As a priest clad in a Qing Dynasty robe sounded the drum in Tianjin’s 568-year-old Temple of Confucius, hundreds of worshippers bowed in unison to a shrine laden with offerings and billowing with incense. The ceremony to commemorate Confucius’ birth was last held in Tianjin, a port city southeast of Beijing, 66 years ago. One of those present at the present-day ceremony, 63-year-old retiree Zhou Yuzhen, said she felt privileged to witness the revival of the commemoration. “These days there are fake goods everywhere and people are just obsessed with money. We should bring back old values such as trustworthiness and integrity,” she said. “They mean so little to young people these days.” She and the other worshippers should count themselves lucky. During the Cultural Revolution more than 30 years ago, they would likely have been sent to jail as bourgeois and feudalist elements hostile to the communist ideology. Confucian values such as loyalty, humility and filial piety have been the basis of Chinese culture for 2,000 years but some doctrines were condemned by the communist regime as outdated and oppressive. Full Story
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