After watching the documentary, I was astonished by the desecration of the gravesite of one of the most influential philosophers known to man. I wanted to know more so I did a little bit of research, and I came across an interesting article that tackles the ideas of Anti-Confucianism and Pro-Confucianism and their effects on China. I learned some more context to how Confucianism flourished, which is always good when one is reading about a complex topic such as this.
One of the ideas that the article brings up is the idea of how some political officials used Confucianism to their gain. They would attend ceremonies, perform rituals, and honor the gravesite of Confucius. By doing this, the leaders were legitimized because they accepted the popular ideas amongst their subjects (Jaffe 4). This practice was perfect for helping to maintain balance in the tumultuous times, where there was constant warfare and death – something that Confucius saw firsthand and wanted to remedy. I wonder if Confucius would approve of officials romanticizing his ideas, even if they, themselves, did not believe in it.
One leader did not approve of his teachings and wanted to propel his ideology further, causing a paradigm shift among the younger populations. In the documentary, it showed only his gravesite being destroyed but, in the article, I learned that the followers of Mao Zedong went as far as exploding dynamite throughout the site. I am interested to know what the older population that was accustomed to Confucianism thought about this, and if there was also an extreme reaction to Daoism like there was to Confucianism.
https://www.theatlantic.com/china/archive/2013/10/chinas-enthusiastic-re-embrace-of-confucius/280326/