There’s actually a lot I want to say on this subject. I’ve contemplated it for a long time. But I’ll limited myself, since I have work to do.
There’s a strong striking contrast between Western (American, Canadian, Western European) attitude toward religion and Chinese attitude toward religion.
In the West, people are far more willing to take religion into their own hands. Westerners are, unselfconsciously, culturally and religiously resourceful. If they don’t like a certain authority’s teachings, they will adopt only a portion of it, and then reshape that portion according to their purpose.
You can observe this in Western Christianity and New Age. Anyone can write a book on Christian devotions. Anyone can write a book on the New Age. As long as someone thinks it is interesting and pays for the book.
In China, most people look to scholars to make religious decisions. There’s much less willingness to make innovations for oneself, and to accept other people’s innovations.
In part, this is what the Yudan controversy was about. (Of course, we also have to consider the jealousy of the scholars.)
The scholars say, Yudan’s teachings are erroneous. They are erroneous because they deviate from Confucius’s original intentions, etc. Some Chinese people buy into the scholars’ arguments.
Now, in the West, people would ask, by whose authority is truth judged? They would say, Confucius’s original intentions are not necessarily important, etc. If Yudan’s formulation works for her, and if it works for some people, then all the more power to them.
I’m decidedly populist in this area. Religion, culture, and traditions belong to the people. They are not to be dictated by scholars, but are revealed by Heaven to the sincere seeker.
Traditional Chinese Religion in Hong Kong and Taiwan has accumulated many innovations over the last fifty years. And that’s a good thing. True tradition is organic. It is unselfconscious. True tradition is a people’s spiritual expression in the absence of state coercion.
State intervention will kill everything beautiful in our traditions. The only people who benefit are scholars, whose status will increase on account of their monopoly over religious interpretations.
In the West, anyone can discourse on his personal understanding of the Bible. Whatever your upbringing, your academic qualifications, your social status. What we need in China, is to get back to this culture by the people for the people. I pray that one day in China, even the lowliest cab-driver can give his personal interpretations and Mencius, and people will listen to him, and judge his teachings by their usefulness, rather than arbitrary standards set by so-called scholars.
Indeed, culture is always created by people, such as ancient rituals, martial arts, and traditional Chinese medicine. Culture is also intended for the people – Wang Yangming, for instance, wrote in the vernacular, because he intended his teachings to be applied by common folks in daily life.
Unfortunately, whenever the state has too much power, it will try to coopt culture. It in fact steals the people’s inheritance and then sells it as its own. But whereas culture in the hands of the people is living and full of soul, beneath the boots of the state it is dead and rotting.

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“Instead of restoring orthodox Confucianism, how about restoring the One Hundred Schools of Thought that prevailed during the Warring States Period. The cut and thrust of the marketplace of ideas will sift out the philosophies that work, and those that don’t. And as well all know, Confucianism failed miserably during those times.”
Right, let us bring back the chaos of wars and confusion of thoughts, shall we, since the Chinese, for the past two millennia or so, had never really understood which ones were the better doctrines?
“… everyone knows that it was Legalism that fulfilled destiny and finally unified China, thus satisfying one of Confucius’ dreams of One China. And everyone knows even the founder of the Han Dynasty thought little of Confucian scholars, the only reason they succeed was insinuating themselves into the household of the Han imperial family as royal tutors during the minority of Han Wu Ti.”
Based on your above statements, I suggest you do some more homework on ancient Chinese history – try the Records of the Historian (Shiji) or the Spring and Autumn Annals (Chun Chiu).
Out of curiosity, Simon, who is considered everyone?

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