Culture shift

LAST fall, on the eve of Confucius' birthday (Sept. 28) and the International Confucius Culture Festival, I visited several of China's 2,000 Confucian temples, including a palatial complex in Qufu, the sage's hometown, one of the three great examples of classical Chinese architecture. What struck me in conversation with the locals was not how much they revered their ancient philosopher but how practical his teachings have become in hypercapitalist China.

This revival is the subject of political philosopher Daniel A. Bell's trenchant and surprisingly personal "China's New Confucianism." Bell was the first foreigner hired since the Cultural Revolution to teach humanities at Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University; one of the few Western professors in the country, he enjoys a unique outsider/insider perspective. His book ties the resurgence of a Confucian ethics rooted in self-examination and a moral social order to the changes overtaking China's political structure. And it reveals Bell's own journey of self-discovery, as he embraces those kernels of Confucian principle that steer him toward "the good life" as teacher, father, husband and long-term foreign resident in China.

Evidence of a Confucian comeback is everywhere: in the boom in secondary-school and university courses on Confucian classics and in "an explosion of conferences and books on Confucianism." Yu Dan's self-help-styled "Reflections on the 'Analects' of Confucius" (2006), for example, has sold more than 10 million copies and attracted more literary attention, Bell jokes, than anything since Mao's Little Red Book. Spacious, family-oriented "Confucian" architecture is on the rise. And the Confucius Institute, a Chinese language and cultural center, had 140 campuses in 36 countries as of mid-2007.

Bell's book, which grew out of a series of essays in Dissent, is written in a loose, conversational tone and peppered with pithy sayings of Confucius. ("Do not impose on others what you yourself do not want"; "Filial and fraternal responsibility is the root of humanity and compassion.") Focusing on a few examples -- the humane attitude toward karaoke-club prostitution, efforts to tame nationalism and improve sportsmanship in advance of the Olympics, a more balanced relationship between employers and the 120 million migrant workers -- Bell shows that the 6th century BC philosopher is an ever more useful guide for dealing with the complexities confronting modern China. Communist Party officials are judged by adherence to such Confucian values as filial piety and family responsibility (many dye their hair black, because Confucius teaches that white-haired people shouldn't have to work).