The reason why Confucianism has lasted for generations is that it understands human nature on one hand and promotes necessary discipline and education on the other. Confucianism has much to contribute to the global village because it constructs a universal moral code of conduct which is independent of culture, race, simply because human nature is universal. Human nature consists of both good and bad. The good human nature includes kindness, charity, mutual respect, dignity, devotion, self responsibility, and so on. The bad human nature includes greed, domination, selfishness, destruction, waste, non-productivity, and so on. Unfortunately, the good nature is hard to keep. It is not impossible, but it is hard, and has to be cultivated, which has to be through the education process. Where the bad nature is easy to follow and is always tempting because of quick solutions like stealing or taking drugs. Our objective, then, as we approach the concept of the global village should be to enhance the good aspect of the human nature and contain the bad. The enhancement and the containment can only be accomplished by reasoning based on real human relationship and by appropriate release of human energy and animal instinct in harmless and non-personal cooperative activity like sports. To this end Confucius offered useful and practical guidelines to accomplish this objective.
If you look at the Chinese people as a whole over 2000 years, I would say 99% of Chinese people do not necessarily worship, but adhere to the essence of Confucianism basically to create order, stability for society and for the family. It is a philosophy that teaches people how to be good to one another. If you really talk about the meaning of life, whether you go to the next life in heaven or hell, the basic bottom line is what have you done in this life? Have you done something that you can be proud of? That is the basis for everything.