The Useless Tree

Confucius/Confucianism

  • More Un-Confucianism from Singapore’s Ruling Party

          Not so long ago, when Big Daddy Lee called himself "Senior Minister" instead of "Minister Mentor" (or whatever), back when Mini-Lee was still sitting behind Seat Warmer Goh, PAP leaders used to say that they were "Confucian gentlemen,"… Continue reading

  • Anachronistic

         A friend sent me this story, from The Shanghai Daily: Ancient education surfaces in city Yan Zhen 2006-07-12 A GROUP of parents have opened a controversial institute in suburban Shanghai that is modeled on the education system of… Continue reading

  • The Struggle Over Chinese National Identity

         As should be readily apparent, I have been following, in the past couple of years, the resurgence of Confucianism in China.  One of the aspects that is most interesting to me is the way in which the once-criticized… Continue reading

  • How Filiality Can Work Against The Father

          A Chinese college student, Wang Jing, angered by her father’s adultery, has created a web site that publicly denounces his affairs: A freshman at a Jinan university, East China’s Shandong Province, the daughter Wang Jing resorted to radical measures… Continue reading

  • Renovating Confucius

         While in Beijing I took Maggie to the Confucius temple.  I had heard that it was being renovated and I wanted to take a look.  We hopped in a cab and told the driver to take us there. … Continue reading

  • Against Intellectual Instrumentalism

         Next time you see talking-head "experts" on the cable news shows, keep this in mind: The Master said: "A noble-minded man is not an implement." (Alternative translation: "A gentleman is not a pot.")     Analects, 2.12  … Continue reading

  • Words v. Action

         Thomas X. Hammes, a retired US Marine Corps colonel and author a good analysis of modern warfare (which I have used in my classes), writes today in the NYT about the failure of the Bush administration to back… Continue reading

  • Historical Forgetting

         An opinion piece in today’s People’s Daily is chock full of material for my purposes.  It is titled, "To Dissolve Cultural Conflict with Oriental Wisdom," and it starts like this: History tells us that cultural conflict can’t be… Continue reading

  • Thoroughly Modern China

        Continuing with the theme of fading Confucianism, here is a short piece from Shanghai Daily, via CDT (emphasis added):  FEWER people in Beijing and Shanghai are willing to live a "double income no kid" lifestyle after marriage, 3… Continue reading

  • Our Confucian Future?

          An interesting US social trend spotted in the NYT: In a society where the most common type of household is led by those who live alone and where the scattered family is almost a cultural institution, many grandparents,… Continue reading