TAIWANFEST

TAIWANFEST Scholar raises red flag over official Confucianism

by Charlie Smith

This is the 2,500th year since the death of Confucius, one of the most influential thinkers in human history. This month, his birthday will be celebrated as “Teachers’ Day” in Taiwan and at festivals in many parts of the People’s Republic of China on September 28.

But Confucius’s teachings are widely misunderstood, according to Josephine Chiu-Duke, a professor of Chinese intellectual history at the University of British Columbia.

“If we want to understand what Confucian teaching is all about, the number one thing we have to distinguish is between what scholars in the field would call ‘classical Confucianism’ and ‘Confucianism as a state ideology’—in other words, ‘official Confucianism’,” Chiu-Duke told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview.

In an online presentation at this year’s TAIWANfest in Vancouver, Duke will explain why the difference between classical and official Confucianism is extremely important for the world. Because official Confucianism strongly influences the thinking of the authoritarian leaders of the People’s Republic of China, this has profound implications for human liberty.

Classical Confucianism refers to the teachings of Confucius and the secondmost-important Confucian scholar, Mencius, who lived from 372 BCE to 289 BCE. Confucius and Mencius both advocated for a “reciprocal relationship” between the ruler and the people, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives.

“In The Book of Mencius, Mencius even talks about if the ruler treated you like a stranger—if the ruler treats you like dirt— you can treat him like an enemy,” ChiuDuke said. “And Mencius even said it is all right to kill a tyrant. So tyrannicide is justified in Mencius’s teachings.”

Official Confucianism, which emerged under the strong-willed Emperor Wu Ti in the second and first centuries BCE, claimed to be based on Confucian teaching. Chiu-Duke acknowledged that the emperor retained the Confucian concept of the Mandate of Heaven, which bestows power on a just ruler as the “Son of Heaven”. Under this principle, the ruler could be overthrown if he was unworthy and lost this mandate, which would be reflected in natural disasters that would be followed by justifiable revolts.

But Chiu-Duke also said that official Confucianism reflected the “legalistic teaching” of the Western Han dynasty court under Emperor Wu’s reign.

Chiu-Duke maintained that this official Confucianism “absolutized” the relationship between the emperor and subjects, rulers and minister, fathers and sons, and husbands and wives.

“The minister is bound by the ruler and so on and so forth,” she said. ”In other words, the reciprocal relationship between ministers and rulers, sons and fathers, and wife and husband no longer exists.”

Chiu-Duke pointed out that official Confucianism was a compromise between the Han dynasty and Confucian scholars. Emperor Wu would have never accepted Mencius’s advocacy for tyrannicide for rulers who stepped out of line.

However, by establishing Confucianism as state ideology, the Western Han dynasty ensured that anybody who wanted to enter government service had to familiarize themselves with five texts then established as the five Confucian classics.

“They also rely on these classics as the source to judge the dynastic political affairs and even rely on these kind of textual sources to try legal cases,” Chiu-Duke said.

She emphasized that classical Confucianism imposes a moral obligation on the ruler to improve the well-being of the people. And she suggested that this doesn’t exist to anywhere near the same degree in official Confucianism.

In addition, she said, classical Confucianism scholars promoted a belief in “moral autonomy”.

“When they talk about moral autonomy, it already has the implication of personal choice,” Chiu-Duke said. “It already has this idea of free choice, even though they did not use that kind of concept or words to express the modern idea of freedom and human rights. I think this is really important.”

Chinese officials cite Confucius to promote deference to the state, but UBC’s Josephine Chiu-Duke points out that classical Confucianism endorses rebellion when it’s justified. Photo by Erika Wittlieb.

And Mencius even said it is all right to kill a tyrant. So tyrannicide is justified in Mencius’s teachings.

– UBC professor of Chinese intellectual history Josephine Chiu-Duke

MOREOVER, CHIU-DUKE said that throughout history until modern times, educated Chinese people tried to stick with classical Confucian principles as espoused by Confucius and Mencius when trying to protest against abusive leaders.

For example, she noted that even though the May 4 student movement in 1919 appeared outwardly to want to overthrow everything traditional, the way they acted on behalf of Chinese people and Chinese society reflected the spirit of classical Confucianism.

The same tradition was on display with the student protests in Tiananmen Square, which was crushed by the People’s Liberation Army on June 3 and 4, 1989, on the orders of the Chinese government.

