On Confucianism -- What does Confucianism mean to you? How far has it influenced your life? 

Ignoring all this argument about its effectiveness in modern politics, Confucianism provides a comprehensive value system that is the cornerstone of human interaction. Confucian ideals include filial piety, loyalty (to the monarch), gratitude, honesty, bravery, and a multitude of others that need not be named; they should be known by heart to all if not most Asians, in fact, to all the world. Therefore, I tfeel that Confucianism is a good thing.  

Confucianism has been the target of criticism in recent years, most prominently in the Mao era, and even then ever since Confucianism made its debut two thousand years ago it has been criticized by its rival schools of thought. During the Late Qing Dynasty, revolutionary writer Lu Xun “criticized Confucianism heavily for shaping Chinese people into the condition they had reached by the late Qing Dynasty”. In Korea, “[m]any Koreans believe Confucianism has not contributed to the modernization of Korea”. Writer Kim-kyong-li “said that (Confucian) filial relationships are one-side and blind. He writes that if these circumstances continue, social problems will continue to be caused by society and the government forcing Confucian filial obligations onto families.”

There are certainly flaws in Confucian ideology, as there will be in any school of thought or any method of governance, but in the modern world, some of these criticisms do not apply, or are simply stupid. Take for example the Korean writer’s statements. “Forcing Confucian obligations onto families”? This is nonsense. Is he trying to say that filial piety is not necessary? Imagine a world without filial piety, or a world where unfilial actions are tolerated. Adult offspring would simply lord it over their ailing, fragile, aged parents. If everyone did that, think how cold and emotionless human society would be! Only the most heartless can watch as their greatest benefactors – those who fed them, clothed them, taught them, accompanied them, loved them – suffer under their foot. Is it humane to let others suffer so? Is it tolerable? If humans can condemn the most tyrannical, draconian emperors, how would they ever tolerate an unfilial child? There is not a single religion in the world that teaches humans to disregard their parents or to not show filial piety. Laws have been enacted to preserve filial piety. Are we to lower ourselves to the level of animals to achieve progress, Mr Kim? In fact how would there be progress if the young do not bother to learn from the old? Experience and insight are great teachers, but if we decide to shy from them and dismiss them, who loses out? Experience and insight or us?

Confucianism promotes harmony in society, and harmony is the way forward. It is after harmony that progress can follow. After every revolution, a country flourishes. After every war, the countries grow again. Such is the cycle of countries. But during the revolution is there any progress at all? During the Eight Armies’ Invasion of China, did the Middle Kingdom’s economy grow or shrink? Did new inventions appear even once? No! There can be no progress in a disharmonious society. Even in China’s imperial history, there has always been great stability and wealth following every successful revolution against a corrupt regime, simply because there has been harmony. For that matter, even the value of respecting the monarch is fair – if you do not respect the “monarch” you voted for, why vote him in? And if it was a close fight as in the case of Mr. Tony Tan Keng Yam and Mr. Tan Cheng Bock, I think it would be safe to trust the other half of the population in their decision; they can’t be that stupid. Confucius told us that “a father should act like a father, a son should act like a son”. While this does promote hierarchy as some will choose to see it, it really is meant to promote harmony and stability in a society.

To be picky, Confucianism plays a huge part in my life. As discussed, its value system is very comprehensive, and it covers most of all the values that I try to show in my daily life – filial piety, courage, loyalty, and so on. All schools of values and morals, not just Confucianism, teach us the same things, which we then apply (or not) to our everyday lives. And as we exercise these values every day, we are, in effect, applying Confucianism everywhere. Listening in class – respecting the teachers; calling our parents upon return home – filial piety; helping a person up – care for others; exercising restraint – not doing unto others what you would not others do to you. In so many ways, we are already practising Confucianism. Hence, I would say that it has largely impacted my life, the way I live, even if I don’t purposely study it.

(798 words)

CDE -- Opinion

Cultures differ from country to country, and even in geographically close regions, cultures can be very different. So the understanding of the fundamentals of as many cultures as possible, broadly split in this class into the Western and the Eastern cultures, is necessary to achieve multinational success, or at least to not offend the next foreign guest to come along, such as immersion programme students to my school. I think this class has the potential to give us that understanding, though there will not be much real interaction with the culture of the East, as it were -- Singapore is far too diluted in terms of culture, and anyway our own culture is popping up: tissue paper as "RESERVED" signs, sitting on reserved seats in public transport, complaining about others giving up their seats unwilling in public transport, and the list goes on in this land of complain-kings and queens, myself included.

The sweeping division of cultures into that of the West and that of the East is already quite inaccurate -- the West or East, strictly speaking has many different cultures inherent in them, since "West" could mean America, Canada, West Europe; while "East could refer to Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, China, Japan...

The West therefore refers to the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA and EUROZONE COUNTRIES; The East refers to CHINA.

And isn't it strange that we are only learning the cultures of these economic giants? The point of this class can therefore be seen as a means of preparing us for the projected market of the future, in which we can use our cultural knowledge to please our foreign clients and others. But does it not seem to sideline other cultures of this diverse world that we would do well to know?

For example, we are completely missing out on cultures closer to Singapore: Thai culture, Malaysian culture, Indonesian culture, Indian culture, so on and so forth. Why? Is it that they are not worth investing in in future? No, Thailand is a great place to look to for business, with its low labour rates. Is it that they have less history than the 400 years of USA, the 2500 years of Europe, or the 4000 years of China? Perhaps yes to China and Europe, but India has a rich history too, what with the old feudal lords, and Buddhism, and Mahatma Gandhi with his famous pacifist fight for independence. Is it because of their political power and military might that we should learn to placate them? If so, India, Russia, the Middle East, North Korea, and more and more countries now have WMDs, so why not learn about them? And isn't the neighbourhood an easier place to invest in?

Perhaps it is because of time constraints, that we are obliged to learn about the world powers only; perhaps it is due to the influence they exert, that we learn to follow their cultures of millenia ago; perhaps it is for our roots that we should learn the insular Eastern culture of order and diligence, and for our knowledge that we should learn the dominant Western culture of enterprise and freedom. Whatever the case is, these cultures are important. But so are the cultures of the rest of the world, and I can only hope to learn more about them in future.

Hello World

Perhaps a little greeting would do for the starting of any blog.

I am Chong Han, and this blog is specially dedicated to my class, Cultural Differentiation Elective. Here I will post journals about my travails through the cultures of the world as I explore them thoroughly. I only hope to survive, but I'm certain that at the end of the dark tunnel, after groping my way through and stumbling into pits and walls, I'll find it worthwhile...I hope.

Chong Han
3B1 03 2013