Confucianism not rural priority

Qufu, the home town of Confucius in Shandong province, plans to send an instructor to each village in the area to promote Confucianism in grassroots communities. This decision is not in line with the times or the needs of farmers, and should not be implemented, says an article on guancha.gmw.cn. Excerpts:

The bureaucratic promotion of Confucianism is only a political show in response to the top leader Xi Jinping's high-profile speech at a recent academic meeting on Confucianism studies in Beijing.

The priority in today's villages is to look after the lonely elderly and children left behind by those who have migrated to the cities to work. The government should first meet the immediate demands of these disadvantaged groups of people.

The sense of community in villagers has become weaker than before. Many villagers do not care about their communities. It is difficult to organize a village meeting even on matters closely related to villagers' interests. So the difficulties facing those trying to organize a regular training program in Confucianism in today's villages is imaginable.

And it will be impossible to find so many people qualified to be Confucianism instructors at the same time, people who have the experience and capability to drive home the essence of Confucianism to the left-behind elders and children.

It is more advisable for the local government to spend taxpayers' money on some more meaningful things that will improve the villagers' livelihoods. The decision-making process of public policies should heed more public opinion, not individual officials.