Now what kind of society, why do you still have to bow down in some places?

Bow down, commonly known as kowtow, is subdivided into names such as "kowtow" and "nod". Its main function is to show respect to elders and people with low and high status. As a conventional traditional social symbol, the meaning of bow is very complicated in real life, even including respect, gratitude, submission, begging for permission, inferiority and other meanings. It is hard to say when this kind of etiquette began, but the undeniable fact is that it is a common and very important etiquette in ancient China society. Since the violent collision between Chinese and Western cultures in the last century, the worship ceremony, like many other traditional rituals, has been swept away and disillusioned under the impact of social waves such as "New Culture Movement" and "Breaking the Four Classics", and has withdrawn from the historical stage of China.

It is not completely extinct. Because except for some religious fields (such as Buddhism) and special occasions such as funeral and ancestor worship, this behavior is still a living reality in some areas. For example, in many rural areas in the southwest of Shandong Province, the author's hometown, there is still the custom of the younger generation visiting and kowtowing to their elders after the Spring Festival. Personally, I have been particularly resistant to this matter in recent years. Civilized people who think they have read books should stop going with the flow (Ba Jin, the writer at that time, even vowed in his heart that he would "not kneel to anyone"). But people can't help spending the New Year in their hometown. In particular, my mother has to tell me this over and over again in a serious way every time (she even reminds others to kowtow). I struggled, hesitated and worried about this, but I thought that I was at home less all the year round, so why should I make my mother unhappy for such a trivial matter? Finally, I passively obeyed. Needless to say, I strongly disapprove of this kind of bow ceremony. It's just that year after year, habit becomes nature, and I'm no longer entangled in this matter. Some people just have the mentality of doing as the Romans do. In all fairness, this rural etiquette has a little effect of increasing feelings and strengthening unity. For example, there are two families in the community that are not harmonious. Take advantage of the festival to kowtow to each other's elders and exchange pleasantries, and the relationship will be much easier. After all, this custom is rare in China today. When I was studying in the south, I told my roommates about it. They were dumbfounded, as if they didn't believe there was such an ignorant community in the world.

A high school in Henan requires students to kneel down to Confucius and read the book of sages every day (data map)

This personal example is intended to show that this kind of bowing behavior is a legacy of folk social history. It is not unreasonable for you to say that this is a stereotype or a mere formality, but it is probably irrelevant to say that this reflects a "servile personality" and a "bow mentality". Generally speaking, this custom is also on the decline in our local area, and may really disappear in a generation or two.

There is a saying that "feng shui turns". In recent years, with the rise of "Sinology fever", some traditional etiquette that has been silent for many years has gradually recovered. It is worth pondering that this kind of recovery does not appear in "backward" rural areas, but in some large and medium-sized cities with relatively high "civilization". A group of cultural people who respect tradition are consciously advocating it and even becoming a fashion. Among many ceremonies, perhaps because the worship ceremony is the most symbolic, focusing on the value conflict between ancient and modern civilizations, it is most likely to attract media attention and social hot discussion. For example, a school organizes teachers and students to worship Confucius, children in a community collectively worship their parents, students in a certain industry collectively worship Master, and people in a certain place publicly worship officials. Once such incidents are reported, they often make the world look askance. Therefore, whether modern people should suddenly bow down has become a sharp social topic.

As far as the opposition is concerned, there is a school of thought that is very firm, that modern people should never kneel under any circumstances, and even that organizing worshippers is a violation of human rights. The reason is that the bow ceremony is the product of autocratic culture, which can only show the slave personality cultivated by feudal ethics. As modern citizens, we should pursue equality and dignity in personality. In the case that the so-called "enlightenment" has not been completed, how can this decadent ethical code, which embodies the hierarchical system, be revived? Some views are moderate, thinking that it is okay to bow down voluntarily, but after all, it is backward. It is very inappropriate to bow down in public in an organized way, which goes against the historical trend and must be opposed. There is an article entitled "Should I criticize the worship of Confucius?" -It's not easy to stand up. Why should you kneel down? This is the view of the interviewee Mr. Sun Liqun.

On the contrary, supporters believe that the content must be given the necessary form, otherwise it is not enough to show its content. Since bowing is a long-standing cultural tradition, which represents humility, gratitude and respect, restoring this etiquette is not only a manifestation of servile personality, but also an awakening of virtue. People today should be "stigmatized" and "desensitized" to bow down. Facing ghosts and gods, ancient sages, parents and teachers, they raised and educated you. Why not kneel on some occasions? How can it damage your personal dignity? For those who hold this view, "some people kneel down, but feel the earth moving;" Although some people are standing, they are always lying down. "On certain occasions, not kneeling is not enough to fully express your reverence and gratitude! They believe that this ancient ceremony should be revived appropriately at the moment of "ritual collapse and bad music", even if it seems "exaggerated" or "unusual", or bears the notoriety of "grandstanding" and "servility has not changed"

Of course, quite a few people hold a middle position. I think today is a pluralistic society. It is personal freedom not to kneel, and there is nothing wrong with kneeling. There is no need to make a fuss, just feel at ease. Some people even think that form is not important, but content is important, and even move out of Confucius' "Nothing is impossible". But this kind of lofty and broad-minded discussion cannot solve the confusion of ordinary people in society.