Even in Mao’s era, Chiu-Duke said, there were heavily persecuted scholars whose writings, which were revealed after committing suicide, reflected the spirit of classical Confucianism.

The same spirit has existed in Taiwan and was on display in the struggle to end authoritarian rule in the four decades following the Second World War and bring about democracy.

In 2014, the Sunflower student-movement demonstrators in Taiwan railed against a trade pact with China. Chiu-Duke said that most of these students were probably not aware that they weren’t the first generation to fight for democracy in Taiwan.

“But scholars certainly know,” she declared. “And many scholars who teach at university in Taiwan…are aware of this important tradition of protest in Chinese history. And that history has been preserved the best in Taiwan. And you see the result of that tradition in Taiwan.”

This is one reason why Chiu-Duke thinks the world should be paying far more attention to Taiwan: because it is where classical Confucian concepts—”one of the most valuable civilizational values”—have been preserved.

“And not just preserved,” she added, “but really practised in people’s daily life, whether they are aware of it or not. So Taiwan, in my view, is sort of a symbol of civilization.”

Taiwan was the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage. It has a vibrant film, music, and arts sector and a strong environmental ethic, which is reflected in the country’s ability to grow its economy while reducing greenhouse-gas emissions. And it remains one of the most democratic societies on Earth.

“This is something so precious,” ChiuDuke said. “I think it’s not just for people in Taiwan. This is something our community, our society—and free society in any corner of the world—should be aware of. This is really what I believe.”

Chiu-Duke conceded that she wasn’t truly conscious of all of this until about nine or 10 years ago. But this realization came to her as a result of observing the struggle of Hong Kong people for more liberty from the People’s Republic of China rulers.

“Hong Kong people inspired me so much,” Chiu-Duke said. “They really are something. I think that even they themselves surprised themselves.

“In a sense,” she continued, “people’s longing for justice—people’s longing for freedom—is such that it really touches you.” g

Josephine Chiu-Duke will deliver an online presentation entitled Confucius or Confusions at TAIWANfest, which runs from September 2 to 12. For more information, visit VancouverTAIWANfest.ca.

Publisher recalls fight over Taiwan trade deal with China

by Carlito Pablo

As Canadians gear up to choose a new government on September 20, many may think that casting a ballot is all there is to democracy.

Although voting is a cornerstone of a representative system, elections are but one component of a democratic society.

As Taiwanese publisher Rex How notes, democracy is not simply a political arrangement. It’s a way of life.

“It’s a lifestyle,” How told the Straight via Zoom from Taipei, “and in this lifestyle, we have to know how to speak to each other. We should know each others’ interests, and then how to share and exchange them.”

How, an author as well, shared his views in advance of his talk on September 4 as part of this year’s TAIWANFest celebration in Vancouver.

He considers reading to be “so important to democacy, because the essence of what democracy is how do we speak ourselves and how we listen to others and understand each other”.

How noted that he is a believer of John Dewey, an American political thinker and educator. In his 1916 book Democracy and Education: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Education, Dewey wrote: “A democracy is more than a form of government; it is primarily a mode of associated living, of conjoint communicated experience.”

In Dewey’s view, an “undesirable society” is “one which internally and externally sets up barriers to free intercourse and communication of experience”.

This is why How believes that a wellread citizenry and a democratic society are vital to each other.

“In every system opposite to democracy, the people in power want to control the souls of others, and the way to control the others’ souls is to let them know only a certain amount of knowledge,” he said.

For How, reading is not only a means see page 12

The final way is I have to resign and I have to be a protester.

– publisher Rex How

TAIWANFEST New book tells TAIWANfest maestro’s story

by Charlie Smith

Last year, the managing director of the Asian-Canadian Special Events Association created a great deal of discussion in the Taiwanese diaspora by writing a commentary in the Georgia Straight.

The piece was entitled “I’m a Taiwanese Canadian, not a Chinese Canadian”. In it, Charlie Wu discussed some of the complexities of his identity—and why he refuses to be pigeonholed as being Chinese.

The article is one of many ways in which Wu has promoted Taiwanese culture and raised the profile of Taiwanese Canadians in Canada. This advocacy led the Taiwanese-Canadian Association to recently grant Wu with its Outstanding TaiwaneseCanadian Award for 2021.

Wu, the senior organizer behind TAIWANfest in Vancouver, has also been recognized in Taiwan for the way he’s reshaping Canadians’ perceptions about the independent East Asian island nation.

