All language subtitles for Butterfly.Effect.S01E05_English

- [Narrator] Our
history is no more

than a series of
incredible events.

Each one of us can
influence its course.

The tiniest of our
decisions can influence

the future of mankind.

To know the past is to
anticipate the future.

551 years before our era, the
Luo region in Ancient China.

Confucius was born
into a modest family.

57 years later, 80
magnificent women

are the offered to
the Sovereign of Luo

for whom Confucius is
the Minister of Justice.

In the 3rd Century of our era,

his disciples complete the
compilation of his Analects.

In so doing, they
immortalize his thoughts.

These three intimately
connected events

are the founding elements
of the Chinese psychology.

Their effects have been
influencing the world

for 2,500 years.

(rhythmic instrumental music)

China is one of the oldest
countries in the world.

It has survived through
thousands of years,

seen vast empires rise and fall,

experience invasions
of barbarians

sweeping in from the north,

and of Europeans
coming from the sea.

It's origins are so ancient

that they are lost
in the mists of time.

The ancient chronicles
have been faded away

with the passing
of the centuries.

And yet, China is still here,

more present than
ever and appears set

on conquering the world.

Our story takes place
more the 2,500 years ago

in a world where the
Roman Empire didn't exist,

where Alexander the
Great was not yet born

and where the very word
China had never been spoken.

This is the age of
legends, of great thinkers

and of bronze weapons.

In this region of the globe,

set between the Yellow
and the Blue Rivers,

humans have lived
since time immemorial.

Thanks to the abundance of water

and the vast fertile plains,
civilization that was able

to take root and sustain itself.

Master on the rivers, the
ever-increasing population,

as in Egypt or Mesopotamia,
had to swiftly organize

and form hierarchies.

As time passed, kingdoms,
empires and wars

followed one upon the other.

During the period
that interests us,

the political situation
is very particular.

China is divided into nearly
200 small, more or less,

independent states and is
under a political system

very like that
experienced in the West

during the Middle Ages.

Rivalry between the
states is intense,

and local wars between
lords are not uncommon.

In the middle, the
central flower,

a grouping of small,
less powerful states

is the heart of power and
is constantly striving

to maintain the status quo.

Technically, the country
is not in civil war,

but the situation may be
described as delicate.

This very special
period is known

as the Period of
Springs and Autumns.

- [Woman Computer] Welcome
to the memory of humanity.

(electronic music)

Here we can control
time, analyze and compare

billions of events
and alter them

to rewrite history endlessly.

For example, let us
return to our distant past

and explore civilization's
first steps.

China is a cradle
of civilization, but
not the only one.

(dramatic instrumental music)

When humanity began, there
were only scattered tribes

living from hunting
and gathering.

By discovering agriculture,
people not only settled

but moved closer to
major sources of water.

The more water there was,
the more people there were.

Gathered around major
rivers such the Nile,

the Euphrates, the Tigris
or the Yellow River,

people were forced to
organize themselves

to manage the use of
the land and the water.

Thus, the first
cities were born.

The first administrations and
the first states organized.

Fields were used to produce
enough to create reserves.

One part of the
population was able

to specialize in warfare,
another in the arts,

in science or administration.

It was no longer a mere
question of survival,

but of building,
developing and learning.

From the need to live together,

the first great
civilizations were born,

but so also were the
first great conflicts.

(dramatic instrumental music)

- [Narrator] China, which
does not yet bear that name,

is divided into
a host of states,

all very different
from one another.

Some are fortunate
enough to be ruled

by enlightened sovereigns.

Others toil under the
yoke of cruel despots.

Most experience a
subtle blend of the two.

It is one of the
these small countries

on the banks of the Yellow
River that our story begins.

On this day in September,
551 years before our era,

more than two millennia ago,
Qui is born to the Kong family.

Many centuries later,
his name Christianized

will be known throughout
the West as Confucius.

At the age of 19, he chooses
the path of administration

and becomes an attendant
of his region's granaries.

He then works his way
gradually up through the ranks

to become Minister
of Public Works.

Confucius is a
born administrator.

He is fair, upright,
honest and rigorous.

For him, politics is not
for personal advantage,

but to improve the
lives of the people.

He is a statesman.

His achievements and
successes naturally earn him

the envy and hostility
of less-talented

or less-honest civil servants.

Throughout his life,
he will encounter

scheming and
conspiracy against him,

even going as far as
attempts at assassination.

His inability to confront them

is proof of his integrity.

If he is no longer wanted,
he prefers to leave

and take his advice
elsewhere rather than

to descend into dishonorable
political maneuvering.

Like every man of
integrity, he will move

from disappointment
to frustration.

His aspiration to create
the ideal government

turns into a quest.

His aim is to find
a sovereign capable

of listening to him.

- [Woman Computer] Men
change with difficulty.

