Travel To China

4 Comments

1. 

   Confucius was living between BC 551?BC 479 (just conjecture no Official time). That time is Spring and Autumn Period in China. At that time, China consisted of lots of states. A state which was called Lu Country was the first state to accept Confucian ideas. The beginning year is around BC 581.

   Comment by Wang Z — May 18, 2008 @ 5:33 am

2. 

   I would like to consider that Confucianism was never intended nor has been a religion. Confucius was a Court Scholar and a Sage, similar to Lao Tse and Gautama Buddha. Their follower made their teachings and revered them as saints and or like gods. But they are all just mere wise people like modern day Depak Chopra, Gandhi, or Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King who intended to make life senseless at it may seem become meaningful and with sense and right purpose.

   Confucius’ teachings in terms of handling government still remains the backbone of Chinese Government today. People who make religions out of their teachings are wise to some extent. But if they, Lao Tse, Confucius, Buddha, would be asked if they would want to be revered as the greatest teacher I am sure they wouldn’t want to, not because they are not, but because it takes allot of effort to be humble and free of attachments. And saying that they are the greatest would only feed egos, and do nothing to make people suffer less.

   Comment by chinaman — May 20, 2008 @ 6:02 am

3. 

   Adding to the second poster’s answer;

   China never became a Confucian state, if it had, economically, it would be 1,000 times stronger than it is now, and militarily, it would be 100 times more powerful than the U.S. The proper way to say his name is “Kong Fu Tze,” the word “Confucius” is an anglicized bastardization. Kong Fu Tze’s influence was largely cultural, with limited influence on the government as all subsequent emperors, officials, holders of power etc, only took from the man’s teachings what they felt was practical or rather, convenient for their purposes. Its part of the reason you have brain washing in China, and why it is a part of the culture; Kong Fu Tze taught that endless repetition of an idea, namely something ethical like “I will respect my mother and father” stated over and over would in time become a part of the person. See, various Chinese regimes have twisted this teaching, and have instead used it for torture, or manipulation, rather than what Kong Fu Tze intended as a means to createa more moral individual.

   Lao Tze even warned him, that no matter how intelligent a man may be, how world wise he may be, no matter how logical and well intentioned, that evil men would find a way to turn noble teachings, into a means for opressing people and sadly, as Chinese history has shown, Lao Tze’s warning to Kong Fu Tze turned out to be prophetic. The only two places that have successfully, more or less, applied Confucian teachings, and as a result become economic powerhouses, are Japan, and Singapore, of those two Singapore being the actual Chinese enclave city.

   Singapore has nothing, natural resources wise; it used to be rich when run by the British but now, its economy is reliant entirely on its brain power. Considering that Japan is the 2nd largest economy in the world, if China, which is much bigger, were ever to apply Confucian teachings to the letter, it would be such a ridiculously powerful economic colossus, it could render the currency of everyone in the world completely worthless. At the risk of pushing the buttons of any Chinese living in America who suffer because of the PRC, the world needs to be thankful the PRC is as corrupt and wasteful as it is, because if China actually listened to Kong Fu Tze, on every level, it would be like Japan, but with 1 billion people and all the resources available to China. For all intents and purposes, if China was a Confucian state, it would be nearly invincible. Again as examples on how well Kong Fu Tze’s teachings work, just look at Japan and Singapore, now, take the success of those places, and multiply it by China’s size.

   Trust me on this you do not want China to turn into a Confucian state unless you actually live there.

   Comment by dmaud56 — May 20, 2008 @ 6:38 pm

4. 

   Although Confucianism became the official ideology of the Chinese state, it has never existed as an established religion with a church and priesthood. Chinese scholars honored Confucius as a great teacher and sage but did not worship him as a personal god. Nor did Confucius himself ever claim divinity. Unlike Christian churches, the temples built to Confucius were not places in which organized community groups gathered to worship, but public edifices designed for annual ceremonies, especially on the philosopher’s birthday. Several attempts to deify Confucius and to proselyte Confucianism failed because of the essentially secular nature of the philosophy.

   Comment by Darren J — May 22, 2008 @ 5:45 pm

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