Moral Education and Ideology: The Revival of Confucian Values and the Harmonious Shaping of the New Chinese Man
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2017.5.2.113-135Keywords:
political Confucianism, new Confucianism, Chinese dream, moral educationAbstract
In this paper, we will investigate the re-emergence of Confucianism in contemporary China as a complex intersection of political, cultural, educational and popular perspectives. This resurgence is neither a kind of Chinese Neoclassicism nor a nostalgic backwardness, instead it is the emblem of the new China’s identity. Confucius and Confucianism, violently despised as the remains of feudalism since the May Fourth Movement and during Maoism, are nowadays a fertile source for the fulfilment of “Socialism with Chinese characteristics” (zhongguo tese shehui zhuyi 中国特色社会主义) on both the educational and political levels. We carry out the investigation in three steps: 1. The political rehabilitation of Confucianism as part of the “Chinese dream” (zhongguo meng 中国梦); 2. The common social perception of Confucianism and tradition as a shared and unavoidable background; 3. The definition of two possible Confucianisms (namely New Confucianism and Political Confucianism) and their possible influences on Chinese society and moral education. Our conclusions will deal with Chinese cultural soft power, and the shaping of a new Confucian identity based on both modernity and tradition.
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Bell, Daniel A. 2010. China’s New Confucianism. Politics and Everyday Life in a Changing Society. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Billioud, Sébastien, and Joël Thoraval. 2014. Le sage et le peuple. Le renouveau confucéen en Chine. Paris: CNRS Éditions.
Breacher, Alan. 2014. “Is the Censorship of Chinese Art Misunderstood?” Art Radar September 9, 2014. Accessed January 10, 2016. http://artradarjournal. com/2014/09/05/censorship-in-chinese-art-is-misunderstood/.
Chau, Adam Yuet. 2011. Religion in Contemporary China. Revitalization and Innovation Abingdon (Oxon): Routledge. Chen, Duxiu. 1916. Xin qingnian 2 (4), December 1《新青年》第2卷第4号 1916年12月1日, New Youth 2 (4), 1.12.1916.
Chu, Claire. 2016. “Congress Takes on Chinese Propaganda Machine, The National Interest.” Posted April 27, accessed January 10, 2017. http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/congress-takes-chinas-propaganda-machine-15967.
Fan, Rupin. 2011. The Renaissance of Confucianism in Contemporary China. New York: Springer.
Graham, Angus Charles. 1986. Yin-Yang and the Nature of Correlative Thinking. Singapore: The Institute of East Asian philosophies.
–––. 1998. Disputers of the Tao. Philosophical Argument in Ancient China. Chicago and La Salle: Open Court.
Gu, Mu. 2000. “Confucianism as the Essence of Chinese Tradition.” In Sources of Chinese Tradition. From 1600 through the Twentieth Century, edited by Theodor de Bary and Richard Lufrano, 581–5. New York: Columbia University Press.
Hartig, Falk. 2015. Chinese Public Diplomacy: The Rise of the Confucius Institute. Abingdon (Oxon): Routledge.
Hu, Jintao. 2011. “Hujintao zai qingzhu zhongguo gongchandang chenglì 90 zhounian dahuì shang de jianghua 胡锦涛在庆祝中国共产党成立90周年 大会上的讲话 (Hu Jintao’ s speech at the 90th Anniversary of the founding of CPC).” Accessed January 10, 2017. http://cpc.people.com.cn/90nian/ GB/224164/15052968.html.
Jiang, Qing. 2011. “From Mind Confucianism to Political Confucianism.” In Renaissance of Confucianism in Contemporary China, edited by Fan Rupin, 17–32. Berlin: Springer.
–––. 2013. A Confucian Constitutional Order. How China’s Ancient Past Can Shape Its Political Future. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Kurlantzick, Joshua. 2007. Charm Offensive. How China’s Soft Power is Transforming the World. New York: Yale University Press.
Makeham, John. 2003. New Confucianism: A Critical Examination. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Mou, Zongsan. 2009. Zhongguo zhexue shijiu jiang 中国哲学十九讲 (Nineteen Lectures on Chinese Philosophy). Beijing: Zhongguo banben tu guan.
Pan, Jennifer, and Yiqing Xu. 2015. “China’s Ideological Spectrum.” MIT Political Science, Research Paper no. 2015–6 (version of the 17th November).
Portman, Rob, and Chris Murphy. 2016. “Countering Information Warfare Act of 2016 March (S. 2692).” Senate of the United States. Accessed January 10, 2016. https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/2692/text.
Sahlins, Marshall. 2015. Confucius Institutes: Academic Malware. Chicago: Prickly Paradigm.
Sala, I.-M. 2016. “Second ‘Missing’ Hong Kong Bookseller Returns from China.” The Guardian, March. Accessed January 10, 2017. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/mar/06/second-missing-hong-kong-bookseller- returns-from-china.
Scarpari, Maurizio. 2015. Ritorno a Confucio. La Cina di oggi fra tradizione e mercato. Bologna: il Mulino.
Shi, Tianjian. 2015. The Cultural Logic of Politics in Mainland China and Taiwan. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Sun, Anna. 2013. Confucianism as a World Religion. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Xi, Jinping. 2013a. “Right Time to Innovate and Make Dreams Come True.” In The Governance of China Beijing, 2014. Beijing: Foreign Language Press co. Ltd.
–––. 2013b. “Enhance China’s Cultural Soft Power.” In The Governance of China Beijing, 2014. Beijing: Foreign Language Press co. Ltd.
–––. 2014a. “Improve Governance Capacity through the Socialist System with Chinese Characteristics.” In The Governance of China Beijing, 2014. Beijing: Foreign Language Press co. Ltd.
–––. 2014b. “The rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation is a dream shared by all Chinese.” In The Governance of China Beijing. Beijing: Foreign Language Press co. Ltd.
–––. 2014c. The Governance of China Beijing. Beijing: Foreign Language Press co. Ltd.
–––. 2015. “Chinese President Xi Jinping Gives Welcome Speech for the China Pavilion at Milan Expo.” Accessed January 10, 2017. http://en.expochina2015.org/2015-05/02/c_2554.htm.
Yoshiko, Ashiwa, and David L. Wank. 2009. Making Religion, Making the State. The Politics of Religion in Modern China. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Wang, Ruichang. 2011. “The Rise of Political Confucianism in Contemporary China.” In The Renaissance of Confucianism in Contemporary China, edited by Fan Rupin, 33–45. Berlin: Springer.
Vyas, Utpal. 2011. Soft Power in Japan-China Relations. Abingdon (Oxon): Routledge. Zhang, Zhidong 張之洞. 1998. Quan xue pian 劝学篇 (Exhortation to Study). Beijing: Zhongzhou Ancient Books Publishing House.
“Milan shibohui zhongguo guan zhuti yingpian ‘tuanyuan’.” 2015. 米兰世博会中 国馆主题影片 “团圆” (“Reunion” Short Animation at Expo 2015, Chinese Pavillon) Accessed January 10, 2017. http://www.vmovier.com/46720.
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Published
30.06.2017
How to Cite
AMBROGIO, S. (2017). Moral Education and Ideology: The Revival of Confucian Values and the Harmonious Shaping of the New Chinese Man. Asian Studies, 5(2), 113–135. https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2017.5.2.113-135
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