From Overseas Press

Beijing marks happy return of Confucius

(chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2010-09-30 13:44

Confucius'  2,561st birthday was celebrated at Beijing's Confucian temple, the first officially approved memorial event for him at the temple since the founding of New China, said an article in the Guardian on Sept 28.

Hundreds of schoolchildren paid their respects to China's best-known philosopher. Dancers in red robes and students in flowing black drifted through the courtyards of the 14th century temple complex.

Li Gengwu, a retired newspaper employee attending the ceremony, who studied Confucius in his childhood, believes that "Confucius advocates loyalty and trust and caring for others. In today's society, all people care about is money, so it's good to promote these values."

Once reviled as "backwards and feudalist," Confucius has made a comeback since the 1990s. His work again has become "a source of moral instruction and social debate."

Dr Daniel Bell, a scholar at Tsinghua University and author of China's New Confucianism, said that Confucius was "a conservative tradition but always had a critical edge." Its revival is happening at "different levels of society with some (Confucian theorists) having a much more critical way of thinking."

For Confucian teacher Yang Ruqin, "Confucianism has always been in Chinese people's blood." He said, "Although negated for many years, it is still there, and when the environment is right, it will come back.. I think it is a very good thing, especially in today's materialistic society."

He added, "Most people now are just curious about it instead of really understanding the theory, but that's okay. As time goes on, they will know better. Plus Confucianism is something really suited to the Chinese people."

China's leaders too "have co-opted the thinker." Confucius has reappeared in school textbooks, and President Hu Jintao "drew on Confucius in establishing his vision of the ‘harmonious society.'"