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In ancient China, art has never been a substitute for the category of 'truth' in the sense of Western aestheticism, but a mimic for goodness and beauty. The image in traditional Chinese aesthetics never transcended the idea to the level of Western abstraction, and that is because the artistic expression bore a social synthesis, rather than metaphysical, between human beings, reality, and the world. However, the Ming Dynasty introduces a Dionysian discourse that challenges the Apollonian tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay challenges moral exemplarist interpretations of the Analects by focusing on exclusivist attitudes and actions exhibited by Confucius as he is portrayed in the Analects. Attention is drawn to what may be plausibly interpreted as culturalism and speciesism in the Analects. The case for culturalism in the Analects turns on a recurrent distinction therein between the Huá (Chinese) and Yí (non-Chinese; peoples outside of China proper), the latter commonly cast as barbarians—a term deployed similarly to yí being mán (rough; reckless). The case for speciesism in the Analects turns on a number of passages of the Analects recommending a privileging of human interests over those of non-human animals. Acknowledgement of forms of Confucian exclusivism ought to provoke contemporary audiences to critically examine the text and to consider carefully that which ought to be regarded as exemplary and worthy of admiration and emulation in their own lives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to explore how Confucius is recharacterised in the multimodal translation of The Analects from verbal (analects) to verbal-visual (comics) texts. The focus is on the interpersonal/interactive meaning in Systemic Functional Linguistics and visual social semiotics. Parameters of MOOD and MODALITY are used in discussing the verbal mode in both source and target texts, and the system of CONTACT, SOCIAL DISTANCE, INVOLVEMENT, POWER, AFFECT, PROXIMITY and MASS/AMOUNT are employed in describing features of the visual mode in comics. The quantitative results show that Confucius has been recharacterised from an authoritative teacher in the source text into different images in four comic adaptions, i.e. a detached truth transmitter in Mori [2002. Dongfang Zhidian Shengshu: Manhua Lunyu. Beijing: Jiuzhou Press], an affable wiser in Tsai [2005. Confucius Speaks: The Message of the Benevolent. Beijing: China Modern Publishing House Ltd.], a superior mentor in Zhang [2007. Manhua LunYu. Hangzhou: Zhejiang People’s Publishing House.], and a popularised teacher in Chen [2021. Banxiaoshi Manhua Lunyu. Shanghai: Wenhui Press]. It is argued that the different images of Confucius reconstrued in four translations can be better understood in terms of the context of translation, in which translators’ identity, translation purpose, target reader and historically accepted image of Confucius are finally explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both Plato and Confucius were deeply concerned with moral cultivation and political leadership, topics that were inherently gendered in ancient patriarchal societies. I show that both thinkers focused their discussions on concepts that were associated with male aristocratic ideals of gentlemanliness. Yet while Confucian texts emphasize moral behavior and ritual to beautify the male body (shen 身), Plato focuses on the cultivation of a non-physical soul, which women also possess. Various theories have been proposed to explain this difference in their understandings of the self, but when we bear the gendered nature of their inquiry in mind, an important difference takes center stage: for Socrates, the male body is an object of sexual desire. This paper highlights the influence of homoerotic desire in Plato’s unique approach to gentlemanliness, offering a new perspective for comparing these philosophers' views on gender, cultivation, and leadership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inclusive education is a key global agenda that is primarily driven by concern for children's rights. In China, the term is a translated, introduced, foreign concept. The localised practice of inclusion is encapsulated in the policy of Learning in Regular Classrooms, which not only adopts the narrow sense of inclusion for children with disabilities, but it is also dominated by the medical model of disability. An explicit rights-based philosophical foundation for inclusion that is widely accepted and internalised by local Chinese teachers and schools appears largely absent. This paper explores how Confucianism as a moral philosophy may be compatible with the rights discourse and may provide the necessary moral strengths and philosophical base to support inclusion in Chinese schools. The conclusion highlights the needs to pay attention to how teachers' deeper values, motivation, and drives can facilitate inclusive efforts, and also calls for a more explicit human rights discourse to develop in China in the long term. This paper explores the possibility of using the moral philosophy of Confucianism, rather than relying on the explicit language of human rights, to offer theoretical advocacy for inclusion in China. The rich legacy of Confucianism may offer the necessary moral strengths and philosophical convictions for Chinese teachers and schools to become inspired and empowered to take more inclusive initiatives in a bottom-up approach. Confucianism as a moral philosophy is compatible with the international