The irony of Beijing's sudden love for all things Confucian, after the Communist Party tried for decades to eradicate all traces of the "feudal" Chinese thinker, needs no pointing out.
Perhaps feeling guilty about the shoddy treatment old Kongzi got until recently, one school in Henan Province has bolted to the opposite extreme: forcing students to wake up every morning at 5am and kowtow (i.e. prostrate so low they bang their heads on the ground) to a statue of the fifth-century BC philosopher.
"Their reverence for their ancestral safes is entirely voluntarily," a spokesperson form the school has said, insisting that they do not force students to take part in the ceremony. Those who chose not to participate, however, could expect to be "severely criticized" at school assemblies.
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The school, Baofeng County First High School in Pingdingshan, says that they also requires students to read from the Tao Te Ching in the mornings, leading to some confusion amongst netizens.
"Did I see that correctly?" the top comment asked. "They're bowing to Confucius but reading the Tao Te Ching [sacred text of Taoism]. No wonder students these days don't test well: their bodies are in Confucius's ethics while their hearts are in Lao-tze's doctrine of inaction."
Several commenters were of the opinion that studying more of ancient Chinese civilization was a positive thing, but that this school just took things too far. Others were more blunt, however - another top comment simply read, "This principal and the teachers are all just slaves."
[Images via Sina]
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