With ‘Confucius cuisine’, they cook to order

Revered for centuries but reviled in recent decades, Confucius is making a comeback in China – and on its dinner plates.

“Confucius cuisine” is a fine-dining trend that reflects how the ruling Communist party – which long saw the sage as a reactionary force – has drafted him into its modern campaign to boost what President Xi Jinping has called China’s “cultural soft power”.

One of the few ancient Chinese names to have global recognition, the philosopher highlights bonds with overseas Chinese and other Asian nations, and his moniker has been adopted for more than 300 language-teaching “Confucius Institutes” in 90 countries.

The authorities are “going back and finding certain elements that existed before the 20th century” and “exploiting Confucius as a brand”, says Thomas Wilson, a professor at Hamilton College in New York.

Among restaurants in Qufu in the eastern province of Shandong – where the philosopher known in Chinese as Kong Zi lived from 551 BC to 479 BC – the cuisine is an edible symbol of the way the writer has been reworked.

“Book of Odes and Book of Rites Ginkos”, a dense, mildly sweet dessert named after two Confucius classics, is a yellow pea flour “book” topped with nuts and drizzled with honey.