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Q: Confucian thought: How much in daily life is influenced by it?
Hello everybody - Its commonplace to hear how much Chinese say they are influenced by Confucian thought - whether its while discussing politics or Chinese society ( ie. Filial piety for example). I was wondering, what are your takes on the good, the bad, and the ugly of Confucian philosophy in contemporary Chinese society. What do you think? I will get the ball rolling with my own observation. Chinese respect authority - whether they're barbers in a barbershop or street cleaners - they can be seen receiving directions from a leader at the beginning or the end of their shifts. Its pretty cool, but i also suspect that there are perhaps areas of Confucian thought not so compatible with the current time. That is to be expected of an ancient though system, am I not mistaken?
I bought a book entitled Busting the Myth of Confucius (from the UK) and it never arrived.
Some serious follow-up that finally found me in the office of the city's post office head honcho produced nothing more than "yes, it was delivered".
I warned him that I was going to buy another copy and he'd better bloody well see to it's timely delivery.
He gave an assurance that delivery would happen.
I bought another copy (actually the UK company were good enough to dispatch another copy free of charge) and it has never arrived.
The official line from the post office was that it was delivered.
The most surprising element of this story was that someone - after opening up the package addressed to me - was able to understand the meaning of the book's title.
royceH:
Oh yeah....do you know what the workers' leader is saying to them before and after their shifts?
He/she is saying work harder, work harder, work harder, work harder, work harder and so on, just like that.... Sometimes for an hour.
This is the content of boss/worker communication from street sweepers all the way up to the mayor's office. And sometimes at a 1000 decibels.
I regularly see/hear two seated police officers screaming just this at two standing police officers, presumably junior officers, on the corner of my street.
My wife is now able to see that this type of communication isn't only useless (given that Chinese workers absolutely do not work harder) but juvenile and laughable.
royceH:
Read an e-book! Fuk....I couldn't do that. Maybe I could. Do I need some kind of device other than a laptop or a Nokia?
davo:
This all sounds very Zen!!!
How many times do you think
you would have to order the same book
until you actually received it
that is believing that the person in charge at the post office receiving your books
is handing them out to his friends and neighbors
for some ideological reason.
MissA:
You can download the Kindle app onto a phone, tablet or laptop. It was a Godsend to us, being able to access the sorts of books that were worth reading (and in English). An ereader is easier to read off but not the only way to access digital copies of books.
royceH:
Thanks, Miss A. But call me wacky...I like reading real books. That's what I do when I need an out. Looking at an electronic screen is a survival tool only. For me that's not where the fun is.
why not start here....
Confucian thoughts are the root of so many disunctionalities within Chinese society.
Corruption, "do the minimum to get by" or apathy, the superficiality, the xenophobia, the feeling of being the center of the world, the greed, the lack of morals, ... are all to be blamed on Confucianism.
An ancient thought not fit in this modern world. Imagine if Europeans were still living their lives strictly according to the Bible, hello Middle Ages, even hardcore Christians don't nowadays.
hi2u:
Care to expound on the connection between Confucian thought and all those problems you listed?
xinyuren:
yeah, I second that request. Show me how Confucius thought has lead to those problems.
I bought a book entitled Busting the Myth of Confucius (from the UK) and it never arrived.
Some serious follow-up that finally found me in the office of the city's post office head honcho produced nothing more than "yes, it was delivered".
I warned him that I was going to buy another copy and he'd better bloody well see to it's timely delivery.
He gave an assurance that delivery would happen.
I bought another copy (actually the UK company were good enough to dispatch another copy free of charge) and it has never arrived.
The official line from the post office was that it was delivered.
The most surprising element of this story was that someone - after opening up the package addressed to me - was able to understand the meaning of the book's title.
royceH:
Oh yeah....do you know what the workers' leader is saying to them before and after their shifts?
He/she is saying work harder, work harder, work harder, work harder, work harder and so on, just like that.... Sometimes for an hour.
This is the content of boss/worker communication from street sweepers all the way up to the mayor's office. And sometimes at a 1000 decibels.
I regularly see/hear two seated police officers screaming just this at two standing police officers, presumably junior officers, on the corner of my street.
My wife is now able to see that this type of communication isn't only useless (given that Chinese workers absolutely do not work harder) but juvenile and laughable.
royceH:
Read an e-book! Fuk....I couldn't do that. Maybe I could. Do I need some kind of device other than a laptop or a Nokia?
davo:
This all sounds very Zen!!!
How many times do you think
you would have to order the same book
until you actually received it
that is believing that the person in charge at the post office receiving your books
is handing them out to his friends and neighbors
for some ideological reason.
MissA:
You can download the Kindle app onto a phone, tablet or laptop. It was a Godsend to us, being able to access the sorts of books that were worth reading (and in English). An ereader is easier to read off but not the only way to access digital copies of books.
royceH:
Thanks, Miss A. But call me wacky...I like reading real books. That's what I do when I need an out. Looking at an electronic screen is a survival tool only. For me that's not where the fun is.
Honestly after years of roaming in Asia i found that some of his thought influenced (copy) from Hinduism such as worship you dead family members,use fire cracker at funereal.honestly myself feel most of his philosophy is bull and makes no sense. according to him people shouldn't shave body hair (that's why most of Chinese women never shave their armpit hair ), after child birth woman must not take a bath for a month (what a nonsense ). worst part is in 21 century these still following his bullish philosophy.
wasn't Yangism the culprit of a lot of Chinese disfunctionality? Confucius is hailed as the most influential because the wrote a book and Yang didn't, but Confucius' "no why" 'philosophy' is also influenced by him i think.
also, Confucius Say jokes are welcome!
Honestly, very little. I'd say Korea is far more influenced. I say Modern China is mostly influenced by ethical egoism, and pragmatism gone mad.
Confusion or confucian.. That's the question, but personally sounds like a "con" to me!
