How popular Confucianism became embarrassing

Focaal ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 2010 (58) ◽  
pp. 81-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans Steinmüller
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Cultural Revolution ◽  
Mao Zedong ◽  
Central China ◽  
The Public ◽  
Moral Principles ◽  
The Past ◽  
Everyday Action ◽  
Public Evaluation ◽  
Main Entrance

In the past, most farmhouses in central China had an ancestral shrine and a paper scroll with the Chinese letters for "heaven, earth, emperor, ancestors, and teachers" on the wall opposite the main entrance. The ancestral shrine and paper scroll were materializations of the central principles of popular Confucianism. This article deals with their past and present. It describes how in everyday action and in ritual this shrine marked a spatial and moral center. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) the ancestral shrines and paper scrolls were destroyed, and replaced by a poster of Mao Zedong. Although the moral principles of popular Confucianism were dismissed by intellectuals and politicians, Mao Zedong was worshipped in ways reminiscent of popular Confucian ritual. The Mao poster and the paper scroll stand for a continuity of a spatial-moral practice of centering. What has changed however is the public evaluation of such a local practice, and this tension can produce a double embarrassment. Elements of popular Confucianism (which had been forcefully denied in the past) remain somewhat embarrassing for many people in countryside. At the same time urbanites sometimes inversely perceive the Maoist condemnation of popular Confucianism as an awkward survival of peasant narrow-mindedness—all the more so as Confucian traditions are now reinvented and revitalized as cultural heritage.

scholarly journals Does the Law Determine What Heritage to Remember?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie-Sophie de Clippele
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
State Intervention ◽  
Historical Knowledge ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Political Will ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Law ◽  
Ideological Manipulation

AbstractCultural heritage can offer tangible and intangible traces of the past. A past that shapes cultural identity, but also a past from which one sometimes wishes to detach oneself and which nevertheless needs to be remembered, even commemorated. These themes of memory, history and oblivion are examined by the philosopher Paul Ricoeur in his work La mémoire, l’histoire, l’oubli (2000). Inspired by these ideas, this paper analyses how they are closely linked to cultural heritage. Heritage serves as a support for memory, even if it can be mishandled, which in turn can affect heritage policies. Memory and heritage can be abused as a result of wounds from the past or for reasons of ideological manipulation or because of a political will to force people to remember. Furthermore, heritage, as a vehicule of memory, contributes to historical knowledge, but can remain marked by a certain form of subjectivism during the heritage and conservation operation, for which heritage professionals (representatives of the public authority or other experts) are responsible. Yet, the responsibility for conserving cultural heritage also implies the need to avoid any loss of heritage, and to fight against oblivion. Nonetheless, this struggle cannot become totalitarian, nor can it deprive the community of a sometimes salutary oblivion to its own identity construction. These theoretical and philosophical concepts shall be examined in the light of legal discourse, and in particular in Belgian legislation regarding cultural heritage. It is clear that the shift from monument to heritage broadens the legal scope and consequently raises the question of who gets to decide what is considered heritage according to the law, and whether there is something such as a collective human right to cultural heritage. Nonetheless, this broadening of the legislation extends the State intervention into cultural heritage, which in turn entails certain risks, as will be analysed with Belgium’s colonial heritage.

Chinese Military Modernization in the 1980s

1982 ◽  
Vol 90 ◽  
pp. 231-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas W. Robinson
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Cultural Revolution ◽  
Additional Benefit ◽  
Mao Zedong ◽  
Economic Recovery ◽  
Military Strategy ◽  
General State ◽  
The Past ◽  
Military Modernization ◽  
Chinese Military

Since the deaths of Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai in 1976 and the ensuing concentration on the Four Modernizations, increased attention has been paid to whether, and to what extent, China will be able, or wish, to bring its military machine and its military strategy more closely in line with that of “advanced” countries. The term usually applied to this question is “military modernization.” Such a term possesses the advantage of pointing to how changes in military investments are related to the Chinese Communist Party's overall programme of general economic recovery after the Cultural Revolution and how military affairs fit into the Party's plans for the next two to three decades. Extending the meaning of the concept and relating it to the general state of China's political economy has the additional benefit of drawing attention away from exclusive emphasis on one component of Chinese military affairs, “people's war,” that overworked and by now sterile term to which both Chinese practitioners and western analysts were slave for the past four decades. “People's war” as a strategy and a useful concept continues, but it is no longer the umbrella term for understanding Chinese military issues. Indeed, it has been modified by the Chinese themselves, under the rubric” people's war under modern conditions.”

scholarly journals Archaeology in Public and Media: A short introduction to theoretical premises of the dialogue on heritage

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 597
Author(s):  
Ivan Vranić
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
General Public ◽  
Short Introduction ◽  
Active Participant ◽  
Global Trends ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Potential Problems ◽  
The Many ◽  
Social Memories

Along with many different definitions of archaeology, from the inception of the discipline to the present, it may be valid to assert that it is a kind of complex dialogue on heritage with the public of contemporary societies. In this dialogue, archaeologists have directly constructed social memories and modern identities, this being an exceptional responsibility, and have at the same time been susceptible to ethnocentric transfers of modern values and expectations into the images of the past. In this respect, it may well be said that the public is not only the most important consumer of cultural heritage, but also an active participant indirectly influencing the shaping of archaeological interpretations of the past. Thanks to the global trends in the discipline, but also due to the administrative decisions of the Ministry of Culture and Information, archaeology in Serbia is compelled to intensify contacts with the public and to make the results of our work more readily accessible and economically sustainable. The paper aims to offer a short overview of theoretical premises of various models of collaboration of archaeology and the public, to point to the advantages and shortcomings, as well as the consequences of these approaches, thus warning of the many potential problems stemming from the uncritical dissemination of information on the past and heritage to the general public.

From the Museums of Objects to the Virtual Museums

2015 ◽  
pp. 255-272
Author(s):  
Sonia Ferrari ◽  
Monica Gilli
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
The Public ◽  
Virtual Museums ◽  
The Past ◽  
Multimedia Technologies

This paper analyses the role played by the new multimedia technologies for the development of the offer of museums. The role of museums is changing: while in the past the goal of mere cataloguing and preservation prevailed, today these institutions are making efforts to increase the number of visitors and attract new segments of demand, as well as qualify their offer. It emerges, for all these reasons, the need to modify the positioning and the offering of cultural attractions, strengthening them in experiential terms. Therefore, in terms of management of cultural heritage it is necessary to focus on the ability to get closer to the public and to create richer and striking experiences for visitors through new technologies. The paper presents some of the most interesting cases of Italian audience-driven museums (Hopper-Greenhill, 1994) focused on innovative ITC support.

Third millennium changing times

2009 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 142-148
Author(s):  
Rita P. Wright
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Final Section ◽  
Early Years ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Third Millennium ◽  
Changing Times

Shannon Dawdy has presented us with a provocative dialogue on the question ‘is archaeology useful?’ In it, she forecasts a rather bleak future for our field, raising doubts about whether archaeology should be useful and whether it is ‘threatened with its own end-time’. Woven throughout her paper are major concerns about the use of archaeology for nationalistic ends and heritage projects which she deems fulfil the needs of archaeologists rather than those of the public they serve. In the final section of her paper, when she asks, ‘can archaeology save the world?’, Dawdy recommends that we reorient our research ‘away from reconstructions of the past and towards problems of the present’ (p. 140). In my contribution to this dialogue, I introduce an issue that reflects on cultural heritage, antiquities and artefact preservation, which, though they may seem antithetical, are closely aligned with Dawdy's concerns. As a prehistorian with a focus on the third millennium B.C. in the Near East and South Asia, I consider these issues to be the ‘big stories’ that have emerged in the early years of this third millennium, and those that speak directly to the usefulness of archaeology. Of course, it is not the only thing we do, but it is ‘useful’.

scholarly journals Solid As a Rock? An Ethnographical Study of the Management of Rock-carvings

2004 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-42
Author(s):  
Anders Gustafsson ◽  
Håkan Karlsson
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Heritage Management ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Specific Culture ◽  
Point Of Departure

This paper takes its point of departure in a critical and ethnographically directed discussion ofhow Swedish heritage management —in practiceconstructs, organises and presents the past (ke. , the cultural heritage) to the public at the rock-carvings in Tanum. This ethnographical approach is helpful when trying to move beyond the structures —and specific ways of viewing the world —that are a consequence of our own archaeological socialisation. Suddenly activities that, with an archaeological eye, seem to be completely normal, present themselves instead as peculiar examples of the culture ofcontemporary archaeology/heritage management. In this paper we present examples —derived from both the past and present —ofhow this specific culture approach handles and stages the rock-carvings in Tanum. It is stressed that, for various reasons and not least ethical and democratic ones, this culture and its rituals need to be examined even further from an ethnographical point of view

Part IV Procedural and Institutional Aspects, Ch.30 Alternative Dispute Settlement Mechanisms

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chechi Alessandro
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Dispute Resolution ◽  
Alternative Dispute Resolution ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Institutional Aspects ◽  
Alternative Dispute Settlement ◽  
Dispute Settlement Mechanisms

This chapter examines existing ‘Alternative Dispute Resolution’ (ADR) options—such as negotiation, mediation, conciliation, and arbitration—with a view to assessing their efficacy in relation to cultural heritage disputes. Indeed, even a cursory consideration of the practice reveals that the vast majority of restitution claims arising in the past few decades have been settled through such means. Admittedly, this is due to the fact that ADR procedures combine important virtues. The first advantage of ADR resides in the parties’ power to tailor the settlement process according to their interests and the circumstances of the dispute. Second, private settlement is likely to be speedier and cheaper. Third, these mechanisms provide for flexibility and creativity. Fourth, since disputes are resolved out of the public eye, extra-curial resolution ensures confidentiality. Lastly, ADR entails neutrality and fairness.

Slow Growth of Labour Productivity in Chinese Industry, 1952–81

1983 ◽  
Vol 96 ◽  
pp. 641-664 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Michael Field
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Revolution ◽  
Slow Growth ◽  
Labour Productivity ◽  
Chinese Economy ◽  
Mao Zedong ◽  
The Past ◽  
Chinese Industry ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Cultural Revolution

Since the death of Mao Zedong in the autumn of 1976, Beijing's economic advisers have been trying to explain what went wrong with the Chinese economy during the past 25 years and, in particular, why the growth of productivity has been so slow. Their findings are pieced together in the series shown in Tables 1 and 2. These Figures demonstrate the impact of the Leap Forward (1958–60), the Cultural Revolution (1966–69), and the final struggle against the “gang of four“ (1976).

scholarly journals Cultural Heritage Viability: An Example of Traditional Transport in Central Europe

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-44
Author(s):  
Aleš Smrčka
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Central Europe ◽  
Crucial Role ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Transport Modes ◽  
Modern Era

This paper focuses on traditional transport as a form of cultural heritage in Central Europe, looking at the modes of transport that are still viable today as a part of people’s lives and livelihoods, as well as strategies to ensure their survival. The importance of preserving the original purpose of traditional transport modes, as well as their acquisition of new functions in the modern era, are examined in the context of the sustainability and viability of cultural heritage. The article also highlights crucial role of promoting the visibility of cultural phenomena to the public in encouraging their protection and ongoing sustainability. It also draws attention to some less positive examples of how forms of traditional transport are currently presented, examining approaches that may lead to the alteration of traditions and the construction of distorted images of cultural heritage. In the conclusion, I propose distinguishing between forms of traditional transport that continue to maintain people’s livelihoods or generate entertainment, and forms which are merely reconstructions of traditional phenomena, intended only as imitations to recall the past

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