Beijing marks Confucius's happy return, aged 2,561

Today the first service was held at Beijing's Confucian temple since the Communists took power
Confucius' birthday
Confucius' birthday, celebrated in China. Photograph: Wu Hong/EPA

When a man has reached 2,561 years, it is hard to distinguish each birthday from the last. But anniversary celebrations for China's best-known philosopher included one notable change today: the first service at Beijing's Confucian temple since the Communists took power in 1949.

Once reviled as backwards and feudalist, Confucius has made a comeback since the 1990s, his work again openly a source of moral instruction and social debate – although it is also used to legitimise a party that once denounced him, to bolster tourism, and to soothe the souls of stressed workers.

Today hundreds of schoolchildren gathered to pay their respects. Dancers in red robes and students in flowing black drifted through the courtyards of the 14th century temple complex in central Beijing.

For Confucian teacher Yang Ruqin, the event was a welcome sign of renewed interest in the philosopher's thought.

"Confucianism has always been in Chinese people's blood. Although negated for many years, it is still there and when the environment is right, it will come back. I think it is a very good thing, especially in today's materialistic society," he said. "Most people now are just curious about it instead of really understanding the theory, but that's okay: as time goes on, they will know better. Plus Confucianism is something really suited to the Chinese people."

Although celebrations of Confucius have become a valuable money-spinner in Qufu, his birthplace, Yang said it was the first officially-approved service at the Beijing temple for six decades.

Disapproval of Confucianism, and destruction of temples during the cultural revolution, had made people cautious, he said.

"But people started to understand the core values, the true concepts, and started to find that those values are not completely irrelevant to their lives," he said.

Virtue, filial duty, obedience to rulers and benevolence from them are all key themes. But like most influential schools of thought, Confucianism can be interpreted in apparently limitless ways.

A Taiwanese speaker described Confucianism's relevance to cross-Straits ties.

Yu Dan – China's best known populariser of the philosopher's work – made him sound more like a self-help guru. "Now that everyone is busy, it seems that the things that actually make people happy are drifting further away from us. A child should have a dream. This is all related to what Confucius says in ethics."

The country's leaders too have co-opted the thinker. He has reappeared in school textbooks, and President Hu Jintao drew on Confucius in establishing his vision of the "harmonious society".

Dr Daniel Bell, a scholar at Tsinghua University and author of China's New Confucianism, said: "[Historically] it was part of political legitimation – and maybe that helps to explain the revival now to the extent [China's leaders] appeal to Confucianism for legitimacy. Obviously they don't want to become liberal democrats, but Marxism does not really grab people any more."

But he added: "The revival is happening at different levels of society, with some [Confucian theorists] having a much more critical way of thinking. In Imperial China it was a conservative tradition, but always had a critical edge; Confucius and Mencius were social critics."

Li Gengwu, a retired newspaper employee attending the service, studied Confucius as a child before the revolution. "All the good traditional values were abandoned. Now it seems more people are interested. Confucius advocates loyalty and trust and caring for others. In today's society, all people care about is money, so it's good to promote these values."

Younger people were less enthusiastic.

"Confucius is an important part of Chinese culture, related to everyone," said Han Bing, 30, a musician at the event. But she was "not really sure" how he was relevant.

Xue Wenjuan, 23, was swift to quote "Learning is our belief," but added: "That's a commercial for a language training centre."

Additional research by Lin Yi