Confucianism has existed in China for thousands of years, and it still has great potential influence on China's politics, economy and other aspects, and will not be eliminated in the short term. However, due to Chinese mainland's official ideology and other reasons, many people still can't correct their prejudice against Confucianism, so that Confucianism can't get the respect and attention it deserves in Chinese mainland.
Many people still think that "Confucianism" is a "four old concepts" and needs to be eliminated, which is completely opposite to South Korea's attitude towards Confucianism's efforts to preserve its past culture. It is an embarrassing situation that Confucianism originated in China but flourished in South Korea. However, due to the increasingly serious social problems such as moral corruption, a few people with conscience have regained the precious heritage of this nation. At present, scholars in Chinese mainland are trying to compile Confucianism (Zang and Zang 4) to make up for historical regrets (among the three religions, Taoism has Taoist scriptures, Buddhism has the Tripitaka, and Confucianism does not have its own scriptures), so as to inherit and carry forward Confucianism. The positive influence of Confucianism on China people is greater than its negative influence.
1, the rise of the Han Dynasty
Dong Zhongshu put forward "the unification of spring and autumn" and "ousting a hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone", emphasizing that Confucianism is the philosophical foundation of the country and putting an end to other ideological systems. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty adopted his idea. Since then, Confucianism has become orthodox, and the Confucian classics of the Four Books and Five Classics have also become prominent. At this time, Confucius (55 BC1year-479 BC) has been dead for more than one hundred years. Dong Zhongshu developed the part of Taoism, Yin-Yang School and Confucianism that was beneficial to the rule of feudal emperors in specific policies and became a new Confucianism.
During the popularization of Confucianism in Han Dynasty, many social problems were solved. Confucianism tends to manage the country with benevolent policies, and politicians use this as a basis to limit the excessive concentration of land and establish a sound moral system. Some policies are put forward, including "limiting people's names and places, taking their shortcomings" and "three cardinal guides and five permanents".
During the period of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty, the feudal country was strong, which created the premise for the stability of feudal rule. In order to maintain the situation of great unity, we must establish the corresponding ideological system. Dong Zhongshu absorbed Taoism, Legalism and other factors conducive to the rule of the monarch, reformed Confucianism, and added the idea of "divine right of the monarch" and unification, which objectively contributed to the strengthening of feudal centralization, the consolidation of the country, and the stability of society. Since then, Confucianism has gradually become the dominant orthodoxy in feudal society. In the past two thousand years, Confucianism has been dominant. On the one hand, its ideological core, that is, the philosophical concept of the unity of man and nature, the ethical concept of "three cardinal guides and five permanents" with "benevolence" as the core, and the political proposition of unified unification, fundamentally adapted to the needs of feudal autocratic rule.
On the other hand, Confucianism has a strong sense of social responsibility and can constantly change its face with the needs of the times. Confucianism in pre-Qin dynasty was not accepted by the rulers at that time, and even suffered a devastating blow from Qin Shihuang, which was caused by its own theoretical defects when it was founded. The content system of pre-Qin Confucianism is full of strong, gentle and simple ethical family color, which seems to be "pedantic and broader than things". For example, Confucius' "benevolence" aims to restore the era represented by "Zhou Li" by "correcting its name", so Confucius' thoughts will not be favored by emerging landlord forces.
Mencius' theory of "benevolent governance" has shifted to the position of emerging landlord forces, but its theory of "benevolent governance" is based on "the people value the monarch" and excessively highlights the interests of small farmers, so it will not be appreciated by the rulers. History developed to the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and the feudal country was strong, which established the premise for the stability of feudal rule. In order to maintain a unified situation, it is necessary to establish a corresponding ideological system, so that Confucianism can have the conditions to restore vitality.
Confucianism advocates the rule of virtue, courtesy and man, and emphasizes moral influence; Legalists advocate "breaking away from the law", implementing the rule of law and emphasizing violent rule; Taoism advocates letting nature take its course and "governing by doing nothing", which are highly complementary. Through the practice of governing the country in the early Qin Dynasty and the Western Han Dynasty, it is proved from both positive and negative aspects: in turbulent times, it is difficult to achieve national unity with the Confucian line, but the Legalist line can achieve such an effect; At the beginning of the unrest, the population withered and the production was destroyed. Therefore, Taoist inaction politics should be practiced to share the interest with the people in order to restore and develop production. When the country is stable and on the track of normal operation, it can no longer implement the violent rule of harsh laws, and the Confucian line is appropriate. There is a trend of mutual integration among the three.
