Letters

This ethnography regards the sole Chinese temple in the Romanian capital Bucharest, its people
and activity, as well as the thinking that supports this new religious movement (Maitreya Great
Tao,Mile Dadao 彌勒大道). It is common knowledge that Taoism, Budhism, and Confucianism
appear, at least in the official discourse, as a braided rope of unified Chinese tradition, each of the
three at the same time preserving their particular features. Nevertheless, Mile Dadao not only
seems to implicitly unite the three traditions in one (to which other foreign or popular traditions
may be added as well), but also aims to act as a next-level movement of global importance. This
messianic and missionary movement may also be understood as a Sinicized version of Buddhism
that ceases to call itself ‘Buddhist’ (or ‘Taoist’) while expressing the role of spiritual supra-
structure in which every earthling, member of any religion, may find their place on Earth and
eventually salvation.
Keywords/key syntagma: Taiwan/China, emerging religion, Buddhism, Taoism, salvationism,
veganism.

Confucianism, Daoism, arte marțiale (Wushu), Go (Weiqi) sau ascensiunea şi expansiunea Chinei prin cultură. Toate acestea pot fi legate de conceptul și atitudinea practică de cedare (rang), aparentă sau reală. Acest concept se poate traduce și în temenii culturii occidentale contemporane prin soft power, sinagmă care îi aparţine lui Joseph Nye. Iată cum îl definește Nye (2004): ,,Este abilitatea de a obține ceea ce vrei
prin atracție, mai degrabă decît prin coerciție sau cumpărare.
Vine din atractivitatea culturii unei țări, din idealurile ei politice
și din politici”. Și, mai jos: ,,Seducția este totdeauna mai
eficentă decît coerciția și multe valori ca democrația, drepturile
omului și oportunitățile individuale sînt în mod profund seducătoare”...
Ce poate oferi la rîndul ei China ?
Istoria se schimbă sub ochii noştri, dar nu prin expansiune militară,
ci prin ofensivă culturală, sprijin financiar şi investiţii cu
bătaie lungă. Pentru a cunoaște China de ieri şi de azi,
înțelegerea noţiunii de cedare (rang) poate fi o cheie.

This is a true and personal story of a visit to Louguantai in the summer of 2018, when I unintentionally found myself paying a visit to the venerable Daoist Ren Farong 任法融 (b. 1936), after a series of events and encounters that seemed to unconsciously guide me to meet him. First, a Daoist fortune-teller’s hermetic note in Shenyang suggested that I choose Chang’an (modern Xi’an) as my next stop.
Once there, I became aware that Master Ren was in the vicinity, no-ticing posters that showed his picture, but I took this as a coincidence unrelated to my plans.

This ethnography regards the sole Chinese temple in the Romanian capital Bucharest, its people and activity, as well as the thinking that supports this new religious movement (Maitreya Great Tao,Mile Dadao 彌勒大道). It is common knowledge that Taoism, Budhism, and Confucianism appear, at least in the official discourse, as a braided rope of unified Chinese tradition, each of the three at the same time preserving their particular features. Nevertheless, Mile Dadao not only seems to implicitly unite the three traditions in one (to which other foreign or popular traditions may be added as well), but also aims to act as a next-level movement of global importance. This messianic and missionary movement may also be understood as a Sinicized version of Buddhism that ceases to call itself ‘Buddhist’ (or ‘Taoist’) while expressing the role of spiritual supra- structure in which every earthling, member of any religion, may find their place on Earth and eventually salvation

Vă invit să o citiți nu numai pentru informația pe care o produce lectura unei biografii inedite, ci și pentru talentul de povestitor al lui G. Grație acestei calități m-am simțit pe deplin motivat în timpul interviurilor și al cercetării de teren și sper că am fost la rîndul meu un ,,provocator” inspirat.
Este o lectură utilă nu numai pentru cei interesați de practicile chineze Qigong și Neidan (Alchimie Internă). O bună parte din poveste zăbovește îndeajuns și asupra perioadei yoghine a lui G. Cititorii vor descoperi mai bine de două capitole în care este ilustrată cu totul altfel decît am văzut pînă acum o școală de Yoga, dar și mențiuni legate de fondatorul școlii.  Aici scopul meu a fost de a invita la o discuție nuanțată și de a spori cunoașterea despre o mișcare spirituală importantă a ultimilor 30 de ani, nicidecum de a idealiza sau de a leza imaginea acestei mișcări.

ABSTRACT. Confucian Values and the Revival of Confucius’ Thought in
Contemporary China. The article deals with the Confucian values in the context of Confucian revival in contemporary China, on the one hand, and with Confucian thought represented by its rang 讓 (“soft”, yielding) type values in dialogue with the Western world on the other. Based on several works by Western authors in the field, the article reviews the matters of metamorphosis and adaptation of the Confucian spirit to contemporary Chinese world, with a stress on the inclination toward communalism, apparently a constant socio-cultural feature in China.
Keywords: Confucianism, rang (“to yield”, “to concede”), communalism.

The article presents a series of critical events and conflicts in the history of the
Chinese Diaspora in Romania, a history that spans from 1990 up to present, 33 years
of constant dramas both family-related and collective ones, regarding two main
categories: merchants and workers. The two are separated by a distance of 15 years
in what regards their arrival to Romania, in totally different political and social
moments. Does this difference imply a more vulnerable category versus one sheltered
from crises? To provide answers, the paper analyses a cycle of metamorphoses from
expansion times urged by globalization of both trade and labour, until the stagnation
caused by the Covid19 pandemic and by the unexpected ebbing provoked by the war
in Ukraine, with an evacuation operation of the PRC authorities which once again
stressed the patriotic element cultivated among the compatriots abroad.
The ethnographic material is based on personal field research mainly and
constantly conducted in Bucharest and in neighbouring county of Ilfov (NE of
Bucharest). Also, both online and printed press materials in Chinese and English
were useful for an analysis on recent crises and developments.
Keywords: vulnerable categories; labour globalization; overseas patriotism.