Happy Birthday, Confucius

Today I happened to pick up The Standard (the free English daily in HK) on the way to school and saw that Confucius was born on this day, way way back in 551 BC. Confucius, you guessed it, was the granddaddy of Confucianism, which was the dominant ideology in Chinese society until the fall of the Qing Dynasty (the very last dynasty of Imperial China, ultimately done in by a variety of factors early in the 20th century). Confucianism at its center consisted of a set of "moral and ritualistic norms for the regulation of human relationships," and was predicated upon a hierarchical structure placing each individual within the broader context of a specific societal role. See Wikipedia's treatment of Confucius here if you are interested in more than my rough paraphrasing above. Above all, Confucianism stressed the importance of respecting authority through absolute loyalty and obedience to whoever was above you in a hierarchical chain which culminated in the Emperor.

Confucianism is particularly interesting to me as I study Chinese law and politics in 2009. My current coursework and the fact that I chanced upon this bit of historical trivia today bring to mind all these thoughts. The Confucian take on law (as a counterpoint to its one-time philosophical rival, Legalism) advocated that law not be especially formal or coercive. Rather, laws and government ought to focus on educating the people about what is right and wrong, and developing their moral consciousness to urge them to behave morally for morality's sake, and not merely out of fear of punishment under the law. [Sidebar: I have an inherent skepticism of this concept, as overly Pollyanna at first blush, and moreover concealing a harsh historical reality. In other words, it sounds nice, but it appears to me that over time, even though the emperor (or rare empress) should have been leading by kind and benevolent example, emperors actually tended to rule by brute force, as absolute rulers are wont to do. Gee, I really wish I could footnote in this format...but, alas I cannot.] Confucianism therefore carved out detailed rules for social and moral obligations for each individual, always set carefully within and subject to their particular role in the community. If you've ever heard Chinese or Asians characterized as highly contextualist, or communitarian, or whatever the opposite of individualist would be, Confucian principles underlie much of that ethos.

Anyhow. Confucianism was thrown by the wayside in the early days of New China (founded in 1949, we're coming up on the 60th anniversary of Red China, but more on that later) as a undesirable vestige of a feudal, backwards society. The Communists over time came to violently reject any old wisdom including Confucianism,(for a wealth of examples, see any history of the Cultural Revolution) in favor of Marxist and Maoist philosophy. Fast forward several decades, and like so much else in modern China, the philosophical winds have shifted once again. Though Socialism with Chinese Characteristics continues to reign, its slippery, shape-shifting form has grown to once again allow Confucius under the big tent. New centers on Confucianism have opened at Chinese universities, and statues of Confucius abound once more. It is not such a big surprise, really, to revive an ancient, revered philosophy that focuses on a paternalistic, all powerful leader. Transliterating ancient Confucian principles to suit the complicated demands of single party leadership in modern China makes perfect sense. Confucius is hip again. Happy birthday, old man. I'm off to class.


Bad joke? Yes. Could I resist? Clearly no.