Confucian studies return, hailed as relevant
(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-10-06 08:52

Using a flashy mobile phone and enjoying the music of the Taiwanese pop singer Jay Chow, short-haired and soft-spoken Gao Yuanxiang looks like a typical contemporary Chinese college student.

But his field of study dates back more than 2,000 years Confucianism, an ancient Chinese philosophy and an official ideology.

Even Gao, 24, who majored history as an undergraduate, admits Confucianism can be boring sometimes. "But once you get into it, you find it's interesting and meaningful to modern life," he said.

Gao's school, the Confucianism School at Qufu Normal University in Qufu of East China's Shandong Province, is the hometown of Confucius, known in Chinese as Kong Fuzi.

The university's historical and culture background makes it the natural place for the first Confucianism study institute in China.

Gao's courses include reading and reciting Confucianism's "bibles" known as Four Books and Five Classics. These books were once the basis for a required course in China's universities.

"Some say Confucianism is irrelevant to modern society," Gao said. "But its ideology still influences every Chinese. It's still deep in our blood and flesh. Many people just don't always realize it."

Gao's enthusiasm for this ancient Chinese doctrine is just part of a rising awareness in the study of Confucianism in China since the 1980s.

Today whenever the word "harmony" the core of Confucianism is emphasized by the central government, its philosophy goes back to that of Kong Fuzi.

"It has become hot in recent years," Gao said. "My tutors have travelled abroad for academic seminars many times a year, and others from overseas have come here. Clearly, the research has a bright future."

Last month, Gao's teacher, Yang Chaoming, 44, hosted an international conference on campus in honour of the 2,557th anniversary of Confucius' birth, which was on September 28. The conference invited scholars, researchers and believers from home and abroad to exchange their latest achievements and express their points of view.

The study of Confucianism has mushroomed in recent years at other universities, as well. Last year, the philosophy department at Renmin University in Beijing launched its school of "guoxue" (literally, national studies), referring to traditional Chinese thought and culture.

The study of Confucianism is a major part of that curriculum. The school offers a six-year series of undergraduate and graduate courses and recruits 20 to 30 students a year.


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