Editing Kowtow (section)

==Modern Chinese usage==
[[File:Hoc-tro-ta-on.jpg|thumb|Vietnamese graduates pay gratitude by performing a Kowtow for their teachers during the Confucian court examination in 1897.]]
The kowtow, and other traditional forms of reverence, were much maligned after the [[May Fourth Movement]]. Today, only vestiges of the traditional usage of the kowtow remain. In many situations, the standing [[Bowing|bow]] has replaced the kowtow. For example, some, but not all, people would choose to kowtow before the grave of an ancestor, or while making traditional offerings to an ancestor. Direct descendants may kowtow at the funeral of an ancestor, while others would simply bow. During a wedding, some couples may kowtow to their respective parents, though the standing bow is today more common.<ref name=":0" /> In extreme cases, the kowtow can be used to express profound gratitude, apology, or to beg for forgiveness.<ref>{{cite book|author-first1=Xiaofei|author-last1=Kang|title=The Cult of the Fox: Power, Gender, and Popular Religion in Late Imperial and Modern China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=75Uoe_3IatkC&pg=PA103|year=2005|publisher=Columbia University Press|page=103|isbn=9780231508223}}</ref>

The kowtow remains alive as part of a formal induction ceremony in certain traditional trades that involve apprenticeship or discipleship. For example, [[Chinese martial arts]] schools often require a student to kowtow to a master. Traditional performing arts often require the kowtow.<ref>{{cite book|author-first1=Eric|author-last1=Reinders|title=Buddhist and Christian Responses to the Kowtow Problem in China|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GQuCBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA139|year=2015|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|page=139|isbn=9781474227292}}</ref>