charts/Mast19.jpg

CHANGING CURRENTS
20 YEARS of REFLECTIONS
BIRDS IN CHINA - PHOTOS
CYCLING to XANADU
THE CHINESE DREAM
CHINESE NEW YEAR ADS
The MEDIUM, the MESSAGE and the SAUSAGE DOG
ANYONE FOR TENNIS?
VIEWS FROM ABOARD THE CHINA EXPRESS:
1 Zola and Retail Marketing
2 Playing the Waiting Game
3 Beware the Ides of March
4 The county not on a map
5 Chinese Chess in Beijing
6 Build it and They'll Come
7 Riding the Water Dragon
8 The Best of Both Worlds
9 Storming the Great Wall
10 Welcome to the Wangba
11 The Catcher in the Rice
12 The Marriage Business
13 The Crouching Dragon
14 Counting the Numbers
15 A Century of Migration
16 Shooting for the Stars
17 Rise of Yorkshire Puds
18 Harry Potter in Beijing
19 Standing Out in China
20 Self-pandactualisation
21 Strolling on the Moon
22 Tea with the Brothers
23 Animated Guangzhou
24 Trouble on the Farms
25 Christmas in Haerbin
26 Dave pops into Tesco
27 A Breath of Fresh Air
28 The Boys from Brazil
29 Rolls-Royce on a roll
30 The Great Exhibition
31 Spreading the Word
32 On Top of the World
33 Moonlight Madness
34 Beijing's Wild West
35 Avatar vs Confucius
36 Brand Ambassadors
37 Inspiring Adventure
38 China's Sweet Spot
39 Spinning the Wheel
40 Winter Wonderland
41 The End of the Sky
42 Ticket to Ride High
43 Turning the Corner
44 Trouble in Toytown
45 Watch with Mother
46 Red-crowned Alert
47 In a Barbie World
48 Domestic Arrivals
49 Tale of Two Taxis
50 Land of Extremes
51 Of 'Mice' and Men
52 Tour of the South
53 Brooding Clouds?
54 The Nabang Test
55 Guanxi Building
56 Apple Blossoms
57 New Romantics
58 The Rose Seller
59 Rural Shanghai
60 Forbidden Fruit
61 Exotic Flavours
62 Picking up Pace
63 New Year, 2008
64 Shedding Tiers
65 Olympic Prince
66 London Calling
67 A Soulful Song
68 Paradise Lost?
69 Brandopolises
70 Red, red wine
71 Finding Nemo
72 Rogue Dealer
73 Juicy Carrots
74 Bad Air Days
75 Golden Week
76 Master Class
77 Noodle Wars
78 Yes We Can!
79 Mr Blue Sky
80 Keep Riding
81 Wise Words
82 Hair Today
83 Easy Rider
84 Aftershock
85 Bread vans
86 Pick a card
87 The 60th
88 Ox Tales
CHARTS
2019
2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010
2009
2008
2001 to 2007
BIRDING in CHINA
PORTS of CALL
FROM BEYOND THE WALL
ABOUT

Wise Words

confucius3.jpg
Wise words

MacMillan has announced that it will publish an English translation of Yu Dan’s Confucius from the Heart in May next year.  The author is a professor at Beijing Normal University and is famous for her television lecture series, Yu Dan's Insights into the Analects of Confucius.  In the two years since its publication, the book of the series has sold over 10 million, reportedly including sales of six million pirated copies. 

    

  But not everyone has been cheering her on.  Some of the “old school” scholars at China’s most prestigious academic institutions quickly joined forces to register their disdain.  Horror of horrors,  the 42 year-old media studies professor has been accused of "dumbing down" (among other things). 

 

  Some pundits have suggested, however, that the attacks were provoked by snobbery and jealousy: Not only is Ms Yu from a "lesser" university than her detractors, she has also earned the respect of millions of young people by making Confucius relevant to their daily lives.  Not to mention the matter of the US$1 million in royalties she has reportedly earned.

 

  The Lun Yu (Analects or “sayings”) are no stranger to controversy.  They were most likely compiled after The Master’s death by his disciples and, over the ages, their interpretation has been hotly debated.  Nevertheless, they have been one of Chinese culture’s guiding lights for more than two-thousand years. 

 

  During that time, Confucius’s occasional fall from grace has been associated with culturally fallow periods such as the early days of the Yuan dynasty (Genghis wasn’t a big fan apparently); and of course during the Cultural Revolution, when the campaign to smash the Si Jiu (the Four Olds: old customs, old culture, old habits, old ideas) made Confucius – and anything and anyone associated with his doctrine – the Red Guards’ number one enemy.   

 

  Since China “opened-up” in 1979, The Sage has been working his way back into favour with the establishment.  In the past few years his popularity has sky-rocketed.  The Confucian ideals of peace, balance and harmony are, of course, highly relevant (and useful) to the present administration’s theme of a harmonious society.  The state apparatus is, it seems, going out of its way to dial-up Confucius and his teachings. 

 

  As well as the lecture series and best selling book, there have been statues erected, commemorative events, Internet chatroom discussions, and not forgetting the Olympic Games opening ceremony, when 2008 drummers yelled out Confucius’s immortal words: “You pengzi yuanfang lai, buyi yue hu?” (What could be happier than receiving friends from afar?) to the beat of Xia dynasty drums.

 

  A publicity campaign promoting Confucius would not be successful, however, without a large and receptive audience.  There’s no doubt that the doctrine strikes an empathetic chord with a large number of China’s young people – many of whom are finding it very difficult to achieve “spiritual balance” in an increasingly materialistic society.

 

  So, if you find yourself in a Starbucks in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dalian, or wherever, don't be surprised to see a cool-looking twenty-something reading the Analects.  Confucius may have been  2559 years old a few weeks ago, but his thoughts and ideas are being read by more people today than at any time during China's recent history.