human rights discourse. While a more explicit human rights discourse in China needs time to develop, Confucian principles such as datong (great harmony), ren (benevolence), as well as its educational believes and human rights ideas, may offer readily-available and more accessible inspiration and support for the inclusive education for children with disabilities in line with the social and human rights models. Re-examining traditional cultural values may shed light on modern effective teaching practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By employing panel data estimation for the period 2010–2019 we test the economic effects of China's education and cultural diplomacy in 56 Belt and Road countries. For empirical analysis, we used pooled ordinary least squares (POLS). Our empirical finding shows that China's education and cultural diplomacy has a positive and significant impact on trade and economic growth and these findings are robust to the estimation approaches. It is suggested that developing countries from the Belt and Road Initiative should establish collaborations with China to establish "University-Industry Linkages" to capture the knowledge economy and to boost trade, economic and social development. Moreover, the Government of China should also pay more attention to the economic effects of China's education and cultural factors like Confucius Institutes and Universities in policy design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article critically discusses the concept of future-ready learning by drawing on the educational thought of Confucius as recorded in the Analects. Two main arguments are made in this paper. First, Confucius views future-readiness as the preparedness to broaden dao (Way), which is a vision of human excellence. Secondly, Confucius does not limit future-ready learning to the acquisition of competencies, nor does he adopt a functionalist assumption of learning. Instead, he emphasizes the learning goal of becoming a junzi (exemplary person) who broadens the Way through ren (humanity), yi (appropriateness), xiuji (self-cultivation) and li (normative behaviours). Future-ready learning, it is proposed in this essay, is about the cultivation of character and competence to prepare individuals to adapt to and create new realities. A Confucian perspective challenges the skills and competencies agenda that underpins the prevailing notions of future-ready learning, and brings to the fore the habituation of virtues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Addressing a research gap on the relationship between mindfulness and morality, this paper draws insights from Confucius' notion of jing. I explain how jing essentially refers to maintaining a full, respectful and humanity-centred attention towards others. To illustrate the application of Confucius' conception of mindfulness, I use the current coronavirus pandemic as an example. On the one hand, mindfulness is useful as a coping mechanism to reduce stress for individuals during the crisis. But an amoral and atomistic approach to mindfulness is inadequate in addressing social problems such as selfishness that stems from panic buying and community infection caused by inconsiderate behaviours. In this regard, Confucius' concept of respectful attention has the potential to motivate everyone to go beyond self-interest to demonstrate deference, empathy and love towards others. A Confucian orientation of mindfulness extends the existing literature on the ethical foundations and dimensions of mindfulness for educational institutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has recently been argued that in Analects 17.21, Confucius advises a disciple to do something that he, Confucius, believes to be morally wrong. According to Frederick Choo, despite believing that it is morally wrong to not properly observe the three-year mourning ritual for a deceased parent, Confucius tells Zai Wo that he should do so. Choo offers two justifications for Confucius's doing this. In this essay, I argue that the justifications Choo offers for Confucius's advising Zai Wo to do what he believes to be morally wrong are untenable. Indeed, I argue that Confucius does not, in fact, advise Zai Wo to do what he believes to be morally wrong. Instead, I argue that Confucius's advice to Zai Wo in Analects 17.21 is best understood as an expression of exasperation and sarcasm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this essay, I draw upon Ellen J. Langer's notions of mindlessness and mindfulness to identify and delineate Confucius' views on mindfulness. Langer's theory exemplifies a social-cognitive approach to mindfulness which is a prominent orientation in the extant research. I argue that Confucius, like Langer, rejects mindlessness that is characterised by an over-reliance on automatic responses based on past knowledge and experiences. Furthermore, Confucius supports Langerian mindfulness by underlining the importance of a flexible mindset that is demonstrated through making novel distinctions, appreciating new perspectives and being sensitive to the context. But Confucius' formulation of mindfulness goes beyond Langer's by advocating the setting of one's heart-mind on learning and the application of virtues. A Confucian interpretation of mindfulness debunks an East-West dichotomy on mindfulness and illustrates the harmonisation of the cognitive, affective, moral and social dimensions of mindfulness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, the intensification of global interconnectivity is