| Volume 6, Number 3, July 2009 |
Cult of Dasheng
A Quasi-Religion of an Overseas Chinese Cyber World
by Liu Xiaoyi 刘晓艺 |
A Quest for Solidarity
Reflections on Confucian and Other Ethical Traditions
by Dominique Tyl 狄明德
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A hilarious, prankish quasi-religion is gaining popularity in an overseas Chinese online community, though still largely unknown outside the cyber world. The quasi-religion, “Cult of Dasheng”, nominally worship dedicated to Sun Wukong, the fictional figure of the Ming Dynasty’s supernatural novel Journey to the West, (1) is in fact Journey to the West among overseas Chinese.
Universally known as having grown up in a religion-free environment, most mainland Chinese students, scholars and their families remain immune to exposure to evangelism after they have come to the States. To them, a Christian neighbour’s invitation to attend evening bible study is as vexing as the liability to annual tax filing. That is not to say, however, that they would refuse any sightseeing or partying opportunity in nearby Chinese churches. Single men and women, usually in small university towns where Chinese are poorly populated, go to those occasions to meet friends, in the hope of finding...
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A few years ago, Kwong-loi Shun and David B. Wong edited a remarkable book with the title Confucian Ethics, A comparative Study of Self, Autonomy, and Community.(1) On the back cover, one reads that “The Chinese ethical tradition has often been thought to oppose Western views of the self as autonomous and possessed of individual rights with views that emphasize the centrality of relationship and community to the self.” This indeed is a good summary in a snapshot of popular thinking, quickly affirmed to be the conclusion of expert scholars. The collection of studies presented by Shun and Wong indicates at least that the conclusion should not be so hastily drawn. All the same, some chapters tend to reproduce the dichotomy between “right” as individually centred moral imperative and communally grounded “roles” with their duty and responsibility. But the authors explain, discuss and qualify such view. The debate has continued since the book was published in 2004 without modifying the frequent image...
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| Issue 6.3 |
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Remembering—
A Shared Duty
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