“As we visit His Holiness the Dalai Lama, our bipartisan delegation comes in his spirit of faith and peace. We come on this visit to be inspired by His Holiness and demonstrate our commitment to the Tibetan people, to their faith, their culture and their language,” Pelosi said.

China, which took control of Tibet in what it calls a “peaceful liberation” long has been accused of suppressing Tibetan culture. Throughout Tibet, reports come out of people engaging in isolated protest against Beijing. Recently, a 16-year-old boy set himself on fire while yelling “Tibet wants freedom” and “Let His Holiness the Dalai Lama come back to Tibet.”

Representative Jim McGovern, a Democrat traveling with Pelosi, has called for a new U.S. policy toward Tibet to safeguard the identity of the Tibetan people and hold China accountable for human rights abuses.

However, these issues out Washington in a sticky situation. President Donald Trump is now looking toward China as a potential piece of leverage to use against North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

The Dalai Lama is still considered a dangerous separatist by the Chinese government. He has spent a lot of his life as technically a refugee. “Here the last 58 years I am the longest guest of Indian government,” the Dalai Lama said. “But, emotionally, some concern about deep inside Tibet, and in China proper there are 400 million Buddhists.”

Following Trump’s victory in November, the spiritual leader said he was interested in meeting the president. That invitation, however, may not be coming considering recent issues especially continued provocations by North Korea and China’s willingness to work with the United States.

The University of California at San Diego announced it was welcoming the Tibetan spiritual leader Dali Lama to speak at commencement, causing Chinese students who view him as a dangerous separatist – a popular view circulated back home in state-run media – to seek safe space status.

Following the announcement, the Chinese Students and Scholars Association in a collective statement said: “UCSD is a place for students to cultivate their minds and enrich their knowledge. Currently, the various actions undertaken by the university have contravened the spirit of respect, tolerance, equality, and earnestness—the ethos upon which the university is built. These actions have also dampened the academic enthusiasm of Chinese students and scholars. If the university insists on acting unilaterally and inviting the Dalai Lama to give a speech at the graduation ceremony, our association vows to take further measures to firmly resist the university’s unreasonable behavior. Specific details of these measures will be outlined in our future statements.”

While the Dali Lama hasn’t publicly called for outright Tibetan independence, the Chinese government is highly critical of him.

One student on Facebook expressed concern over just how sensitive he is.

“Commencement is a landmark of our life. Our family members are coming all the way from China, flying for more than 10 hours to celebrate with us. The Dalai Lama, as a political icon, is viewed differently in our country. We want to spend a fantastic time with our family during the commencement, but his presence will ruin our joy.”

Still, the university is unlikely to revoke their invitation.

A school statement read: “Our 2017 speaker, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, carries a message that promotes global responsibility and service to humanity that is of great interest to the UC San Diego community and to our students as they enter their professional lives. As a public university dedicated to the civil exchange of views, the university believes commencement is one of many events that provide an appropriate opportunity to present to graduates and their families a message of reflection and compassion.”

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen is making a four-country tour of Taiwan’s allies in central America, visiting Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and El Salvador. But first, a pit stop in the United States. President Tsai stayed overnight in Houston, Texas Saturday, exchanging gifts with Governor Abbott Sunday.

President Tsai presented the governor with a lovely vase from her home island, and Governor Abbott? Well, he presented something not so lovely.

Abbott gave president Tsai a clock bearing the Texas state seal, according to the governor’s office. This may seem like an innocuous or even nice gift, but if Abbott had bothered to do his homework on his guest he would have known that giving a clock as a gift to a person from Chinese-speaking nations, especially Taiwan, China, and Hong Kong, is a huge n0-no.

This is because in both Mandarin and Cantonese the word for “clock” 鐘 is pronounced the same as the word for “end”, 終. So, “giving [the gift of] a clock” 送鐘 sounds the same as sending someone off to their end 送終. Clocks also signify that time is running out, as if you are blatantly pointing out to the receiver that his/her time is running out. If these are not reasons to abandon your clock gift, then I don’t know what is.

While President Tsai may have handled the gift-exchange with diplomacy and poise, Governor Abbott should have understood the cultural implications of such a gift, saving himself the embarrassment of this massive blunder.

Tsai Ing-wen will make a stopover in San Francisco on her way back to Taiwan. Hopefully Governor Abbott is not there to greet her – or if he is, please don’t make it be with a clock.

The 90-minute, six-part documentary took two years to make and it is the first documentary to be produced by China and a foreign company.

