Confucian values, family, and childhood in China. Reinterpreting tradition in the 21st century
This article examines the contemporary role of Confucian values in shaping childhoods in China, offering a critique of the universalist paradigm of childhood promoted by the Global North. Through a decolonial lens and the analysis of classical sources, contemporary studies, and recent educational po...
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| Lenguaje: | Español |
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Universidad Nacional de Rosario
2025
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| Acceso en línea: | https://claroscuro.unr.edu.ar/index.php/revista/article/view/161 |
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I15-R225-article-1612025-11-18T11:45:33Z Confucian values, family, and childhood in China. Reinterpreting tradition in the 21st century Los valores confucianos, la familia y las infancias en China. Reinterpretando la tradición en el siglo XXI Calderón García, Michelle Infancia china Confucianismo Piedad filial Epistemología decolonial Educación moral Chinese Childhood Confucianism Filial piety Decolonial epistemology Moral Education This article examines the contemporary role of Confucian values in shaping childhoods in China, offering a critique of the universalist paradigm of childhood promoted by the Global North. Through a decolonial lens and the analysis of classical sources, contemporary studies, and recent educational policies, it argues that Confucian thought continues to function as a normative framework in moral formation, family relations, and state ideological legitimacy. In this tradition, childhood is not seen as a progressive path to autonomy, but rather as a key stage for internalizing filial duty, ritual, and hierarchy. This relational ontology clashes with liberal-individualist frameworks that define the child as an autonomous rights-bearing subject, generating tensions across educational, legal, and familial practices. Such frictions are particularly intense in urban, globalized settings, but also affect rural and migrant children in unequal ways. The article also identifies cultural resignifications of Confucianism within family and community settings, which operate as forms of resistance to global homogenization. It concludes by proposing a decolonial epistemology of childhood that highlights relational and plural alternatives to Western models. The Chinese case offers conceptual tools to rethink childhood from culturally embedded and historically rooted frameworks. Este artículo examina el papel actual de los valores confucianos en la configuración de las infancias en China, desde una crítica al paradigma universalista promovido por el Norte global. A través de un enfoque decolonial y el análisis de fuentes clásicas, estudios contemporáneos y políticas educativas recientes, se argumenta que el pensamiento confuciano continúa operando como marco normativo en la formación moral, las relaciones familiares y la legitimación ideológica del Estado. En esta tradición, la infancia no se concibe como un espacio de autonomía progresiva, sino como un momento clave para la interiorización del deber filial, el ritual y la jerarquía. Este modelo relacional entra en fricción con los marcos liberal-individualistas que conciben al niño como sujeto autónomo de derechos, generando tensiones en prácticas escolares, jurídicas y familiares. Tales fricciones se agudizan en contextos urbanos globalizados y afectan de forma desigual a infancias rurales y migrantes. El texto también identifica formas de resignificación del confucianismo desde espacios familiares y comunitarios que actúan como resistencia cultural. Finalmente, se propone una epistemología decolonial de la infancia que visibilice alternativas ontológicas y pedagógicas al modelo occidental. El caso chino ofrece claves para repensar la niñez desde marcos relacionales y plurales. Universidad Nacional de Rosario 2025-08-09 info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion application/pdf https://claroscuro.unr.edu.ar/index.php/revista/article/view/161 10.35305/cl.vi24.161 Claroscuro. Revista del Centro de Estudios sobre Diversidad Cultural; No. 24 (2025): Childhoods in the Colonial Present; 1-16 Claroscuro. Revista del Centro de Estudios sobre Diversidad Cultural; Núm. 24 (2025): Infancias en el presente colonial; 1-16 2314-0542 spa https://claroscuro.unr.edu.ar/index.php/revista/article/view/161/160 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0 |
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Universidad Nacional de Rosario |
| institution_str |
I-15 |
| repository_str |
R-225 |
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Claroscuro |
| language |
Español |
| format |
Artículo revista |
| topic |
Infancia china Confucianismo Piedad filial Epistemología decolonial Educación moral Chinese Childhood Confucianism Filial piety Decolonial epistemology Moral Education |
| spellingShingle |
Infancia china Confucianismo Piedad filial Epistemología decolonial Educación moral Chinese Childhood Confucianism Filial piety Decolonial epistemology Moral Education Calderón García, Michelle Confucian values, family, and childhood in China. Reinterpreting tradition in the 21st century |
| topic_facet |
Infancia china Confucianismo Piedad filial Epistemología decolonial Educación moral Chinese Childhood Confucianism Filial piety Decolonial epistemology Moral Education |
| author |
Calderón García, Michelle |
| author_facet |
Calderón García, Michelle |
| author_sort |
Calderón García, Michelle |
| title |
Confucian values, family, and childhood in China. Reinterpreting tradition in the 21st century |
| title_short |
Confucian values, family, and childhood in China. Reinterpreting tradition in the 21st century |
| title_full |
Confucian values, family, and childhood in China. Reinterpreting tradition in the 21st century |
| title_fullStr |
Confucian values, family, and childhood in China. Reinterpreting tradition in the 21st century |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Confucian values, family, and childhood in China. Reinterpreting tradition in the 21st century |
| title_sort |
confucian values, family, and childhood in china. reinterpreting tradition in the 21st century |
| description |
This article examines the contemporary role of Confucian values in shaping childhoods in China, offering a critique of the universalist paradigm of childhood promoted by the Global North. Through a decolonial lens and the analysis of classical sources, contemporary studies, and recent educational policies, it argues that Confucian thought continues to function as a normative framework in moral formation, family relations, and state ideological legitimacy.
In this tradition, childhood is not seen as a progressive path to autonomy, but rather as a key stage for internalizing filial duty, ritual, and hierarchy. This relational ontology clashes with liberal-individualist frameworks that define the child as an autonomous rights-bearing subject, generating tensions across educational, legal, and familial practices. Such frictions are particularly intense in urban, globalized settings, but also affect rural and migrant children in unequal ways.
The article also identifies cultural resignifications of Confucianism within family and community settings, which operate as forms of resistance to global homogenization. It concludes by proposing a decolonial epistemology of childhood that highlights relational and plural alternatives to Western models. The Chinese case offers conceptual tools to rethink childhood from culturally embedded and historically rooted frameworks. |
| publisher |
Universidad Nacional de Rosario |
| publishDate |
2025 |
| url |
https://claroscuro.unr.edu.ar/index.php/revista/article/view/161 |
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2025-09-04T05:07:53Z |
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