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.
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.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
More on the English translation on the 'Confuius from the Heart' by Yu Dan.
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.
I am currently a sociology PhD Candidate at the University of Southern California. My research areas are sociology of religion and culture. My disseratation project is to investage the social-constructed meaning of 'being religious' , through looking at the revival of Confucianism in contemporary China.
Research Interests:
Sociology of Religion, Sociology of Culture
On-going research projects:
'Being Confucian': the Revival of Confuicanism in Contemporary China (working title for dissertation)
'Transmission of Religious Across Generation' (project sponsored by the John Templeton Foundation, a 3-years project researching the transmission of religion of 3-4 generations families. For more details, see here)
