Table Of ContentThe Varieties of Confucian Experience
Religion in Chinese Societies
Edited by
Kenneth Dean (National University of Singapore)
Richard Madsen (University of California, San Diego)
David Palmer (University of Hong Kong)
volume 14
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/rics
The Varieties of
Confucian Experience
Documenting a Grassroots Revival of Tradition
Edited by
Sébastien Billioud
LEIDEN | BOSTON
Cover illustration: Confucius cult performed by grassroots activists, Shandong province, 2007. © Sébastien
Billioud
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Contents
Acknowledgements vii
List of Illustrations viii
Notes on Contributors xi
Introduction 1
Sébastien Billioud
1 The Birth of a New Religion: The Development of the Confucian
Congregation in Southeast China 17
Chen Na, Fan Lizhu and Chen Jinguo
2 Making a Virtue of Piety: Dizigui and the Discursive Practice of
Jingkong’s Network 61
Ji Zhe
3 Popular Groups Promoting “The Religion of Confucius” in the Chinese
Southwest and Their Activities since the Nineteenth Century
(1840–2013): An Observation Centered on Yunnan’s Eryuan County and
Environs 90
Wang Chien-Chuan
4 Belief and Faith: The Situation and Development of Confucianism in
Yunnan Province 122
Chung Yun-ying
5 Civil Spirituality and Confucian Piety Today: The Activities of Confucian
Temples in Qufu, Taipei, and Changchun 153
Nakajima Takahiro
6 The Revival of Traditional Culture and Religious Experience in Modern
Urban Life: The Example of the Changchun Confucius Temple 176
Ishii Tsuyoshi
7 Contemporary Confucius Temples Life in Mainland China: Report from
the Field 205
Anna Sun
vi Contents
8 Rites Bridging the Ancient and Modern: The Revival of Offerings at
Urban Ancestral Temples 235
Chen Bisheng
9 An Adventure Called “Sishu”: The Tensions and Vagaries of a “Holistic”
Educational Experience (zhengti jiaoyu) in Today’s Rural China 262
Guillaume Dutournier and Wang Yuchen
10 Confucian Revival and the Media: The CCTV “Lecture Room”
Program 302
Fabrice Dulery
Bibliography 331
Index 344
Acknowledgements
This book is one of the results of a research project funded by the Chiang
Ching-Kuo Foundation and titled, The Confucian Revival in China, Forms and
Meanings of Confucian Piety Today. Most of the contributors participated in
the project and are thankful to the Foundation for its generous grant that
made fieldwork possible. In addition, three workshops provided the partici-
pants with the opportunity to exchange before, during and at the end of the
project. The first two workshops took place at the University of Tokyo Center
for Philosophy (UTCP) and the third one in Fuzhou. We are grateful to the
University of Tokyo, the French Center for Research on Contemporary China
(Hong Kong) and Renmin University of China. Special thanks are also due to
Professor Gan Chunsong (Peking University) for his support throughout the
project.
The chapters gathered in this volume were originally written in English,
Chinese and French. Chinese chapters were often difficult to translate due to
numerous quotes in classical Chinese and a complex historical background.
We thank Stacy Mosher for the time and efforts that she spent translating texts
and crosschecking references. Our gratitude also goes to the two anonymous
reviewers of the manuscript, to the Brill team for the careful preparation of the
volume, to Chen Sih-jie as well as to Professor David A. Palmer for his encour-
agement to submit our manuscript to the Religion in Chinese Societies series.
This volume is dedicated to the memory of Joël Thoraval, participant in this
project, who passed away in March 2016.
Illustrations
Figures
1.1 The third floor of the Confucian Congregation in Huishan. © Chen
Na 34
1.2 Lining up to welcome guests for the opening ceremony of the House
of Dao of the Huishan branch of the Confucian Congregation. © Chen
Na 37
1.3 Offerings at the opening ceremony. © Fan Lizhu 41
1.4 Ketou/kowtow at the opening ceremony. © Fan Lizhu 41
1.5 Slogan on the wall: “Love the Party, Love the Country and Develop the
Congregation; Construct a Harmonious Society.” © Chen Na 46
2.1 Master Jingkong. © Ji Zhe, 2013 66
2.2 Children in front of the Ancient Dabei Temple who have enrolled in a
summer class dedicated to the study of the Dizigui. © Ji Zhe, 2011 81
2.3 A class of girls studying the Dizigui, Ancient Dabei Temple. The portrait
of Confucius and big characters—ai 愛 (love), xiao 孝 (filial piety), ti 悌
(fraternity) and zhong 忠 (loyalty)—are posted on the classroom wall.
