Confucius is making a comeback

September 4, 2002 1:12 PM

Confucius is making a comeback at the Shengtao Experimental School north of Beijing, where the children of China's elite are once again studying the teachings of Confucius. It will be interesting to see what impact studying the classics has on the next generation of China's leaders.
posted by homunculus (8 comments total)

I doubt they would have anymore of an impact then teaching Confucius to American students would have on American politics.

The problem with dynastic china in the 1800-early 1900's was that the leaders had been taught Confucianism and only Confucianism

Fundamentalist Confucianism is just as bad as Islamic or Christian fundamentalism (well, perhaps fundamentalism isn't quite the right term) but Confucian scholars were very close-minded to other ideas

Putting Confucius on the same par with other thinkers, and letting his ideas sit aside other ideas in an open mind will probably not change that mind that much.
posted by delmoi at 1:21 PM on September 4, 2002

"Confucianism was discarded more than a half-century ago as medieval, oppressive and unfit for the new Communist order. Its revival, experts say, reflects growing ethnic pride, as well as fear that rising incomes are making Chinese too materialistic. "

This seems especially interesting in light of this (I thought I had seen this link here first, but search didn't locate it).
posted by trox at 1:25 PM on September 4, 2002

Confucius is making a comeback

He's tanned, rested, and ready to kick ass.
posted by Dr. Boom at 1:27 PM on September 4, 2002

What about these classic sayings?
posted by interrobang at 2:14 PM on September 4, 2002

Hah. Yes, I'm sure that respect for authority and one' elders seems increasingly important for the rulers of this modern fascist state. "Ethnicity comes first, the world second" -- yay.
posted by i_am_joe's_spleen at 2:47 PM on September 4, 2002

My Chinese friend in his late 40s who recently came to the USA had never heard of Confucius.
posted by stbalbach at 4:56 PM on September 4, 2002

interrobang: I can't believe that page missed the classic "Confucius say... man who fart in church must sit in pew!"
posted by kindall at 5:39 PM on September 4, 2002

stbalbach, I suspect your Chinese friend may have never heard the English name Confucius, but his Chinese name, Kongzi, might ring a bell.
posted by chinstrap at 1:44 AM on September 5, 2002