Page 113 - 2022(1) International Confusion Studies

106 P. F. Neo

integrates the relevant ideas scattered in the various Confucian texts under indi-
vidual themes and comes up with the different passages for students to learn and
understand Confucian ethics in a contextualized way. Such an approach requires
the curriculum developers to be able to master the gist of the Confucian doctrines
before extracting from the sources, materials which are useful in fulfilling the
curriculum’s objectives and presenting them to secondary school students in a
systematic manner. Teaching Confucianism in such a way is certainly unique.
Nevertheless, how substantial are the Confucian teachings included in the text-
books? The question can perhaps be answered by seeing the scale of quotations of
Confucian canons. According to a rough counting by the author, the Confucian
Ethics textbooks for secondary three and four students quoted from a wide range of
Confucian writings which include the followings: The Book of Changes (《周易》),
The Book of History, The Book of Poetry, Master Zuo’s Commentary on Spring and
Autumn Annals (《左传》), The Analects (《论语》), Mencius (《孟子》), Xun Zi
(《荀子》), The Book of Rites (《礼记》), The Classic of Filial Piety (《孝经》), The
Unauthorized Biography of Han Poems (《韩诗外传》), New Prefaces (《新序》),
Sayings of Confucius (《孔子家语》), The Great Learning (《大学》), A New Ac-
count of Tales of the World (《世说新语》), Classified Conversations of Master Zhu
Xi (《朱子语类》), Commentaries on the Four Books, and the treatises of Zhang Zai
(张载 1020–1077), Cheng Yi (程颐 1033–1107), Fan Zhongyan (范仲淹 989–1052),
Lu Xiangshan (陆象山 1139–1193), Wang Yangming (王阳明 1472–1529), Wen
Tianxiang (文天祥 1236–1283), and others. In fact, there are at least one or two
citations from all these books, and some of which being quoted substantially. For
examples, there are 106 references to the Analects [58 direct quotations and 48
paraphrases of the original text; the entire book is cited except for its parts on
“Xiang Dang” and “Yao Yue”], with 34 references to Mencius [18 direct quotations
and 16 paraphrases of the original text; the entire book is cited except for the parts
on “Gong Sun Chou (Part II)” and “Wan Zhang (Part I)”]; 21 references to The Book
of Rites [1 to “Qu Li (Part I),” 3to “Li Yun,”,2to “Xue Ji,” 9to “Zhong Yong
(The Doctrine of the Mean)”,1to “Ru Xing,” and 5 to “Da Xue (The Great
Learning)”], and 10 references to Xun Zi [2 to “Xiu Shen (Cultivating the Person),” 1
to “Li Lun,” 4to “Xing E,” 1to “Jun Zi (Men of Virtues),” and 2 to “Zi Dao”]. The vast
majority of the quotations are teachings familiar to Confucianists. Therefore, the
number seems to indicate that the Confucian Ethics textbooks contained sub-
stantial Confucian teachings.
It can be seen that the Confucian Ethics curriculum developed by the Singapore
Curriculum Development Institute is a conscious attempt to draw resources from
Confucian classics to inspire students and to develop them into individuals who
can “establish themselves in the world according to their loving hearts and the