What is the Reverse Current of Respecting Confucius and Restoring Confucianism

The reverence for Confucianism and the reversal of antiquity originated in the 1980s after China's reform and opening up, emphasizing the value of "traditional culture", especially Confucianism, and advocating the restoration of the "excellent" elements of traditional culture as a means of solving the problems of contemporary society. It emphasizes the value of "traditional culture," especially Confucianism, and advocates the restoration of the "excellent" elements of traditional culture as a means of solving contemporary social problems. The emergence of the countercurrent of reverence for Confucianism and the restoration of the past is mainly due to the fact that after China's reform and opening up, it has made great progress economically, but there is a sense of "emptiness" in the social and cultural aspects. People began to reflect on what they had lost in the process of modernization and began to search for a sense of cultural identity. The supporters of the reverse flow of reverence for Confucianism believe that China has lost the core values of traditional culture in the process of modernization, and that these values are exactly what China needs, such as moral norms, ethics and morality, and family and social relations, all of which are valued by Confucian culture. Therefore, they believe that restoring traditional culture can solve the problems of the current society.

The idea of reverting to Confucianism and restoring the past originated mainly from the concept of "socialism with Chinese characteristics" put forward by domestic scholars at that time. They believed that China had its own unique cultural and social background and could not simply copy the Western model of modernization. As a result, there was a trend of emphasizing traditional culture and searching for the roots of socialism with Chinese characteristics in Confucian culture.

The reverence for Confucianism and retrofuturism countercurrent has had varying degrees of influence in ideology, culture and education. Advocates of the reverence for Confucianism countercurrent believe that Confucianism is representative of traditional Chinese culture and the soul of Chinese civilization. They advocate restoring the status of Confucian culture in education, emphasizing moral education, and fostering students' sense of responsibility and sense of family and country. They believe that the classical culture in traditional culture is the cornerstone of cultural self-confidence and an important means of shaping the national spirit. Therefore they called on the people to re-learn and read the classics and restore the value of traditional culture.

However, the reverence for Confucius and restoration of antiquity countercurrent has also met with some criticism. Some people believe that the Zunxin retrogression is a reaction to Westernization and a kind of cultural conservatism. The Zunxin retrograde current overemphasizes the positive values of traditional culture and ignores its drawbacks and flaws, thus leading to some extreme behaviors and ideas. In addition, there are those who believe that Confucianism is not applicable to modern society, and that spiritual culture needs to be revisited and reassessed to keep pace with the times.

Overall, the reverence for Confucianism and the reversal of the old ways still has a certain influence in Chinese society. Both supporters and opponents agree that the value of traditional culture should be emphasized. For China's modernization process, the Zunxun retrograde current provides a way of thinking, that is, to restore the traditional cultural elements in the process of modernization, so as to maintain China's unique cultural characteristics.