It was produced by state-run CCTV in cooperation with Britain’s Lion TV, China International Television Corporation and the Dazhong News Group.

Confucius is recognized as a symbol of Chinese history, culture and intellectualism. His teachings and philosophy are renowned around the world.

He was reportedly born in the present-day town of Qufu in east China’s Shandong Province around 551 B.C.

His philosophy, which came to be known as Confucianism, emerged from the school he founded in which students from all walks of life came to receive his wisdom. He is believed to be the first to establish private schools in China.

About 1,300 Confucius temples are scattered throughout China and overseas.

Today, about 9 million people are studying Chinese language and culture in 500 Confucius institutes

The documentary was broken down into six parts: the man, the legend, the philosophy, the master, the inheritance and the present day.

A 300-minute, domestic version of the documentary is under production.

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For decades, the ruling Chinese Communist Party has neglected the philosopher’s beliefs along with its institutional aspects. During the cultural revolution of 1966 to 1976, officials encouraged citizens to avoid discussing his philosophies in public.

Now, the government is launching several projects throughout the country to promote his teachings and revive his cultural significance.

Officials in Confucius’ hometown of Qufu announced that teachers would get free access to his temple there in an effort to promote the philosopher’s wisdom throughout the country’s classrooms. The Chinese government-sponsored Confucius Foundation of China is also set to build thousands of Confucius schools throughout the country.

Although Confucius’ emphasis on the importance of family roles never left China, many of the institutional aspects of his teachings did.

But why is Confucius officially making his way back into Chinese culture after decades of being brushed aside by the government?

Dr. Rosita Dellios, associate professor of international relations at Bond University, tells gb times that the philosopher’s teachings seem more appealing to people considering the current state of Chinese society.

“It is a time when people are searching for values they can rely on, when China needs a firmer grip on its fast changing reality,” she said.

When President Xi Jinping took power in 2012, he acknowledged philosophy as “a powerful ideological tool, with its stress on order, hierarchy, and duty to rules and to family.”

Dellios also expressed that Confucianism is serving as a source of guidance for Chinese leaders coping with China’s increasingly important role in the global economy and international relations among world powers.

She told gb times that Confucius’ influence is evident in China’s “win-win” foreign policy and its “emphasis on the development of other countries.” She points to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and the “Belt and Road” as examples of this “cooperative attitude.”

“There is a whole body of strategic culture which China has to draw upon, and which would help in its international relations,” Dellios said..

One of the five great Chinese scholarly works is considered to be the “Classic of Poetry,” a 3,000-year-old collection of lyrics and verses from the early Zhou Dynasty compiled by Confucius.

Confucius admired the Zhou dynasty for its virtuous governance, upright culture, and emphasis on Chinese ritual known as “Li.”

Li which embodies spirituality, etiquette and music is among the five cardinal virtues taught by Confucius.

Similar to how Western theater developed from ancient Greek festivals held in honor of the gods, Chinese etiquette and music originated from the religious rites meant to maintain bonds between humans and spiritual entities.

Music played a central role in these rites. By the time the Zhou Dynasty came to power, music and the arts were staples of high society. Children of aristocrats were expected to study classical music and dance from an early age.

It was this norm that appealed to Confucius. He believed leaders could create societies that promote harmony and heart while diminishing the need for strict laws and policing if they govern under the principles of Li.

According to the “Classic of Rites and Music,” people succumb to thoughts of greed and cruelty once lured by material wealth and gain. Thus, the kings cultivated music and ritual to regulate the heart. “Through ritual, human nature is preserved, through music, harmony is upheld.”

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Eric Schwitzgebel a professor of philosophy at UC Riverside and the author of “Perplexities of Consciousness,” argues that philosophy departments lack Chinese philosophers and, as a result, aren’t well-rounded.

“Pilosophy professors in the United States have all heard of Confucius and the Daoist Laozi,” in Schwitzgebel wrote in the Los Angeles Times.

However, he points out “most of us have not read their works.”

“As a result, most U.S. university students are not exposed to Chinese thinkers in their philosophy classes,” he says.

Schwitzgebel hypothesizes this is likely because of America’s European heritage which results in a preference for western political thought.

However, he points out that this does a disservice to his students and isn’t really “justifiable on academic grounds.”

“Because they have little impact on our philosophy, we believe we are justified in remaining ignorant about their work,” Schwitzgebel concludes. “In our diverse, globally influenced country, such narrow-mindedness shouldn’t fly.”.