> Rusty OLD FOOL, more Confucianism for you to learn.
>
> Your Confucius
>
> Â SUN WUKONG
> Beyond Confucius and communism
> By Wu Zhong, China Editor
>
> HONG KONG - Confucianism ruled China intellectually and for real for
> more than 2,000 years - until early in the 20th century. Hence
> Confucianism has formed the backbone of the Chinese cultural
> tradition, in spite of some contemporary efforts to weed it out.
>
> Ritual, or li, is no doubt a core concept of Confucianism.
>
> There are conceptual rules to maintain the order of a hierarchical
>
> society. In the Analects, the Master said: "Put people in their proper
> places through roles and rituals, and let them gain a sense of shame,
> then they will be orderly and live harmoniously."
>
> To put it in a simple way, rituals in Confucianism are a set of norms
> to maintain the order of a hierarchical society. In daily life people
> must strictly follow rituals assigned to their social status - from
> how one should be dressed and in what color, to the size and form in
> which one's house should be built, to how one's funeral should be
> arranged.
>
> If one performed rituals reserved for those on the higher rungs of the
> hierarchical ladder of society, they would be regarded as overstepping
> their authority - or even rebellious.
>
> For example, in some dynasties, the color yellow was reserved for the
> emperor. Anyone else who dared to wear anything in yellow would be
> beheaded. Also, the dragon was the symbol of the emperor, and no
> others were allowed to use it. The only exception in history was
> Confucius himself. The Confucius Temple in the sage's home town of
> Qufu, Shandong province, is one story higher than the emperor's office
> building in Beijing's Forbidden City. And the nine stone pillars of
> the Confucius Temple are inscribed with dragons. This was because
> Heaven and Confucius were the only two icons the emperor, self-
> proclaimed Son of the Heaven, had to revere.
>
> In modern China, particularly under the rule of the Communist Party,
> whose original ideal was to eliminate social classes and build an
> egalitarian society, many Confucian rituals have been dumped. And
> during the Cultural Revolution (1966–76), Mao Zedong even launched a
> campaign to discredit Confucius in an effort to scrap the ancient
> sage's remaining influence.
>
> But ironically, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) today practices
> Confucian-like rituals of sorts in its officialdom. For instance,
> according to both written and unwritten codes, the size of housing
> allocated to officials varies according to rank. A ministerial- or
> provincial-level official can have a house or apartment of 200 square
> meters, and a prefecture-level official may have 140 square meters. A
> ministerial-ranking official can be assigned an Audi 2.0 sedan or its
> equivalent at public expense. And only ministerial-level officials or
> higher can fly first-class. There are even stipulations on the numbers
> of dishes for official banquets hosted by officials of various ranks.
>
> Further, after three decades of reform and opening up, China has
> successfully turned the Stalinist socialism built by Mao into
> capitalism "with Chinese characteristics". But in doing so, orthodox
> communist ideas have also been dumped, leaving the nation in an
> ideological vacuum, which many Chinese sociologists agree is a major
> source of moral confusion among mainland Chinese people today. There
> are signs that the authorities are trying to revive traditional
> thought, particularly among the young, to fill the ideological void.
>
> Whether the CCP is willing to admit it or not, today's China remains
> in essence a hierarchical society. Hence, for Chinese authorities,
> Confucius' concept of rituals, in its essence but not necessarily in
> its traditional form, can still be used of to maintain social order.
>
> However, the market-oriented economic reforms over the past 30 years
> have decentralized not only the country's highly centralized command
> economy but also its highly centralized political structure. This is
> evident if one looks at the broad regional practices across the
> country. Policies handed down by Beijing are often circumnavigated or
> totally ignored. As Zhang Baoqing, retired vice minister of education,
> once put it, political orders from the power center "cannot go beyond
> Zhongnanhai" (the complex of buildings in Beijing adjacent to
> Tiananmen Square that serves as the central headquarters for the CCP
> and the government).
