Confucius is supposed to have said that every child needed three parents: a mother and father and heaven. The gods would look favourably on a child born into a family which held dear the ancient values of respect and harmony.
Children of Heaven is an ABC Radio National / BBC World Service co-production in which Radio National’s Tony Barrell visits Singapore, South Korea, Vietnam, and Japan to see how traditional Asian family values survive in communities which share the common and controversial heritage of Confucianism. How has modern life – the global economy, the assertion of women’s rights, the influence of the west – affected these values?
Broadcast during September on the Radio Eye program, this four-part series was produced by Barrell and BBC London-based producer Sue Waldren who spent two months in Australia for the project. The series will also be broadcast on the BBC World Service during September.
Series details:
Program 1: When a Girl Marries – Saturday, 6 September, 2pm
The journey starts in the small island state of Singapore, described by its own Confucian sage Lee Kwan Yew as a first world island in a third world neighbourhood. It now has a seriously declining birth rate and young woman are delaying marrying and having babies. Is there something wrong with the men?
Program 2: One Drop of Blood – Saturday, 13 September, 2pm
In Vietnam, where the communist regime for a long time vilified the ‘feudal’ tenets of Confucius, the status of women is still stymied by his legacy. In the paddy fields and the streets of Hanoi women still do the hard work. One family featured has six hundred members and is run like a clan.
Program 3: Under One Roof – Saturday, 20 September, 2pm
South Korea has been described as Asia’s most Confucian state. Witness the persistent belief in a highly competitive education. Kids go to after-school school and finish their homework at 2am, often strictly supervised by parents. Meanwhile, kids who drop out have found new centres for alternative learning based more on the concept of ‘play’.
Program 4: Live Slow Live Long – Saturday, 27 September, 2pm
In Japan where they are worried about their aging population there is one province where age is celebrated and where old people are at the front of cultural life, especially in music and theatre. This is Okinawa, the island prefecture where people live to be older than anywhere else in the world. They survive because they live the ‘slow life’ – but young people seduced by the fast life won’t live as long as their grannies.