Page 1 of
2 Racing ahead, China resurrects its
past By Kent Ewing
HONG
KONG - As China races into its capitalist future,
it is also rediscovering its philosophical and
religious past. But can the country move backward
as it goes forward?
Chinese leaders think
so, and they are enthusiastically supporting a
revival of the ancient philosophical traditions of
Confucianism and Taoism. Late last month, for
example, the government sponsored a six-day forum
dedicated to the interpretation and
promotion of Tao Te
Ching (or Dai De Jing, "The Book of the
Way and Its Virtue"), the foundational text of
Taoism, both as a school of thought and a
religion, written 2,500 years ago by Lao Zi.
The forum, hosted simultaneously in Hong
Kong and Xian, capital of Shaanxi province,
reportedly cost US$1 million to stage and received
widespread coverage in the state media. It was
another sign that the Communist Party, steeped for
nearly 60 years in an atheistic doctrine, now
hopes to rediscover the Chinese soul at the same
time that it encourages people to heed the words
with which Deng Xiaoping launched China's
phenomenal economic rise nearly three decades ago.
"To get rich is glorious," the country's
then paramount leader proclaimed, and the Chinese
economy has been roaring ever since.
Pairing ancient philosophical traditions
with Deng's famous mantra for mammon may seem odd,
but it only makes sense in today's China, where
"communism" now refers to a ruling party, not an
ideology, and an empty materialism rules the day.
With too many of the country's 1.3 billion people
now stepping on their countrymen in their greed
for profit, the government is tapping into the
ancients in the hope of meeting President Hu
Jintao's goal of creating a "harmonious society".
In their quest to find a moral center, the
leadership is also allowing room for religious
imports such as Buddhism, Christianity and Islam,
but the ancient Chinese traditions are clearly the
main selling points. And the ultimate goal is to
quell growing social unrest that has been the
unwanted offspring of the country's economic boom.
In 2005, the last year for which the
Ministry of Public Security offers figures, this
distinct lack of harmony broke out into 87,000
"mass incidents" - Beijing's euphemistic term for
demonstrations that often culminate in violence.
That compares with 74,000 such incidents in 2004
and 58,000 in 2003.
A return to ancient
wisdom, leaders hope, will create a more moral
society with a heightened sense of the importance
of relationships - especially the hierarchical
relationships of Confucianism that command
obedience.
In September 2005, the
government brought Confucius back from the dead
with a lavish birthday party for Master Kong, who
lived from 551-479 BC and was vilified by Mao
Zedong during the Cultural Revolution for his
"feudal mentality". More than 3,000 people,
including international guests, attended the
celebration in the sage's birthplace, the city of
Qufu in Shandong province.
Underscoring
his semi-divine status, descendants of Confucius
as well as government officials and ordinary
people bowed at an altar dedicated to the great
philosopher and placed flowers at the base of a
statue made in his avuncular image. Among the
guests were 100 scholars who held forth on
Confucian values such as social harmony and
respect for authority.
These are values
that could prove very useful to Chinese leaders
trying to manage the inequalities and injustices
that have played an unfortunate part in China's
economic rise - the huge wealth gap between urban
and rural residents, the rampant corruption among
local officials, and the countless illegal land
seizures made in the name of the new deity of
development.
Not long ago, it was risky to
mention Confucius unless it was to denounce him;
now there are Confucian schools sprouting up all
over the country. Indeed, a professor at Beijing
Normal University has become a media celebrity
through a series of lectures she delivered on the
Analects of Confucius, the bible of
Confucianism, in appearances on China Central
Television (CCTV) last year.
Although
media expert Yu Dan has been attacked by scholars
for oversimplifying and thus degrading the words
of the sage, the 42-year-old professor, dubbed an
"academic supergirl", has become something like a
pop star with lay people. Yu's style is to pick
out simple, understandable truths from the
Analects and relate them to the day-to-day
experiences of ordinary people. A 200-page
compilation of her CCTV lectures has sold more
than 4 million copies, which tops any of J K
Rowling's Harry Potter books, and she is
now selling her act, and her book, in Taiwan.
Tao Te Ching has not yet found an
energetic academic superstar to promote its
wisdom, but last month's six-day forum
nevertheless represents another high-profile
resurrection of an
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