>
> Under this rampant regionalism, it's common for local officials to
> overstep their authority. As reported recently in Chinese media, a
> county government in Shanxi province modeled its office building after
> Tiananmen in Beijing. Many of the local officials have housing much
> larger than is permitted for their ranks and their cars are posher
> than those assigned to cabinet ministers in Beijing. Were Confucius'
> rituals to be truly observed, these local officials would have been at
> least sacked immediately, an action that would surely be applauded by
> the public.
>
> So last week, another piece of news drew the wide attention of the
> Chinese media.
>
> The central government currently requires all freshman university
> students to receive military training on campus, beginning in
> September, and last week pictures were posted on the Internet showing
> Wang Chunqiu, president of Shandong University of Science and
> Technology, inspecting Shandong freshmen undergoing military
> training.
>
> Wang, wearing a Western suit and white gloves, and accompanied by a
> uniformed army officer, was shown in an army-green jeep with the
> ceremonial license plate Yuebin (Parade)-001, waving his right hand to
> a parade of students lined up on a sports field. Wang's pose and
> clothes resembled those of former Chinese president Jiang Zemin
> inspecting the People's Liberation Army in Tiananmen in 1984, in his
> capacity as the chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC).
> After the pictures hit the Internet, several newspapers also carried
> follow-up reports.
>
> Grilled by the media, Wang's office explained that the president did
> it "to boost the morale of the students".
>
> The reports immediately sparked public anger. Many wrote to newspapers
> or posted comments on websites slamming Wang for his "disgusting"
> performance. They said a military parade was a serious matter and
> should be conducted properly (note the influence of Confucian concept
> of rituals here). They questioned whether it was necessary for Wang to
> display himself before a few thousand students on campus in a military
> jeep.
>
> "A military parade is something sacred and solemn. Not anyone can
> organize a military parade without authorization," said one post on
> the official website of China's state news agency, Xinhua.
>
> The writer reminded readers of the downfall of Li Xingmin, the former
> party chief of Bozhou city, Anhui province, a couple of years ago. To
> celebrate his promotion as the No 1 leader of Bozhou, Li had organized
> the largest-scale military parade in the city's history, spending 2
> million yuan (about US$265,000) of public funds and mobilizing local
> troops. His conduct obviously overstepped his authority, as in China
> any mobilization of troops must be authorized by the CMC. After being
> exposed, Li was put under investigation and later convicted and jailed
> for corruption.
>
> It remains to be seen whether Wang will be punished for any
> wrongdoing.
>
> It's probably safe to say that Li and Wang did these things to inflate
> their already large egos, and to show off their power. It is also
> safely said that they aren't alone - quite a number of local officials
> have a similar mentality, judging from their conduct.
>
> Such scandals provide further evidence that China lacks a new set of
> moral norms and code of conduct to keep in check the behavior of
> officials and business people in particular and all citizens in
> general, after the ones suitable to socialism have been smashed.
>
> Aware of the problem, President Hu Jintao has put forward his idea of
> "Eight Honors and Eight Shames", which is expected to be written into
> the revised party constitution in the upcoming 17th Party Congress
> this month. They are:
> Love the country, do it no harm.
> Serve the people, do no disservice.
> Follow science, discard ignorance.
> Be diligent, not indolent.
> Be united, help each other and make no gains at someone else's
> expense.
> Be honest and trustworthy, do not spend ethics for profits.
> Be disciplined and law-abiding, not chaotic and lawless.
> Live plainly, struggle hard and do not wallow in luxuries and
> pleasures.
>
> However, the Eight Honors and Eight Shames need to be clearly detailed
> beyond standard CCP dogma into an operational standard of moral norms
> and conduct - all of which could be regarded modern "rituals".
>
> For his part, Confucius dismissed the rule of law in favor of rule by
> a code of ethics. However, it is evident that today's China needs both
> to become a truly modern nation.
>
>
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/IJ03Ad02.html
>
> On Jul 22, 11:55Â am, rst0wxyz
yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
>
