This Sunday, September 28 marks the 2,576th birthday of China’s most impactful thinker, Confucius or Kǒng Zǐ 孔子. Confucius lived in a time that was even more chaotic and uncertain than what we find ourselves in now. The period in which he lived, called the Spring and Autumn period or Chūnqiū 春秋 (c. 771-456 BCE), was characterized by constant warfare and violence. China was not a unified empire, but rather a collection of independent, competing kingdoms that vied for dominance over one another. Confucius himself came from the Kingdom of Lǔ 鲁, which is the modern province of Qīngdǎo in the northeast of China (and the home of both our very own preschool teacher Jessie Dong and China’s best beer). Cynical kings were notoriously cruel and covetous of the territory of neighboring states; it was a time of great suffering for most people.
Just like the times we are living in now, an understandable response to the uncertainty, chaos, cynicism, and violence would be despair. Confucius chose a different path. He spent most of his adult life wandering about spreading his ideas on how to achieve peace and harmony in a world gone mad. He hoped to contribute to a better world by gaining the ear of a political ruler who would implement his ideas. He advocated ideals such as benevolence (rén 仁), justice (yì 义), trust (xìn 信), virtue (dé 德), propriety (lǐ 礼), and the importance of learning (xué 学). (He also thought music was extremely important—we agree! See the Chamber Ensembles news below.) Chinese political philosophy then and now emphasizes the importance of behavioral norms as opposed to systems and processes, something we could benefit from now in America.
Confucius was unsuccessful in his lifetime; no king employed him, and China descended into further chaos. The subsequent period in Chinese history is known as the Warring States (战国 Zhàn guó c. 475–221 BCE)—the name explains itself. It was not until the Western Han Dynasty (Hàn 汉 206 BCE–9 CE) that anything resembling peace and harmony was established, and the Han emperors achieved this by institutionalizing the ideas of Confucius.
So Confucius played the long game. Faced with uncertainty far greater than ours, he focused on education and core values, unwilling to compromise and descend to the level of greed, selfishness, cynicism, and short-sighted solutions. He was a great teacher and a person of great integrity. At CAIS we can be inspired by his example. Happy birthday, old guy.
As it happens, this year Confucius’s birthday is followed shortly after by the Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋节 Zhōng qiū jié) on Monday, October 6, which is one of the most important, family-centered holidays in the traditional Lunar calendar. Always ahead of the curve, the CAIS Family School Alliance is hosting the fall family picnic on campus this Saturday (early), September 27 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. to celebrate this traditional Chinese holiday.
The Mid-Autumn Festival, like American Thanksgiving and other autumn festivals around the world, is held in part to express gratitude for the harvest. I hope that you all will help us celebrate the importance of family and gratitude by completing the circle and attending the Mid-Autumn Moon Festival family picnic this Saturday.
See you there!