Reviving and reinventing Confucianism in China

The role of Confucianism in the Chinese society has gone through tremendous changes in the past century. After years of direct attacks against Confucianism by the Chinese Communists, Confucianism is on a comeback, and surprisingly enough it is now made mainstream by the Communist Party itself which is promoting Confucian studies and research in China and world-wide. Wikipedia gives a good introduction :

Confucianism (Traditional Chinese: 儒學; Simplified Chinese: 儒学; pinyin: Rúxué [ Listen (help·info) ], literally "The School of the Scholars"; or 孔教 Kŏng jiào, "The Teachings of Confucius") is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of the early Chinese sage Confucius. It is a complex system of moral, social, political, and religious thought which has had tremendous influence on the history of Chinese civilization up to the 21st century. Some people in the West have considered it to have been the "state religion" of imperial China because of the Chinese government’s promotion of Confucianist values.

Debated during the Warring States Period and forbidden during the short-lived Qin Dynasty, Confucianism was chosen by Emperor Wu of Han for use as a political system to govern the Chinese state. Despite its loss of influence during the Tang Dynasty, Confucianist doctrine remained a mainstream Chinese orthodoxy for two millennia until the 20th century, when it was attacked by radical Chinese thinkers as a vanguard of a feudal system and an obstacle to China’s modernization, eventually culminating in its repression and vilification during the Cultural Revolution in the People’s Republic of China. After the end of the Cultural Revolution, Confucianism has been revived in mainland China, and both interest in and debate about Confucianism have surged.

Last Wednesday I attended an event held at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem for a new book called "The teachings of Confucius" which is a new translation of Confucius’ first book into Hebrew done by Amira Katz.

During the event a few speakers came to the stand to discuss the book and the translation, but the lecture that really fascinated me was the one by a lecturer I hold the highest respect for – Dr. Uri Pines – who talked about the rebirth of Confucianism in the Chinese society and the reinterpretation given to the book in order to show that it doesn’t contradict current Communism ideals.

Dr. Pines gave a few interesting examples from the book, and here’s one of them. Please consider the following Chinese sentence :

Two Chinese->English translations have translated this sentence as -

1. DC. Lau : "The Master said ‘The common people can be made to follow a path but not to understand it’"
2. Waley : "The common people can be made to follow it; they cannot be made to understand it"

Here’s what the Chinese have suggested (my translation from the Hebrew translation, dui4bu4qi3) :

1. Liang Qi Chao : "When the people can – lead them through through it ; when they can’t – make them understand."
2. Qian Mou : "Rulers are allowed to direct the people to follow (my principles) ; but they shouldn’t enforce full understanding (of my principles) on the people."

Interesting enough, the Hebrew translations sound something like :

1. Lesli : "The wiseman said – people can be made to follow the road, but they can’t be enforced to know it".
2. Amira Katz : "The teacher said – people can be led to a certain direction;  but they can’t be made to understand the reason for it"

Dr. Pines’ translation into Hebrew seems to follow Waley’s. It’s interesting to see how one sentence could be taken into such different interpretations, especially that made by the Chinese. Dr. Pines has elaborated on the irony of the Chinese now reviving Confucius into an almost religion status in China, after years of calling it and it’s followers the ultimate evil which is the basis for class injustice. Probably realizing that a leading society needs a philosophical agenda and spiritual somewhat religious guidance, Confucianism is now making it’s way back to the Chinese mainstream.

Having studied bible (old Testament) studies a while back, I’ve seen how every sentence can be made to have numerous contradicting interpretations. I’ve come to believe that while it’s interesting to listen to what people say about the text, it’s up to the person to see how s/he feels about it. It’s extraordinary to see this happening regarding the Confucius teachings and hear a little about the discussions on those within the Chinese society.