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Weekly UpdatesConfucius has become China's biggest celebrity. Enjoying an unprecedented revival of interest from China's population, he has also become the country's cultural ambassador to the world: his words adorned the start of the 2008 Beijing Olympics' opening ceremony, his teachings are being studied by millions of Chinese from all backgrounds, and his physical spirit itself is being revitalized through the acting of international movie star Chow Yun-Fat in a soon-to-be released, government-supported film on his life. In other words, Confucius is being resurrected. Even more significant, this resurrection is occurring in the backdrop of a national resurgence of interest in guoxue, or "national learning," the study and appreciation of traditional Chinese history, culture, arts, and literature.
It is hard to believe that just a little over thirty years ago, Confucius was vilified by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) during the Cultural Revolution. His teachings were denounced as oppressive remnants of China's feudal past. Confucian intellectuals were persecuted. Indeed, traditional Chinese culture itself was attacked through the "smash the Four Olds" campaign, which aimed at stamping out the traces of China's old customs, old culture, old habits, and old ideas. Confucius became the symbol of, in the eyes of the CCP, a tyrannical and backward "old China." Not only was he rejected on an intellectual level, he also faced very physical destruction. Mao's Red Guards swarmed through Confucius's hometown of Qufu in Shandong province, destroying thousands of cultural relics. The government aimed for a complete and total eradication of Confucius and the historical China he represented.
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Today, the CCP has not only ended its previous oppression of Confucius, but has also become an important ally of Confucianism, taking an active interest in revitalizing the great philosopher and elevating the importance of Chinese historical culture. In the eyes of the CCP, Confucianism may be a valuable source of legitimacy to strengthen its rule, filling the ideological void left by Marxism. Some commentators have expressed concern that Confucius, and more generally, guoxue, is already being politicized and used as a tool by the government. Others have suggested that public interest in guoxue and Confucius is turning into a dangerous public obsession that will lead to cultural chauvinism.
Despite such pessimism, it appears that the revival of guoxue and Confucianism in China is by and large a positive thing. Moreover, we should not be surprised of this government-supported resurgence of interest in Confucianism or classical Chinese studies, especially when we put such events in historical context. While the Chinese government would do well to promote more domestic and international involvement in guoxue, it still must be careful not to inadvertently create a standardization of interpretation of Confucius or traditional Chinese culture. Rather, the innate complexity and diversity of Chinese culture and history welcomes and necessitates a wide-ranging, open, and varied discussion and presentation of guoxue. Nor is it advisable to allow this resurgence of interest in guoxue--termed "national studies fever" by some to emphasize some individuals' obsessive interest in guoxue--to get out of control.
Confucius's Comeback and the Rise of Guoxue
What are some of the signs of Confucius's comeback in China, and more importantly, of government support for such a resurgence? One single person--Yu Dan, a professor of media studies at Beijing Normal University--has become the symbol of the public interest in Confucius. Her book, "Yu Dan's Reflections on The Analects," has become a best-seller in China, selling over 4.2 million copies and an estimated 6 million pirated versions since hitting book-shelves in December 2006. The book has been described as a "chicken-soup" presentation of Confucius, using Confucius's sayings to show readers how his philosophies can help them better their lives. She has achieved celebrity status herself, engaging in national tours and signing books for periods of 10 hours or more. Her legions of fans, attracted by her story-like renderings of Confucius, range from the young and elderly to peasants and officials.
Yet what is most interesting is the government support Yu Dan has enjoyed. Her lectures have been broadcast repeatedly on CCTV, the national, state-run television network. Chinese prisons--of course administered by the government--have hired her to speak to prisoners. She conducted a book-signing at China's prestigious Nankai Middle School in Tianjin, the alma mater of Chinese premier Wen Jiabao and former premier Zhou Enlai. Moreover, she has also enjoyed the patronage of local governments. One particular county government distributed over 10,000 copies of her book to county officials as mandatory reading material.
The central government is also conscientiously building up physical and intellectual infrastructure to support teaching and study of guoxue and Confucius. Beijing's prestigious Renmin University, a national-key university, started a new College of National Studies in 2005 and built a statue of Confucius to mark the occasion. This is the first college to be completely dedicated to the study and teaching of guoxue since the CCP came to power in 1949. The curriculum itself is centered on the four traditional modes of categorization of knowledge used by Chinese bibliographers and scholars in premodern times, a testament to guoxue's influence on the very infrastructure of education; the four categories are Confucian classics (jing), history (shi), philosophy (zi), and literature or belles-lettres (ji).
Furthermore, the number of libraries and other cultural centers across China has increased dramatically since the 1980s. For example, according to national government statistics, the number of public libraries increased by over 63 percent from 1980 to 2008, while the number of museums has grown by almost 393 percent over the same time period. While the rise of such institutions can be attributed to China's economic development, it is important to remember that many of these institutions are supported by the central government, and serve as another indication of guoxue's rise in Chinese domestic society. The government, on both the national and local levels, is taking an active interest in the preservation and dissemination of traditional Chinese culture.
China's highest leaders themselves have quoted Confucius and set Confucian philosophy as the foundation for their political platforms and reforms. Most notably, Chinese President Hu Jintao has pushed for the attainment of a "harmonious society" (hexie shehui) as part of his "Three Harmonies" campaign. Political slogans often are direct quotations from sayings by Confucius and Mencius, prominent Confucian philosophers. In the foreign policy arena, Confucius and guoxue have also been used as physical projections and symbols of China to the world.
In 2004, the central government began setting up foreign institutes bearing the great sage's name--the Confucius Institutes--for the promotion of Chinese language and culture. According to State Counselor Chen Zhili, one of the major goals of these Institutes is to allow others to "get a much clearer picture of modern China." Beijing pumped billions of dollars into the venture; over 140 Confucius Institutes now reach more than 52 countries and regions. The picture the government wants to project is not just a "modern China" with its skyscrapers and new technologies, but also a China with a long, unique, and distinguished history. In other words, the CCP is trying to present to the world a "historical China."
But perhaps one of the most revealing examples of the CCP's personal stake in revitalizing guoxue and traditional studies is the massive government investment and support of the "Qing History Project," a huge research and publication program aiming to compile and publish an authoritative, new history of the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), China's last imperial dynasty.
In 2002, the government pumped about US$75 million dollars into the project, which has engaged more than 1,600 scholars from research and academic institutions across the country. The completion date is set at 2012, and it is estimated that the new history, which will also be translated into various languages and digitized into databases for global dissemination, will contain over 30 million Chinese characters and take a doctoral-level graduate student approximately 10,000 days to consume the material.
Why is the Qing History Project so significant? Throughout Chinese history, one of the most important jobs of a new dynasty was to write the history of the dynasty that preceded it. These official histories, or zhengshi, written under state patronage and direction, served as a legitimizing force for the new dynasty in question since they placed the new emperors within the long timeline of China's dynastic history. Through the act of writing and publishing the zhengshi, the new dynasty would in essence establish itself as the valid successor to the preceding dynasty. Such projects were taken very seriously by Chinese rulers. Specific instructions regarding the compiling of zhengshi were often issued by the emperor himself, and they were generally not written by private individuals, but rather by official committees of historians working in state organs, such as the Bureau of Historiography in the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
Thus, while it is too much to say that the Chinese government is looking at the Qing History Project as an instrument to reinforce its political legitimacy, it nevertheless views the Project as an important way to preserve the past and also gain respect in the process. By attempting to produce an authoritative and objective history of the Qing dynasty, the CCP is trying to make very clear that it is no longer the same CCP that directed the Cultural Revolution.
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