Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda met Yu Dan, visiting professor from Beijing Normal University, on January 30. They had a cordial talk over the Analects of Confucius.

Prime Minister Fukuda said that Japanese of his age took courses on the Analects of Confucius in the middle school. At that time, schools opened such courses. In his opinion, the Analects of Confucius tell many ethic and moral qualities that both Chinese and Japanese should learn from. Many titles of books on the Analects of Confucius have also been published in Japan. He hoped Yu Dan can often visit Japan.

When Fukuda asked if there is a craze for the Analects of Confucius in China, Yu Dan replied that the concerns over confucianism is the highest ever in China. She said that many Chinese people are familiar with the Analects of Confucius, and she only interprets it in a simple way to make it comprehensible to the people.

Yu Dan presented Yu Dan Explains the Analects of Confucius (the Chinese edition) and the Japanese edition of the book under the title of Power of the Analects of Confucius bearing her signature to Prime Minister Fukuda.

After the meeting, Yu Dan told a Xinhua reporter that, she had been to Akitasi and Okinawa in the past a few days. She met a rural teacher who had been teaching the Analects of Confucius for 40 years; an oculist showed her a family hand-down edition of Analects of Confucius; moreover, some young Japanese girls told her that they had the Analects of Confucius courses in middle schools. To her great surprise was that the Japanese people are very familiar with Analects of Confucius.

(CBI February 18, 2008)