Confucian Tradition and Christianity in China: Modern World
http://dailylife2.abc-clio.com/Search/Display/1423499?terms=china%2bconfucianismAn assessment of the influence of Confucianism and Christianity in contemporary China requires a historical perspective. Confucianism derives its name from the cultural figure Kong Zi or Confucius, as he is widely known in the West. Confucius, who lived about 2,500 years ago in Shandong Province, is credited with a moral philosophy that has guided Chinese society in covert and overt forms. Confucianism is not a single theoretical system; it rather refers to an assortment of thoughts before and after Confucius, and many individuals, such as Mencius, Xun Zi, Dong Zhongshu, and Zhu Xi, to name a few, played a pivotal role in developing, modifying, and substantiating Confucianism.
As early as the Han dynasty, Confucianism became a state-sanctioned, canonized doctrine. Through dynasties after dynasties and emperors after emperors, the position of Confucianism has rarely been shaken or challenged, even during the periods when the Mongols and the Manchu, who represented a different cultural tradition, ruled China.
Unlike Confucianism, Christianity is not an indigenous concept and has its roots in the West. Since the Tang dynasty, when Western missionaries first made major journeys to China, Christianity has more or less been a cultural element in the mosaic of Chinese society, but it always remains in the periphery, not the center, of Chinese culture and society.
The 20th century was a different story for both Confucianism and Christianity, because neither was favored. China's encounters with the modern world and its humiliating experience with the Western powers led many of its intellectuals to the belief that a fundamental change was needed for China to survive as a nation among other nations. Intellectuals in the May 4 Movement (1919) promoted and upheld ideas such as science and democracy, concepts quite alien to the Chinese, and charged that Confucianism was irrational and undemocratic. These influential intellectuals also dealt a blow to Christianity, which had just gained some ground in China. In their view, Christianity, like any religion, was superstitious and ran counter to scientific principles. Moreover, Christianity was an accomplice of the imperialists and a tool of the imperial culture.
Confucianism and Christianity suffered more setbacks after the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Confucianism was on the verge of extinction during the Great Cultural Revolution. In line with the radical ideology of the revolution, eradicating Confucianism's "lingering influence" became the buzzword. Ironically, Confucius was even reconstructed and tied to the purged marshal Lin Biao, who had once served as the vice chairman and a designated successor to Mao Zedong.
With the death of Mao and the downfall of the Gang of Four, the position of Confucianism has been gradually recovered. Many people have started to realize that without Confucianism, China would be a nation without its own cultural traditions. However, because of a hiatus of almost three decades, Confucianism has remained a mystery and too complicated for a generation of Chinese to grasp.
In China there are many religions, one example is conficianism. In contemporary China, Confucianism is more accepted as a tradition than as a living culture, and its important ideas and concepts are taken only as heritages. Thanks to the long denial of Confucianism from the 1920s to the 1970s, the morality and ethics represented in Confucianism can no longer play an important part, as they did in the ancient times. After the Chinese Communist Party came to power, first Marxism and then Maoism became state-sponsored ideology. During the 1950s to the 1970s, the state was successful in influencing the thinking of several generations of people with this ideology, and Maoism was taken almost as a kind of religion. When the New Period approached and Deng Xiaoping came to power, the country became more open to the outside, and a public sphere with different ideas and beliefs appeared to emerge in Chinese cultural life. However, the ideology had been unchanged in the past and remains the same. In the classrooms, there is no place for Confucianism; Marxism and communism still fill pages and pages of textbooks. Yet Confucianism is embedded in people's behavior and relational protocols. Its exclusion in education causes much confusion among the younger generation. They face huge discrepancies between what is taught and what they see in reality, so skepticism is running deep.
Luo, Jing. "Confucian Tradition and Christianity in China: Modern World." Daily Life through History.
Josset Jordan
Chinese Spiritual Life in the Post-Mao Era: Modern World."
China has long been a nation with a wide range of religions. Before the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, there were four major religions, Buddhism, Daoism, Islam, and Christianity, among which Daoism was a Chinese native religion. Buddhism, which originated in India and was introduced into China at the end of the Han dynasty, was greatly influenced by Chinese traditional culture, so Chinese Buddhism was not quite the same as that in India. As a Western religion, Christianity came to China in the Tang dynasty, but was not successful in achieving an enduring and wide recognition. Islam began to appear in the north of China in the seventh century and gained continuous acceptance among the Islamic minority. Confucianism, although strictly speaking hardly a religion, enjoyed dominance over other beliefs. Scholars therefore often summarize Chinese traditional culture as Ru, Fo, and Dao, that is, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism. From this historical perspective, one might say that people in ancient China led a very spiritual life. Indeed, the crucial figures of Confucianism, such as Confucius himself, Mencius, and Zhu Xi, all vigorously stressed the spiritual level of life.
In addition to Marxism and later Leninism, the idolization of Mao's thoughts was transformed into a quasi-religious fervor. Gradually, Maoism became the yardstick for almost everything. Mao's books were accepted as the Chinese "Red Bible," and Mao himself became the spiritual leader for millions of people. If there were any religion, Maoism was the religion; if there were any god, Mao himself was the god.
Luo, Jing. "Chinese Spiritual Life in the Post-Mao Era: Modern World." Daily Life through History.
Josset Jordan
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