a key characteristic of the twenty-first century. This has spurred governments and policymakers to envision how best to equip future-ready citizens who can navigate increasingly globalized workplaces resulting in the worldwide popularity of models that articulate twenty-first century competencies. Twenty-first century education models perpetuated by transnational and multinational organizations posit an idealized vision of the future-ready citizen equipped with requisite skills to compete in the global economy. Informed by economic rationality, such models promote a consequentialist approach to education where the primary aim of schools is to develop citizens as human capital who can thrive in globalized workplaces and ultimately contribute to the progress of their nation. In this paper, I focus on the twenty-first century education model currently infused across schools in Singapore. Using this as an example, I examine models of twenty-first century education from the lens of Confucian cosmopolitanism. I explore how the application of Confucian cosmopolitanism can facilitate an ethical re-orientation of twenty-first century education that shifts the focus from instrumental competencies to humanistic virtues needed for a more hospitable future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper specifically deals with the relation between respect and li禮in the Confucian context. Li has both negative and positive sources. On the positive level, ritual propriety enables one to express internal moral and religious feelings, especially respect, reverence and humility. Furthermore, this work investigates into the relevant feelings and acts of respect and ritual propriety, as well as meaningful critiques of ritual, in an attempt to clarify the genuine expression of ritual propriety that helps to actualize human inner moral and religious approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Confucius and Aristotle both put a primacy on the task of ethical self-cultivation. Unlike Aristotle, who emphasizes the instrumental value of legal punishment for cultivation's sake, Confucius raises worries about the practice of punishment. Punishment, and the threat of punishment, Confucius suggests, actually threatens to warp human motivation and impede our ethical development. In this paper, I examine Confucius' worries about legal punishment, and consider how a dialogue on punishment between Confucius and Aristotle might proceed. I explore how far apart these thinkers actually stand, and examine the possibilities for a rapprochement between them. Doing so brings to light the self-cultivation perspective's range of resources for thinking about punishment's justification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can it ever be morally justifiable to tell others to do what we ourselves believe is morally wrong to do? The common sense answer is no. It seems that we should never tell others to do something if we think it is morally wrong to do that act. My first goal is to argue that in Analects 17.21, Confucius tells his disciple not to observe a ritual even though Confucius himself believes that it is morally wrong that one does not observe the ritual. My second goal is to argue against the common sense answer and explain how Confucius can be justified in telling his disciple to do what Confucius thought was wrong. The first justification has to do with telling someone to do what is second best when the person cannot do what is morally best. The second justification has to do with the role of a moral advisor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The quest for the monomyth rakes in an unlikely candidate in Confucius, China's great sage and moral teacher. However, his brief biography turns out to parallel the call to the collective hero's journey in stage progression as well as in psychic immersion. Why then did Confucius cut to the quick, whereas the rest of the world told elaborate tales to deliver the same message? A possible answer comes in the prehistorical responses to perennial questions and problems of existence. Although most generated mythological explanations, the I Ching, as per Joseph Campbell, is China's "mythic" view. This is where the development of cultures parted ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing textual evidences from the Analects (Lunyu論語) and other Confucian classics, this article attempts to clarify the contents, methods, and ultimately the nature of learning in the eyes of Confucius. The paper set out to argue that a better understanding of the concept of learning by Confucius must be angled on: (i) Confucius’s political aspiration and life pursuit (zhi志) rather than his teaching; (ii) The personal preference (hao好) of Confucius along with his zhi that has motivated his study and practice of the finer aspects of the Zhou legacies. And on the above basis, the paper suggests that: (iii) TO BE one’s mandate self (wei ji爲己) is at the core of Confucius’s concept of learning and that naturally determines the methods and characteristics of learning; (iv) the three opening lines of Lunyu in fact made a statement on the way Confucius learns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Like most professional disciplines, the ASA has adopted ethical guidelines for its practitioners. To promote these guidelines, as well as to meet governmental and institutional mandates, U.S. universities are demanding more training on ethics within existing statistics graduate student curricula. Most of this training is based on the teachings of Western philosophers. However, many statistics graduate students are from Eastern cultures (particularly Chinese), and cultural and linguistic evidence indicates that Western ethics may be difficult to translate into the philosophical concepts common to students from different cultural backgrounds. This article describes how to teach cross-cultural ethics, with emphasis on the ASA Ethical Guidelines, within a graduate-level statistical consulting course. In particular, we present content that can help students overcome cultural and language barriers to gain an understanding of ethical decision-making that is compatible with both Western and Eastern philosophical models. Supplementary materials for this article are available online. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Teacher-directed learning is often perceived to be detrimental to student learning and incompatible with learner-centered approaches. This essay challenges this perception by referring to Freirean and Confucian insights. It is argued that Freire, Confucius, and Xunzi advocated the active involvement of the teacher in student learning through necessary intervention and guidance towards self-directed learning. This article proposes a flexible application and combination of teacher-directed and learner-/self-directed learning that caters to the learner’s needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper compares the educational thought of Paulo Freire and Confucius on what it means to be more fully human. Both Freire and Confucius object to the dehumanisation of human beings through the banking concept of education and other oppressive practices. They argue for the ontological vocation of becoming more fully human through humanisation and humanity (ren) respectively. In terms of differences, Freire’s notion of humanisation seeks to transform human beings from objects to subjects who know and act. Confucius’ concept of humanity, while also stressing autonomy and agency, places moral self-cultivation at its centre. While Freire advocates critical consciousness and social transformation, Confucius propagates dao- or Way-consciousness and self-transformation. The essay concludes by exploring a synthesised conception of humanisation where human beings are subjects who are motivated and guided by humanity (ren). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It's not uncommon for people to make reference to atmospheres, including in relationship with educational spaces. In this article, we investigate educational atmospheres by turning to Western and Chinese literature on the air and wind. We pursue this task in three phases. First, we examine the Western literature to see the possible strings of thought that would help us reinvigorate the element of air/atmosphere as a foundational component of an educational sphere. Second, we historicize the Chinese notion of wind as a style of reasoning which structures ancient Chinese cosmology, tempo-spatiality, teaching, and governing into a grid of intelligibility. Third, we argue for a bracketing of a trap of philology and a signifier-signified representational logic through reconceptualizing the atmosphere as a thing that blurs the material-figural boundary and that pushes into a new genre of educational life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After setting the scene for an examination of the changes in culture and self-perception in China today, the authors explore three areas of activity which can be interpreted as illustrating these changes: (1) the current treatment of Confucius, as compared to the recent past; (2) the enthusiasm for the Chinese canon, which has developed from a grassroots movement into government policy; and (3) the way in which the presentation and content of public slogans have changed to, apparently, reflect the substitution of Communist nostrums for Confucian mores. In the first and second cases, the authors suggest that the authorities are acceding to the aspirations and prejudices of the people; rather than leading, they are following, and this has the effect of reinforcing the trend. The third-the gradual abandonment of the use of Marxist shibboleths in propaganda, and their replacement by Confucian adages-is not yet an established fact but, again, the trend is evident. China has revised and modernised its traditional culture and the first fruits of that can be seen in the words and behaviour of its political and intellectual leaders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What produces the ability within us to face the possibility of dying for a cause to which we adhere? Such political commitment backs onto the issue of sacrifice, which, in turn, inhabits the world of a gift economy. The gift of the political opens onto a series of questions tied to different traditions of the sacred and of the clan. From biblical parables through to Confucian rites, the paper traces the various pathways enabling the emergence of the gift of the political. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Li Zehou belongs to the most well-known and influential contemporary Chinese philosophers of our time. Since he is one of the exiled intellectuals, his work has also acquired a wide readership outside China. Working mostly in the fields of classical Chinese philosophy and Chinese aesthetics, he dedicated himself to the task of finding a suitable and sensible way of harmonizing past and present, tradition and modernity, China and the West. Hence, he attempted to create a synthesis between early Marxist and classical Confucian discourses. The present article offers a critical analysis of these attempts, focusing upon some significant methodological problems underlying such approaches. The author aims to explain them in the framework of the methodology of intercultural research. Because in China, the problem of connecting Confucian and Marxist thought is presently a much discussed and very topical issue, the article also represents a contribution to the clarification of this relevant question. