BEIJING, July 28 -- In China, everybody is family. The stranger at the market urging you to bag a pound of lychees is your aunt and the elderly stranger playing chess in the park is your grandfather.

    Or at least that's what you'll call them, just as you would any of your "real" relatives.

    Parents are like teachers (it's only right you heed the instructions of those wiser-than-thou), and teachers are like parents (they'll scold you about your grades, your love life, your muddy shoes).

    These everyday signs, among countless others, show the fundamentals of Confucianism are alive and kicking in 21st century China. The "we are family" philosophy is the social glue holding fast today.

    Confucius (the Latinized version of Kong Fuzi) was born in 551 BC and led a surprisingly quiet life but developed revolutionary ideas.

    Because of his reforming agenda, rulers seldom welcomed this potential troublemaker.

    Even on the rare occasion he was accepted as advisor, Confucius would sooner or later resign, dissatisfied with the ruler's character and actions.

    Confucius ended up trekking around the then war-ridden China, offering mostly unsolicited advice to ruling elites accompanied by a small band of student-devotees. His words once landed himself in jail.

    Eventually, toward the end of his life, he settled down and did something quite "scandalous".

    He offered classes to all who wished to learn, regardless of social class and whether or not they could afford tuition.
Though not quite a political superstar during his lifetime, Confucius was undoubtedly a remarkable figure.

    While deeply learned in a wide range of subjects from government to mathematics, he was no bookworm: He was also blessed with a lively sense of humor, a deep love for the arts, and finely developed talent in music and sports.

    It is even recorded that Confucius was tall, good-looking, and once was so moved by a piece of music that meat seemed tasteless for three months.

    He also employed novel teaching methods in the style of "Socratic" questioning (in fact this was before Socrates himself was born); The Analects of Confucius are essentially a collection of thought-provoking conversations to encourage debate and active reflection among his students.

    The inspiration for Confucius' philosophy came from his legendary forebears.

    Troubled by the war-torn chaos around him, Confucius looked nostalgically to the "golden times" of yore for elements of tradition that could bolster social cohesion.

    With a kind of intuitive genius, he carefully gleaned and updated their wisdom for contemporary use.

    Confucius became convinced that positive social mores have the most compelling strength to ensure people treated one another well, not law and punishment as the legalists suggested (he found this lacking in humanity), nor the Mohist-advocated universal love (too idealistic).

    Instead, Confucius placed heavy emphasis on self-cultivation: of thought, knowledge, character, tastes and habits, in the endless pursuit of becoming an exemplary person in all these aspects - a junzi.

    However, this self-cultivation was never intended as an end in itself, or for otherworldly purposes. It was necessary for the sake of proper and mutually satisfying relationships in everyday life.

    Confucius' logic was simple: A happy family entails individuals who have harmonious relationships with family members and with themselves.

    On a higher level, a happy nation entails families who have harmonious relationships within themselves and with each other.

    Likewise, a happy, peaceful world - the greatest good for Confucius - comes down to people learning to be at harmony with one another, and respecting and caring for each other as in one big family.

    In light of this, it's easier to understand why shop assistants here holler at passersby: "Meimei, lai wo jia kankan" - "Little sister, come and visit my home (i.e. shop)", or why the Chinese word for country, guojia, literally means "nation-family".

    If time is the true judge, then Master Kong certainly won his case.

    Though some Chinese worry about traditional values eroding in the face of new cultural influences and social challenges, at the very least, for most 21st century East Asians, it's still family that counts most.

    Similarly, treating someone like family remains the sincerest social gesture.

    These living legacies of Confucianism continue to anchor billions of people in their everyday lives and interactions.

    Not bad for a man who lived 2,500 years ago.

    (Source: China Daily)