Confucius leaps, twirls across the stage amid cultural comeback

XI’AN (China) — Among the qualifications Ms Kong Dexin had to direct and choreograph a flashy new dance-drama about the ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius, one in particular stood out.

According to Ms Kong, 34, she is a 77th-generation descendant of that revered sage, known in Chinese as Kongzi, or Master Kong.

“Growing up, it was something we talked about casually in my family,” Ms Kong said in an interview before a recent performance of Confucius in this former dynastic capital. “The way my grandfather talked about him, Confucius felt more like a great-grandfather than a very distant relative.”

“Very distant” is an understatement. More than 2,500 years separate Ms Kong, a soft-spoken woman who wears pearl earrings and carries a Louis Vuitton bag, from her ancestor, who was born around 551 BC.

Mr Xu Ning, vice president of the state-backed China National Opera and Dance Drama Theatre, which commissioned the work, said that when Ms Kong proposed the idea, “all of us — including the officials at the Ministry of Culture — were a little perplexed”. He added, “It runs counter to the Chinese view of Confucius as very serious and very staid.”

Fast-forward four years to a balmy evening last month and there was Confucius: The wide sleeves on his white-and-gray scholar’s robe billowing as the bearded sage (portrayed by the dancer Mr Hu Yang) whirled, cartwheeled and leapt across the stage before a backdrop of massive bamboo strips inscribed with ancient Chinese characters. The dramatic prerecorded music left no doubt as to the adulatory nature of the show.

Since its premiere in Beijing in 2013, the 90-minute show has become a cultural calling card for China as the country seeks to bolster its efforts to project soft power abroad. Having already toured in Europe, the production will visit the Kennedy Center in Washington after going to New York in January.

“Right now we are just looking to establish a cultural brand first and then hopefully make money later,” said Mr Wang Xiuqin, deputy director of the cultural exchange division at the state-owned China Arts and Entertainment Group, which is renting the US venues.

When it comes to propagating the Chinese cultural brand, there is perhaps no better ambassador than Confucius.

Over the centuries, the philosopher has become one of the most important and recognisable symbols of traditional Chinese culture. Across East Asia, his teachings about harmony, benevolence and righteousness have influenced everything from the makeup of political institutions to the dynamics of everyday relationships.

In recent years, his stock has risen even higher as China’s ruling Communist Party has sought to promote traditional Chinese values as a counterbalance to the influence of Western liberal ideas.

Hundreds of Confucius Institutes have been set up on university campuses worldwide to spread Chinese language and culture. In his speeches, President Xi Jinping of China often quotes from Confucius alongside more recent figures, like Mao Zedong.

“Politicians today often trot out Confucian thought to serve their own purposes,” Ms Kong said.

But for Ms Kong and her vast extended family, the association has gone both ways. With the party’s growing embrace of traditional philosophy, there has come a renewed sense of kinship and pride among Confucius’ sprawling network of descendants — a lineage that has been certified by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s longest family tree.

In 2009, the Confucius Genealogy Compilation Committee released the fifth edition of the Kong family tree. The updated genealogy, which spans 80 volumes and weighs more than half a ton, covers 83 generations and two million descendants.

“The Kong family has the longest and most complete family tree,” said Mr Richard Kong, 53, a 78th-generation descendant whose father led the project to update the genealogy. “Our mission is to carry on this heritage.” NEW YORK TIMES