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To: A. Pole

Was confucianism a particular target of the cultural revolution? Is Confucius particularly known in present-day China?


13 posted on 01/17/2007 9:07:01 AM PST by Dumb_Ox (http://kevinjjones.blogspot.com)
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To: Dumb_Ox
Was confucianism a particular target of the cultural revolution?

Yes. But the cultural revolution was relatively short and to eradicate Confucianism in China would be as hard as to eradicate Bible in America.

Is Confucius particularly known in present-day China?

Not much, maybe as much as Catholics know the Bible :). But the whole culture is formed by countless centuries of Confucianism.

When I have shown the Confucius Chinese/English edition to may Chinese friends (who came from the mainland) they reacted with excitement, identifying the ancient characters and explaining their meaning to me.

They did not know much about Confucius (being educated under Communism) but they seemed very interested and asked where they can order the book.

I think that the revival of Confucianism is certain. The two main challenges for Chinese culture is to assimilate/adopt the real strength of the West (which is deeper than technology) - provided in three key texts:

Plato Dialogs

works of Aristotle

four Gospels.

I think they if Chinese supplement Confucianism with these, their position in the world will be secured.

The second challenge is to provide alphabetic writing which will enable Chines to use unlimited number of words, WITHOUT losing the continuity of their culture. Some system of education where the ancient ideograms are combined with phonetic alphabet is needed.

14 posted on 01/17/2007 9:31:04 AM PST by A. Pole (Napoleon Bonaparte:There, is a sleeping giant. Let him sleep! If he wakes, he will shake the world.)
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