The Sage and the People: The Confucian Revival in China

Winner of the 2015 Pierre-Antoine Bernheim Prize for the History of Religion by the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-LettresAfter a century during which Confucianism was viewed by academics as a relic of the imperial past or, at best, a philosophical resource, its striking comeback in Chinese society today raises a number of questions about the role that this ancient tradition might play in a contemporary context. The Sage and the People is the first comprehensive enquiry into the "Confucian revival" that began in China during the 2000s. Based on extensive anthropological fieldwork carried out over eight years in various parts of the country, it explores the re-appropriation and reinvention of popular practices in fields as diverse as education, self-cultivation, religion, ritual, and politics.The book analyzes the complexity of the "Confucian revival" within the broader context of emerging challenges to such categories as religion, philosophy, and science that prevailed in modernization narratives throughout the last century. Exploring state cults both in Mainland China and Taiwan, authors Sébastien Billioud and Joël Thoraval compare the interplay between politics and religion on the two shores of the Taiwan strait and attempt to shed light on possible future developments of Confucianism in Chinese society.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction Part 1 - Jiaohua: The Confucian revival in China as an educative project Chapter 1. Confucian education during the 20th century: A retrospective outlook Chapter 2. The new institutionalization of Confucian education Chapter 3. A modern anti-intellectualism: The body, the child, the people Part 2 - Anshen liming or the religious dimension of Confucianism Chapter 4. "The varieties of religious experience" Chapter 5. Questioning modern categories Chapter 6. The quest for the recognition of Confucian religion Part 3 - Between rites and politics: Lijiao Chapter 7. The Confucius cult: Historical retrospective Chapter 8. Qufu, 2007 Chapter 9. The use and abuse of Confucius Chapter 10. Between religious ritual and political ceremonial: Cosmology and national state Conclusion Epilogue Bibliography Index

About the Author :
Sébastien Billioud is Professor of Chinese Studies at University Paris-Diderot, Sorbonne Paris Cité and Head of the East Asian studies department. Based on a cross-disciplinary approach in anthropology and intellectual history, his research explores the multi-faceted development of contemporary Confucianism. Joël Thoraval is Senior Researcher at the Research Center on Modern and Contemporary China, School for Higher Studies in Social Sciences (EHESS), Paris. Specializing in social anthropology and intellectual history, he has also written extensively on contemporary Chinese philosophy. He has spent nearly 20 years in Eastern Asia and is the former Head of EHESS's China Center.

Review :
"This book will be a valuable addition to the collection of any reader who wants to understand the Confucian revival of the 2000s on both the popular and official level." --Ha Yeon Shin, Reading Religion "What makes this book particularly valuable is its combination of nuanced academic discussions with vivid portraits of ordinary people who are active in this new development [of Confucian Revival] This is a magnificent major contribution to contemporary Confucian studies."--Anna Sun, Journal of Chinese Religion "This is an engaging study of neglected, yet important, aspects of a much-discussed phenomenon that has thought-provoking implications for the broader understanding of Chinese politics and religion. While not the first to debunk claims that Confucianism has been reduced to a wandering spirit and that the Confucian revival is state-orchestrated (or state-dominated) and ideologically motivated, it provides new and convincing evidence from the actual practices among the people."--Journal of Religion "The Sage and the People constitutes an original and essential contribution to the recent scholarship on the developments of Confucianism in China since the final phases of the imperial era this volume provides the reader with an ample repertoire of case studies that vividly document a moment of important social and cultural transformation and can serve as an excellent starting point for future research projects."--Journal of the American Academy of Religion "This book is a major contribution to the knowledge of Confucianism and its developments in the Chinese world."--L'Homme "[The] authors have provided us with a compelling and complex narrative of what it means to be Confucian in contemporary China, which makes their work an indispensable resource for all in Chinese studies."--The China Quarterly "The Sage and the People is a more than welcome addition to the literature on the New Confucian movement underway in today's China. Brilliantly combining a deep knowledge of the Confucian philosophical tradition with anthropological fieldwork in a number of sites in China, this volume is the first to take Confucianism outside of a purely intellectual context and to provide a comprehensive description of the shape and extent of the Confucian revival among the Chinese people." --David Ownby, Director of the Center of East Asian Studies and Professor of History, University of Montreal "Thanks to its richness and its detailed descriptions (supported by a large number of photos taken in situ), as well as the pertinence of its insightful and lucid analyses, this erudite but accessible work is invaluable for any reader concerned with the attitudes currently prevalent in the 'Chinese world.'" --China Perspectives "[Billioud's and Thoraval's] multi-pronged approach offers the reader a nuancedand comprehensive understanding of rituals and other practices that otherwise have mainly drawn journalistic attention or narrower scholarly treatment... Their insightful book is an important contribution."--Pacific Affairs