Shandong to promote Confucianism in poor villages

Cultural authorities in east China's Shandong Provinces plan to send lecturers to promote Confucianism in 107 poor villages this year to promote traditional values.

The campaign aims to address a decline in moral and ethical values in the countryside, such as the refusal to care for elderly parents, said Xu Xianghong, head of the provincial culture department.

In addition to face-to-face lectures, lessons on Chinese classics will be live streamed via the Internet to villagers, Xu said.

In the past two years, regular lectures on Confucianism have been given in more than 7,000 villages in Shandong.

At the beginning, lecturers used gifts such as laundry detergent to "attract" villagers to the class, but later they developed an interest in the subject, said Yan Binggang, a Confucianism professor with Shandong University.

"Some old people wept in the lecture. Some young people invited their parents to celebrate Chinese Lunar New Year together after attending the class. Confucian philosophy really touched their hearts," Yan said.

Confucius (551-479 BC) was an educator and philosopher born in Qufu in Shandong. He was the first Chinese person to set up private schools and enroll students from all walks of life. Endi