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Throughout the millennia since the composition of theAnalects, orthodox scholars have maintained that Confucius faithfully passed down the thought of early eras, particularly those of Yao and Shun: ‘I transmit but do not create ideas.’ This paper shows that Confucius actually subverted the essence of orthodox thought represented mainly by Yao and Shun. His subversion of orthodox thought compels perforce the idea of ‘ren (humanity),’ which concerns itself with the human world, to stand out with the near exclusion of otherworldliness in his teaching. As a result of the misunderstanding of Confucius’ heritage, scholars in the past tended to equate Confucius’ idea of ‘ren’ with specific moral attributes. Again taking exception to the interpretations of bygone eras, this essay demonstrates that humanity in Confucius’ theory signifies a dynamic process rather than a specific attribute or a static rule, changing constantly with different people, different places, and different times. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this article, I examine the Partnership for twenty-first Century Skills (P21) framework from a Confucian perspective. Given that this framework has attracted attention around the world, including Confucian-heritage societies, an analysis of how key ideas compare with Confucian values appears important and timely. As I shall show, although Confucian philosophy largely resonates with the ‘Learning and Innovation Skills’ in the P21 framework, namely, critical thinking, communication, collaboration and creativity, it also provides fresh perspectives and nuances the framework. These insights include the notion that critical thinking is not a strictly cognitive endeavour but an affective one as well, a social construal of the self, and an ethical notion of creativity. This article aims to redress the under-representation of Asian philosophy in the philosophy of education. It also hopes to initiate more philosophical dialogues between Asia and the West. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

G.B. Tran’s graphic memoirVietnamerica: A Family’s Journey(2010) is a text marked by fragmentation: from its non-linear narrative to its cover image of many deconstructed faces held within the disconnected pieces of a dissolving puzzle, the memoir’s most compelling trope is of brokenness. Tran’s family is broken – compromised by occupation and colonialism, severed by a nation at war and fractured by the trauma of displacement as refugees from their home in Vietnam. This article asserts, however, that non-linearity, deconstruction and visual tropes of fracture are strategies towards envisioning the migrant memory as a generative space that promises constant reconnection to the world, rather than defining it as a space bereft of its roots. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The purpose of this article is to pose and preliminarily answer the question, ‘Can the sense of shame be a virtue?’ It offers a brief, empirically informed, affirmative answer to this question. After developing the context of this question, the article describes the emotion of shame and the shame system by situating them in their evolutionary and cultural contexts. This positions us to address Aristotelian reasons for a negative answer to our question having to do with whether shame is merely an emotion (no) and whether the sense of shame functions as a disposition to decide (yes). We summarize the evolutionary purpose of shame as a social-rank based emotion and identify benefits accruing to a population in which the sense of shame is working well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I suggest that Kierkegaard proves a helpful interlocutor in the debate aboutAnalects13.18 and the meaning ofyin隱. After surveying the contemporary debate, I argue that Kierkegaard and the Confucians agree on three important points. First, they both present relational selves. Second, both believe certain relationships (God for Kierkegaard andtian天 and the sages for the Confucians) are integral for moral knowledge. Third, both present a differentiated account of love where our obligations are highest to those with whom we are closest. Moreover, Kierkegaard’s ‘covering’ in the deliberation ‘Love covers a multitude of sins’ inWorks of Loveof ‘covering’ suggests innovative meanings foryin隱 that are compatible with Confucian philosophy. Finally, I argue that sagely discretion in covering on the Confucian account is like the teleological suspension of the ethical. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article compares the educational thought of John Dewey and Confucius on the nature of and relationship between subject matter and the learner. There is a common perception in the existing literature and discourse that Dewey advocates child- or learner-centred education whereas Confucius privileges subject matter via textual transmission. Challenging such a view, this article argues that both Dewey and Confucius reject an ‘either subject matter or learner’ thinking that recognises no intermediate possibilities in between. Instead, both thinkers emphasise the importance of both subject matter and the learner, and maintain that educators need to direct learning by integrating appropriate content into the learner’s total experience. The article concludes by highlighting the contemporary relevance and educational implications of the views of Dewey and Confucius for the current trend to promote ‘student-centred education’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Ezra Pound’s lifelong poetic project,The cantos, aspired to comprise ‘the best that had been thought and read’ in history by way of citation, gloss, allusion and quotation of a formidable variety of sources. Although Pound intended his poem to perform as a repository for important ideas and their often-precarious textual transmission, his project was also aimed at the poetic representation of aparadiso terrestre, an ideal state of intellectual community at the end of history. Consequently, in a critical phase during the 1930s he was drawn to models of theological and political eschatology, not least those of the Confucian cosmos and Italian Fascism. This intensified interest was to have drastic consequences: Pound was arrested on charges of treason and subsequently detained in the US Army Disciplinary Training Center outside of Pisa for his radio broadcasts during World War Two in Italy. During his incarceration Pound wrote much ofThe Pisan cantos, in which pastoral observation is combined with political vituperation and nostalgic reminiscence. Pound also makes sustained reference to John Scottus Eriugena, the ninth-century Hibernian-Carolingian theologian and poet who was condemned on account of disseminating heretical doctrines during his lifetime and again posthumously in the Averroist condemnations at the University of Paris in the thirteenth century. Following the war and the publication ofThe Pisan cantos(for which Pound was controversially awarded the inaugural Bollingen Prize), Pound’s epic turned to increasingly fragmented meditations on law, economics, political history and cultural production. In these later cantos, the ruined dream of hisparadise terrestreis glimpsed at in the world of the Na-Khi, a Chinese ethnic minority adhering to matriarchal social structures and demonstrating a deeply ecological system of knowledge. This essay will explore the ways in which these apparently disparate sources provide Pound with a means by which to imagine a paradise in his poem in the midst of its disillusion in his own life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Monumenta Serica: Journal of Oriental Studies is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article informs about the philosopher, Confucius being born with knowledge which aims to elaborates the sacred imagination Chinese scholar Zhu Xi has on him. Topics discussed include theories from scholars in the past related to "sages being born with knowledge," concept of theory " Expression of Modesty" for resolving the conflicts aroused due to the affirmation of knowledge and limitations of the hermeneutical strategies of Zhu Xi.

Confucian education is often associated with rote-memorisation that is characterised by sheer repetition of facts with no or little understanding of the content learnt. But does Confucian education necessarily promote rote-memorisation? What does Confucius himself have to say about education? This article aims to answer the above questions by examining Confucius’ concept ofsi(thinking) based on a textual study of theAnalects. It is argued that Confucius’ concept ofsiprimarily involves an active inquiry into issues that concern one’s everyday life, promotes inferential thinking, and facilitates self-examination. Far from advocating rote-memorisation, Confucius highlights the need for us to take ownership of our own learning, engage in higher order thinking, and reflectively apply the lessons learnt in our lives. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article examines the relationship between the British economist, Keynes and his influence on China. It is divided into three sections, respectively, covering the early, middle and later periods of this link. The early section deals with his initial interest in the ‘Middle Kingdom’; the next one deals with the translation of his main works and the diffusion of his ideas in Republican China and the last deals with the influence of his thinking in the People's Republic of China after 1978, up to the present time, vis a vis the notion of ‘Keynesianism with Chinese characteristics’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are marked similarities between Confucian ideas about the relationship between action, knowledge and learning, and contemporary educational thinking about action research. Examples can be seen in the relationship between action and research. First, Confucius emphasized the importance of ‘action’ which was different from ‘research’. The Confucian view of action implies that one should engage in a research process of deliberation in advance and then decide whether to take action or not. This kind of researched action is refined by the process of deliberation which could be called ‘research pre action’—the first stage of action research. Second, Confucius emphasized the importance of knowledge, and this reveals that Confucius emphasized the importance of knowledgeable action. This view of the relationship between knowledge and action inspires an insight into the relationship between knowledge, action, and action research. This competence to research and acquire new understanding in action could be called ‘research in action’—the second stage of action research. Third, Confucius emphasized the importance of learning to connect the relationship between knowledge and action. According to Confucius, learning is an important medium to accumulate knowledge, enable action, and improve the relationship between knowledge and action. And it might enable the possibility of a set of relations in which ‘action’ and ‘research’ might no longer be segregated in their traditional dichotomy. This relationship could be called ‘research on action’ in the third stage of action research. These observations of the Confucian view show a new direction in action research. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