During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Dong Zhongshu laid the basic pattern of China's feudal social ruling thought, which was mainly based on the Confucian line and supplemented by the Legalist line and absorbed the Taoist rational thought. Since then, the mode of governing the country with Confucian ethics as the center, legalists' harsh laws as the supplement, and Taoist politics as the means has basically conformed to the ancient national conditions of China, and has become an unchangeable rule of governing the country for the ruling classes in past dynasties.
Understanding of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty's "ousting a hundred schools of thought and respecting Confucianism alone": In the early years of the Western Han Dynasty, feudal rulers, forced by the social situation of economic recession and people's hearts ruling, took retreat as progress and pursued the theory of learning from Huang Lao as their ruling thought, trying to govern by doing nothing. However, with the change of historical conditions, the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty began to practice promising politics, and the ruling ideology was bound to face new choices.
Since the Han Dynasty, in addition to the study of Huang Lao, Confucianism has been actively developing, and Dong Zhongshu of Jason Wu is a representative of Confucianism in the Western Han Dynasty. In the first year of Yuanguang (BC 134), Dong Zhongshu took measures of moral policy. In his Three Strategies for Heaven and Man, he proposed that ideological rule should also follow the principles of "unity" and "unchanging Confucian classics and righteousness", and that "today's teachers are different, people's theories are different, and hundreds of schools of thought have different meanings, which means that the above is the unity of death". Therefore, he suggested that "those who are not the subjects of the six arts, Confucius' skills, must be unique, so they do not seek progress." "Dong Zhongshu expounded the principle of respecting Confucianism in theory, which was appreciated by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Later, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty took a series of measures, thus establishing the dominant position of Confucianism.
In the fifth year of the Yuan Dynasty (BC 136), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty appointed doctors of the Five Classics of Confucianism, and at the same time dismissed other doctors, excluding hundreds of schools outside Confucianism from official studies, which was known in history as "suppressing a hundred schools and promoting the Six Classics". In the fifth year of Yuanshuo (BC 124), Liang Wudi issued a letter approving Dong Zhongshu and Gong's proposal to set up imperial academy in Chang 'an to educate young children with Confucian classics. Since then, Confucianism has become the main content of government-run schools. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty reformed the system of selecting officials, stipulating that those with excellent academic performance as doctoral students can be appointed as lang officials, and those who are proficient in one skill can be selected to hold important positions. He also broke away from convention and took Gong Sunhong, a Confucian scholar in cloth, as prime minister. In this way, with the rise of Confucianism, feudal politics and Confucianism are closely combined. In the imperial edicts and proceedings of the Western Han Dynasty, Confucianism was often cited, and in the judicial process, Chunqiu was taken as an example to sentence a prison. When Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty followed Confucianism, he held important ritual activities, such as Guan Chan, Zhengshuo, Xiujiao, and calendar setting, which initially formed the historical tradition of Confucian politics.
2. Historical changes
After the Han Dynasty, the four books and five classics were revised countless times, and the original work of Confucius was unrecognizable. Confucianism evolved into metaphysics in Wei and Jin Dynasties. The regime in the Tang Dynasty was dominated by Confucianism, but it also infiltrated Taoism and Buddhism. The Song Dynasty developed into Neo-Confucianism, with Zhou Dunyi, Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi as ancestors and Zhu as teachers. After obtaining an official position. Most of the Confucianism mentioned now comes from the documents of the Song Dynasty (960-960 1279). The imperial examinations in Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties were all based on Zhu's Neo-Confucianism, which greatly restricted his thoughts. It was not until the May 4th Movement that the dominant position of Confucianism was abolished.
(1) The "benevolence" put forward by Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, has the nature of classical humanitarianism: advocating "rites" and maintaining rites of the week is a conservative part of Confucius' political thought. Confucian culture later developed into the orthodox culture in ancient China.
(2) Mencius was a representative figure of Confucianism in the Warring States Period, who advocated benevolent government and put forward the idea of "valuing the people and despising the monarch"; Advocate "politics depends on the people" and oppose tyranny; It advocates giving farmers a certain amount of land, not infringing on farmers' working hours, and lenient punishment and thin taxes.
