Anti-Social Darwinism
17-06-2006, 05:57
SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Chinese claiming Confucius for an
ancestor can now use a genetic test to prove a direct blood
connection to the grandfather of Chinese social mores, a state
newspaper said Friday.
The fifth-century BC social philosopher's ideas of filial
piety and deference to elders influence Chinese society and
politics even today.
Now his countrymen can establish a genetic link in a test
that will cost more than 1,000 yuan ($125), according to the
Shanghai Morning Post.
"We would like to help these unconfirmed claimants to test
their DNA and to establish a Confucius-DNA database," it quoted
Deng Yajun, a DNA expert from Beijing Institute of Genomics at
the Chinese Academy of Science, as saying.
How the scientists had obtained a sample of Confucius's DNA
was not explained.
"One of the most difficult things in the project is to
confirm the blood connections of these numerous claimants,"
said Kong Dewei, one of the editors of the new family tree, who
has the same Chinese surname of Confucius, "Kong" in Chinese.
Association with Confucianism was fatal during the tumult
of the Cultural Revolution, when "old China" and its traditions
were condemned as reactionary by fervent Communist Red Guards.
But since the 1990s, Beijing has been encouraging
Confucianism as part of celebrating traditional Chinese culture
-- and of pushing a message of obedience to those in power.
Dynastic Cycles strike again. Governments come and go, the Chinese go on forever.
ancestor can now use a genetic test to prove a direct blood
connection to the grandfather of Chinese social mores, a state
newspaper said Friday.
The fifth-century BC social philosopher's ideas of filial
piety and deference to elders influence Chinese society and
politics even today.
Now his countrymen can establish a genetic link in a test
that will cost more than 1,000 yuan ($125), according to the
Shanghai Morning Post.
"We would like to help these unconfirmed claimants to test
their DNA and to establish a Confucius-DNA database," it quoted
Deng Yajun, a DNA expert from Beijing Institute of Genomics at
the Chinese Academy of Science, as saying.
How the scientists had obtained a sample of Confucius's DNA
was not explained.
"One of the most difficult things in the project is to
confirm the blood connections of these numerous claimants,"
said Kong Dewei, one of the editors of the new family tree, who
has the same Chinese surname of Confucius, "Kong" in Chinese.
Association with Confucianism was fatal during the tumult
of the Cultural Revolution, when "old China" and its traditions
were condemned as reactionary by fervent Communist Red Guards.
But since the 1990s, Beijing has been encouraging
Confucianism as part of celebrating traditional Chinese culture
-- and of pushing a message of obedience to those in power.
Dynastic Cycles strike again. Governments come and go, the Chinese go on forever.