Friday, October 13, 2006

Calling Confucius

After having being frozen over the last several decades, Confucian thinking is making a comeback in China, as witnessed by the lavish official celebrations marking the great sage's 2557th birth anniversary on September 28th this year.

Confucian values such as unity, morality, and respect for authority are being seen by Chinese leaders as the key to the country's future.

The Chinese government is setting up several Confucius Institutes based on the model of the British Council of Great Britain or the Goethe Institute of Germany, which promotes knowledge of the respective language abroad and fostering international cultural cooperation.

In recent years more and more people have put great emphasis on materialism. This has led to morality losing it's rock solid status of guiding people in determinig what is right and wrong, fair and unfair.

Now it is time, to look back and emulate the values that made China a great civilisation.

Here is a golden rule that Confucius applied:

"What one does not wish for oneself, one ought not to do to anyone else; what one recognises as desirable for oneself, one ought to be willing to grant to others."

Technorati tag: Confucius, morality

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