(3) Dong Zhongshu founded Neo-Confucianism on the basis of Confucianism, with the framework of Yin-Yang and Five Elements, and with a hundred schools of thought contending. Its core is "the unity of heaven and man" and "the divine right of monarchy". His thoughts focused on the three policies of heaven and man and many exposures in the Spring and Autumn Period.
(4) Metaphysics, which appeared in Wei and Jin Dynasties, explained the Confucian Book of Changes with Laozi and Zhuangzi's thoughts, which was a negative thought to defend the gentry. Zhouyi, Laozi and Zhuangzi are called "San Xuan". Metaphysics advocates the inaction of the monarch and the dictatorship of the gate valve, and its main activity is in Luoyang. Representative figures are Yanhe, Wang Bi and Seven Sages of Bamboo Forest.
(5) Han Yu, a master of Confucianism in the middle Tang Dynasty, opposed the views of Buddhism and Taoism with the theory of Confucian destiny and feudal principles from the perspective of maintaining feudal rule.
(6) Neo-Confucianism, which is based on Confucianism and absorbs Buddhism and Taoism, is the main philosophical thought of the Song Dynasty. Zhu is a master of the development of science of philosophy. He inherited the thoughts of Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi, the Northern Song Neo-Confucianists, and further improved and developed the objective idealistic Neo-Confucianism system, which was later called Zhu Cheng Neo-Confucianism. Its core content is: "reason" is the origin of all things in the universe, and it is the first; "Qi" is the substance that constitutes all things in the universe, and it is secondary. He opposed "righteousness" and "human desire" and thought that human desire was the root of all evil, so he put forward "preserving righteousness and destroying human desire", which was actually defending the feudal hierarchical order.
(7) In the mid-Ming Dynasty, Wang Yangming opposed Zhu's view that mind and reason are two different things, and founded a subjective idealism theory-mind learning, which was opposite to Zhu. The evolution of Neo-Confucianism from objective idealism to subjective idealism shows that it has gone to extremes.
(8) In Yuan Dynasty, Deng Mu claimed to be an outsider of the Three Religions, wrote a book and boldly denied the autocratic rule of feudal monarchs. His idea of no monarch had a certain influence on progressive thinkers in Ming and Qing Dynasties.
(9) Ming Dynasty: Li Zhi was a "heretical" progressive thinker in the late Ming Dynasty. He accused the Confucian classics of not being "the supreme theory throughout the ages", exposed the hypocrisy of Taoism, opposed discrimination against women and suppressed businessmen. He is a pioneer of China's anti-feudalism, and his thoughts reflect the requirements of the embryonic era of capitalism in a certain sense, with a democratic color.
(10) Early Qing Dynasty:
① Huang Zongxi: He wrote in seclusion after the death of the Ming Dynasty, severely criticized the feudal autocratic monarchy system, advocated "rule of law" against "rule of man" and opposed attaching importance to agriculture and restraining commerce. His thoughts shocked the academic circles at that time and had a certain influence on the rise of democratic thoughts in the late Qing Dynasty.
(2) Gu: a thinker in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, who emphasized practical knowledge of "applying the world". He advocated the combination of academic research and solving social problems, trying to reverse the unrealistic style of study in the late Ming Dynasty. He advocated "practical learning" with the book "All counties and countries in the world are beneficial to diseases", with the aim of criticizing Neo-Confucianism and opposing absolute monarchy. Gu's style of study had a great influence on scholars in Qing Dynasty.
Wang Fuzhi is an outstanding materialist thinker. He believes that "qi" is a material entity and "reason" is an objective law. He put forward the materialistic viewpoint that "Qi is the foundation of reason" and "the world is the only tool", criticized Zhu's Neo-Confucianism and Wang Yangming's mind, and also put forward "Static means moving, and moving does not give up static", denying the metaphysical thought of Neo-Confucianism. He looked at history from the viewpoint of development and thought that the development of history was regular. He proposed "keeping pace with the times" politically. Wang Fuzhi's thought shines with the light of innovation.
3. Modern research and development
The existing Confucianism (different from Confucius' thought), as the orthodox thought of feudal dynasty, regards class as the foundation of human society, advocates feudal morality, emphasizes individual self-restraint and ignores the role of law in social life. Western scholars believe that Confucianism is one of the important factors that make it difficult for Asian countries to accept western democratic ideas.
