The Emerging Voices of Women in the Revival of Confucianism

Abstract

This chapter studies the role of women in the current revival of Confucianism, from their participation in intellectual debates regarding Confucianism, to their promotion of Confucian thoughts in popular culture, to their participation in ancestral worship rituals. The revival of Confucianism in Mainland China takes many forms, from a revival of Confucian education, such as after-school classes focusing on the teaching of the Confucian canon, to the intensification of scholarship on Confucian thought in academia. There is also the state's effort to promote Confucianism as the dominant Chinese cultural ideology. This myriad development is not surprising, for it corresponds to the many aspects of Confucianism as historical, political, institutional, cultural, educational, philosophical, and religious systems of ideas and practices.