Investors hope to cash in with schools in Confucius’ hometown
Qufu, the hometown of Confucius, is booming as investors pour tens of billions of yuan into setting up schools to teach people about the celebrated philosopher.
The funds come from investors in Qufu and other provinces who are convinced they will rake in profits after President Xi Jinping visited the city last year in an effort to endorse traditional culture, the Shanghai Morning Post reported on Thursday.
While China’s international Confucius Institutes are experiencing controversy overseas, students in the southwestern Shandong province are taking lessons and dressing up as the man who gave birth to personal and governmental morality in China.
Yue Yaofang, the deputy minister of Qufu’s Municipal Propaganda Department, said party cadres were responding to Xi’s visit last November, when the president said he had come to “send a message to the nation: to carry forward our traditional culture and spread Confucian thought”.
A wave of interest in Confucianism has since hit Qufu, both in the private sector and at the local government level.
In September this year, large-scale ceremonies were held in many Chinese cities to celebrate the 2,565th anniversary of the birth of Confucius. The ancient teacher is believed to have been born on September 28.
Since October 26, about 3,000 people have gathered in Qufu daily to pay homage to Confucius.
Qufu’s local government plans to assign one instructor to each of its 405 villages to “promote innovation and development of traditional Chinese values”.
China’s Confucius Institutes, aimed at promoting Chinese culture and language overseas, have experienced recent setbacks. The University of Chicago closed down its Confucius Institute in late September, and Pennsylvania State University cut ties with the organisation in October.