Since modern times, there have been two opposing ideological tendencies in the attitude towards China's ancient traditional culture: one is the quintessence school, which thinks that China's traditional culture is correct and even fully affirms the twenty-four filial piety without criticism; The other is the Westernization School, which attributed all the roots of China's backwardness to cultural traditions and advocated completely abandoning China's traditional culture and westernizing it. Both views are wrong. Our scientific attitude and method towards traditional culture should be to make the past serve the present and critically inherit it.
But how to make the past serve the present and criticize inheritance? We believe that:
(1) What excellent value principles formed in the long-term historical practice can be transformed into the spirit of the times to inherit? For example, the vigorous and promising spirit of "Tian Xing Jian, a gentleman strives for self-improvement" in The Book of Changes, the quality of "giving up life for righteousness, forgetting profit and taking orders in times of crisis" advocated in The Analects of Confucius, and the historical mission of "a scholar should strive for self-improvement and shoulder a long way to go" put forward in Mencius, "wealth cannot be immoral". In particular, it is more practical to emphasize the ideological tradition of unity.
(2) For some content, we can extract its feudal ideological core and its beneficial spiritual factors, making it a useful ideological element in today's new cultural construction. Such as "people-oriented" thinking. From "respecting heaven and protecting people" in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty to "people are the most important, the country is the second, and the monarch is the least" by Mencius, and then to "monarch, boat also; Shu Ren, water also. Water can carry a boat or overturn it. " People-oriented thought is an important part of China's ancient political thought. Of course, the real connotation of "people-oriented" in ancient times is not and cannot be the interests of the people. Today, if we get rid of its feudal core, we can transform the ancient people-oriented thought from the perspective of the people being the masters of the country and develop it into a socialist concept in which the interests of the people are above everything else. The propositions of "self-cultivation" and "cultivation" put forward by Confucianism are still of practical significance in today's socialist market economy. Today, we still need to improve our self-cultivation and dedication to socialism.
(3) The dross in traditional culture must be denied and discarded. For example, the female view of "three obedience and four virtues", the natural view of "the sky remains the same" and the feudal hierarchy view of "don't be condescending, be noble and humble".
The Influence of Confucianism in East Asia
Confucianism has a wide influence in East Asian countries. In Korea and Japan, ethics and etiquette were influenced by Confucianism, which is still obvious today. In Korea, many people believe in various religions, but Confucianism is dominant in ethics. After the invasion of western civilization into Korean society, various social problems have increased, but the Korean government regards Confucian ethics as a restrictive force to maintain social stability and deepens Confucianism in education.
Confucianism occupies an important position in the cultural history of China. Confucian classics are not only the tools of ideological rule, but also the main body of feudal culture in China, which preserves rich national cultural heritage. Confucianism plays an important role not only in China, but also in the East Asian world. Confucianism, like Chinese characters, law and Buddhism, spread to neighboring countries very early and had an important influence on their ideology and culture.
In North Korea, as early as 65438+ in the early 20th century, some people could recite Confucian classics such as The Book of Songs and The Spring and Autumn Annals, which shows that Confucianism has already been introduced into North Korea. During the Three Kingdoms period, the ruling class attached great importance to Confucianism, regarded it as an ideological weapon to maintain order and consolidate kingship, and adopted various measures to introduce and popularize it. Koguryo set up Imperial College in 372 to teach Confucianism. Baekje established the Confucian education system in the 4th century. Confucianism spread in Silla around the 6th century. After Silla's reunification, Confucian education was further developed, Chinese studies were set up in the central government, doctors and teaching assistants were set up, and aristocratic children were recruited to teach Confucian classics. In order to promote the upsurge of learning Confucianism, the king even approved "Thanks to Guo Xue's attendance at lectures". At the same time, they also sent overseas students to China, some of whom won the first prize, and some famous Confucian scholars appeared, such as Qiang Shou, Xue Yan, Jin Daxiang, Jin Yunqing, Jin Keji and Cui Zhiyuan.
