79 research outputs found
Making of the Confucian individual: morality, subjectification and classical schooling in China
Full text linkThis
research
explores
the
complexity
of
Confucian
schooling
in
the
context
of
contemporary
China.
Based
on
fieldwork
in
a
Confucian-‐style
classical
school
(given
the
pseudonym
Yiqian
School),
the
thesis
reveals
why
parents
choose
Confucian
education,
how
the
school
seeks
to
cultivate
children
as
Confucian
autonomous,
learned
individuals
and
what
sense
parents,
students
and
teachers
make
of
this
schooling.
Theoretically
the
thesis
draws
together
three
strands
of
scholarship—research
on
Chinese
education
and
the
rhetoric
of
suzhi/quality,
the
individualisation
thesis
as
it
applies
to
China,
and
governmentality
and
subjectification
in
the
context
of
China.
The
study
is
ethnographic,
drawing
on
participant
observation
and
formal
and
informal
interviews.
Conducted
in
2015,
the
fieldwork
took
place
over
six
months
in
Yiqian
School,
a
classical
school
with
a
student
population
spanning
seven
to
15
years.
The
research
demonstrates
the
complexity
of
parents’
decisions
to
withdraw
their
children
from
state
schools
and
in
planning
for
their
future
education.
These
parents
had
contradictory
dispositions
towards
the
state
school
system:
while
many
criticised
compulsory
schooling,
at
the
same
time
they
also
recognised
the
importance
of
the
state-‐defined
educational
track
in
awarding
academic
certificate.
The
parental
desire
for
their
children
to
receive
Confucian
classical
education
was
deeply
influenced
by
anxiety
about
morality
and
a
belief
that
classical
education
would
enhance
children’s
moral
status.
As
most
parents
came
from
middle-‐class
families,
their
stress
on
Confucian
ethical
virtue
can
be
interpreted
as
an
attempt
to
distinguish
their
children
from
other
social
groups
through
a
Confucian-‐inspired
distinction
between
good/bad
manners,
high/low
qualities
(suzhi),
and
superior/inferior
civilities
(wenming).
The
thesis
also
explores
the
specific
educational
practices
and
techniques
used
in
the
Confucian
school.
While
Yiqian
School
aimed
to
cultivate
students
as
autonomous,
learned
individuals
through
the
approach
of
“individualised
memorisation,”
this
process
is
subjected
to
disciplinary
power
in
two
conflicting
types
of
memorisation-‐based
pedagogy,
an
individualistic
and
an
authoritarian
mode.
This
meant
the
subjectification
of
the
students
involved
a
contradiction
between
autonomy
and
coercion.
By
showing
how
Confucian
individuals
are
shaped
within
the
education
system,
the
thesis
reveals
what
Confucian
education
tells
us
about
the
Chinese
path
to
individualisation.
The
making
of
Confucian
individuals
in
the
school
is
not
completely
“dis-‐embedded”
from
the
“traditional”
categories
such
as
family
relations,
the
state
school
system
and
social
class.
The
tension
between
parents
and
their
children
in
planning
for
the
latter’s
future
education
indicates
how
strongly
the
Confucian
youth
pursue
personal
aspirations.
Furthermore,
while
parents
were
free
to
take
their
children
out
of
the
state
school
system
and
choose
Confucian
education,
they
had
to
face
the
risks
resulting
from
the
ambiguous
status
of
Confucian
education,
particularly
the
lack
of
certificate-‐granting
powers
and
the
marginalisation
of
the
Confucian
educational
experience
Resurgence of Confucian education in contemporary China: Parental involvement, moral anxiety, and the pedagogy of memorisation
Full text linkThe resurgence of Confucian education in present-day China has received increasing academic attention over the last two decades. However, certain aspects of this trend remain poorly understood, particularly parents’ involvement in their children’s Confucian education. Based on a qualitative study conducted at a Confucian school, this article sheds light on why some Chinese parents today send their children to learn the Confucian classics. The parents interviewed criticised China’s examination-oriented state school system, which they regarded as too practically oriented to realise students’ personal and moral development. Instead, they wanted their children to cultivate Confucian virtues and moral suzhi (‘quality’). Also, Wang Caigui’s theory of ‘children reading classics’ education strengthened the parents’ confidence in the Confucian pedagogy of memorisation. Based on these findings, the article argues that using the critique tool, parents who advocate Confucian education have emerged as critical citizens who reflect on how not to be governed by the mainstream state education
Debatable “Chineseness”
Full text linkThis article discusses the ongoing debates about classics reading (dujing 读经) in the revitalisation and diversification of Confucian classical education in mainland China. It begins by reviewing two disputes about dujing in modern Chinese history and then turns to the contemporary debate, focusing on how one professional and experienced practitioner expounded on the disparities in practicing classical education. The author summarises three controversial issues: (1) the relationship between the educative principles and methods, (2) historical legitimacy, and (3) the linguistic nature of Chinese language. Based on these, this paper reflects on the current dujing movement by concluding that the diversification of classical education has complicated the authenticity of “Chineseness” and rendered it a debatable public issue
Right, righteousness, and act: why should Confucian activists be regarded as citizens in the revival of Confucian education in contemporary China?
