Confucians vs. Christmas

Ten PhD students from some of China’s top universities issued a letter this week in which they called for a rejection of Christmas and an increased awareness of traditional Chinese culture. China Daily offers a brief summary of the document here, and there’s a nice discussion going on at Granite Studio.

The letter offers a long list of complaints about the holiday: people don’t really know what it means, it’s an encroachment on traditional Chinese holidays by western “soft-power,” why should China roll over when even Europe is resisting “American-style” commercialized Christmas, China is gradually becoming a Christian nation, and so forth. It’s not all complaints, however – the scholars put forth some suggestions, most of which echo recent calls for a revival of Confucianism and traditional learning. Some excerpts:

2. Within the bounds of respecting the freedom of religious belief and the framework of the law, the government should review and make appropriate standards for the increasing popularity of the “Christmas craze” in shops, restaurants, hotels, the Internet, in newspapers, on TV, on the radio, and in schools. In particular, we believe that the on-campus, collective celebration of Christmas by students from kindergarten through college out of ignorance and a pursuit of fashion, even to the point of teacher-organized celebrations of Christmas among students, violates both the constitutional principle that religion must not “be an obstacle to the national education system” and the educational principle of “separation of education and religion,” and we therefore urge the government to be highly vigilant and tighten its standards.

4. Reflecting on traditional misperceptions of the issue of religion, understanding the vaue and function of religion in a positive light, and recognizing humanity’s concern for the ultimate, pursuit of transcendence, and the innate desire and reasonable appeal for communal, religious, spiritual, and cultural life, there is a need to respect the faith of China’s believers in western religions like Christianity, and an even greater need for an appropriate excavation of uses for native Chinese religions like Buddhism and Daoism. In particular, the need exists for a full development of the religious use in society of Confucianism, which was the backbone of traditional Chinese culture throughout history; a high degree of attention should be paid to current efforts to revive Confucianism in contemporary society, and there needs to be active promotion of the rebuilding and revival of Confucianism.

The author of the petition, Wang Dasan, has already received his PhD, so he did not sign it himself. In an explanation released the day after the petition was printed in New Express, Wang described how he toned down his own considerably more extreme views to arrive at a statement that ten doctoral students (originally twenty) were willing to sign. The letter, for example, states outright that “we uphold religious tolerance and freedom of religion, and we have no intent to exclude [Christianity].” Wang, on the other hand, believes that rejecting Christianity is essential for a renaissance of Confucianism.

Last year, Wang posted a “Notice to the Chinese people concerning the so-called ‘Christmas’ problem” in which he recommended overhauling the Chinese terminology for all things related to Christianity. Like any hard-core guoxue supporter, he wrote the notice in literary Chinese. The same ideas appear in this year’s petition, where Wang writes in the vernacular to gain a wider audience:

1. Those who do not adhere to “Jesusism” (耶教) should follow the practice of 1920s and 30s China and contemporary Hong Kong and Taiwan; instead of using names like “Christ” (基督), “Christianity” (基督教), “Holy Bible” (圣经), “Christmas” (圣诞节), and “Christmas Tree” (圣诞树) for things that are holy only to Christians, they should use words that do not have any emotional tone or reverential implication, such as “Jesus” (耶酥), “Jesusism”, “Jesus Scriptures” (耶经), “Jesus’ Birthday” (耶诞节) and “Jesus’ Birthday Tree” (耶诞树). They should in no way, whether intentional or unintentional, observe “Jesus’ Birthday” and they should not send “Jesus’ Birthday” SMS, letters, cards, or gifts. They should not take part in “Jesus’ Birthday” get-togethers or parties. They should not worship or pray at “Jesusist Churches.”

It’s somewhat ironic that when the letter was printed in New Express, the carefully-chosen term “耶诞节” in the title and throughout the text was replaced with the more common “圣诞节” that the scholars reject.

Update: A later Danwei post has comments by media professionals who discuss bans on reporting about foreign holidays.