His sayings command worldwide acclaim and have for centuries lain at the heart of Chinese culture, but for almost five decades of Communist rule though, the thoughts of Confucius have been trampled underfoot by the philosophy of Marx.

No more. The thoughts of Confucius are back in fashion.

China celebrated the 2,557th birthday of Confucius yesterday with sacrifices, speeches, dances and recitations. And, for the first time, the Communist Party gave its official blessing, honouring the sage it once vilified.

Some 3,000 people turned out for the ceremony in the temple at his former home in the northern town of Qufu. A roll of drums opened the centuries-old rite that was halted after the 1949 Communist takeover and resumed three years ago. Dancers in costumes from the 2,000-year-old Han Dynasty prostrated themselves before the sage’s statue.

“Bow once, bow again, bow a third time,” intoned the master of ceremonies as party cadres and family descendants followed his instructions before a sacrifical offering of a pig, a bullock and a goat.

Popular cynicism towards Marxism has forced China’s rulers to look for a belief system that will fill the gap without threatening their grip on power, and schools have sprung up to propagate Confucian ideals. The Communist Party’s decision to step into the limelight at the ancient birthday ceremony this year and endorse a philosophy other than Marxism is a crucial step in China’s harnessing of Confucian thought.

Li Yasheng, a party official and deputy mayor of Qufu, said: “Countries with religion have religious beliefs as a cohesive force. China has 70 million Communist Party members who believe in Marxism, but we need an idea to bring cohesion among the other hundreds of millions of Chinese. The answer is Confucianism.”

Confucian thought is one of the building blocks of Chinese society. Virtue, propriety, righteousness and benevolence are basic tenets, as is obedience to a ruler and the good behaviour of that ruler towards his subjects – ideas that find favour with today’s Communist leaders. But politicians and scholars in China are shocked at the breakdown in morality that has followed economic progress.

Kong Deyong is a 77th-generation direct descendant of the philosopher and the keeper of the Confucian family flame in China. He told The Times: “People lack honesty and virtue, so China’s leaders have realised that to improve people’s lives it is time to look back to traditions while we also look forward to progress.”

The Kong family is anxious about the use of Confucius, or Kong Fuzi, in politics. Next year, to avoid a hijacking by the Government of a solemn rite, they may shift their private ritual of remembrance away from the traditional date of September 28.

It is not only descendants who question the Government’s motives. China has opened 190 Confucius Institutes around the world, including ten in the UK. Analysts believe that these institutes are part of a policy to display “soft power” and counter a perception of China’s rise as a “hard power”.

Kang Xiaoguang is a professor at the People’s University of China, and a Confucian scholar. He said: “What is the key aspect of China’s soft power? I think it is moral and political. But this is a period of moral decay, and foreigners do not accept our political structure. So Confucius can help us to rebuild our moral and political philosophy with his emphasis on harmony and rationality.”

Harmony is a concept that has been harnessed by President Hu Jintao as he struggles to contain rising unrest and to narrow the gap between rich and poor. He has praised Confucius by name – a far cry from Chairman Mao, who had the scholar vilified as a demon and a stinking corpse.

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