You want to revive what?
How not to advance.
Danwei has a piece about the call from the PhD students to reject Christmas.
It's a party, you bloody idiots. It's not an educational event. How thick can you lot be? (Don't answer that; I know how thick you can be.)
But that's not the height of their idiocy.
As I've observed elsewhere, China is a Buddhist Confucist society. The values are still there, albeit in modified form. I've also observed the Confucianism has probably done more damage than good to China by retarding its development. Instead of being the most advanced country in the world, China is now trying to catch up to everyone else.
At a basic level, there's nothing wrong with Confucianism. It's a humanist philosophy which, from my perspective, is better than the inanity of religion; but it suffers from being rigid and authoritarian. If Confucianism in all its glory were to be revived in China as the petitioners want, the country's development would once again be retarded. Women's right, for what they're worth, would go right down the toilet. Has no one every considered that a philosophy that may have had some relevance 2500 years ago, but isn't exactly what modern China needs unless it's in a modified form.
Societies change. Some of the old ways remain as new ways come in. It's a typical human failing to look back to some non-existent Golden Age as the cure for perceived ills. Christmas? Bah, humbug! Revival of Confucianism? Excuse me while I check my watch. Just as I thought. It's the 21st century and Confucianism has passed its use-by date.
Would it be possible to develop a new national philosophy? Probably not. The Party could try, but it's flying in the face of a long history. Unless there was a concerted effort to introduce something, I think the philosophy which underpins Chinese society is likely to develop organically. Calls from a bunch of PhD students who sound like hysterical reactionaries aren't likely to get very far now, although who knows where these idiots and their crazy ideas might end up in the future.
Danwei has a piece about the call from the PhD students to reject Christmas.
In particular, we believe that the on-campus, collective celebration of Christmas by students from kindergarten through college out of ignorance and a pursuit of fashion, even to the point of teacher-organized celebrations of Christmas among students, violates both the constitutional principle that religion must not "be an obstacle to the national education system" and the educational principle of "separation of education and religion," and we therefore urge the government to be highly vigilant and tighten its standards.
It's a party, you bloody idiots. It's not an educational event. How thick can you lot be? (Don't answer that; I know how thick you can be.)
But that's not the height of their idiocy.
In particular, the need exists for a full development of the religious use in society of Confucianism, which was the backbone of traditional Chinese culture throughout history; a high degree of attention should be paid to current efforts to revive Confucianism in contemporary society, and there needs to be active promotion of the rebuilding and revival of Confucianism.
As I've observed elsewhere, China is a Buddhist Confucist society. The values are still there, albeit in modified form. I've also observed the Confucianism has probably done more damage than good to China by retarding its development. Instead of being the most advanced country in the world, China is now trying to catch up to everyone else.
At a basic level, there's nothing wrong with Confucianism. It's a humanist philosophy which, from my perspective, is better than the inanity of religion; but it suffers from being rigid and authoritarian. If Confucianism in all its glory were to be revived in China as the petitioners want, the country's development would once again be retarded. Women's right, for what they're worth, would go right down the toilet. Has no one every considered that a philosophy that may have had some relevance 2500 years ago, but isn't exactly what modern China needs unless it's in a modified form.
Societies change. Some of the old ways remain as new ways come in. It's a typical human failing to look back to some non-existent Golden Age as the cure for perceived ills. Christmas? Bah, humbug! Revival of Confucianism? Excuse me while I check my watch. Just as I thought. It's the 21st century and Confucianism has passed its use-by date.
Would it be possible to develop a new national philosophy? Probably not. The Party could try, but it's flying in the face of a long history. Unless there was a concerted effort to introduce something, I think the philosophy which underpins Chinese society is likely to develop organically. Calls from a bunch of PhD students who sound like hysterical reactionaries aren't likely to get very far now, although who knows where these idiots and their crazy ideas might end up in the future.
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