Last weeks speaker..*Reawakening the true Chinese culture*
Caption for Confucius photo:
Confucius, who lived around 500 BC, taught the five cardinal virtues of
benevolence, justice, propriety, wisdom, and integrity. His teachings
provided a complete framework for the relationship of the individual to
family and government in human society.
*Reawakening the true Chinese culture*
China was once known as the Land of the Divine because the Chinese
people believed their culture was a gift from the heavens. In ancient
times, the teachings of Lao Zi and Confucius, as well as those of
Buddhism, had a profound effect on Chinese culture. The ethical values
derived from these teachings played an essential role in establishing
and maintaining morality in China — so much so that over time, Chinese
culture spawned a rich and profound system of traditional values.
Unfortunately, this rich 5,000-year-old culture was brought to the brink
of extinction when the Chinese Communist Party came to power in
1949. To accommodate its atheistic ideology, the Party, through the
Great Cultural Revolution and other campaigns, systematically eradicated
traditional Chinese culture, demonizing it as superstition.
However, tradition is called tradition because it has a magic way of
staying in people’s heart and waiting to be awakened. And that is what
has been taking place through two phenomena: a form of Qigong rooted in
ancient Chinese culture called Falun Gong that has spread around the
world, and a performing arts company based in New York called Shen Yun
Performing Arts, which tours internationally showcasing the true Chinese
culture. Thankfully, both of these will ensure that the excellent values
and traditions of ancient China will not be lost.
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