The Useless Tree

Confucius/Confucianism

  • Mr Wolfowitz, Please Read the Classics

        Paul Wolfowitz, having overseen the disastrous US policy in Iraq (remember: he was the one who publicly contradicted General Shinseki), has now made a mess of the World Bank.  He is cutting a pathetic figure of late, hanging… Continue reading

  • More on Yu Dan

         A story in today’s LA Times about the revival of Confucianism and the irrepressible Yu Dan (whom I have blogged before here and here).  Yu has attracted a host of critics, and the Times story quotes my friend… Continue reading

  • Controlling Birth

         With just under two weeks to go until the end of classes here, my mind is starting to turn from the daily routines of course preparation and grading (although a nice big stack of papers sits besides me… Continue reading

  • Taoism in the Service of the State

         Add this to the "too ironic to be true (but it is!)" file (hat tip, CDT):  China to build harmonious society with wisdom of Taoism XI’AN, April 22 (Xinhua) — China’s high-ranking officials have called for adopting the… Continue reading

  • What Should We Remember?

         A controversy has arisen at my college, one that raises an interesting question (above the din of the usual freedom of speech v. standards of decency thing): what should we remember?      Recent events run something like… Continue reading

  • Religious Confucianism

        Richard Spencer, in a post about Hong Kong making Confucius’s birthday a holiday (in which he says some nice things about The Useless Tree), raises a question about the revival in China of the thought of the Venerable… Continue reading

  • The Responsibility of a Teacher

         I talked yesterday, and had a pleasant dinner with, a group of alumni from my college.  They were students of a famed teacher, Robert L. Gaudino.  He was an immensely dedicated teacher, committed to the idea of "uncomfortable… Continue reading

  • No Show Cho

          If confronted with the question, should the videos and photos of the Virginia Tech killer be aired publicly, both Confucians and Taoists would say "no."  And it may be instructive to work through their responses because they may… Continue reading

  • Confucians at the Ballet

         This may seem a bit odd, but, by now, regular readers should be used to my discoveries of Confucian sensibilities in all sorts of places…      The other night I was reading some shorter pieces in the… Continue reading

  • No Angels

        Today, in my Chinese politics class, we discussed the book, Will the Boat Sink the Water?, by Chen Guidi and Wu Chuntao. It is a bracing description (it describes more than it explains) of the pervasive corruption in… Continue reading