Personally, I think that it is not only completely unnecessary to advocate bowing on a large scale at the social level, especially compulsory bowing, but also counterproductive and easy to arouse people's antipathy to traditional culture. As the saying goes, "singing a beloved old song, no one cares anymore", and bowing your head is something that people today easily refuse to do. The "anti-tradition" in the past 100 years deserves reflection and rectification, but cultural reconstruction is not "flipping the pie". It is necessary to restore everything that was knocked down before. To carry forward excellent traditional culture, we should know what is a "dead sentence" and what is a "living sentence" like a Zen master. Since bowing has less positive value in most people's minds, it is better to spend more energy on other aspects than letting them reproduce the big end of etiquette in their daily lives. Even if you honor your parents and respect your teachers, you can be flexible in form. For example, in some solemn occasions, it is enough to bow or even bow, and it is not necessary to kneel. Because the latter is inconvenient and unsanitary, others may feel uncomfortable. Some people insist on inheriting the so-called "intangible cultural heritage" in the worship ceremony, which is a bit archaic and almost pedantic. Some people even advocate that bowing is a great invention of the ancients, saying that kowtowing not only makes people know humility and gratitude, but also can reconcile the internal organs, which is an excellent physical and mental exercise method. This is a bit funny. In any case, all kinds of objections in society have warned people who sincerely carry forward traditional culture that it is unnecessary to compete with the public with a strong attitude in a specific link. It's disgusting enough that you can't see some famous stars and accept the performance of so-called disciples bowing down. As for those who kneel to officials, it is even more necessary to beat gongs and drums.

Most people who support the revival of traditional etiquette are scholars who study and get close to Confucianism. But at this point, there are different voices in Confucian circles, and even many strong opponents. For example, Mr. Huang Yushun, who preached "Life Confucianism", wrote the article "The Sorrow of Confucius-The Witness of Collective Bowing to Confucius". This paper aims at the incident that a middle school in Henan organized students to bow down to Confucius collectively, and the critical article "How to carry forward traditional culture with a bow-down mentality" published by People's Daily. While agreeing with Mr. Zhang's article, Mr. Huang felt that Zhang's literary theory was not sufficient, so he wrote an article in person and criticized the collective worship of Confucius from three aspects: "against Confucius' thought", "against Confucianism's principles" and "Confucius-worshipping phenomenon embodies Confucius-worshipping culture".

Teacher Huang opposes the collective worship of Confucius in schools for three main reasons. First, Confucius "kept silent about the Machamp Rebellion" and advocated "keeping away from ghosts and gods". This idolatry of Confucius goes against Confucius' own thoughts. Secondly, the bow-down ceremony in patriarchal society is something that is "pre-modernity", "contrary to modern lifestyle" and "contrary to the value of modern civilization". Therefore, the collective worship of Confucius, on the surface, seems to respect Confucius, but in essence it violates the principle that Confucianism advocates gains and losses due to reform and keeps pace with the times. Third, collective bowing is an act of "groveling". Organizing collective prostration violates the constitution that "the state respects and protects human rights" and infringes on citizens' freedom of religious belief. At the end of the article, Mr. Huang also wrote the conclusion that "Confucius knows the underground, but he is not sad."

As mentioned above, the author originally did not support the comprehensive revival of bow-down etiquette. But after reading Mr. Huang's "criticism", I don't agree with it, but I have sympathy for the collective worship of Confucius. The reasons can also be summarized as three aspects:

First, Mr. Huang lacks an objective evaluation of "bowing down" etiquette. Based on Mr. Huang's academic education, we should weigh the pros and cons to enhance the power of argument. As a traditional gift, bowing is an important part of Chinese etiquette system. It has existed for thousands of years. How can there be no positive value, or even the sympathy of Mr. Huang? Even if Mr. Huang opposes the "collective worship of Confucius" itself (especially the school's "clinging" behavior), he should always write a few positive words for this etiquette. Why did he demonize it, equate it with women's bad habit of "foot-binding" and label it "servility" and "feudalism" so that it could not be revived after all? Personally, I feel that Mr. Huang has not come out of the so-called "ethics" in the past hundred years, and he is too sensitive to "bow down" to have the above views. Mr. Huang Can loudly questioned "Is tradition reasonable?" We can also boldly question Mr. Huang: Is it necessary to bow down and "violate the modern lifestyle"? Is it necessary for schools to organize collective worship of Confucius "against the value of modern civilization"? According to Mr. Huang's thinking, some people in East Asia, such as Japanese and Koreans, should not die of shame, because Korean students will bow their heads after graduation, and Japanese will still bow their heads in real life. The Japanese are undoubtedly the group with the strongest "servility", the least emphasis on freedom and equality and even the worst civilized quality in the world.

