{"id":888,"date":"2021-10-10T22:56:31","date_gmt":"2021-10-10T22:56:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/?p=888"},"modified":"2021-10-10T22:56:31","modified_gmt":"2021-10-10T22:56:31","slug":"kongzis-revivalistic-traditionalism-a-tool-for-chinese-influence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/2021\/10\/kongzis-revivalistic-traditionalism-a-tool-for-chinese-influence\/","title":{"rendered":"Kongzi’s Revivalistic Traditionalism: A Tool for Chinese Influence?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Bryan Van Norden\u2019s <\/span>Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy<\/span><\/i>, he outlines the five elements of Confucianism that Kongzi emphasized throughout his Confucian teachings during his lifetime. Each element is still prominently showcased in societies with Confucian cultural traditions and influences today. This posting will specifically focus on one of the five elements and explore how it manifests differently when its values are taught and implemented outside of Confucianism\u2019s birthplace in China.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Revivalistic traditionalism, as Norden refers to it, is one of the most significant and unique elements of Confucianism. Unlike the parallel Western philosophies of the classical period, such as those that Plato perpetuated, it derives its moral inspiration from human civilization of the past, rather than from a higher world, like Platoism\u2019s abstract utopian idealization of society. Norden explains that under Confucian philosophy, moral progress that is made via rejecting elements of tradition ought to be done by appealing to \u201cother values, beliefs, and practices within that same tradition.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This assertion becomes more interesting when we consider the spread of Confucianism outside of China. When Kongzi\u2019s values were implemented and spread in societies like Joseon Korea, the traditions of China, not Korea, were \u201crevived\u201d and studied to form government structures that suited Neo-Confucian ideals. Theodore de Bary and JaHyun Kim Haboush, when analyzing the sources of Neo-Confucian thought in Joseon Korea, note that Chong Tojon, a royal chief advisor and key orchestrator of Confucian-thought proliferation, carefully studied and derived philosophy from the rulers of the classical Three Dynasties of China, using them as a model for \u201csage kings.\u201d The teachings of Kwon Kun, another notable Korean Neo-Confucian thinker, strongly emphasizd the wide intellectual scope of Confucianism by encouraging the thorough understanding of both Buddhism and Taoism \u2014 prominent cultural traditions that were spread to Korea from China.<\/span><\/p>\n

Joseon Korea\u2019s tendency to look to Chinese cultural and historical traditions for guidance \u2014 as opposed to using its own \u2014\u00a0has a profound impact on Korean culture as their government adopts Neo-Confucianist agenda. Kongzi\u2019s revivalistic traditionalism does not unfold in Korea as a self-derived moral investigation, and as a result, Confucianism becomes an agent of Chinese influence in addition to a state-sponsored school of thought. Martina Deuchler identifies four distinct aspects of Korean culture that Neo-Confucianism helped shift as it spread throughout the state, including ancestor worship and funerary rites, succession and inheritance, the position of women and the marriage institution, and formation of descent groups. Each of these cultural features were directly influenced by the Chinese traditions that formed Neo-Confucianism before it spread to the Korean peninsula.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kongzi\u2019s element of revivalistic traditionalism, when implemented outside the context of China, takes on a very different role. Instead of encouraging self-derived moral change, it helps elevate Chinese traditions and history rather than promoting societies to engage in the introspection as it was originally intended. Although regions can develop their own understandings and interpretations of Confucianism over time, the initial presence of a strong Chinese cultural influence is undeniable, and can be societally transformative wherever it is implemented.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Bryan Van Norden\u2019s Introduction to Classical Chinese Philosophy, he outlines the five elements of Confucianism that Kongzi emphasized throughout his Confucian teachings during his lifetime. Each element is still prominently showcased in societies with Confucian cultural traditions and influences today. This posting will specifically focus on one of the five elements and explore how … Continue reading “Kongzi’s Revivalistic Traditionalism: A Tool for Chinese Influence?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":889,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888\/revisions\/889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}