Confucian Academies and the Materialisation of Cultural Heritage

Abstract

The past two decades have witnessed a ‘boom’ in the restoration and reconstruction of traditional Confucian academies (shuyuan 书院) as cultural heritage sites. This phenomenon is related to the promotion of Confucianism since the 1990s as both a value system of global relevance and a distinctive marker of Chinese cultural – and national – identity. The renovation of academies is also motivated by economic development strategies undertaken by local and regional governments. However, I will argue that public pedagogy, more than commercial profit, motivates the investment of state resources in academies as sites of cultural heritage tourism. The transformation of academies into cultural heritage sites can be seen as the materialisation of a classless, ahistorical Confucian past in the service of a socialist and nationalist present. It also signifies the appropriation of a historically elite institution as a medium of mass education.