Word: confucius
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...Confucius...
...million people of China, few of Mao Tse-tung's actions proved more inscrutable than the ferocious campaign that the Chairman conducted against Confucius, the nation's exponent of moderation and ethical values. Schoolchildren were taught to denounce the philosopher, while their elders were obliged to chant imprecations against him in public demonstrations. Posters sprang up around the country portraying Confucius as a rapacious villain. One widely circulated comic strip showed a leering Confucius watching slaves being massacred. Red Guards stormed into the village of Chu Fu, where he was born 2,500 years ago, and destroyed...
Last week Confucius was well on his way to being restored as one of the fragrant flowers of Chinese culture. The People's Daily announced that the philosopher had been wrongly condemned as a "demon." After all, the party newspaper recalled, Mao had often quoted him, saying that everyone should "learn from Confucius' attitude of inquiring into everything." The Chinese press has also begun stressing that the Chairman shared Confucius' filial piety. In 1959, for example, Mao was said to have visited his parents' graves, "bowed and placed a bundle of pine twigs" on the tomb...
...switch on Confucius is apparently part of an effort to reverse the destructive effect on China of Mao's hatred for traditional learning and his contempt for intellectuals. Now that the post-Mao regime of Chairman Hua Kuo-feng has begun to reconstitute the nation's ravaged educational system, China's greatest scholar and thinker may yet be fully rehabilitated. As Confucius said: "When you have faults, do not fear to abandon them...
Jade, said Confucius, is a virtuous gem: its warmth and luster typify charity, its translucence signifies sincerity, its sturdiness bespeaks courage, and it mirrors intelligence and wisdom. For centuries, the Chinese cherished jade; Emperors decreed their exclusive right to it. Now others have caught the fever: travelers, especially the Japanese and Americans, scour the jade markets in Hong Kong, Asia's jade capital, for items ranging from simple stones or carvings that sell for $20 to exquisite rings that can cost $120,000. Hong Kong's jade traffic increased sharply in 1977, with sales reaching into hundreds...