Confucianism

• And in "the Night of Rituals and Music", a music feast was brought by the Xiaoshao Music Troupe of the Confucius Museum.
• They played with dozens of musical instruments such as set of bells, chime stones, qin, se and chi, restored with reference to excavated musical instruments and artifacts.
• Confucius, a renowned philosopher, politician and educator in ancient China, was instrumental in promoting the rich traditions of ritual and music from the pre-Qin Period.
• This event will celebrate the legacy of Confucian virtues, the sophistication of ancient ceremonial practices, and the splendor of traditional Chinese fashion.

• Its swelling chorus of admirers now hails the tome as a culturally enlightening tour de force bound for widespread influence.
• Li Yiheng, author of the book published by Beijing Sage World Culture Communication Co., Ltd. in 2020, dedicated over two decades to his work.
• The culmination of these endeavors gave birth to The Wisdom of Life.
• The book emphasizes the ancient wisdom of China, encased in the profound theories of Confucianism, Taoism, and the Art of War, which will captivate the world's attention.

• As socialist countries and friendly neighbors, China and Vietnam have witnessed over seven decades of diplomatic ties with close bonds between the two peoples.
• Chinese Ambassador to Vietnam Xiong Bo told China Media Group that there are many favorable conditions for people-to-people exchanges between China and Vietnam.
• To boost mutual understanding and friendship between the two peoples, China and Vietnam have emphasized the importance of work on educational cooperation.
• Zheng Dawei, education counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam, said over 50 higher education institutions in Vietnam offer Chinese language departments or majors, with 15,000 students studying Chinese at the higher education level.

• The Chinese Communist Party has published regular communiques pushing Xi’s ideological line and When Marx met Confucius is the latest version of this propaganda drive.
• Its aim is to reconcile the regime’s official Marxist underpinnings with an appeal to a more specifically Chinese cultural heritage.
• This idea was introduced by Xi in July 2021, to mark the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party.
• Some analysts view Xi’s propaganda efforts through the lens of his steady encouragement of a cult of personality in China.

Challenges of legitimacy

• As Ci observes, the CCP “can have no other publicly avowable source of legitimacy than the one tied to its communist revolutionary past”.
• But this legitimacy was significantly weakened after the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989.
• But this performance legitimacy, relying heavily as it does on economic success, contains inherent vulnerabilities that could undermine the regime.

Lukewarm public response

• Outside of official endorsements, the film seems to have received few positive comments within China.
• Significantly, initial responses from two main ideological camps – the Maoists and the Confucianists – have diverged dramatically.
• So this attempt to promote “Xi Jingping thought” to the Chinese public appears to be a hard sell.

Tao Zhang does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.