By Jerome A. Cohen
Here is a marvelous overview and analysis by Charles Horner on China’s Democratic Future. A nice gift for Christmas, and an even more timely one for those who celebrate Hanukkah! Ian Johnson’s essay in Saturday’s New York Times, China’s New Civil Religion, is a valuable supplement. The resurrection of Confucius was, of course, a gradual and at times halting process. Recall the bold placement of a statue of the Sage in Tiananmen Square, which inspired some objections as well as shock, leading to its removal to a more modest and obscure location in the nearby museum.
I personally have felt the atmospheric and ideological changes. My first tutor gave me the Chinese surname KONG (孔) because of the similarity in sound to that of my American family name and my interest in law and government. Yet, in 1972, when I first arrived in Beijing, my diplomatic and political hosts, in the midst of the nationwide campaign to condemn Confucius as well as Lin Biao (批林批孔), expressed displeasure at my Chinese name and gave me a less controversial and attractive moniker Ke (柯). Several decades later, as the situation began to change per Horner’s essay, Chinese hosts began to resurrect my original Chinese name, which no longer evokes criticism.
Happy holidays!