Confucianism: Encyclopedia II - Confucianism - The spread of Confucianism

Confucianism - The spread of Confucianism

As mentioned above, the Burning of the Books and Burying of the Scholars resulted in the destruction of large numbers of books, and very probably some Confucian texts. Nonetheless, Confucianism survived this suppression, some say because a scholar hid the texts in the walls of his house.

After the Qin, the new Han Dynasty approved of Confucian doctrine and sponsored Confucian scholars, eventually making Confucianism the official state philosophy (see Emperor Wu of Han). Study of the Confucian classics became the basis of the government examination system and the core of the educational curriculum. No serious attempt to replace Confucianism arose until the May 4th Movement in the 20th century, although there were Emperors who gave increased favor to Daoism or Buddhism.

Beginning in the Tang Dynasty, but especially during the Song Dynasty, the Neo-Confucians sought to bring renewed vigor to Confucianism. Zhu Xi, Wang Yangming and the other Neo-Confucians gave Confucianism a more thorough system of metaphysics and distilled a more clearly codified value structure from the ideas of Confucius and his early disciples.

After its reformulation as Neo-Confucianism, both Korea and Japan adopted Confucianism as their state philosophies. Korea during the Yi Dynasty has been described as a "Confucian state." [1]

In the 1960s, Confucianism was attacked during the Cultural Revolution in the People's Republic of China. It was seen as the crux of the old feudal system and an obstacle to China's modernization. It is, however, arguable that Confucianism influenced Chinese society even during the Cultural Revolution, and its influence is still strong in modern-day mainland China. Both interest in and debate about Confucianism have surged.

In the modern world, there are many signs of Confucianism's influence. Many sources, including the Baltimore Sun (U.S.), have called Singapore the modern world's "only Confucian state." However, it is doubtful that Singapore is truly a thoroughgoing Confucian state because Singapore is a multicultural society in which only a portion of the society is committed specifically to Confucian ideals. The actual influence of Confucianism on South Korea, however, is still very great. [2] The Asian values debate of the 1990s stems in large part from the question of the role of Confucian social approaches in modern societies, especially economic development.

Modern movements such as New Confucianism seek to find new inspiration from the thought system of Confucius and his followers.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The spread of Confucianism", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki