A quick update from Beijing…

I gave two talks in the last two days. It was essentially the same presentation in both spots, my paper, "Confucianism as Soft Power," in which I argue that Confucianism will likely not serve as a significant source of soft power for the PRC.  The first talk was to a group of American students studying here with IES.  A good point came up in that exchange: a student asked if it might be possible that the image of Confucius himself could become a kind of brand symbol detached from the texts and ideas of Confucianism.  A floating signifier of sorts, holding various meanings and open to several interpretations depending on the individual interpreter and his or her context.  In that case, Confucius could become an element in the repertoire of Chinese soft power but Confucianism, which actually requires something of us, a conscientious effort to live a certain kind of moral life, would fade into the background.  An interesting idea that I will have to come back to at some point.

The second talk today, at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, went smoothly.  I spoke in English and the simultaneous translation into Chinese was efficient.  I had expected some criticism of my basic point that China is not now a Confucian society or economy or polity, but no one rose to defend its practical relevance in contemporary Chinese life.  It may have been that everyone was being polite (I was a guest of the vice-director). Or, it could have been that those in the room all generally believed that the tumultuous modernization of China in the past century has left little of what we might call "actually existing Confucianism." 

One fellow pressed back against me when I suggested that an aversion to profit was central to just about any reading of Confucianism.  And my response was to ask how a modern Confucian would understand how much profit is enough?  My sense is that the modern tendency to make profit an end in itself, as opposed to simply a means to allow people to fulfill the ends of Humanity and Duty and Ritual, would be seen as excessive to a contemporary Confucian.

I had a very nice lunch afterward with two former students, who I taught over twenty years ago at the Hopkins-Nanjing Center.  Here we are together after the talk:

Last night I wandered up to Houhai and had a good meal, a spicy beef stew, at a nice Yunnan restaurant there.   Afterward as I wandered about the alleys, fending off the touts trying to lure me to the "lady bars," I realized that the music blasting out of one boutiques was familiar.  Could it be?  Yes: "oh, oh, oh, oh caught in a bad romance…."  Lady Gaga is here.  I emailed to inform my sixteen year old daughter, and she rejoiced in Lady Gaga's global reach. I am less thrilled at the prospect.  In any event, a Houhai alley:

And, finally, yesterday I walked through  the Imperial Palace (Gugong), which is right next to my hotel.  Here are a couple of obligatory pictures (notice the blue sky! The sand storms are gone…):