After the establishment of the Koryo Dynasty, Imperial College, the highest institution of learning in the country, was established in the capital Kaesong, and township schools were established in 12 local states, widely popularizing Confucian education. In 958, Korea began to hold imperial examinations, and Confucian classics were listed as the main examination subjects, which promoted the rapid development of Confucianism and the emergence of private schools. /kloc-Xu Jing, the ambassador to Korea at the beginning of the 20th century, praised the prosperity of Confucianism in North Korea: Linchuan Pavilion has tens of thousands of books, and imperial academy "has alternative Confucian officials". Streets and alleys, classic halls and bookstores are opposite in twos and threes. Teenagers get together and learn classics from teachers. If you are older, you will find your like-minded friends in temples and other places and learn from them. Children from all walks of life "learn from their husbands".
During the Li Dynasty, in order to strengthen the feudal autocratic rule, Confucian education, especially Neo-Confucianism, was attached great importance and vigorously promoted as a public opinion tool to maintain feudal rule. Confucian education in Li period has two forms: official learning and private learning. The official school system centered on Sungkyunkwan is the highest institution of learning in the country. In addition, there are four schools in the capital Seoul: Middle School, East School, West School and South School. Sungkyunkwan and Sixue are educational institutions directly under the jurisdiction of the central government. There are township schools in local provinces and cities. These schools are funded by a certain amount of land and personnel provided by the state. Private schools are private schools or study rooms founded by Confucian scholars from all over the world. Private school is developing day by day, which has become an important part of education in the Li Dynasty and played an important role in political life.
The Li Dynasty selected talents and appointed officials through the imperial examination. The imperial examination is nothing more than martial arts. The liberal arts examination implements the three-list system, and the examination subjects mainly include Confucian classics, relevant current affairs policies and various forms of China's poems. Martial arts also took three courses, including military science and some Confucian classics. In a word, Neo-Confucianism, as the ruling ideology, played a role in maintaining and consolidating the feudal system during the 500 years of the Li Dynasty.
Confucianism was introduced to Japan about the 5th century ago. According to historical records, Archie and Wang Ren of Baekje were the first Confucian scholars to come to Japan, and they brought Confucian classics such as The Analects of Confucius and thousands of words. They also taught Confucianism as the teacher of Crown Prince Naoko Tudao. During the reign of emperor (507-53 1), Baekje King was asked to send doctors of the Five Classics to Japan regularly to teach Confucianism, which developed rapidly. Shoto Kutaishi's "Twelve Ranks" and "Seventeen Constitutions" mainly reflect Confucianism, and even the vocabulary and materials used are mostly taken from Confucian classics.
The "Twelve Ranks of Crown" is based on virtue, benevolence, propriety, faithfulness, righteousness and wisdom, and then divided into two grades: great virtue and small virtue, forming twelve ranks. The purpose of the "Article 17 Constitution" is to emphasize "the supremacy of the monarch". Such as "the country has no two monarchs, the people have no two masters, leading the country and leading the people, and the king is the main one", "the ministers are diligent and courteous" and "there must be some scruples in keeping promises" all reflect the political thoughts of Confucianism. Shoto Kutaishi also sent envoys and overseas students to China many times, actively absorbing China culture, so Confucianism developed rapidly and gradually became the compulsory education for aristocratic bureaucrats.
The epoch-making modernization in Japanese history also took place under the profound influence of Confucianism. Prince Edward and Du Zeng, the leaders of Dahua Reform, studied under Nan Yuan and Gao Senmin, international students, and worked out the blueprint for reform with their help. The basic code "Dabao Law" promulgated in 70 1 year has a special chapter on education ("Learning Law"), which stipulates that the central government will set up imperial examinations, while local governments will set up Chinese studies, each with doctors and teaching assistants, recruiting aristocratic children and teaching Confucian classics, among which The Analects of Confucius and the Classic of Filial Piety are compulsory subjects.
In 757, Kejsarinnan Koken issued a decree requiring every family in the country to have a filial piety book to reward "dutiful sons" and "good wives". In 70 1 year, Japan began to worship Confucius. In 768, the Kaiser called Confucius "King of Wenxuan". When Fujiwara was Regent (877-890), he "worshiped Confucianism, and on the day of libation, he led hundreds of officials to worship sages and made Dr. Mingjing talk about Zhouyi". Due to the active support and reward of the ruling class, Confucianism spread to all classes except the upper echelons of Japanese aristocratic bureaucrats.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism was introduced into Japan, which was paid attention by the ruling class. However, due to the influence of Buddhism, Confucianism failed to gain a dominant position. It was only in the Tokugawa era that Confucianism got rid of the suppression of Buddhism and reached the peak of unprecedented prosperity to meet the needs of feudal autocratic rule. In order to strengthen the feudal autocratic rule, the Tokugawa shogunate divided the whole country into four levels: scholar, agriculture, industry and commerce, and implemented a strict hierarchical identity system. Therefore, we need an imperial thought to maintain the status hierarchy, and the Confucian theory of "name" just meets this need. Thus, Confucianism (Zhu Zi's theory) was defined as the official philosophy and became the orthodox ideology of the Tokugawa shogunate.
