Thursday, February 2, 2023

Confucianism and the art of breaking a motorcycle

 


The old bearded sage Confucius is apparently being rehabilitated in the People´s Republic of China, so I assume the campaign to criticize Lin Biao and said sage (and beard) has been cancelled. 

The clip above explores some of the ways Confucianism is experiencing a renaissance in today´s China, sometimes even with the support of the Communist Party. The fusion of the Classics and modern capitalist "positive thinking" is intriguing...and tiresome. Some shit really is the same the world over. Note also the crypto-religious traits of some of the revival.  

The most interesting info in the clip was actually about a 19th century Chinese reformer named Kang Youwei, who tried to turn Confucianism into a kind of ersatz Christian Protestantism as part of a daring attempt to reform China. It didn´t work...although a roughly similar project did just fine in Japan!

Personally, I´m frankly skeptical. Maybe Confucius should go the same way as Lin Biao...   

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