Confucius joins Mao at Beijing's heart

Jan 12, 2011, 8:05 GMT

Beijing - Tourists began visiting a giant statue of Confucius next to Beijing's Tiananmen Square Wednesday in another sign of the revival of China's most famous ancient philosopher.

The 7.9-metre, 17-ton bronze statue was unveiled Tuesday at an entrance to the refurbished National Museum on the east side of Tiananmen Square, the symbolic heart of the Chinese capital.

Nearby is the famous portrait of Mao Zedong that dominates the Gate of Heavenly Peace on the north side of the square.

'Confucius is the best-known sage in China,' Lu Zhangshen, the director of the National Museum, said in a speech at the statue's unveiling.

'He represents the traditional Chinese culture, and he is the calling card of Chinese culture to the world,' Lu was quoted as saying on the museum's official website.

Lu said the statue would make people 'think more about culture and Confucianism.'

The erection of the statue reflects a growing revival of traditional religious and cultural practices in China over the past 25 years.

The nominally atheist leaders of China's ruling Communist Party have studied Confucian and other Chinese classics that were once banned as 'feudal ideology.'

The party is attracted to Confucian social order. It has used the slogan 'build a harmonious society' as an attempt to use ancient ethics to curb the corruption and greed that have followed economic reforms and to maintain its hold on political power.

The government has also opened about 300 Confucius Institutes to promote Chinese culture across the world.

Confucius is generally said to have lived from 551 to 479 BC although his famous aphorisms were only recorded by disciples many years later.

Confucian ideas dominated China for most of the 2,000 years after his death. The Han Dynasty (206 BC to 220 AD) elevated him to godlike status, and his hometown of Qufu reputedly grew into a pilgrimage site that once rivalled the Islamic holy site of Mecca.

The rehabilitation of Confucius began in the communist era at a 1984 symposium in Qufu, where he was again accepted as 'one of the glorious figures of China.'

The party's 'spiritual civilization' campaign, which began in the mid-1990s in response to fears that consumers were becoming too materialistic, promoted both Maoist and Confucian ethics.

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