On the Nature of Pseudonyms, written by Fujiwara Keiji in 1590, was the first book to publicize the "reason" of Song Confucianism in Japanese. Later, he was summoned by Tokugawa Ieyasu to teach Confucian classics such as The University. 1599 wrote the Four Books and Five Classics, which made him the first Confucian scholar in Japan to read the Four Books and Five Classics in Japanese letters according to Zhu Zhu's notes, and was considered as the "ancestor of Zhu Xue" in Japan. There are more than 150 disciples in Fujiwara Keiji, among whom Lin Luoshan and Matsunaga Chiwu are famous Japanese Zhuzi scholars.
Lin Luoshan was a Confucian official, an assistant and adviser to the general and participated in shogunate politics. He put forward a set of ideological theories to maintain feudal order. He wrote in the Classic Inscription: "The sky is at home, the ground is at home, and the upper and lower positions are fixed, so the upper is expensive and the lower is cheap. The reason why nature is orderly can be seen from top to bottom, and so can the human heart. If you can't get up and down, you will be upright if you don't mess up, run the country by the people and run the country by Wang Daocheng. This ceremony is also prosperous. " Lin Luoshan, with the preaching of "the relationship between heaven and man" and "the unity of heaven and man", integrated nature with human society, and derived the existing order of human society from the laws of nature, thus describing the "distinction between upper and lower nobles" in society as reasonable and eternal. Lin Luoshan maintained the feudal rule of Tokugawa shogunate with Confucianism and played a great role.
Confucianism also had a great influence on Vietnamese culture. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Shi Xie, a Vietnamese, visited Luoyang to study Zuozhuan, Shangshu and other classics. Later, I was a toe-crossing satrap for more than 40 years. According to Vietnam's "Four Words Classic", "When the Three Kingdoms were in Wu Dynasty, the scholar king was a shepherd, teaching poetry and cultivating the custom of beauty." It shows that Vietnamese were educated by Confucianism as early as the Three Kingdoms period. 10 century, after Vietnam's independence, the laws and regulations of various dynasties were mostly adopted from China, and the government also adopted the imperial examination system to select talents, taking poetry, Fu and Confucian classics as the examination contents. From 13 to 14 at the turn of the century, the Vietnamese people used Chinese characters as raw materials and created Vietnamese national characters by means of pictophonetic characters, recognizing characters and borrowing words, which were called "Zi Nan". Since then, a large number of Confucian classics from China have been introduced into Viet Nam. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, Vietnam published and engraved many Confucian classics and Buddhist scriptures translated into Chinese. There were many Confucian scholars in the Ming Dynasty. /kloc-At the beginning of the 5th century, the ancestors of the Ming Dynasty wrote a book calling on all Vietnamese to come to China with courtesy, including Confucian scholars of the Ming Dynasty. This shows the profound influence of Confucianism in Vietnam.
The Modern Significance of Confucianism
Confucius has 3,000 disciples, so he summed up many effective educational methods, such as "reviewing the past and learning the new", "three people must have my teacher", "learning without thinking is disconcerting, thinking without learning is lazy" and so on. Confucius was even called a "model for all generations" by later generations, and "Confucius Christmas" was designated as "Teacher's Day" in some areas.
Confucianism has been embodied as a universal world outlook and outlook on life from the very beginning. In today's words, China's ancient Confucianism is understood as the core of human civilization. Therefore, at least in China, Confucianism is regarded as an inseparable part of civilization or culture. Confucianism provides rich resources for modern people. Faced with these resources, modern people have the freedom to choose. They can absorb some components in the resources or discard some components. Confucianism is the core of traditional culture in China, and it is also the theoretical basis for maintaining the autocratic rule of feudal monarchs. Confucianism and absolute monarchy constitute the two main contents of China's ancient political history.