The Useless Tree

Current Affairs

  • Crying for Confucianism Lost: “Heaven’s Lunch”

    Chinasmack reports on a sweet little video making the rounds of the Chinese intertubes.  “Heaven’s Lunch” is a reflection on filial piety, on children taking care of their parents before it’s too late.  It is visually well designed and has… Continue reading

  • Confucius is not in Times Square

    A giant, multiple screen video ad went up in Times Square last night, the latest attempt by the PRC government to build up its soft power in the US.  The reviews are in… and they're not good.   The basic… Continue reading

  • Confucius in Beijing

    Manyul posted this first, but let me add my own thoughts to the news that a new statue of Confucius just went up on Tiananmen Square: A bronze statue of Confucius has been unveiled near the Tian'anmen Square in central… Continue reading

  • As Chinese society becomes less Confucian, Japanese society becomes more Daoist

    OK, maybe that's a rather sweeping title, but it is the idea that comes to mind when contemplating several recent articles simultaneously… First, on the China front, we have this story in the People's Daily today: "Millions of young people… Continue reading

  • The Daodejing at church

    Yesterday I spoke at a local church.  They have a special service on the day nearest the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize, and they asked me to come and speak about Liu Xiaobo.  I summarized his life's work, mentioning… Continue reading

  • UPDATE: What if they gave a Confucius Peace Prize and nobody came?

    Or, what if the recipient not only did not come but had not been notified that he had won?… Well, it really didn't go all that well: It was heralded as a Chinese rival to the Nobel peace prize, a… Continue reading

  • The Continuning Debasement of Confucianism in China

    Sorry for the blog silence of late: end of semester; grading, rehearsals for another play; the usual year-end business….  But I'm back.  And yesterday this story poped up on the news wires: A Chinese group has launched its own peace… Continue reading

  • The Wu Wei of Facebook

    Andrew Sullivan dug up this quote from a long NYT story on young people and the distractions of electronic social networking and other technological gizmos: “I know I can read a book, but then I’m up and checking Facebook. Facebook… Continue reading

  • The Impossibility of a Confucian Society

    Reading Hanfeizi with my tutorial this week, I am reminded of the sharp differences between Confucianism and Legalism, at least in the minds of the pre-Qin proponents of each of those schools of thought.  Of course, it is a supreme… Continue reading

  • The Breakdown of Family Duty in China

    China is becoming more like the United States, and not in good ways.  I remember back in the 1990's, people like Singapore's Lee Kuan Yew argued that "Asian Values," which for him were always rooted in Chinese culture, contrasted sharply… Continue reading