The Falun Dafa Club at Arizona State University held a film screening of the film “In the Name of Confucius” on April 12, 2019. “In the Name of Confucius” is the first documentary exposing growing global controversies surrounding the Chinese government’s multi-billion dollar Confucius Institute (CI), a Chinese language program which is attached to over 1,600 foreign universities and schools around the world.
Highlights from the film include an exclusive interview with Sonia Zhao, a former CI teacher. They also showcase the religious discrimination she endured while working at the Confucius Institute at McMaster University in Canada.
Zhao explained that the contract she signed specified that practicing Falun Gong is not allowed for all the Confucius Institute teachers. In addition, she gave a detailed summary that exposes the Confucius Institute’s agenda.
While it is advertised as a Chinese language and culture program, the CI is actually promoting communism through propaganda and speech censorship in the classroom. After this exposition in Canada, parents and religious groups protested in front of the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) to express their concerns. TDSB held several public hearings and debates regarding the controversies surrounding Confucius Institute.
In the documentary, one of the parents of a student pointed out at one of the Toronto TDSB public hearings that books the Confucius Institute uses promoted Chairman Mao Zedong and communism ideology. In October 2014, 20 out of 22 TDSB trustees voted to not host a CI in Toronto’s school system.
After the film screening, the film host Haiyi from the ASU Falun Dafa Club presented some background information, which included an updated list that now shows 26 schools have partnerships with the CI in Arizona. She also stated that Chairman Mao Zedong is still worshiped by the Chinese Communist Party. His portrait is displayed prominently in Tiananmen Square located in Beijing, China, and his image is depicted on the largest Chinese currency bill.
However, the fact is that Chairman Mao is responsible for a huge number of the murders he ordered during his dictatorship. Mao is ranked #1 for killing people in the name of communism. He killed approximately eighty million Chinese people. Joseph Stalin is ranked number two and Adolf Hitler is ranked number three in order of despotic leaders who murdered innocent people.
Diana a local businesswoman and Falun Gong practitioner was one of the guest speakers at the event. As a mother of five, she wanted her children to learn Chinese and Chinese culture. However, she had a concern that the CI could potentially shape children’s ideology and bring negative effects to the community.
Moreover, she was surprised to see that China still admires Chairman Mao. She said the way the Chinese Communist Party worships Mao reminded her of Hitler and the crimes he committed to the Jewish people.
Diana is working to clarify the truth about Falun Gong and the ongoing persecution happening in China to the local government officials. The Chinese Communist Party started the persecution against Falun Gong in 1999.
Her concern is if Americans keep silent about the Confucius Institute and its discrimination against Falun Gong practitioners, then Americans are becoming the supporters of the persecution. The CCP has published many lies about Falun Gong.
The main reason the CCP fears the Falun Gong faith is rooted in the fact that it grew so large (between 70 to 100 million in communist China) very quickly when it came out to the Chinese public. Falun Gong is said to have had more members in China than the CCP did at that time. It began to instill the ancient traditional values and faith in communist China.
One of the attendants asked a question about Christians traveling around the world to spread Christianity and teach people English, he wondered what the difference between them and Confucius Institutes is. Nan Su, a guest speaker, who is a public relations director at The Epoch Times newspaper answered his question.
Nan Su said he respects all kinds of culture and he has taught his children both Chinese and English. He explained the differences by comparing the American language institutes with the Confucius Institutes. The CI is funded by the Chinese government and attached to the schools and universities, which has often impacted and tried to influence school boards because “free money” is offered.
Nan Su stated the communist party has its roots in Marxism, which was started by Karl Marx. Marx stated that religion or faith was “opium of the people“. Marx intended to destroy man’s faith in the divine as faith gives strength and morality to people. This destruction of faith is one of the deepest roots of communism.
The Communist Party has never intended to promote Chinese culture, in fact, they have gone to great lengths to destroy ancient, traditional Chinese culture. The Chinese Communist Party destroyed the Chinese culture in its seventy-year dictatorship through political revolution, terrorizing and murdering the Chinese people even monks and nuns, destroying sacred relics and temples.
Chinese traditional culture, including Confucianism, and Taoism is based on respect for the divine, kindness, and morality. Traditional culture is very different from the Communist Party’s ideology which is rooted in atheism. Unfortunately, China has already lost its traditions due to the atheism and materialism promoted by and rooted in the Communist Party. Falun Gong presented a ray of hope to the Chinese people.
At the end of April, the Pentagon decided to end language funding for universities that host Chinese Communist Party-funded Confucius Institutes. The ASU Confucius Institute official website was closed recently. Arizona State University would be expected to announce the closure of their Confucius Institutes soon.
Here are the main topics of the writing:
- The Confucius Institute (CI) is a Chinese government program that promotes Chinese language and culture around the world.
- However, critics argue that the CI is actually a propaganda tool for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
- The CI has been accused of censoring speech, promoting communism, and discriminating against Falun Gong practitioners.
- In 2014, the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) voted not to host a CI in their school system due to concerns about these issues.
- The ASU Falun Dafa Club hosted a film screening of the documentary “In the Name of Confucius” to raise awareness about the CI.
- The documentary features interviews with former CI teachers who allege that the CI is a front for the CCP.
- One of the speakers at the event, Diana, a local businesswoman and Falun Gong practitioner, expressed concern that the CI could be used to indoctrinate children with CCP ideology.
- Another speaker, Nan Su, a public relations director at The Epoch Times newspaper, compared the CI to Christian missionary organizations. He argued that the CI is not interested in promoting Chinese culture, but rather in spreading CCP propaganda.
- The Pentagon has recently announced that it will end language funding for universities that host CIs.
