On the foot of Mount Ni — the birthplace of Confucius — a new complex is being built. Once the building is complete, it will energise the grassroots revival of Confucianism on Chinese President Xi Jinping’s watch. After Mao Zedong, who symbolised the birth of Red China, and Deng Xiaoping, who seeded Beijing’s economic rise, President Xi is attempting to ignite a cultural renaissance in the country, by fusing Confucianism with socialism.
The floor plan of the new structure, rising in Shengyuan village, echoes Mr. Xi’s thought of a “new era” of development. President Xi had minted the arrival of the “new era” last year during the course of the 19th Party Congress — the once-in-five-years mega conference of the Communist Party of China (CPC). Mr. Xi is quite literally casting in stone the building blocks of a rising China, which is culturally rooted in the Confucian tradition. The 1,422 sq m building in Shengyuan village will have several “back-to-the-roots” enclosures. Some rooms will exhibit the life of Confucius, who roamed the “holy land”, skirting the Nishan mountain more than 2,500 years ago.
Another hall will showcase traditional Chinese culture, as well as the country’s “intangible heritage”. Besides, there will be “new era culture practice rooms”, where villagers can attend classes, extolling Confucian values and principles, and understand their practical applications in their daily lives.
Significantly, a part of the building would highlight Mr. Xi’s vision of China as it heads to accomplish its two centenary goals — becoming a moderately prosperous society in the next three years, and a fully developed socialist nation by 2050.
Sufficient space has also been reserved for local members of the CPC, who would carry Mr. Xi’s thought — a blend of Confucius, Marx, Mao and Deng — to the last mile. “Mr. Xi said that the county provides the last mile connect between the party, country, and its people. The role of the local CPC branch of Nishan County is to clarify and explain Mr. Xi’s policies. Second, we have to make people understand traditional Chinese culture, and ensure that some of its values can percolate into their homes,” says Sonsi Liang, a local official.
The new centre at the village is part of a much larger pilot project. “In future, all 42 villages in Nishan County will have a similar centre,” Mr. Sonsi observed. If successful, the experiment at Shengyuan village can be replicated on a bigger scale. Local officials say that the new infrastructure is part of a growing cultural movement to mainstream Confucian values nationwide. Already, state-sponsored pillars for spreading “new era civilisation practices” are in place in the eastern coastal provinces of Zhejiang and Liaoning, as well as Jiangsu — a prosperous province, just north of Shanghai.
Last year, Huang Kunming, the head of the publicity department of the CPC, visited Nishan County, accelerating the development of the cultural infrastructure in the area on an industrial scale.
Since 2012, a 90 m bronze statue of Confucius towers the Nishan Holy Land — a 37 sq km area, not far from Shengyuan village.
Cultural tourism
Nishan Holy Land has the trappings of a world-class cultural tourism destination. Last year, a nearby state-of-the art Academy hall — an imposing 70,000 sq m complex, was inaugurated. On any given day, hundreds of school children, many donning traditional clothing, throng the complex, mesmerised by the massive stairways and vast halls, where eye-catching dance performances to the tune of traditional instruments compete for attention with a row of statues, depicting turning points in the life of Confucius.
Their exposure to China’s “deep culture” is incomplete without a peek into “The Life of Confucius” — a breathtaking audio-visual performance that combines Chinese classical art forms such as poetry, music and dance to describe the evolution of Confucius from a man “of the world” to an iconic philosopher.
The focus on traditional culture in the Confucian heartland echoes Mr. Xi’s increasing emphasis on traditional values to anchor the idea of China’s modernity, in the face of fierce cultural headwinds from the West.
(Atul Aneja is The Hindu' s Beijing correspondent)
