The CCP could have had China in a much better place if they had simply stuck to clamping down on Confucianism, instead of on clamping down on every “traditional” religion and philosophy equally and indiscriminately. And I put “traditional” in heavy air quotes, because the kinds of people in support of such a policy throw Buddhism into the “traditional” camp when the end goal of Buddhism would mean the end of all life being trapped down here, and therefore the end of all cultures, and therefore the end of all tradition.
In many ways, the CCP was successful in at least disrupting the Confucianist fabric of a good chunk of their society, but I have a feeling that a fatal blow is far from having been dealt, because I see plenty of people in even CCP-sympathetic circles online, claiming that China can keep itself in proper order by “embracing family values” and other Confucianist perspectives. Not to mention the “Confucius Institutes” operating in mainland China. It seems that not only have they softened on Confucianism, but have flipped the script entirely on their negative perception of it
And I definitely agree that the Sinosphere tendency to identify with multiple contradicting and incompatible religions and philosophies at the same time under the guise of it being “cultural”, while also taking none of them particularly seriously, is annoying. Confucianists, Taoists, and Buddhists were right to argue with each other for centuries. This attitude that these can all be simultaneously reconciled because they’re Chinese, and therefore should be reconciled because they’re Chinese, is ridiculous