President Ma Ying-jeou presided over the annual Teacher’s Day ceremony early Sunday morning at the Confucius Temple in downtown Taipei. The ceremony is held every year on Confucius’s birthday, September 28. This year marks the 2,564th anniversary of his birth.
People lined up well before sunrise in order to attend the ceremony, which began at 6am.
President Ma is the first head of state to participate in the ceremony since 1949. This year was the fourth such occasion, with Ma offering incense to Confucius. The temple is one of the few Confucian temples which still holds the ancient rites with a special 37-step ceremony.
In a speech at Sunday’s ceremony, Ma said that “a country’s lifeline is its culture, and that culture is passed along by way of education.” He said that remembering Confucius, involves not just reflecting on his contributions to culture, but also spreading his educational ideals. In particular, the president mentioned one of Confucius’s sayings which hangs in the main hall of the temple. That phrase can be translated into English as: “Make no social distinctions in teaching; provide education for all people without discrimination.” Ma said that this ideal had enabled for the transmission of Chinese culture for thousands of years, and that as long as the student is motivated, he or she can learn.