Confucian education, cultural responsibility, and Chinese identity: why do Chinese immigrant parents engage their children in learning Confucian classics?

ABSTRACT

This study takes an empirical approach to explore Chinese immigrants’ engagement in Confucian classics-reading (dujing) education and its implications for the relationship between Confucianism and citizen-making in a cross-cultural context. It offers two main findings. First, the theory of classics-reading education involves a pedagogical universalism that suggests a cultural hierarchy and is associated with the image of Confucian cosmopolitan citizens. These elements generate a sense of cultural responsibility among Chinese immigrant parents and encourage them to become involved in classics-reading education. Second, examining these parents’ motivations for participating in classics-reading education reveals two orientations: the linguistic and the moral, both of which empower them to take action to engage their children in studying Confucian classics, and which shape their awareness of ethnic identity. These findings contribute to our understanding of how Confucianism is combined with citizen-making in terms of globalization.

KEYWORDS:

• Chinese immigrants
• Confucianism
• cultural responsibility
• Chinese identity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Confucius Analects 15.24, translation by Slingerland (2003, 183).

2. Confucius Analects 6.30, translation by Slingerland (2003, 63).

3. Interview, May 2014.

4. Interview, June 2014.

5. Interview, May 2019.

6. Interview, June 2019.

7. Interview, May 2018.