Second, the collective worship of Confucius does not necessarily violate the principles of Confucianism. As Mr. Huang pointed out, "gain and loss due to reform" is one of the important spirits of Confucianism. This is also the reason why the author generally opposes the resurrection of collapse. However, because of the gains and losses of leather, there are both "causes" and "benefits" and "leather" and "losses", so we can't just emphasize one side. If Mr. Huang criticizes the officials who bow down, our generation is naturally no different. But teachers and students "bow down to Confucius" on specific occasions, after all, is very different from the behavior of worshipping officials (the latter can be "reformed"). Especially in the absence of etiquette system with national characteristics, how should teachers and students express their admiration for Confucius, a great man? At this point, can we give full play to Confucius' spirit of "disobeying the masses and obeying the lower classes"? Let's take the Teacher's Day of a school as an example. Imagine if the headmaster of the school can clearly explain the historical and cultural significance of bowing to Confucius, and create a solemn atmosphere by leading teachers and students to bow to the most holy teacher of the nation, so that students can have a personal experience of humanistic education. Isn't it better than many so-called "patriotic education"? It should be noted that the spiritual world of China people today is facing a crisis of flattening, secularization and nothingness, which was originally the result of the impact of western culture for a hundred years. But at the social level, there is Christianity in the west, which makes westerners who abide by modern etiquette still maintain their inner sacredness. Many people still pray, worship and repent automatically. Do they think "repentance" before the Lord is a sign of low personality? Our nation originally lacked strict religious beliefs, and it is thanks to the humanistic spirit of "respecting heaven and earth" that a big nation understands awe, responsibility and self-nature, thus opening up endless upward opportunities for a nation. So, if you bow down to Confucius, can you simply regard it as "slave personality" and "worship culture"? Frankly speaking, we should be cautious about modern values such as "human rights" and "freedom" in the West. These things can be discussed in the political field, but we should be particularly cautious in the cultural field. Many modern people lack this awareness. They are full of personality equality, but they neglect to ask themselves, what personality equality do they have with Confucius? Master's personality has been cultivated all his life on the road of saving the world and people. You are 108,000 miles away!

Third, collective worship of Confucius is not necessarily unconstitutional. Generally speaking, a group activity, especially a grand ceremony, must have prescribed procedures. Just like today's flag-raising ceremony, it is not the same as violating the Constitution to unify discipline. Imagine that the school organizes teachers and students to worship Confucius on Teacher's Day. You must carry forward the spirit of "freedom" and "democracy" on this occasion. As a result, some people knelt down, some people stood up and had personality freedom. But the whole ceremony was a mess. What scandal? Needless to say, in a large group activity, some elements of "performance" and "insincerity" are inevitable, but there is no need to deny the significance of the activity itself. According to Mr. Huang Yushun's thinking, if the school organizes to bow down to Confucius, there will inevitably be students who disapprove. In this way, it will inevitably lead to "entrapment" and humiliate students' personality. This is forcing students to believe in religion, which in turn violates the freedom of belief stipulated in the Constitution. This is a little heavy. This grovelling school organization is actually a continuation of China's humanistic spirit (or "orthodoxy"), which may not necessarily force students to "believe in religion" or infringe citizens' freedom of religious belief. If it is necessary to "violate the freedom of religious belief", does it violate the freedom of religious belief to instill materialism in students in current textbooks?

Originally, after a hundred years of anti-tradition, "worship ceremony" has been stigmatized. As soon as many people in the society hear the organized "kowtowing" behavior, it is easy to go online, without asking for trouble and cursing repeatedly. As a very active contemporary Confucian master, Mr. Huang's criticism of collective worship of Confucius can easily be misunderstood as the internal voice of Confucianism. On the one hand, it may discourage some schools or groups that want to revive the spirit of culture and education by worshipping Confucius. On the other hand, it may easily lead some parents to object to the school by "violating human rights" and "insulting personality". —— In the future, as long as the school organizes activities such as "offering sacrifices to Confucius", it will be criticized as "unconstitutional" and the higher authorities will put pressure on the school.

What I don't understand is how unconstitutional it is for schools to organize students to "bow down" to Confucius. In today's China, there are many human rights violations. Why talk about these things endlessly? In reality, it is easy to see that some people always preach the independence of personality and never kneel down on any occasion. It seems to have a lot of backbone, but in fact, it is not easy for people to kneel physically and mentally. Behind closed doors, I secretly hope that the country's top leaders can lead hundreds of officials to hold a national ceremony to worship Confucius on his birthday! We must know that the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation depends on foreign products such as freedom, human rights, equality and the legal system. There must be some faith and awe in its soul, otherwise, those who seek architecture will waste their foundation. At present, there is nothing like "kneeling down" to express a state of highest respect. What's so sad about kneeling down? I think on some special occasions, it is worthy of recognition to bow down to Confucius collectively, as long as it is sincere and natural to bow down to parents and teachers.

In short, under the current national conditions, whether we bow our heads or not cannot be generalized. We really don't need to advocate this ancient ritual that has been popular for thousands of years, and we can't let it continue to be "stigmatized". We should distinguish between the right and wrong objects of worship, be brave in affirming those who should be affirmed and resolutely oppose those who should be opposed. Because the truth of the matter is often: on some occasions, some people are determined not to kneel, which may represent a kind of dignity and pride; On other occasions, some people are determined not to kneel down, which may just show a kind of shallowness and paranoia.