Thrifty Confucius Memorial Service to Show Confucian Values

QUFU, SHANDONG, China, March 8, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, the International Confucius Cultural Festival was held in Confucius' hometown Shandong province, China, in the purpose of advancing Confucian value. An original report from iqilu.com on this event follows:

Instead of a cultural festival for the opening ceremony, a series of cultural performances in which local folks took part was held for the International Confucius Cultural Festival last year.

This change not only carried out eight regulations of CCCPC, but also represented Confucianism.

Confucius said, "Keep expenditure under proper regulation, and love your fellow men." Confucianism has a profound and far-reaching influence on China's traditional culture, so thrift is always regarded as the Golden Rule of regulating family or even governing a country. Thrift indicates that China, a developing country, takes the responsibility of mankind.

Confucius spoke highly of thrift. He said, "This is frugality. I would follow accepted practice on this. He also said "to be temperate, kind, courteous, restrained and magnanimous," and that "A man of virtue does not seek to eat to his content or dwell comfortably." The Confucius memorial service used music and dance to represent Confucius' spirit. In line with the Confucian spirit, a thrifty memorial service was an apt demonstration of Confucius.

Major participants of the festival were local folks, which was in line with Confucius's saying "Be happy with local folks." The cultural festival not only saved a great deal on appearance fees that big stars would have charged, but also ignited local folks' passion and encouraged them to participate in the festival.