Full text linkThis article explores three core elements of citizenship–right, responsibility, and act–and their implications for the rise of Confucian activists in the revival of Confucian education in present-day China. Adopting an empirical research approach, the author draws from two sets of resources: public speeches by a leader in contemporary Confucian classical education, and interviews with teachers and parents at a Confucian school. A critical discourse analysis of the data is conducted to examine the emerging themes. First, the study identifies the widespread circulation of the discourse of right (quanli) to education within the field of Confucian education. Second, focusing on the emerging discourse of righteousness (yi), it reveals how this particular Confucian ideology, articulated through local terminologies, generates a sense of civic responsibility and obligation. Third, it investigates the Confucian idea of “extending innate knowledge” (zhi liangzhi) and its contribution to the conversion of internal, individual ethical reflection to creative, civic acts. Based on the findings, this study challenges the popular characterisation of Confucianism as a contradiction to citizenship. The revival of Confucian education offers an opportunity to explore a more nuanced understanding of the effects of Confucianism on the formation of the “Confucian citizen”
Individuality, Hierarchy, and Dilemma: the Making of Confucian Cultural Citizenship in a Contemporary Chinese Classical School
Full text linkIs Confucianism compatible with citizenship? If yes, how? Cultural transformation in recent citizenship studies provides a theoretical junction to bring the two concepts together. In terms of cultural citizenship, this paper explores the making of Confucian cultural citizens by analyzing students’ discourses in a Chinese Confucian classical school. It reveals (1) the process of moral self-transformation, whereby the individualities are embedded into ethical relations by the extensive readings of classical literature; (2) practically discursive contradictions between individualism and authoritarianism that is based on the notion of a cultural hierarchy; and (3) the institutional predicament in striving for the recognition of cultural citizenship by the state and society. Finally, it concludes that the dilemmas in discourses and status are part of the contradictions in the overall Chinese party-state’s management of individualization
Parents as Critical Individuals: Confucian Education Revival from the Perspective of Chinese Individualisation
Full text linkThis article uses the theory of Chinese individualisation to understand the Confucian education revival by focusing on the rise of parents as critical individuals and a case study of one Confucian private school. Drawing on interview data from parental activists who enrol their children in the study of Confucian classics, this article presents the disembedding actions taken to break attachments to state schools and the paradoxical return to institutional safety. It finds that these parents exhibit ambivalence towards the state education system, and that family relationships affect individual parents’ decisions about Confucian education. Furthermore, this study discusses the implications of the individualisation dynamics for Confucian revival in reference to the reflexive conditions of modernity
Individual Self, Sage Discourse, and Parental Authority: Why Do Confucian Students Reject Further Confucian Studies as Their Educational Future?
Full text linkThroughout the twenty-first century, Confucian education has rapidly expanded among the grassroots in China. This study focuses on the most influential style of Confucian education, dujing (classics reading) education, and on a very understudied group, the students, in the Confucian education system. Using data collected at a Confucian school, this study aims to elucidate dujing students’ genuine thoughts and feelings toward their plans for future education. The findings suggest that dujing students exhibit an individualistic outlook, which is characterized by their personal aspirations, self-determination, independence, and self-pursuit, as well as a reluctance to pursue further Confucian studies. Their self-identity is further strengthened by resistance to the authoritarian discourse circulating in the domain of dujing education and by a shifting relationship with imposed parental expectations. This study argues that the development of Confucian individualism in students’ dujing experience must be understood within the broader social contexts shaping Chinese individualisms and subjectivities
Interweaving nationalism and cosmopolitanism in the cultivation of Confucian citizens through classics reading in contemporary China
No full textFocusing on nationalism and cosmopolitanism as elements influencing the discourse and practice of citizenship and citizenship education, this study discusses how they are construed and implemented by contemporary Confucian educational practitioners. By analysing the theoretical discourses of Confucian classical education and the pedagogical practices of a specific Confucian school, this study reveals the interweaving of nationalism and cosmopolitanism and the pedagogical practices involved in cultivating students as Confucian cosmopolitan citizens with a Chinese national identity. These findings contribute from an Indigenous perspective to the understanding of the shaping of civic subjectivity embedded in the Chinese Confucian context, in line with the ongoing intellectual shift towards post-orientalist citizenship. The study concludes that Confucian education has the potential to inspire citizenship and citizenship education studies by contributing ideas regarding the complexities of the relationship between national identity and global awareness emerging from Chinese politico-cultural circumstances to the internationally recognized rhetoric on citizenship.<br/
The Rise of Confucian Citizens in China:Theoretical Reflections and Empirical Explorations
No full textThis book explores the relationship between Confucianism and citizenship and the rise of Confucian citizens in contemporary China.Combining theoretical and empirical approaches to the topic, the book constructs new frameworks to examine the nuances and complexities of Confucianism and citizenship, exploring the process of citizen-making through Confucian education. By re-evaluating the concept of citizenship as a Western construct and therefore challenging the popular characterization of Confucianism and citizenship as incompatible, this book posits that a new type of citizen, the Confucian citizen, is on the rise in 21st-century China.The book’s clear, accessible style makes it essential reading for students and scholars interested in citizenship, Confucianism and Chinese studies, and those with an interest in religion and philosophy more generally.<br/
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