Other Topics : Art Culture - Fashion - Tourism

Latest & Hot News about our Art and Culture

Return to current news about Art and Culture

Communist China may revive Confucian classics
DPA

Beijing, Sep 29 (DPA) - Scholars here have given a call for more study of classics by Confucius, China's most widely known philosopher whose works had been relegated by the ruling Communist Party for most of the past 56 years as "feudal ideology".

State media said academics in Confucius' hometown have urged a "renaissance of chanting Confucian 'Bibles'," a reference to the "Four Books and Five Classics" that were standard textbooks in Chinese schools until Communist rule began in 1949.

"The Confucian doctrine is an important part of the Chinese culture and ideology," the government's official Xinhua news agency quoted professor Cai Degui of Shandong University as saying.

"However, the enlightenment of the philosophy has been spared in the country's modern learning," Cai said in Qufu, in the eastern province of Shandong.

"Research on the contemporary value of the great thinker's works would be more conducive to the building of a harmonious society in China," he said.

On Tuesday in Qufu, Confucian scholar Li Changjun showcased a 30-part television documentary, which Xinhua said was "the first film to wholly introduce Confucius and his thoughts, along with his wisdom and personality charm".

"Confucius not only belongs to China but also to the world," Li was quoted as saying.

The Communist Party has used the slogan "build a harmonious society" in recent years, attempting to use ancient ethics to help reduce corruption and greed that have followed economic reforms over the past 20 years, and to maintain its hold on political power.

Confucius is generally said to have lived from 551 BC to 479 BC. After his death, his disciples continued to promote his ideas, which dominated China for most of the next 2,000 years. The Han dynasty (206 BC - 220 AD) elevated him to a god-like status and Qufu grew to become a pilgrimage site that once rivalled Mecca.

His rehabilitation began in the Communist era at a 1984 symposium in Qufu, where he was again accepted as "one of the glorious figures of China".

China's current leaders are attracted by Confucian social order, but repelled by the sage's association with feudalism and the imperial households.

A "spiritual civilisation" campaign, which began in the mid-1990s in response to fears that consumers were becoming too materialistic, promotes both Maoist and Confucian ethics.

Indo-Asian News Service