Neo-Whatever

October 1, 2010

Until recently, I’d never heard of neo-Confucianism.  

My first thought was, “Is this some sort of twisted form of neo-Nazism or neo-conservatism that the West imported to China?”

Freedom to the extreme is the American way. In fact, most Americans may not realize that there is a Nationalist Socialist Movement (Nazis) in America that worships Hitler and annually gathers to protest.


An American Nazi

At this point, you may be having images of Nazi storm troopers invading France and Russia or Hitler promoting terrorism while gassing Jews by the millions in concentration camps.

To learn more about this American homegrown fascist group see Nazis Exposed.

Then there are America’s neo-conservatives. These people want to export America’s current form of democracy and commercialism to the world using the U.S. military along with bullets and missiles. They brought us the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The good news is that there is nothing to worry about. Neo-Confucianism is not a radical threat to freedom leading to wars and concentration camps.

Leiden University says, “The rise and development of neo-Confucianism is the most important intellectual phenomena in China in the last millennium.”

Neo-Confucianism developed during the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties and still represents the core of ethics and attitudes toward life and even worldviews for modern Chinese in many fundamental ways.

Unlike the American neo-Nazis and American neo-conservatives, who are so much into violence and hate, Chinese neo-Confucianism is into keeping a good balance between the practical and the ideal, the secular and the holy.

See The Life of Confucius

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

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SONG DYNASTY (960 – 1279 AD) – Part 6/6

September 30, 2010

Movable type printing became widespread in the Song Dynasty and played an important role in the cultural development of the time.

The shape of books also changed. During the Tang Dynasty, books were rolled. However, with movable type, books were printed in volumes similar to modern books.

Han Qi, a research fellow for today’s Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes that the development of Neo-Confucianism during the Song Dynasty was due to the widespread availability of printed books.

Printed book also promoted the development of science, technology and education.

During the Song Dynasty, both private and public school developed quickly. About 300 schools focused on education, teaching and book printing.

Some schools had math and physics departments.

This was also the age of the scholar-bureaucrat. A scholar from an impoverished background could become a member of the higher-social class through imperial examinations.

China was also the first country to introduce bronze-block printing for advertisements.

It is widely believed that without government support for the sciences, it would have been difficult to achieve the progress that took place at this time.

Return to Song Dynasty – Part 5

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar