In 1991, Lin founded the Hua Shan Forum, a private educational institute offering free classes in the Chinese classics, Taoism, and Buddhism.

CNN: Confucius is seen as a beacon in a changing world

Mr. Bowien's singular way with Chinese classics (kung pao pastrami, salt cod fried rice made with house-confited mackerel) immediately created a citywide buzz.

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Since most of these teachers have started their own classes around the island, Lin estimates that 50, 000 people are now learning the Chinese classics.

CNN: Confucius is seen as a beacon in a changing world

But like most Chinese classics it is now almost unknown to European audiences: Chinese plays have been all but absent from British theatres since the fading of the fashion for "Chinoiserie" in the 19th Century.

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Teaching centers on the "Four Books" and the "Five Classics" that formed the basis of Chinese education for hundreds of years until the educational reforms following the fall of the Ching dynasty in 1911.

CNN: Confucius is seen as a beacon in a changing world

In 1912, the government abolished the teaching of the classics and began promoting a written form of the vernacular, rather than classical written Chinese, which was decipherable only to scholars.

CNN: Confucius is seen as a beacon in a changing world