Page "Confucius" Paragraph 60

The Chinese have a tradition of holding spectacular memorial ceremonies of Confucius () every year, using ceremonies that supposedly derived from Zhou Li () as recorded by Confucius, on the date of Confucius ' birth.

This tradition was interrupted for several decades in mainland China, where the official stance of the Communist Party and the State was that Confucius and Confucianism represented reactionary feudalist beliefs which held that the subservience of the people to the aristocracy is a part of the natural order.

All such ceremonies and rites were therefore banned.

Only after the 1990s did the ceremony resume.

As it is now considered a veneration of Chinese history and tradition, even Communist Party members may be found in attendance.