On Wednesday, grand memorial ceremonies had been held round China to pay tribute to Confucius, the nice Chinese language thinker, politician and educator who lived through the Sixth-Fifth centuries BC.
Normally attending one in all these ceremonies includes taking day out to get all dressed up and making one’s strategy to a temple or different venue the place a conventional ceremony is being held.
However for some folks, attending the Confucius Memorial Ceremony was only a matter of some button clicks this time.
With only one click on attendees discovered themselves fully dressed and able to go. A second later, they had been beamed as much as an enormous corridor, the place they picked the perfect seats in the home to expertise the Confucius Memorial Ceremony.
Whereas this will sound like magic, it was really digital actuality (VR) know-how that introduced the worldwide occasion that was Confucius’ 2,573rd birthday to the metaverse on Wednesday.
The know-how permits China’s historic and profound Confucian tradition to fully break by means of the boundaries of time and area in order that numerous folks may immerse themselves in a fusion of custom and modernity within the metaverse occasion generally known as the Cloud Confucius Memorial Ceremony.
The event of the Confucius Memorial Ceremony demonstrates not solely the continual development of science and know-how, but in addition China’s potential to keep up its wonderful conventional tradition by means of artistic and revolutionary means.
Protecting tempo with occasions
To take part within the VR ceremony, contributors merely wanted to decide on their avatars by means of their cell phone or a pc after which use these avatars to discover the principle venue within the metaverse: a 600-seat auditorium – with 20 VIP seats – with a large curved display that displayed varied movies to deliver contributors a “actual” expertise.
So as to make the occasion extra unique and ceremonial, the venue additionally sported a Confucius-inspired cover and shows of 28 themed posters associated to Confucian tradition in order that guests may really feel a powerful cultural environment as quickly as they entered the auditorium.
The “metaverse” is a extremely popular idea at the moment. Due to this fact, because the age of metaverse is approaching, how Confucian tradition can illustrate its worth and present new power is a matter cultural departments all through China have been eager about.
“In previous years, joint Confucius memorial ceremonies have been held on-line. The core content material is to conduct varied actions to worship and pay tribute to Confucius and different philosophers and students of Confucianism,” Zhang Bo – director of one in all organizers of the occasion, the Cultural Heritage Growth Heart in Jining, Shandong Province – advised the International Instances. The county-level metropolis of Qufu, the birthplace of Confucius, is positioned in Jining.
“New strategies to reveal the ceremony can appeal to extra folks to participate within the inheritance and improvement of the tradition,” Zhang famous.
The limitless development of Confucian tradition is exactly as a result of idea of “conserving tempo with the occasions,” and the inheritance and improvement of tradition within the new period requires a bunch of inheritors who’ve the braveness to face on the forefront of the occasions to carry out their duties and obligations, analysts stated.
In a press convention held final week, a number of Confucius temples and establishments concerned within the Cloud Confucius Memorial Ceremony referred to as on Chinese language folks at dwelling and overseas to cross on Chinese language civilization, carry ahead Chinese language tradition and spotlight the knowledge of Confucian tradition.
The Cloud Confucius Memorial Ceremony previously allowed conventional Chinese language rituals and music be displayed in an environment friendly method and carried ahead the Confucian idea of “benevolence” so it might be unfold all over the world, Wang Chengshan, editor-in-chief of the web site Chinakongzi below the China Confucius Basis, identified.
Cherishing Confucius’ knowledge
On Wednesday morning, Confucius memorial ceremonies had been held round China.
Within the nice thinker’s hometown Qufu, a whole lot of attendees took half in a ceremony within the morning on the Temple of Confucius, together with native senior officers, overseas envoys, students and Confucius’ descendants.
Constructed to commemorate and provide sacrifices to Confucius in 478 BC, the Temple of Confucius has been rebuilt a number of occasions over the centuries. The temple is the prototype and mannequin for all of the Confucius temples all through East and Southeast Asia, significantly by way of structure and elegance. Since 1994, the Temple of Confucius has been a part of the UNESCO World Heritage Website “The Temple and Cemetery of Confucius and the Kong Household Mansion in Qufu.”
Parallel memorial ceremonies additionally came about in Confucius temples in cities reminiscent of Harbin in Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, Fuzhou in East China’s Fujian Province and Hangzhou in East China’s Zhejiang Province.
Along with the Confucius Memorial Ceremony, the Worldwide Confucius Cultural Pageant was launched with the worldwide Nishan Discussion board, an area to debate tradition and civilization, in addition to a Confucius Tradition Week for Chinese language and overseas college students.
Based in 1989, the Worldwide Confucius Cultural Pageant is among the largest nationally and internationally supported tourism festivals integrating tradition, tourism, and scholarly and scientific analysis with the goal of selling historic Chinese language tradition.
By the tip of 2019, there have been 550 Confucius Institutes and 1,172 Confucius School rooms in 162 nations and areas all over the world. Their goal is to deepen worldwide understanding of Chinese language language and tradition and promote inter-personal exchanges between China and different nations.