All his life, Confucius
stood out against corruption,

personal ambition and
political maneuvering.

He lived during a period
when the governing elites

were more interested in
their personal benefit

than in the institutions
they managed.

How are things in our time?

Let us imagine a man with
the wisdom of Confucius

traveling from
country to country

visiting presidents
or prime ministers

in order to advise them on
how to run their countries.

He would make suggestions

to the President of
the United States

on how to manage
his foreign policy

or to the Chinese
government on media freedom.

How would he be received?

Which president would listen

and really put his
advice into practice?

It's a safe bet
that such a visit

would remain purely symbolic

and would have no
subsequent effects.

And yet, a statesman is supposed

to be in the service of others

and put the interest
of all before his own.

Through the ages,
down the millennia,

human beings have always
had the same needs

to feed themselves,
find a place to sleep,

protect their families.

These basic needs drive them

to react in a certain way,
to prefer their own survival

over that of others.

If we took a 21st-Century
man and placed him

back in prehistoric times,
he would quite certainly

resort to tribal
behavior and fight

for his own survival
and reproduction.

The survival instinct is inborn,

even in the most
civilized of men.

(light instrumental music)

- [Narrator] "Believe in man."

That is Confucius' credo.

The human being fascinates him.

He believes man
is naturally good

and is convinced of his
capacity to improve.

He insists especially on
the value of education,

so he travels extensively,
goes to the provinces

to advise princes to
give them the recipe

for good government hoping
that they will listen to him.

Gradually, through experience,

he evolves a sort of moral code,

a line of conduct.

Drawing inspiration from
ancestral traditions,

Confucius makes it
into a rule for life

that he never
hesitates to teach.

Very quickly, he gathers
about him disciples

who listen to him and contribute

to the spread of his ideas.

Progressively, the
administrator promoted

to princely advisor
becomes a thinker.

But, it is while he
is Minister of Justice

in Luo Province
that a major event

in his life is to unfold.

(gentle instrumental music)

As always, his administration
brings stability,

morality and wealth.

The neighboring
province is envious,

and then worried by this
and devises a scheme

to eliminate Confucius.

Aware of the advisor's
reputation for incorruptibility,

its governors offer 80 of
their country's prettiest girls

to the sovereign of Luo
who neglects his duties

for whole days at a time.

Disgusted and disappointed,
Confucius chooses

to resign and takes to the road.

This is the departure point
for 14 years of wandering,

during which
Confucius will teach

his many disciples
his code of conduct.

Dozens of years later, the code,

written and compiled into
collections by his disciples,

is given the name
of Confucianism.

(swishing)

(electronic music)

- [Woman Computer] We have
just reached a turning point.

A turning point is a key event,

a crossroads in our
history where the world

swings one way or the other.

Disappointed by the
attitude of his lord,

Confucius decided to resign
from an important post

and sit out upon the road.

He chooses to remain
true to his ideas.

At age 57, this is a major
decision taken by a mature man.

There's no doubt that
this is a turning point

in the life of the advisor.

What would have happened
if Confucius had remained

at the Luo court.

If he had put his values aside

and decided to
accept the situation,

perhaps the great thinker
would have returned home,

frustrated and in disgrace.

Worse still, when
his enemies saw him

clinging to office,
they might have chosen

a more radical method
of removing him.

Without him there
to defend them,

his ideas would certainly
have sunk into oblivion.

The China of today would
have been greatly changed.

Imagine a China where
the sense of collectivity

as desired by
Confucius was replaced

by individualism where
the importance was placed

on the happiness of the person

and not on the
good of the state.

It would have been impossible
for the Chinese government

to use the
philosopher's thoughts

to make its people accept
current working conditions.

Western multinationals
would have chosen

another more competitive country
to set up their business.

Made in China would
be far less prominent

than it is today.

The balance of the
planet, as we know it,

would be totally different.

Let's take it a little further.

China itself may never
have come into be.

Split into a host
of tiny kingdoms,

each competing with the other,

this region of the globe
might have resembled

Renaissance Europe.

Less united, she would
certainly have been more open

to the outside world.

(inspirational
instrumental music)

- [Narrator] Virtue is
within the grasp of all.

Confucius was convinced of that.

His thought is a
humanist philosophy.

Man is neither good
nor evil by nature.

The choice of his
life belongs to him.

Through learning, he can succeed

in putting his faults aside
and cultivating his strengths.

But, for the philosopher,

education does not
end with books.

You must also
develop one's talents

through contact with
experience and with life.

Merely stuffing oneself with
knowledge is not enough.

An ideal prince is
a virtuous prince.

To govern, he has no need for
violence or the death penalty.

It is sufficient
to set the example

and the people will follow.

(rhythmic instrumental music)

A governor who cannot rule
himself cannot rule others.

But, education is not enough.

The human being also needs

to respect another
fundamental value, love,

an unconditional respect
for parents and family.

