, arguing the district is inviting communism into the classroom.

"This is not about race," said Teresa Macias. "Those who oppose the Confucius Classroom are not racist, we are Americans against communism."

Following several comments made at previous board meetings insinuating a darker agenda for his trips to China, board member Norman

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Hsu said he has retained legal council to protect his privacy.

"I will take legal action against any individual or organization making defamatory comments against me," Hsu said before public comment.

One parent called Hsu's comments a scare tactic and threatened to try to remove board members who support the elective class.

"I hope that when we start a recall, you will join us and that will be very soon," Manuel Maldonado, a district parent, told the audience.

Rudy Obad, a World War II veteran, questioned the amount of money the school district spent on trips to China. He also said board members were inviting Communism into the classroom.

"I think we might have some communist here in this room," he said.

More than once, Hacienda La Puente Superintendent Barbara Nakaoka cautioned audience members in making accusations against board members and reiterated board policy that individuals would be removed for disruptive behavior. An extra uniformed district police officer was also on hand.

Student supporters also voiced their opinions and one former district teacher became emotional over some of the comments made by those who oppose the program.

"I really feel like why are we talking about this like we're at war with China," said Tina Tsai, a former Cedarlane educator. "If you keep pushing this you're passing on something that is antagonistic for the next generation."

As board members made their final comments, board member Jay Chen sought to address some of the concerns from community members, who said China was targeting the school district. Officials said no instructors from the nation would be in the classroom.

"China is not targeting our school district, we're not even the first district to bring this program here," he said.

Nakaoka said the board may vote on the partnership between Cedarlane and the Chinese university next month.

maritza.velazquez@sgvn.com

626-962-8811, ext. 2718

Read more:http://www.sgvtribune.com/ci_15909074#ixzz0xqsIZRBB