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[原创]Confucianism is still relevant（谁说孔夫子过时了？？？英语欢迎提意见））
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Abstract Confucianism has influenced the Chinese for thousands of years and is deeply rooted in Chinese hearts. Three thousand years have passed. The situation is totally different. Nowadays, the whole world is more and more influenced by western culture. Confucianism seems out of place at this time. In this situation, some people think that Confucianism has lost its significance. But, we should note that the reason is not that Confucianism has lost it relevance, it is more accurate to say circumstances are not conducive for Confucianism. We need to rethink Confucianism in modern society. More people have realized the importance of Confucianism to develop the society. Confucianism is not only still relevant today, but also in the future. Confucianism Confucian culture is an important component of world cultural heritage, a major representative of oriental culture, and the dominance of Chinese cultural tradition. Confucianism dominated China’s feudalistic society for thousands of years before the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, and it is the essence of the Chinese cultural spirit. The philosopher Confucius expounded his teaching about 2,500 years ago in the Spring and Autumn Period, and his teachings were further developed by other Chinese philosophers to form an extensive, profound and refined ideological system. It has rich content covering the fields of humanity, politics, law, education, philosophy and ethics. The teachings of Confucianism Confucian culture is based on humanistic philosophy, and this is shown in its respect, and love of human individuals. Benevolence is an important spirit promoted by Confucianism. This is reflected in many of the famous sayings of Confucius, such as “The human being is the heart of heaven and earth”, “The King is the boat and the common people the water; the water can carry the boat, but it can also capsize and sink the boat”. The well known Chinese scholar Mencius also said, “The human being is the most precious, the state is second, and the ruler the least.” Founded on these humanistic ideas, Confucianism paid attention to the needs and sufferings of the ordinary people and protected their interests. This thought is called “Zhong Yong”. It develops the relationship between the two contradictories (just like right and wrong, insufficient and excessive) to reach balance. As I am a student, I can not avoid the contradiction of “learning and playing”: if you play, you will have less time to study. But in my opinion, it is the most proper way to solve this problem by “Zhong Yong”. Some parents want their children to be scholars. They think that learning is the duty to students. Playing should be avoided because it will reduce learning. The more time taken on learning, the more their children will know. But children like playing. These are contradictory. In the view of “Zhong Yong, students can neither study mechanically, nor play all the time. When your brain gets tired, playing basketball is a good way for rest. Actually, you can practice your basketball skills and learn from others while playing. That is learning while playing. The influence of Confucius Confucian thought moved eastwards at an earlier date than westwards, and its imprint In the East was more profound. His ideas reached Korea and Vietnam over 2,000 years ago. In 285 AD, his ideas were communicated from Korea to Japan. As centuries passed, they entered national customs and traditions, becoming—as in China—part of their culture. Today, Confucianism joins Buddhism, Christianity and Islam to become one of the four major cultural systems of the world. From the time it began to spread, Confucian thought has deeply influenced the cultural, political, and economic system. It brought greater impact to the educational and ethical, development of the countries. This was especially the case in Korea, Japan and Viet Nam which none of them had written languages, still less school education (Yang Huanyin ,1993, p5). With the introduction of the Confucian classics, they adopted Chinese characters, started to publish books and followed the Chinese example in establishing schools. ( http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Japan) The propagation of Confucianism may thus be seen as being directly responsible for the emergence of their systems of schooling. Indeed, Confucius became a cult figure in all schools and at all levels. In Japan, he was revered as the ‘Supreme Sage and Foremost Teacher’; in Viet Nam, as the ‘Teacher of Ten Thousand Sovereigns’. Confucianism also permeated family and social education, the education of women and small children, the education dispensed at the Imperial Court and the education of expatriate students. In all these countries, as in China, Confucian classics served as didactic models during the feudal period (Yang Huanyin ,1993, p5). In the early 1600s, Jesuits returning from missionary work in China spread the ideas of Confucius in the West, where they had a special impact on the philosophers of the Enlightenment. Europe at the time was in the throes of a bourgeois revolution, and these thinkers turned to Confucius for support in their opposition to despotism and the principle of divine right. His atheistic philosophy, his moralistic vision of politics, his notion of the inseparability of politics and ethics, and the stress which he laid on the economic significance of agriculture filled philosophers such as Holbach, Voltaire and Quesnay, with the most fulsome admiration; they referred to his works in denouncing the abuses of their age, often attributing their own criteria to him. It was thanks to their enthusiasm that the West became truly enamored of Confucianism, a state of affairs which is still very much apparent today (Yang Huanyin ,1993, p6). As a result of his outstanding qualities as a teacher, Confucius is regarded in many countries as a model for members of the profession. In pre-liberation China, his birthday was celebrated as a holiday; this is still the case today in Taiwan, in Viet Nam and in the Asiatic communities of the United States—an occasion marked by commemorative events and ceremonies to honour especially meritorious teachers, and to encourage others to draw inspiration from the virtues of the great educator. Negative aspect of Confucianism Confucianism disrespects the female.