Randomly Interesting and Totally Unrelated Confucius Topic

I was browsing the web and I happened to come across multiple articles, but one in particular, that mentions the closing of Confucius Institutes at various colleges and universities. I didn’t feel it to be related to my previous post on Confucius and thought it was so interesting that it was deserving of its own …

BBC Documentary on Confucius (Sept. 17 Class)

The BBC documentary we were assigned to watch was definitely an interesting perspective into the life of Confucius and why he believed the things he believed. In the documentary, at one point it said something along the lines of how he believed that in order to properly respect those who have died, we need to …

Government in the Tao Te Ching

When reading the poems from the Tao Te Ching, I thought it was especially interesting that that poems 57-60 focused on government since that was a new theme for the poems, and one fairly distant from the other themes discussed in the poems. I thought the ways that the poems shaped the ‘ideal government’ was …

Xiao (Filial Piety)

When reading about early schools of Chinese thought, I was reminded how heavily Confucius emphasized the importance of respect and virtuous relationships. One of the main values of Confucianism is filial piety: showing great respect for one’s parents and upbringing both in the home—and in the heart—but also outside the home when representing one’s name. …

Confucianism in Modern Society

I think that we view Confucianism as archaic and too conservative especially in the modern west. After reading and doing some additional research on the teachings of Confucius I have come to the conclusion that Confucianism is portrayed very differently today than what it teaches. For example, the Bible has many teachings that are considered …