The Confucius Cult: Historical Retrospective
The Confucius Cult: Historical Retrospective
Chapter 7 starts the third part of the book dedicated to the “teaching of rites” (lijiao). This Chinese category is used to tackle a number of issues that range from religion to politics and the intertwinement between the two. In order to provide a background for the fieldwork detailed in subsequent chapters—Confucius ceremonies taking place each year in the city of Qufu, birthplace of the sage—chapter 7 introduces both the cult of Confucius in China and the local situation in Qufu during three different historical periods: (1) the imperial period; (2) the republican and Maoist eras; (3) the thirty years of reform and opening. Thus, it is possible to better understand the context in which large state-sponsored ceremonies to honor Confucius and other tutelary figures of Chinese civilization now take place again.
Keywords: Confucius cult, Qufu, state cults, sacrificial rites, tourism, ideology
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