Well, we won. I and my charming co-speaker Grace Wang did the biz at last night's Confucius debate at Bloomsbury's Ah King restaurant.
Chaired by Peng Wenlan of the Meridian Society, it was an enjoyable evening for some sixty plus with good food and conversation only hampered by a dodgy microphone. Jenny and Laurence who supported the motion, This House believes Confucianism is the Chinese way of life, put up a spirited argument if a bit overdependent on the woolly notions of "morality", "goodness" and "happiness" which I pointed out could usually be rendered through drugs, so I'm told.
Grace and I were shooting fish in a barrel, especially as we'd done our research. Oh, and I won a nice black T-shirt emblazoned with the Chinese character, yi, meaning righteousness.
3 comments:
I'd be interested to know if you are familiar with the PRC-funded Confucius Centers, which promote 'official' Chinese culture around the world. If so, what is your take on them? I ask because there is one pending/proposed in my area.
Hi John,
No, I don't know about these Centres. I'm just deeply suspicious of the way that Confucius is rolled out whenever a ruling regime wants to cement its power. If you're busy respecting your elders no questions asked, you're being hard-wired to accept rule by "superiors", no questions asked.
Where is the area you mention?
Can we correspond off-list on this(for reasons connected with my employment)? If so, you have my email. If this violates protocol, I understand.
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