Gūsa, a Taiwanese publisher, will soon release a new book, Taiwan: The World’s Answer (a direct translation of the Chinese-language title), which tells of Wu’s experiences with the festival. He dictated it to writer Sisi Chang and it was translated by Kai-Chun Huang.

“While the book is written for the Taiwanese people in Taiwan or around the world, I really want to thank every Canadian who might have played a role in this journey to find my identity,” Wu told the Straight. “I am also very proud and honoured to tell the world that Canada is the best place in the world to discover who you really are.”

Wu left Taiwan when he was 15. He readily admitted that as a young man, many of his views about his country of birth were “one-sided” because he was educated in a school system overseen by an authoritarian Kuomintang government. It was a creation of Chinese nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek, whose supporters fled with him from China to Taiwan after losing the Chinese Civil War to the Communists.

The book highlights how TAIWANfest’s partnerships with various East Asian countries in successive years helped Wu understand how diverse Taiwan really is. Through the arts and culture presented at TAIWANfest, he learned much more about how Taiwan has been shaped by the influences of many other countries, including Vietnam, the Philippines, South Korea, and Hong Kong—as well as by former colonizers such as Japan and mainland China.

The book relies on examples from different years of TAIWANfest to reinforce Wu’s outward-looking, inclusive, and contemporary philosophy. For Wu, relevance trumps tradition at TAIWANfest because he’s focused on building events that reinforce connections between people of all ages to their heritage and the broader community.

Asian-Canadian Special Events Association managing director Charlie Wu is looking forward to his ghost-written new book and the return of live TAIWANfest events. Photo by Shimon Karmel.

We’re about being a platform where conversations and dialogues can take place…

– TAIWANfest organizer Charlie Wu

This explains why Taiwanese pop bands like Mayday and Sorry Youth, as well as fashion and visual arts, have played such a big part in TAIWANfest over the years.

Another way to remain relevant came when traditional Chinese medicine practitioners offered treatments to passersby on Granville Street in prepandemic times. Other pre-COVID-19 festival hallmarks included the sharing of food at different venues and the Taiwan Bookstore on Granville Street.

“We’re about being a platform where conversations and dialogues can take place with other communities,” Wu said.

THEN THERE’S THE Indigenous history of Taiwan, which parallels many aspects of Canada’s Indigenous history. Over several years, Wu has gone to great lengths through TAIWANfest and another festival, LunarFest, to forge trans-Pacific connections between Indigenous peoples on both sides of the ocean.

“What the book is trying to convey to the readers in Taiwan is this is a great time: Taiwan is democratic,” Wu said. “We actually should perhaps come up with a new narrative about Taiwan going forward. We can do the same here in Canada. It’s a Taiwanese story, but it’s an exercise that every single community could do, especially the newcomers’ communities.”

The Taipei-based editor of Wu’s book, Joshua Wang, told the Straight by phone that Taiwan’s identity and nationality have never been very clear, which is why Wu’s story is so timely. The country has long been under pressure from the much larger People’s Republic of China, which denies the reality of the island nation’s independence.

According to Wang, Wu repeatedly emphasized in the book that Taiwan’s residents have to shatter the framework around how they understand their country.

“Charlie Wu encourages us, a lot, to resist the idea that there is only one China and there is only one type of Taiwanese,” Wang said. “Usually, we tend to think that Taiwanese have the same face. Actually, Taiwan is very diversified. Just like any other country and other cultures, it always changes.”

In this regard, it’s similar to Canada. Wu noted that the way diversity is celebrated in Canada offered him an opportunity to engage in difficult conversations and be exposed to unconventional perspectives, which helped him in his reflections on his own identity.

“Many years ago, an Indigenous elder told me that reconciliation in Canada isn’t just about the very first peoples on this land; it is about finding their own way to reconcile with everyone’s own past,” Wu related. “It was in a conversation with Japanese Canadian author Terry Watada that I realized there are different meanings of being hyphenated in Canada.”

Canadian theatre artist Sangeeta Wylie shared her empathy for the Vietnamese boat people, which was reflected in her play we the same. That influenced Wu’s thinking about Vietnamese people in Taiwan when he formed a partnership with that country for one edition of TAIWANfest.

And it was Vancouver police officer Darren Ramdour, who’s of Mauritian ancestry, “who approached me in his uniform and told me with a serious face that TAIWANfest should have an edition to dialogue with Africa”. “I witnessed the beauty of people coming together for each other,” Wu declared. g