Why Is ‘Confucian Culture’ So Wildly Successful?
Twenty-five hundred years ago, Master Kong was wandering homeless with his disciples, proselytizing his ethical viewpoints. He was greeted in every city with disdain, persecution, imprisonment. When “Confucius” (his Westernized name) died in 479 BC, he expressed wistful dismay that his moral reforms never took root…
The Sage from Shandong Province would be shocked if he could return to today’s world, where his personality, maxims, and rules are revered by 1.5 billion people in thriving “Confucian nations” (China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, plus strong support in Vietnam and Malaysia).
The benign bearded pundit is currently enjoying a enthusiastic revival in China, where the graves of his defendants were desecrated in the Cultural Revolution, and there are now more than 300 Confucius institutes worldwide in 96 countries. Ironically, this largely-ignored man of antiquity could be one the future’s most important philosophers.
Confucian concepts—asserted in the Analects, plus five scriptures and additional tomes—include high esteem for education, filial piety, perseverance, humility, empathy, self-control, respect for one’s elders and ancestors, adherence to rules of behavior and authority, and correctness and reciprocity in all social relationships. His vision was to create virtuous individuals who could harmoniously co-exist within families and increasing larger groups: villages, provinces, kingdoms.
How successful are today’s “Confucian” nations?