Within a political context,

this respect becomes
submission, an absolute devotion

to the prince, the
king or the emperor.

This concept of affiliation,

which Confucius
places at the heart

of all human relations,
is the keystone

of his entire thought
and will influence China

for the next 2,000 years.

After the death of the master,

this teacher will be committed

to writing a collection
known as the Analects

which has survived
to our very day.

(dramatic instrumental music)

- [Woman Computer] Ideas
are mightier than weapons.

What is Confucianism?

A religion?

A philosophy?

The very definitions
of the two terms

are difficult to clarify.

Across the world in time,
there is such a variety

that boundaries are blurred.

For Confucianism, the most
appropriate word is thought,

teaching rather than beliefs.

Confucianism does not
call on you to believe.

It gives advice and a
path to follow, a method.

It coexists in the
same territory as
Taoism and Buddhism.

The fact that the three
spiritual disciplines cohabit

proves their mutual tolerance,

and yet the spirituality
inspired by the Master

is not exclusive to China.

At more or less the same
period in the Ancient Greece,

Socrates is also
teaching his pupils.

Like Confucius, he
writes no books himself,

but his thoughts are
spread by his disciples.

Both thinkers are in search
of a more just society

and both exercise
massive influence

over their respective
civilization.

These ideas,
thoughts and beliefs

have modeled the way
we view the world,

understand life and
think about death.

And yet, they are
no more than words,

a few sentences spoken
at the side of a road

or under a tree.

Without Socrates and Confucius,

and also Buddha, Lao Tzu,

all the philosophers
of the Enlightenment,

the world would be
radically different

in good as in evil.

(electronic music)

(dramatic instrumental music)

- [Narrator] For
nearly 2,000 years,

the thoughts of
Confucius have been

a fundamental pillar
of Chinese society.

Taught to children, imposed
on administrative executives,

nobody can pretend
to an important post

if they have not yet studied
the works of the Master,

a real success for the
ideas of the thinker.

But, ironically,
as so often occurs,

this recognition did not
come in his lifetime.

Listened to, respected,
set up as an example,

he is, however, never
really followed.

Not one of the great
princes he advises

puts his ideas into practice.

All take from his teaching
whatever suits them,

but they ignore the rest.

So, the importance allotted
to respect for the father

and the Lord is largely adopted

and expanded by successive
kings and emperors.

Sovereigns show great
interest in this philosophy

that puts respect for authority

and blind obedience to the fore.

Work on oneself,
education and the practice

of virtue more constraining,
are less followed.

Dying at the age of
72, he was buried

by his first 72 disciples
under a simple earth mound

covered with grass.

Today, this simple grave
is surrounded by those

of his sons and grandsons,
spanning 76 generations

which makes it the
largest private cemetery

in the world with
close to 200,000

of the Master's descendants.

Confucianism is the
backbone of Chinese thought,

at least until 1860.

From that date, the
Chinese elite realize

how far their country is
behind the Western world

and they lay the
blame at the door

of dusty Confucianism.

And so begins a slow
process of deconstruction

of the millennia-old philosophy.

In 1949, at the end
of the civil war,

Mao's communists
take power and launch

the great Proletarian
Revolution,

objective, eradicate all
remains of traditional society

and of Confucian thought.

For 10 years,
everything will be done

to wipe the Grand
Master from memory,

but it doesn't work.

The 1980s will see
his rehabilitation

for the same reasons
used by the Han emperors

centuries earlier, absolute
respect for authority,

youthful in times of crisis.

Now in fashion,
promoted by the leaders,

Confucius' ideas are
again all the rage.

However, would Confucius himself

recognize his thoughts today?

But that is another story.

(electronic music)

- [Woman Computer]
Ideas do not die easily.

An idea, that tiny
spark, however minute

or fragile it may be,
can rock a kingdom

or bring down an empire.

The Christian religion turned
the Roman Empire upside down.

The Enlightenment
revolutionized the West.

Confucianism molded China.

In good as in
evil, ideas develop

on contact with human beings.

The more there are,
the faster they go

like a trail of gunpowder.

Over the centuries,
many people have tried

to change an idea to
subvert it to their own use,

or even destroy it.

And there's no
shortage of weapons,

many collection of opinion,
destruction of monuments,

burning of art,
banning of teaching,

execution of thinkers, massacre
of populations, genocides.

Any method will serve
to prevent the spread

of an undesirable idea.

Confucianism was fought
for nearly 100 years.

The authorities tried
to wipe it from memory

to make it disappear,
but you don't get rid

of 2,500 years of history
by burning a few books.

After being set
up as an example,

Confucius was
attacked, but nobody,

however powerful he might be,

can prevent another human being

from thinking what he wants.

Our consciences belong to us.

Our memory is our treasure

and that, nobody can
take away from us.

(dramatic instrumental music)