Reminds me of the excitement surrounding the announcement, in 1992, that Pope John Paul II expressed regret for how the church had dealt with Galileo.  Only 360 years late!

     But seriously, what the Kong family does with its genealogy really has no bearing on what Confucianism might be in the modern world. 

    I do not mean any disrespect for the Kong family, which I am happy to assume are perfectly nice people.  My point is that the practices of the family of a thinker like Confucius are tangential to the broader social and political functions of a thinkers ideas.  Do we consider the behavior the descendants of Siddhartha Gautama when we contemplate the enlightenment of Buddha?  Of course not.   What matters is how the ideas of the thinker are taken and used in various social and political contexts.

     For centuries, Confucian ideas were used to bolster a staunchly patriarchal socio-political system.  This started to change in the late 19th century, as Chinese thinkers started to try, in earnest, to adapt Confucian texts to the processes of modernization.   But it did not change fast enough or extensively enough, and Confucian thought has continued to bear the mark of gender bias.  It does not have to suffer under this burden, but we must get to the heart of the matter: women are as capable of Humanity, indeed they may generally be more capable, as men.  Women working toward Humanity should be afforded the same respect as men.  This was not an idea common to Confucius’s own time; it is a necessary recognition of modern realities.

     So, two cheers to the Kong family for getting right with modern society.  Too bad it couldn’t have happened a hundred years ago…