(Wikipedia).In old China, women had few education and employment opportunities, and 90 percent of women were illiterate The status of the woman in early (pre-Qing) Chinese society suggests that Confucius placed value on individuality. Just as Confucianism is neither static nor monolithic, neither is the role of the woman in China been static or monolithic. For example, Confucius supported the traditional thinking of his day that encouraged the “four womanly virtues of morality, proper speech, modest manner and diligent work.” (QU, supra note 4, at 28) Many critics suggest that this thinking created and justified generations of female subjection and oppression. However, this position ignores a significant tradition of placing importance on the education of women. He thought men can do better than women, so it is more significant to let men get educated. Is it true? Let us see an example: Confucius’ own mother was third daughter of a scholar who was well versed in a wide variety of subjects and was able to supervise Confucius’ education until he went to study with her own father. Confucius’ best-known student, Mencius, like Confucius had a scholarly mother who was competent and able to manage their sons’ early academic and moral training in the home(THE WORKS OF MENCIUS 16 (James Legge trans., Dover Publications, Inc. 1970). Now, we can see the important of women education. It should contribute a lot to their well educated mothers that why confusions and Mencius could become greet philosophers. Filial piety and corruptions In the teaching, people with deceased parent must quit their job and stay at home for 3 years. This has lead to heavy corruption of all levels of government officers in order to earn money to support their living during the 3 years of filial piety ritual (Wikipedia). In my opinion, this action is not proper. First, not everyone has the capacity to live without work for 3 years. It would be quite impossible for the government to support them. Then, how many people can really afford 3 years of mourning? Since most people can not do it, why still insist on this rite? Different from many other political philosophies, Confucianism is reluctant to employ laws. In a society where relationships are considered more important than the laws themselves, if no other power forces government officers to take the common interest into consideration, corruption and nepotism will arise. As government officers' salary was often far lower than the minimum required to raise a family, Chinese society has frequently been affected by those problems and still is. Even if some means to control and reduce corruption and nepotism have been successfully used in China, Confucianism is criticized for not providing such a means itself. Meritocracy sound better than you thought. Indeed, Confucianism comes with a face of literature fascism. The Confucianism officer in power has ask the authority to suppress teaching and idea that are not related to Confucianism (Wikipedia). The perfect gentleman The best way to become a perfect gentleman is "staying out of trouble (Wikipedia). In order to protect oneself, it (staying out of trouble) is indeed a efficient way. But I don’t think it is suitable for today’s young. On one hand, you avoid a lot of troubles; on the other hand, lose opportunities. As a positive young man, we should not give up the spirit of discovery. Just look forward, ignore the troubles around you, and try your best to defeat them. Some weaknesses of Confucianism are present in Chinese society, such as family power, patriarchal behavior and the concept of class difference. These have gone against the basic human rights and freedoms and are obstacles to the reform and opening up of China and the construction of Chinese democracy. Confucianism has its own limitations. But it doesn’t mean that this thought is worthless today. There are some changes that Confucianism may undergo to be more relevant to the modern world. “In the time of Confucius, it was rare for children to move away from their aging parents,” explains by professor Chiang. But today, “the world is shrinking. It’s easy for you to travel to a lot of places. Sometimes you have dreams you need to pursue, and you need to get away from home.”(Globalization and Confucianism in Chinese Societies, Dr. Linda Chiang, 1984). The essential ideas of Confucianism remain relevant, according to Chiang. “Human beings are the same, 3,000 years ago and now,” she says. “We all have similar needs. We have a lot of advantages today; a lot of modern technology; but deep down, we are still human.” So, it still relevant today. China today Today's China implements a friendly, peaceful foreign policy, which stresses good-neighborly relations and peaceful coexistence. Internally, it works hard to build a harmonious society and actively promotes the cause of peaceful reunification with Taiwan. The mainland provides more and more opportunities and advantages to Taiwan business men. The only aim is to unite the nations. In my opinion, upholding peace and regarding peace as precious, this is not only the China's political commitment, but also the result of the tradition of the Chinese civilization, because the ideal situations in “Zhong Yong” are balance and harmony. We have benefited a lot from this thought. Peace provides the necessary environment for us to develop the economy. Keeping good relationships with other countries is also important for attracting trade. More and more people like to do businesses in China because they are satisfied with the government’s attitude towards peace and the peaceful conditions in China. For the young My teachers are always complaining that we don't have a complete personality. We will suffer losses in the future if we don't pay attention to build such one. Today, our living conditions are much better than 100 years ago, so the young don’t have much experiences of adversity. Because people are more and more isolated (small families are the basic and common units of the society) ----especially in China. To follow the One Child Policy, most of the Chinese children have no brothers and sisters. They became the center of their family. In my middle school, there was a boy who was very good at sciences but seemed to know little about humanity. He did not know sharing and caring about others. Facing various competitions, he was very selfish that he never helped others. Obviously, few people would like to be friends with him. But he did seem not care about that. He regarded marks to be the most important thing and his dream is to earn a lot of money. The teachers were a bit disappointed with him. Actually, there are many teenagers who follow him. So, for the young ,we need to cultivate a sense of direction, the sense of purpose of life, the sense of learning for one's own sake; in other words, learning for character building, not just for material gains. Many of the values in the Confucian tradition are in accordance with humanity, righteousness, civility, responsibility, wisdom, and trust. These are for character building, a way of cultivating a person to become virtuous. This practical training is intrinsically valuable. Here is a question: Are classic Confucian teachings difficult for young people to accept. Professor Qing( 2003 ) states “it’s not my impression at all. It depends by how you relate to young people, how you relate to the Confucian tradition yourself. For example, I now teach some freshman students who were actually high school students a few months ago. I teach them the "Four Books," and they relate to these materials very, very well. No problem at all.” Conclusion Confucius’ thought had a profound influence on the development of Chinese society, and particularly that of its education and moral science, at different times and under a variety of circumstances. It also left its mark on a great number of Eastern and Western countries. Confucius and his doctrine do not belong only to China; he is acknowledged throughout the world as a major figure of universal civilization and culture. There is a little interesting story (http://y.sina.com.cn/news/2005-08-16/143641777.html). In the January of 1988, all the Nobel prize awarders got together, discussing the way of society developing .Finally , they came to a surprising consensus: there is only one way for us human beings surviving in the 21st century. We must trace back to 2500 years ago, and review Confucianism. [ Last edited by baby8 on 2006-7-24 at 23:35 ] |
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