China has developed, over thousands of years, a unique way of representing, valuing and using the past. However, it has silenced, ignored and even denied many aspects of this tradition when dealing with its own heritage in recent decades. This paper seeks to explore a non-western approach to the meaning-making of Chinese heritage by presenting a case of a grassroots project to record and make meanings of heritage in an ordinary village in China. Specifically, it will demonstrate how the Confucian discourse of narrating the past could be appropriated and deployed in Chinese heritage practice to interweave fragments of the past and present by means of holistically embracing the narrative of villagers’ lives in a subtle, transparent and critical way. By doing so, a locally situated way of managing heritage is sought in order to transcend the boundaries of the tangible and intangible heritage categories and to achieve a morally and spiritually enriched heritage experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Social Sciences in China is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In 1824 Robert Morrison (1782–1834) composed a school textbook,China:A Dialogue(London: James Nisbet), on his first voyage to England from China. Among all Morrison's publications, this textbook has attracted little scholarly attention to date. This study aims to fill the gap by analysing its content in the context of the China Trade between 1809 and 1824. Through the exposition of the text this article unfolds an image of China through Morrison's Christian eyes, and reveals invaluable information about his personal emotions and devotion to evangelistic mission, as well as providing glimpses of his family life. Although the textbook inevitably bears the imprint of the attitudes of his time, it shows that Morrison ardently promoted the study of Chinese language and literature, endeavouring to educate Britain about China and to bring China to the world. In this sense his dual roles in the China Trade functioned as a bridge between China and the world. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article reflects on the tension of two different visions of filiality—Indian and Chinese—and the author's (a convert to Chan [Zen] Buddhism) efforts to resolve these visions within the context of his modern American Buddhist experience. In Early Indian Buddhist narratives a filial child demonstrates gratitude to his or her parents by renouncing worldly pursuits, including remaining celibate, and pursing the spiritual path that will release him or her from samsara. By way of contrast, for the Chinese, a son's primary filiality responsibility is to sire male heirs who will carry on the family lineage and who will honor their ancestors. The article includes his mother's reflections on her encounter with the Asian notions of filiality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the fourth of five commentaries discussing Zongjie Wu’s essay, ‘Interpretation, autonomy, and transformation’. It argues that he may have committed two methodological mistakes in his contrast between traditional Chinese education and contemporary Chinese (and Western) education: reverse-Orientalism and a form of fundamentalism. It will then argue that the distinction Wu’s essay correctly reveals is not between China and the West, but between forms of a philosophical education and those of the mass education. In contemporary Western democratic education, the philosophical, political, and mass forms of education are collapsed into one, mass education, and by arguing for preservation of philosophical education on a mass level, Wu also implicitly adopts this conflation position. However, this commentary will argue that this conflation needs to be corrected, and the traditional Confucian education actually tries to strike a middle way between, and to correct, the forms of pre-democratic Western education and democratic education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is the second of four essays discussing Wu’s ‘Interpretation, autonomy, and transformation: Chinese pedagogic discourse in a cross-cultural perspective’ (JCS, 43(5), 569-590). The essay is interesting against the background of recent debates, both inside and outside China, about the relationship between the Chinese and Western traditions of curriculum and pedagogy. The essay helps one to understand that there is no clear divide between the so-called Chinese and Western traditions. The modern Chinese language as well as its pedagogical discourse have been hybridized with something western, with the implication that it is difficult to distinguish one from the other. However, the paper falls into a trap of cultural judgement: it (re)interprets the Confucian ‘authentic’ texts as ‘desirable’ and attributes many ‘contemporary’ pedagogical practices and/or the discourse of the so-called ‘Confucian heritage’ to the influence of the West. