My meteoric rise in the Chinese media continues! (I am being facetious…).

     Yesterday, December 2nd, I had a piece, albeit rather short, in the Features section of China Daily, the main newspaper (or, at least, that is where I think it ran).  This came about when the editor I have been working with there asked if I would like to write something, a reflection on any passage of the Analects I chose, to accompany the paper’s coverage of Yu Dan and her popularization of Confucius.  I am happy to be associated, however tenuously, with Yu, who, in a very simple and direct way demonstrates the potential for modernizing ancient Chinese thought: a thoroughly modern, accomplished working woman finding personal solace and relevant social messages in the old texts.  I am also happy to be able to bring my own thinking – however derivative it is of academic sinologists superior to me – to a wider Chinese English-reading audience.

      I have one complaint, however.  It is one that I have expressed around here before: I would not have chosen the title of the piece.  To my mind, the key theme of the article was the assertion of an open-minded flexibility in Confucius that is often not associated with him.  This is related to love, the notion the editor picked up on, but not quite as directly as the title suggests.  This is not a new issue for me.  When I published an op-ed in the New York Times eight years ago, the title created by the editor there, "Productive in his own way," directly contradicted my main point, which was an argument against using any notion of "productivity" to understand disability. 

     So, I have discovered an iron law of editing, one that transcends political and cultural boundaries: titles of newspaper articles, opinion pieces included, reflect the interpretation of the editor, not necessarily the thoughts of the author.

    With that in mind, here is the link to "The Confucian way of saying, I love you;" the text is reprinted below.

The Confucian way of saying, I love you
By Sam Crane(China Daily)
Updated: 2006-12-02 07:16

Confucianism
is often considered a rigid and conservative philosophy, unsuited to
the changing values and practices of modern society. There may be some
truth in that perception, especially as it relates to the ways
Confucian thought was used historically to authorize state power and
patriarchal rule.

But there is more to Confucianism than that.

If
we go back to the Analects we can find a more open-minded and flexible
understanding of humanity, one that is relevant for contemporary life.

To
get to the heart of the matter, the Confucian idea of ritual (Li) might
be seen as the most rigid of ideas, a demand that we practise
standardized and formal ceremonies for every significant life event:
births, deaths, weddings, venerations of ancestors, etc.

Yet,
while Confucius certainly believed that we should thoughtfully enact
our social roles, his notion of ritual was neither so narrow nor so
rigid as modern interpreters might suppose.

Take one of the most
cryptic passages in the Analects: "Gu (ritual vessel), not a gu, a gu
indeed, a gu indeed." ([Gu bu gu, gu zi, gu zi].)

The simplicity of
the passage opens it to multiple interpretations, but some commentators
see in it a move away from dry formalism and an acceptance of diverse
expressions of sincerity.

Confucius, in this passage, may be
commenting on a situation where ritual procedure calls for a vessel of
a certain sort, a gu, but one is not available. The ceremony proceeds
with some other type of cup, not a gu, standing in for the usual
object. In the end, however, the form of vessel does not matter.

Rather,
the sincerity behind the act is so genuine that the expression of deep
human commitment invests the non-gu with the significance of a gu. It
is a gu indeed, because the loving care of humane action makes it so.

The
larger message is that we do not have to blindly adhere to traditional
ritual forms. Intentions and sentiments are most important. If we truly
care about what we are doing, then we can find many different ways to
perform our social duties considerately and meaningfully.

Our
modern lives have changed the forms of our social relationships. Work
may take us away from home and consume much of our time. New
communications media create novel channels for human interaction.

Beneath
all of the social and cultural change, however, we still have a need to
cultivate our closest ties with family and friends. Those social bonds
define us as individuals and, if we are to express fully our
individuality, we must attend to our social roles.

Confucius
understands this. He tells us that the form of our meaningful
interactions with others will change as society changes around us.

Traditional
means of performing our social commitments may not be available to us.
Yet if we are sincere in our feelings, we will find new and appropriate
expressions of our heart-felt affections. We will make a gu out of the
circum-stances at hand.