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Confucius makes a comeback in China

Pallavi Aiyar

Confucian values such as unity, morality, and respect for authority are being seen by Chinese leaders as the key to the country's future.

AFTER NEARLY a century in the political wilderness, the great sage Confucius (551-479 BC) is back in favour amongst China's political elite, as the lavish official celebrations marking his 2557th birth anniversary on September 28 testified. The month of September was declared as Confucius cultural month and thousands of people gathered at the philosopher's hometown of Qufu in eastern China's Shandong province for a commemorative ceremony. More tellingly, Confucius' birthday bash also included a forum on the role of his theories in the contemporary world, in particular the building of a "harmonious society," the popular political catch phrase coined by Chinese President Hu Jintao.

What makes all this remarkable is that only three decades ago Confucianism was reviled in China as a "feudal" and "backward" philosophy, representative of all that was in need of "smashing" to create a modern, progressive, communist state. But with the ethical vacuum and social anomie that market reforms have brought in their wake, China's leaders are increasingly looking to the sage and his most famous work, The Analects, to provide contemporary society with a moral compass.

While Beijing has not officially made Confucianism part of its ideology, the Chinese President began a keynote address to senior party cadres in February last year with some words of wisdom not from Marx or Mao, but Confucius. "Confucius said, harmony is something to be cherished," Mr. Hu stated and ever since then, the drive to build a "harmonious society" has become the centrepiece of the government's agenda.

Confucian values such as unity, morality, and respect for authority are being seen by Chinese leaders as the key to the country's future; simultaneously legitimising the party's rule and providing society with an ethical framework within which to operate.

In March, Mr. Hu reminded the nation about maintaining socialist morality with his "Ba Rong, Ba Chi [Eight Honours and Disgraces]" formulation, much of which can be traced to Confucian thought. The eight honours extol conservative virtues such as obedience, hard work, and plain living while eschewing chaos and the pursuit of profit at the expense of others. Posters and banners on trains and at bus stops, military barracks and party offices serve as ubiquitous reminders of these honours and disgraces.

The reasons for this embrace of traditional wisdom are to be found in the dissent and discontentment that three decades of market reforms have sparked off amongst large swathes of Chinese society. Last year alone 87,000 mass protests rocked the country, according to official police figures.

Economic reform has transformed one of the world's most equal, albeit poor societies into one with an alarming rich-poor divide. Freed to find prosperity after decades of restrictions, a culture of getting rich quick has spawned corruption, envy, and obsession with money. China's new rich, style themselves as "tu di" or "dirt emperors" living a life saturated with luxury sedans, sumptuous meals often costing thousands of dollars, and prostitution. This is the lifestyle that increasing numbers of youngsters aspire to. In a 2005 government survey, nearly three quarters of respondents said that "money" was what they desired most.

Following the communist accession of 1949, it became Mao Zedong's aim to rid Chinese society of the values of the former imperialist system. A staunch atheist, Mao worked towards the destruction of religion transforming a traditionally Buddhist/Taoist nation into one of non-believers within decades. Religious values were thus replaced by those of communism, which provided the ideological glue that held society together and legitimised those in power.

But with the "reform and opening up" process initiated by Deng Xiaoping, ideology no longer functions as a moral foundation and to many it became apparent that China is no longer governed by either the mores of religion or ideology. In their stead has appeared a moral vacuum filled only by mammon.

Corruption scandals have thus repeatedly wracked the country, money almost always coming before morality. One of the most tragic episodes symbolising this attitude took place in the mid-1990s in China's central Henan province when a government-organised blood-buying programme resulted in the contamination with HIV of the entire province's blood supply. Commercial blood sellers during this period paid donors for plasma. To maximise profits, they separated red blood cells from the plasma and then re-infused the donors with pooled red blood cells so that they could donate blood more frequently. An estimated 70,000 to 250,000 villagers in the province became infected with HIV as a consequence.

Given this context, it's unsurprising that Confucius is once again being looked to for solutions. China's official news agency, Xinhua, quoted Kong Dehong, a Confucius descendant and scholar, as saying, "In recent years people have put great emphasis on materialism. This has led to backwardness in morality."

To help people regain a moral grounding, plans are on for schools to adopt a 30-session course in Confucian culture. Already more than five million primary school students have begun to study the sage's thought in classrooms. Confucian temples are being rebuilt and at least 18 universities have begun to offer courses in Confucius studies.

Beijing is also using the Confucius brand to promote China's culture overseas through a $10 billion programme to establish 100 Confucius Institutes worldwide by 2010. These institutes focus on teaching Chinese language and culture to foreigners in the manner of the French Alliance Francaise.

Confucianism is, in fact, not only being adopted to address China's domestic problems but in the country's conduct of diplomacy as well. The "peaceful rise" theory put forward by Beijing to assure the outside world of the benign nature of China's increasing power owes much to the sage, in particular his idea of "datong" — according to which all the world's people should become part of one large but harmonious family. Since Confucianism is both quintessentially Chinese, as well as pacifist and non-threatening to other nations, it provides the ideal basis for China's international relations.

No easy task

However, given China's contemporary realities, adapting Confucian thought to present circumstances is no easy task. With China strongly lobbying countries around the world to grant it "market economy status" and encouraging its enterprises to adhere to WTO regulations, it's tough to find a place for the famously anti-business minded Confucius.

The sage abhorred the profit motive and there are many telling quotes in The Analects that reveal this. For example in passage 7.11 he says: "If the search for riches is sure to be successful [in accordance with morality], though I should become a groom with whip in hand to get them, I will do so. As the search may not be successful, I will follow after that which I love."

As part of his birth anniversary celebrations, a new statue of Confucius was unveiled last week in Qufu by the China Confucius Foundation (CCF), ostensibly to give him a "single, recognisable identity around the world." However, even this seemingly innocuous event has turned into a business controversy in today's unremittingly entrepreneurial China. Critics claim the move is merely a ploy for the CCF to gain control of a "Confucius copyright" and cash in on the growing tourism and publishing markets surrounding the philosopher.

Moreover, Confucius was also a well-known misogynist and famous for sayings such as, "Women and people of low birth are very hard to deal with. If you are friendly with them, they get out of hand, and if you keep your distance, they resent it." In a China where women "hold up half the sky" to quote Mao Zedong, such sentiments don't sit easily. However, in a move that would have the sage himself raising a disapproving eyebrow, feminism is being introduced to Confucianism with the recent decision to recognise, for the first time, women as descendants of the philosopher.

Xinhua quoted Kong Dehong, the man in charge of updating Confucius' family tree as saying, "We have to adapt to the times. Men and women are equal now. Even if a woman has to leave the family when she marries, that doesn't change the fact that she is descended from Confucius."

More than a million descendants will be added to the record of the country's most prestigious family name, Kong — Confucius is a westernised version of the scholar's name — by the time Kong Dehong finishes his project in 2009. A fifth of the new members are expected to be women.

Throughout China's history Confucius has been a key figure, alternately reviled and revered; his teachings either used to support the prevailing regime or held up as an example of all that is bad and in need of change. It's clear that after a long period of vilification, the pendulum has once again swung Confucius-wards. But whether an updated Confucianism can really provide the moral glue needed to create the stable society so sought after by China's leaders remains an open question.

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