OPINION> Commentary
The Master too was human
By Chong Zi (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-09-09 07:51

Is Confucius too sacred to be for the silver screen? A Chinese director's film on him is a controversy even before it is shot.

Confucius is a sage. But he is so vague in appearance that he is thought not presentable with clothes on. He has never been a figure in our dramas and films, except in the midst of an orchestrated mass movement to criticize late Vice-Chairman Lin Biao and Confucius in the 1970s.

Hong Kong actor Tony Leung, one of the candidates to play Confucius, is believed to be unqualified for the role because of his part in the sex scenes in the Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee's Lust, Caution. People worry that he will put our sage in love scenes. Gee whiz, wasn't Confucius human? The updated family tree of the thinker has more than 2 million members, in China and all over the world. It records 83 generations. Where did all these people come from?

All the importance of the master and his philosophy should not deny the truth: he was mortal.

A standard portrait of the philosopher and educator the China Confucius Foundation unveiled in 2006 is supposed to give him "a single, recognizable identity around the world." Ah, that old feature is too regular to be convincing. Everyone has a vision of him for one reason or another: he could be slim for traveling far and wide; or he could be as fat as a sumo wrestler according to a file in Confucius Memorial Hall; or he could be tall if you access historian Sima Qian's (145-90 BC) The Hereditary House of Confucius; and still he could be short as ancient people were supposed to be. Whatever. Do all these matter?

Never mind all that. I don't think the silver screen is the inappropriate place where the master should not go.

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Canada might no longer be the paradise for Chinese fugitives. Deng Xinzhi, a suspect in a 20 million yuan swindling case, has been repatriated by Canada after staying there for five years. Deng's deportation came as a cheering new sign of cooperation between China and Canada. And this is important. More and bigger fishes should be sent back to China to be subject to law. One of them is Lai Changxing, the arch suspect involved in the exceptionally big smuggling case in Xiamen, southwestern China. He fled to Canada in 1999. Lai is "hiding" in that country thanks to the long-winded, over-elaborate judicial review procedures.

The statement Canada's Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day issued after Deng's repatriation should send a clear message. Day said Deng's deportation underscores the Canadian government's commitment that the country will not be a safe haven for fugitives. "On this our tolerance level is zero."

Deng's deportation is a good precedence. But should it shatter the dreams of the Chinese suspects for living a safe life in Canada? China and Canada have not signed the agreement on deporting criminal offenders. This has turned the repatriation of Chinese fugitives into a long, complicated procedure.

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How will Chinese and foreign doctors repair Liu Xiang's painful foot injury? Where and how long? All the questions typify the weight of Liu's foot issue to many fans of the country's hurdler. But wait, it sounds more like a serious matter to the country. Yang Peigang, director of Shanghai Track and Field Management Center, said no answers for the questions so far. "A workable treatment plan will be available in a month and presented to the General Administration of Sport." See, Liu's Achilles' injury is not his personal problem. The weekly Caijing called for an end of the state sports system. Yeah, it is time to let the invisible hand of market come to sports. The athletic sports should not be the exception for change. If the state sponsorship has to stay, it should make sport for all rather than the elite athletes.

(China Daily 09/09/2008 page8)