Let's Talke About
Confucius on TV?
27 November
2006
Professor
Yu Dan:
A scholar or a show-woman?
The Buddha
never wrote a book, but gave many
speeches to his followers over the time
span of several decades, which after his
nirvana were compiled into books by his
disciples, and the books became known as
Buddhist Scriptures.
The Master
never wrote a book, but gave many
speeches to his followers over the time
span of several decades, which after his
death were compiled into books by his
disciples, and the books became known as
Chinese Classics.
Chinese
professor Yu Dan also gave many speeches
on a controversial TV program to her
audience about The Analects (《论语》) over the time
span of seven days. The difference is
after just one month the speeches were
compiled into a book by herself, and the
book became an instant sensation.
When the
news that the copies of the book would
hit the bookstore shelfs at Zhongguancun
near Tsinghua and Beijing universities on
Sunday afternoon, November 26, at 2pm,
was spread, a group of people, most were
university students, began to line up in
front of the store since 7:30 in the
morning. By the lunchtime, the queue had
extended from the fifth floor where the
store was located all the way down to the
ground level and out of the gate to the
street, hindering the normal business
operations of the neighbouring shops,
causing much of grudge and complaints.
But the
bookstore is surely very happy, which
sold 12 thousand copied just on the first
day since 2pm, shattering many previous
book sales records.
And Yu Dan
is surely a very popular writer. She
signed 8,000 copies in 8 hours.
As for
whether she is a good scholar on
Confucius is another matter entirely.
Many Chinese experts in the fireld say
no, because her speech is riddled with
errors and misinformation and vulgarity
which renders her Confucius discussion
like a cheap talkback show; but some say
yes, because she has found a way to
engage less educated in lofty classics.
***
The
Analects
is the most important work of
Confucius, which speaks of its very
fundamental message – the universal
humanity (仁). For two
thousand years, The Analects
had been the centre of study for
Chinese scholars. It is said that if
one can apprehend just half of The
Analects teaching, he would be
well equipped to manage the affairs
of the world. (半部论语治天下)
The
basic works of the Classic Confucius
include Four Books and Five Classics,
which cover a whole range of fields,
from literature, history, philosophy,
politics, economy, education, ethics,
justice, law, astronomy, geography,
arts to science.
Four
Books are:
- The
Analects (论语)
- The
Great Learning (大学)
- The
Middle Way (中庸)
- Mencius
(孟子)
Five
Classics are:
- The
Book of Odes (classic
poetry) (诗经)
- The
Book of Change (I
Ching, the very
foundation of the Chinese
culture) (易经)
- The
Classic History (a
collection of documents and
speeches by important
historical figures during the
Zhou Dynasty, the classic era
of China) (尚书)
- The
Rites (about how to
observe appropriate social
forms and ceremonies) (礼记)
- The
Spring and Autumn Annals
(Critics of social ills) (春秋)
China
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