© Ji Zhe, 2011 81
2.4 The portrait of Confucius in the Dizigui classroom of the Anshan
Temple, behind several covered Buddhist statues. © Ji Zhe, 2013 83
4.1 A portrait of Confucius in Jianshui’s Temple of the Kitchen God.
© Chung Yun-ying 129
4.2 Prayer cards to Confucius during the “Confucius Assembly”. © Chung
Yun-ying 130
4.3 People gathering for the “Confucius Assembly”. © Chung Yun-ying 130
4.4 Prayers to Confucius during the “Confucius Assembly”. © Chung
Yun-ying 131
4.5 Spirit tablet of Confucius (on the left) and of one of the highest Daoist
deities, the Celestial Worthy of Original Beginning (on the right) in the
temple of the Kitchen God. © Chung Yun-ying 133
5.1 Xiwang high school students. © Nakajima Takahiro 168
5.2 Praise for excellent young students. ©Nakajima Takahiro 169
5.3 Praise for citizens. ©Nakajima Takahiro 170
5.4 Unveiling ceremony. ©Nakajima Takahiro 170
5.5 Round-table discussion in the Department of History and Culture,
Northeast Normal University. © Nakajima Takahiro 172
5.6 Wenmiao in Changchun. © Nakajima Takahiro 174
Illustrations ix
6.1 The main hall of the Changchun Confucius Temple. © Ishii
Tsuyoshi 178
6.2 The construction site of the Confucius Cultural Garden. © Ishii
Tsuyoshi 180
6.3 The Confucius Temple Elementary School. © Ishii Tsuyoshi 180
6.4 The Manchukuo Imperial Palace Museum attracts tours by groups of
primary school students. © Ishii Tsuyoshi 182
6.5 Tour groups of primary school students can also be seen at the
Changchun Confucius Temple. © Ishii Tsuyoshi 183
6.6 The Jilin Confucius Temple. © Ishii Tsuyoshi 184
6.7 A corner of “Home” (jia), a private-run nursery training children
in a cultivated lifestyle centered on traditional culture. © Ishii
Tsuyoshi 193
6.8 Images of the Buddha and Laozi’s Classic of Virtue on a wall at “Home”.
© Ishii Tsuyoshi 194
6.9 A ceremony to worship Confucius (2010). Students play the part of
temple staff performing rites. © Ishii Tsuyoshi 196
6.10 The Changchun Mosque. © Ishii Tsuyoshi 200
6.11 The Huguo (Protecting the Nation) Prajna Temple. © Tsuyoshi
Ishii 201
6.12 Street outside the Huguo Prajna Temple. © Ishii Tsuyoshi 202
6.13 The Changchun Christian Church. © Ishii Tsuyoshi 202
7.1 Nanjing 219
7.2 Suzhou 226
7.3 Wujiang 230
7.4 Confucius temples share a ritual habitus with rituals performed in
other ritual sites 232
8.1 The Xiao lineage Sixu Hall in an urban residential area. © Chen
Bisheng 238
8.2 Confucius shrine. In the past, the Sixu hall encompassed a school
or sishu (私塾) and Confucius worship was also performed. A shrine
to honor Confucius has been reconstructed in today’s ancestral hall.
© Chen Bisheng. 241
8.3 Qiu Jun’s diagram based on Zhu Xi’s stipulation in the Ming Dynasty
work Family Rites and Etiquettes. © Chen Bisheng 246
8.4 Diagram for offerings in the ancestral hall in Wu Zhai’s compilation
of the Family Dictionary of the Wu lineage of Mingzhou. © Chen
Bisheng 249
8.5 Shrine for ancestral tablets in the Xiao lineage’s Sixu hall. © Chen
Bisheng 251
x Illustrations
8.6 Position of the ancestors’ tablets in the Sixu hall. © Chen Bisheng 252
8.7 One of the newly opened halls of the Xiao lineage’s Sixu hall. © Chen
Bisheng. 257
9.1 Zhu Zhizhong on the doorstep of his sishu in 2007. © Guillaume
Dutournier 269
9.2 Zhang Zhiyong teaching basic martial arts movements to children in his
sishu (2010). © Guillaume Dutournier 283
9.3 Zhangguying’s sishu in 2011, with a sign showing Zhang Zhiyong in
traditional robe. © Guillaume Dutournier 294
Tables
1.1 Gods and deities whose birthdays are celebrated in the Confucian
Congregation 30
1.2 Major literature of the Confucian Congregation 31
3.1 List of the phoenix books produced by planchette writers of western
Yunnan, Eryuan and such places 104
7.1 Most commonly observed ritual activities in contemporary Confucius
temples 206
7.2 The impact of different economic structures on the way the temple
managements facilitate (or not) ritual activities 213
7.3 Commonalities of ritually rich temple sites 214
7.4 Density of ritual activities in Mainland Confucius temples 215
8.1 Situations of three ancestral halls 239