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the modernization of Chinese society, beginning in the early-20th century, the Chinese language has experienced a fundamental change that has transformed Chinese pedagogic practices. Modern Chinese discourses, whether of social or scientific practices or on China’s intellectual heritage, are largely articulated in westernized discourses that have been normalized as China’s own. This study explores the cultural differences of linguistic world-views on knowledge and education between the East and the West, and then examines the impact of the cultural transformation of pedagogic discourse on education in modern China. Two ‘classroom’ texts, a dialogue between Confucius and his student and an excerpt from a contemporary Chinese lesson, are analysed in the philosophical perspective of language. This study asks what kind of pedagogy is embraced by a language traditionally without abstract designations such as ‘liberty’, ‘madness’, ‘politics’, ‘freedom’, and ‘feudalism’, ideas essential to the western tradition of pursuing truth. The interest is the recovery of the indigenous identity of Chinese pedagogic discourse where language serves to name the unspeakable and strives to withdraw itself to complete forgetfulness. What remains in terms of emptiness of symbolic meaning is the essence of pedagogic intelligibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Confucius is conventionally regarded as the founder of secular humanism and as a philosopher concerned about humans and culture. I would add to this that Confucius should also be read as an environmental philosopher. One reason is the pedagogical dimension in Confucianism, which points to Confucius as an environmental educator - not the least of which since much of environmental education relies on common sense and an enlightened collective self-interest. Another reason is an aspect I call 'ecological intelligence', which is a key feature of ancient Confucianism and a signpost for the civil evolution that the mitigation of climate change demands from global civilization today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the progress of modern China and the country's critical geopolitics. The author challenges both the country's traditional world politics and conceptions of China as a unique phenomenon established by cultural particularity and historical experience. It argues that the country's progress is founded on Western-style nationalism and a contradictory amalgam of a traditional world's conception that is dependent on and reactive to contemporary world politics.

This paper analyses the dream of a middle-aged professor in Taiwan whose marriage and life had fallen apart. “All my life,” she said, “I followed the agenda, but I didn't get the reward.” She contemplated suicide. The dream revealed that at this time in her life her conventional Confucian agenda, corresponding to Jung's ego psychology of the first half of life, was changing into a post-conventional Taoist one, representing the enlightened trans-egoic psychology Jung, Maslow, Campbell, Wilber, and others find in lives that continues to develop. Only from the Confucian viewpoint had her life come to an impasse. According to the Taoist one she merely faced the death of her former way of being and the prospect of a remarkable new one. Viewing Chinese culture as merely Confucian misses the ontogenetic relationship between its two ancient wisdom traditions and the rich transformative potential of China's indigenous post-conventional Taoist tradition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper discusses the cultural conflicts around the Western notion of child-centeredness in Taiwanese preschools. The implementation and translation of Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP) in Taiwan is highlighted as an example to understand productions of differences, norms and cultural conflicts in Taiwanese early childhood education. Throughout this paper, it is argued that multiplicities and differences are not acknowledged but instead are dangerously ignored while assumptions are made about a singular norm and homogeneous universal standard. From this perspective, it is asserted that the global circulation of a particular Western notion of child-centeredness should be (re)conceptualized as a cultural construct through which a particular system of reasoning or cultural knowledge is perpetuated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been pressure from various business and professional accounting bodies to place greater emphasis on ethics education. This has been reflected in academic research and curriculum development. The purpose of this paper is to expand the debate on accounting ethics education to take into account the globalization of business, accounting and educational services and to draw attention to the importance of cross-cultural factors. To illustrate this the paper discusses the impact that Confucius has had on the ethical thinking of East and South East Asia. Where appropriate, comparisons are made with Western attitudes and secular philosophies. This focus has been chosen because of the current and future importance of the Asian area to global commerce, and the fact that an understanding of its ethical thinking and behaviour is not possible without an appreciation of Confucian thought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]