TRAVEL AND BREATH IN CHINA

admin 19 June 2009 Chinese History and Culture 184 views No Comment Print This Post  Email This Post

You will be well-awared that confucianism is actually very well-preserved and popular in Taiwan (Republic of China), as compared to mainland China (People’s Republic of China). There is special festival date in Taiwan to honor, commemorate and celebrate the birth of Confucius (孔子诞辰节日 , sorry can’t remember when it is). In fact, the descendent of Confucius is still living in Taiwan today.
In Taiwan school, Confucius’ saying is well-recited and taught in the school from primary school onwards, which I believe is even more thorough than that in mainland China.

The Taiwan society is the best chinese example of the influence of west while preserving its traditional chinese culture. Furthermore, due to religious freedom, many religions such as Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, Islam etc. all prospered alot in Taiwan as compared to mainland China.

I’ve visited Qufu, the birthplace of Confucius in China. They actually still preserved the rites and ceremony of worshipping confucius, much of which comes from Taiwan.

You seem to get the impression that May the 4th has completely eradicated the whole confucianism in China. I don’t think it has completely eradicated, it merely tried to adopt western thought and modernize the whole chinese society. But in Taiwan itself, it still prospered and is seen in almost every facets of Taiwan society, from Fengshui, family relation, to people, education etc. In fact, the success of Taiwan economy was much due to confucian influence, which has been said.

Ask any Taiwanese today and he will get to tell you that “学会做人” (learn to be a person/gentlemen) is important as well as your “待人处事” (treating people and matters) is important too. All of these I believe are confucius teaching in school that has been taught in family and school in Taiwan. It is a way of relating to people to make our society stable. In fact, I learnt all these from my parents. Thus as you can see, the confucius essense is still present in chinese families and society in Taiwan.
I can still somewhat remember the 四为八德 :忠孝仁义, 信义和平,礼义廉耻 etc. (I’m somewhat rusty about these confucius moral virtue, as it has been taught in primary school very long time ago).

It was only in mainland China after the communist take-over in 1949 that confucianism was almost abandoned and largely criticized due to the class definition in confucianism. (Remember the “君君臣臣” as well as the “男尊女卑” or “Men is worthy, while women is lower). The chinese communist viewed that all classes need to be eliminated since communism is about equal ‘class’, thus it often critizised confucianism as a means of creating classes and causing class conflicts. Thus, confucianism was given a low standing in mainland China.

Furthermore, b’cos of worship of communism which is atheist, all religions in China were not emphasised, if not encouraged. Thus, the new generation of chinese in mainland China grew up without any religion. Ask any mainland Chinese today, and it’s likely that he/she is a free-thinker. Without any religious influence, Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism did not prosper under the communist era in China (esp. during Mao’s period). All of these culminated in the great proletarian Cultural Revolution, where much of the monuments were destroyed.

It was only after 1979 when China opened itself to the outside world, that slowly the culture were revived and confucianism/buddhism/taoism spreaded back from Taiwan back to China.

Thus, Confucianism is not completely abandoned in China. In Taiwan, it’s still well-preserved, and still shape the Taiwan society today. Taiwan still has a strong western influence, but it managed to preserve the old as well. For this reason, mainland China is always seeking help from Taiwan to help revive its religious sector.

You should visit Taiwan some-day and get to see some confucianism influence.