Confucianism

Confucianism is a system of ethics based upon the teachings of Kong Qiu, also known as Kong Fuzi (thus in English he became known as Confucius), who lived roughly between the years 551 and 479 BCE. He believed that mankind would be in harmony with the universe if all behaved with righteousness and restraint and adhered to specific social roles. He emphasized the study of classic works of literature, the worship of ancestors, and submission to authority. The five principal relationships upon which all society should be based, according to Confucius, are as follows: filial piety between father and son (meaning the son must obey and respect his father, in both life and death), loyalty between ruler and subject, harmony between husband and wife, precedence of the elder over the younger in family relations, and trust between friends. Trust between friends is the only horizontal relationship; the rest are hierarchical.

    However, these guidelines also insist upon reciprocity. For example, the filial piety of the son should be reciprocated by the love of the father, and the obedience of the subject should be reciprocated by the fairness of the ruler.
   
    It should be remembered that Confucius lived during a very chaotic period of time in Chinese history known as the Warring States period, during which time China was not a unified nation but in fact a series of little fiefdoms that fought with each other constantly, causing much human suffering. He emphasized allegiance, loyalty, and obedience as a way to end this constant warfare.

  After he died, his teachings (written down by his disciples in a book called the Analects) were adopted by the Chinese imperial states throughout the centuries, although modifications and different interpretations of his teachings continued to be made. One of the most important factors of Confucianism in its many interpretations is an emphasis on education. This aspect of
Confucianism is still very much in practice in China as well as the other Asian countries deeply influenced by Confucianism, including South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore.

  Many temples were built to honor Confucius over the centuries and even today in rural areas some Chinese pray to Confucius as a kind of wise saint for his help in their daily life even though Confucius himself never talked about religion, famously saying, “If you are not able to serve men, how can you worship the gods?” and “If you do not know life, how can youknow about death?” (Analects, XI, II). He considered himself a statesman and philosopher rather than the founder of a religion, but over time Confucianism took on religious aspects.

   In 1911, when the last emperor of China was overthrown, Confucianism was officially out of favor in China. Leading intellectuals blamed Confucianism’s emphasis on studying the past, obeying authority, and respecting elders at the expense of the ideas of the young as a force that had kept China “backwards” in terms of technology and political culture compared to the West. Indeed, the Confucian emphasis on a benevolent, paternalistic form of government and obedient citizens contradicts aspects of Western liberal democracy, which is based on the principles of individual rights and social contracts between the government and its citizens.

   During the Cultural Revolution, Chairman Mao launched a movement known as the “Campaign against Lin Biao and Confucius” in 1973–74. Lin Biao had been named as the official successor as future chairman of the Communist Party but had died in a mysterious plane crash in 1971. Linking Lin and Confucius was a seemingly bizarre and random act of dogma, especially considering that both men were already dead, but Mao ensured that it spread across the country. (Some political
theorists say the campaign was a veiled attack on another of Mao’s contemporaries, Zhou Enlai, who was still alive.) At any rate, the various Kong clans in China, as the living descendants of Confucius, went through living hell while this campaign lasted. In fact, one branch was not able to rebuild its Confucian temple until 1992.

  Today, there is a resurgent interest in Confucianism, perhaps as a way to counter Western criticism of China’s political system, but also as a source of pride in China’s ancient culture and the brilliance of its philosophers. Confucius’s hometown of Qufu in Shandong Province is a major tourist attraction. More recently, former President Hu Jintao in 2006 called upon government officials to return to Confucian moral ethics as a way to counter corruption and growing inequality within Chinese society, and he approved funding for more than three hundred “Confucius Institutes” to be established around the world to offer classes and resources about Chinese language and culture.