Church riles Confucius' offspring
Hundreds of scholars and Confucianists are fighting against a government-sanctioned plan to build a super-sized Gothic-style church in Qufu, Shandong - the birthplace of Confucius - arguing that it was not only an insult to the great sage, but also could threaten his status in China.
According to Chinarujiao.net, a Confucian website, 572 signatures had been gathered by Sunday including 128 from scholars and 77 from Confucian groups in a petition calling for a halt to construction of a 41-metre-high church with a seating capacity of 3,000, located three kilometres from Confucius' residence.
Qufu has one now dilapidated church built in the early 20th century. The petition said that building a larger, new church would hurt the feelings of Confucius' followers and insult the sacred birthplace of Confucius.
'To put the shoe on the other foot, if a super-large Confucian temple were built in Jerusalem, Mecca or the Vatican, pitting itself against existing religious buildings there, how would the local people feel about it? Would those governments and people accept it?' said the letter, which has circulated widely since being posted online on December 22.
Although Confucianism was purged during the rule of Mao Zedong, this branch of philosophy - which emphasises, among others, proper social relationships - has seen a revival in recent years, as authorities have been promoting a so-called harmonious world built on Confucian values.
Construction of the new church, which began in July, parallels the growing popularity of Christianity in the dramatically changing society of modern China. But, Kong Xiangdong, a 75th-generation descendant of Confucius, said in a posting on January 3 that Qufu is no ordinary city, but a sacred place for Confucian culture and a symbol of Chinese civilisation for 5,000 years.
'Any attempt to reduce Qufu to a converging spot for all teachings would constitute a crime against Chinese culture,' he said. However, Reverend Mei Kangjun, executive associate secretary of the National Committee of the Three-Self Patriotic Movement of the Protestant Churches, said he was saddened by what he sees as a form of cultural hegemony .
What made the branches of culture great is that they treat each other as equals and are inclusive, he said.
'Confucius is part of Chinese culture, and so is Christianity, as even authorities have acknowledged we have more than 20 million Christians in China,' Mei said.
