On September 28, 2018, the 2569th anniversary of Confucius Birthday and also the Day of Global Confucius Ceremony, Guiyang Confucius Academy holds the 2018 (Year of the Dog) Confucius Ceremony & First Writing Ceremony. This is the sixth time for Confucius Academy to hold such events.
About 3,000 people including Confucianism experts and scholars from Germany, the U.S., Japan and other countries, experts and scholars inside and outside Guizhou Province, scholars stationed at Confucius Academy, representatives of Confucius’ descendants, overseas students and citizens have participated in the Confucius Ceremony. Meanwhile, the ceremony has been included in the Global Live Broadcasting of “Global Confucius Alliance” which is initiated by over twenty entities globally including China Confucius Foundation, so as to commemorate the Greatest Sage and Teacher together with tens of millions of people worldwide.
The event is hosted by the Cultural Communication Center of Guiyang Confucius Academy and specially supported by Global Confucius Alliance Committee. The ceremony includes four sections, that is, Sacrificial Rites, Chanting Rites, First Writing Ceremony of Confucius Academy and Citizens’ Worship. The solemn and serene ceremony meant to arouse people’s reverence to the Greatest Sage and Teacher, promote cohesion and cultural identity of the Chinese nation, and carry forward the excellent traditional Chinese culture around the world.
After the Confucius Ceremony, the “First Writing Ceremony of Confucius Academy” welcomes 450 pupil representatives from the Experimental Primary School Affiliated to Guiyang Normal School, Nanming Shanshui Primary School, Hepeng Primary School of Huaxi District and Shiban Central Primary School of Huaxi District. Through the rites of Zheng Yi Guang (Tidying One’s Dressing), Bai Xian Shi (Worshipping the Greatest Teacher), Zhu Sha Qi Zhi (Dotting Vermilion at Child’s Forehead for Enlightenment), Learning to Write the Character “Ren” (Man) and Blessings from the Seniors, the pupils complete their enlightenment process and acquire the “First Writing Ceremony” certificate specially made by the Confucius Academy.
The Confucius Ceremony has also invited domestic and foreign experts and scholars participating in the “International Symposium on Axial Age and China” at Confucius Academy. “In this ceremony, many children wearing beautiful clothes chant the classics on Confucianism, which impresses me substantially. It is quite a good idea to integrate the First Writing Ceremony with the Confucius Ceremony, bringing to me more thinking about the yesterday, today and tomorrow.”Wolfgang Kubin, well-known German Sinologist and Professor of School of History, Beijing Foreign Studies University, told this to a reporter.
“The Confucius Ceremony is aimed to inherit and carry forward traditional Chinese cultures, and motivate us to forge ahead despite of twists and turns”, a descendant of Confucius KONG Xiangzhong said so at the scene. So far, about 200,000 descendants of Confucius are living in Guizhou, of which over 200 participated in the event.
