Source: CCTV.com

10-23-2006 13:24

To me, a visit to Qufu, Confucius's hometown in east China, is a long-cherished dream. The sage and his philosophies have deeply influenced China and East Asia for thousands of years. It's as though they're in our blood. So I stayed awake for a whole night, thinking about this exciting trip, as the train headed southeast to Shandong Province.

The main purpose of our trip is to report UNESCO's first Confucius Prize for Literacy. The annual prize recognizes outstanding individuals, governments and NGOs working to promote literacy for rural adults and young people unable to go to school, particularly women and girls. And it is the first international award named after a Chinese.

Early in the morning on September 23rd, our reporting team arrived at Qufu. We were immediately fascinated by the town's delicate style of traditional beauty. Two thousand and five hundred years ago, during Confucius's time, Qufu was China's cultural center. Today the city is still one of the country's most significant tourist attractions.

That very afternoon, the award ceremony was held at the Six Arts City. [I've taken out "tourism spot" because the name Six Arts City already sounds rather special] The two Confucius Prizes for Literacy were given to organizations in Morocco and India for their decade-long efforts to eliminate illiteracy in their countries.

I respect their hard work in the world campaign against illiteracy. And I was deeply impressed by their understandings of Confucius and his teaching philosophies. Both organizations regard Confucius as the world's greatest educator. Both value Confucius's proposal of education for all.

And Education for All is exactly what UNESCO is promoting worldwide.

A visit to the Confucius Institute in Qufu on the next day gave me more knowledge of the sage and his position in world history of education. There I met with Kong Xianglin, head of the institute, and a 75th-generation descendant of the philosopher.

According to Kong, Confucius's influence in China and Asia is just like that of Socrates's in the West. And his philosophy of Education for All is considered a revolution in Chinese civilization, as it championed the right to education for the common people. Before Confucius' time, education was the exclusive domain of aristocrats.

Now many people around the world carry on the principle of the ancient educator. And here in China, a developing country, the fight against illiteracy never stops.

Many students serve as volunteer teachers to China’s poorest counties. On the last day of our trip, I met Liu Aixia, a graduate student at Qufu Normal University who was once a volunteer teacher. I was deeply moved by her stories.

Thumbing through the pictures of Liu and her students, I see hope for those children in rural areas, and children are the hope of China.

It was just as Tang Qian, the UNESCO representative said when I interviewed him: The Confucius Prize for Literacy is seen as a recognition of Confucius and his position in the world history of education and also a recognition of China's contribution to the world's campaign against illiteracy...

It was another sleepless night on the train when I traveled back to Beijing. The three days in Qufu were busy but meaningful.

To avoid any favoritism, Chinese organizations will not be considered for the Confucius Prize for two years. But I hope that one day China itself could win the Confucius Prize for literacy in the hometown of the educator and I will be very happy if I could be the reporter who covers the story.

Written by Zhang Lei

 

Editor:Lu Yuying