When Confucius died, he bequeathed to his followers a body of philosophical thought. It was the achievement of successive generations of his disciples to fashion this into a religious system that was to became part of the social and political make-up of China. Such a partnership with secular authority has inevitably brought conflict and challenges, not least with the advent of the Communist People’s Republic of China in 1949. During the “Cultural Revolution” between the mid-1960s and mid-1970s, Confucianism was attacked and persecuted, but in more recent times it has regained its influence.
“How happy it is to welcome friends from afar.”
Confucius (used at the opening of the 2008 Beijing Olympics)
Confucius’s family played a role in the development of his thoughts into a system. His grandson Zisi continued his philosophical school after his death, and even today, one of his direct descendants, Kong Tsui-chang, who lives in Taiwan, is venerated as the seventy-ninth in a line that leads straight back to Confucius. It was his disciples, however—notably Mencius (372–289 BCE) and Xun Zi (312–230 BCE)—who did most to ensure that Confucius left a lasting mark on Chinese civilization, by organizing his teachings into a religious and social force. By 221 BCE, when the King of Qin conquered the neighboring states and declared himself Emperor Shi Huang Di of China, Confucianism was already a powerful movement. So much so, in fact, that Huang Di saw it as a threat to his rule and ordered that all the books of Confucius should be burned and Confucian scholars executed by being buried alive.
Mencius is often referred to as the most famous Confucian after Confucius. By tradition he is believed to have been a disciple of the Master’s grandson, Zisi. One legend tells how, as a child, Mencius moved house three times because his mother was searching for the correct environment in which he could study. Confucianism places a high premium on education. In imitation of Confucius, Mencius spent 40 years traveling about China, teaching and offering advice to rulers on how to act ethically toward their subjects.
While upholding Confucius’s belief in the hierarchy of rulers and ruled, Mencius added a new thought: that if those in charge failed to act morally and treat their subjects with respect, then their subjects were justified in overthrowing them. Mencius’s dealings with rulers were recorded in the Four Books, texts that were later to have a profound influence on Neo-Confucianism. In particular, their suggestion that humankind is innately good but is caused to do wrong by society saw Mencius again going beyond what his Master had taught.
Huang Di’s philosophy of government embraced the then dominant ideology of legalism, a set of pragmatic principles that encouraged rulers to do what was expedient and right for them rather than in the best interests of their subjects as Confucius advocated. But it proved unpopular, and when the emperor was overthrown two decades later by the Han dynasty, Confucian principles were in the ascendant.
The Han dynasty lasted until 220 CE and confirmed Confucianism as a religion by elevating Confucius to a perfection of thought and correctness that was unarguable, something to be learned, studied and ultimately worshipped.
“He who rules his state on a moral basis would be supported by the people, just as the Polar star is encircled by all the other stars.”
Confucius
Neo-Confucianism This elevated status persisted long after the fall of the Han dynasty, but Confucianism underwent changes along the way, most notably when, under the Song dynasty, Zhu Xi (1130–1200) offered a radical reinterpretation of Confucius’s Five Classics that became the basis for what is today known as Neo-Confucianism. He brought Buddhist and Taoist influences to bear on Confucianism, partially merging the three, especially in terms of ritual and concern for the soul, though he did not embrace Buddhist notions of karma and reincarnation. Life magazine has ranked Zhu Xi as the forty-fifth most important person in the last millennium.
The role of Confucian thought in underpinning almost two millennia of autocratic rule in China made it a natural target for the Chinese Communist movement that came to power in 1949. Confucius was accused of having a “feudal mentality.” Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book was to replace Confucius’s writings as the core philosophy of the nation and should be treated with the same inviolate devotion and obedience. Any person carrying a copy and loudly proclaiming its contents could expect to advance in the party ranks.
Confucian temples
The oldest and largest Confucian temple in the world is situated at Qufu, where Confucius was born and died. It was established in 478 BCE, the year after his death, and has nine courtyards. Most Confucian temples have only two or three. In line with Confucius’s original inspiration, these temples are as much about education—usually including a school—as they are about worship. Unlike Buddhism, Confucianism avoids images, and so there are rarely likenesses of the Master in temples. It is Confucius’s thought, rather than the man himself, that is important and venerated. On his birthday, the state-sponsored cult in China that encourages sacrifices to his spirit stages public celebrations, which include an ancient Eight Row Dance, performed by eight columns of eight dancers, dating back to ceremonies that used to honor the Chinese emperors.
Rehabilitation Yet Confucius was not inevitably the antithesis of Communist principles. His emphasis, for example, on the good of the group or community over the rights of the individual chimed well with Communist thought, and by the 1980s he was rehabilitated in China. His birthday is now marked with ceremonies around the country, and Chinese Communist leaders regularly quote him in speeches. A popularization of his writings by a Chinese academic, Yu Dan, published in 2008, has sold more than 10 million copies, and on the campus of Beijing’s prestigious Tsinghua University where there used to be a statue of Chairman Mao, there is now one of Confucius. He is, for most modern Chinese, a junzi—saint, scholar and “perfect gentleman.”
That statue symbolizes the role of Confucianism as an integral part of the political, academic, social and religious fabric of modern-day China. Confucius’s thoughts are still regarded by the Chinese in a religious way, even if he did not, as scholars continue to point out, aim to found a religion.
the condensed idea
Confucianism still informs the Chinese psyche
| timeline | |
|---|---|
| 478 BCE | First Confucian temple |
| 372 BCE | Mencius born |
| c.200 BCE | Han dynasty promotes Confucianism |
| c.1200 CE | Zhu Xi and Neo-Confucianism |
| 1960s | Cultural Revolution |
| 2008 | Confucian slogan at Beijing Olympics |