Random Thoughts 16: Different Historical Perspectives in the East and West (Part Two): Different Attitudes Towards World War II War Criminals

According to the Associated Press, 89-year-old American Johann “Hans” Breyer was arrested outside his home in Philadelphia on June 17 for serving as a guard at a Nazi concentration camp during World War II. The court ordered him detained without bail, but his trial is scheduled for late August. His arrest warrant was issued by a German court.

In recent years, Germany had requested his extradition from the United States, but the US had refused. In 2003, a US court ruled that he could remain in the US because he was a minor when he joined the Nazi SS, and his mother was born in the US and emigrated to Europe before giving birth to him. Breyer admitted to serving as a guard at Auschwitz during World War II, but stated that he was not on duty at the concentration camp and therefore had no connection to the 1.5 million prisoners who were murdered, many of whom were Jewish.

Now that Germany has more evidence to prove his guilt, they say: these verdicts should still be handed down by Germany, so that the perpetrators of the Holocaust can be brought to justice to the greatest extent possible. Justice delayed is better than justice denied.

This blog, in its articles “A Unique Perspective on Chinese History: Defeat from Within and Defeat from Without” (April 4-17) and “Differences in Eastern and Western Warfare Cultures: Observing Duke Xiang of Song’s Defeated Defeat by Chu Due to Adherence to Military Rules” (December 14th of last year), discusses in detail the different development paths of Chinese and Western history. Western European civilization, originating from Mediterranean civilization, is a more clearly escalating history of warfare. Over thousands of years, Christian Europe remains fragmented, following a path of continuous internal defeats while rapidly expanding outwards. China, on the other hand, compresses this millennia-long history of Western warfare into a period of just over two hundred years, with two thousand years of stability before and after the Warring States period. After the Qin and Han dynasties, it followed a path of constant internal defense and external defeats. This has resulted in drastically different historical perspectives between East and West.

Germany’s decades-long global search for Nazi criminals demonstrates that Westerners possess a broad global perspective on history, as well as a longer-term linear view of history—a consistent view of historical progress. The arrest of 89-year-old American John Breyer is just one of many such cases in recent years, with an equal number of Canadians being detained and repatriated to Germany.

I believe that the Japanese army must have committed similar crimes in China during World War II, on a wider scale and with far greater severity. The “Three Alls Policy” of the Japanese army, as described in Chinese history textbooks, involved killing everyone, looting everything, and burning down every house in a village. Such military actions are crimes anywhere in the world; the military should not target civilians. Did the Japanese soldiers who committed such crimes during World War II also escape after the war in disguise, like the German concentration camp guards mentioned above, only to be discovered and arrested decades later? Clearly not: the Japanese didn’t pursue the matter, nor did the Chinese. The Chinese don’t even have the precise and detailed memory to investigate these details. This reflects the differences between Eastern and Western cultures and their linear historical perspectives.

I clearly remember that when Sino-Japanese relations thawed in the 1970s, and Japanese leaders apologized for the Japanese invasion during their first visit, the People’s Daily published Chairman Mao’s words of gratitude to Japan. Chairman Mao had said that his success depended on Chiang Kai-shek and the Japanese invasion. Chairman Mao’s remarks, which confined the events of World War II, which involved six continents, to China and to the conflict between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, were not limited to him personally. For thousands of years, the Chinese tradition has been to remember personal and family history clearly, regardless of external affairs. The negative comment I’ve heard is that China should play a more active role in world affairs and should not frequently abstain from voting at the United Nations. However, both World Wars were caused by this Western perspective of active participation, and the current global ecological crisis is also related to this Western linear worldview, and has nothing to do with China’s focus on its own internal conflicts.

Random Thoughts 17: A Farewell Poem Written in a Hush Pile / Different Eras of Culture Shape Different People

Hu Dui’s Random Poems of Farewell

The locust flowers outside the window have bloomed several times.

The sound of bells rang in my ears repeatedly. (Note)

Six years of classmates’ friendship is as strong as a woven tapestry.

Zigui Qingyun urged him to go back.

Memories of the past come in fragments.

Just like what happened in last night’s dream:

How much affection the spring breeze and willows convey!

The sound of reading aloud in the slanting sunlight beneath the window;

The oblique meridian in the field moves slowly.

Words flowed endlessly as he held the book in his hands;

Enjoying the Mid-Autumn Moon from the Window

Under the bed, one can hear all the affairs of the world;

Across the mountains and fields of silver,

Where snowflakes fall, clouds begin to form.

Now I leave,

How many times will we meet?

The east wind and spring rain have brought forth abundant blossoms.

Have you not heard:

The matter of children wetting their hands;

Don’t sigh:

The wind howls, a poignant farewell;

Do you not see:

An eagle spreads its wings across the vast sky;

Don’t you see:

A thousand miles of spring sunshine, ten thousand horses galloping.

What to say?

True friends are found even in the most remote places.

How decadent and uncompetitive.

Only wish:

The Yangtze River is nowhere to be seen rolling away.

But then one sees the Yellow River appearing on the horizon;

The east wind has not yet brought the dragon back to the sea.

But then the fledgling phoenix took flight again.

Do you remember?

He once boasted:

Willing to be a daredevil on the mountaintop,

Not wanting to be born in a greenhouse;

There are no ambitious people in the big column.

A woman who is tender and affectionate is not a true man.

Zhi’er traveled 1,000 miles on horseback.

Parting has its own sorrows;

Even if it is a day of eternal farewell,

But after the lesson, we will not meet again.

What can separate us, no matter how far apart we are?

Let us all speak out for socialism.

Those who used to ride bamboo horses together,

Who knows how many heroes will emerge in the future?

I do not wish to fly through the clouds like a wild goose.

May good news follow the spring breeze;

Unwilling to be a so-called “high-minded person,”

May this heroic spirit last forever.

(Note: At that time, each class in the school was about fifty minutes long, followed by a ten-minute break. A bell was rung at the beginning and end of each class as a signal.)

************************

(Random Thoughts 17: Different cultures of different eras shape different people)

Author’s Note: In 1963, when I graduated from high school, I gave a book to my close classmate, Mr. Chen. On one of the pages, I casually wrote the following poem, which, as readers will know, was not a carefully crafted piece. Fifty-one years later, I have copied it below, word for word, to reflect my state of mind and feelings at the time, and perhaps it has sociological significance. At that time, the political tendencies leading up to the Cultural Revolution were already evident, and students were the first to be affected. Compared to today’s young people, there is a world of difference. This shows that the human heart is a product of its time, which is what this blogger’s theory of two-tier society says: people are products of social culture, that is, products made by humanity itself, but not by individuals, but by the collective creation of hundreds of millions of people.

The emotions, aspirations, and attitudes toward life expressed in this poem reflect the characteristics of the era. Of course, it does not represent the sentiments of all young people at that time, but it can at least represent the sentiments of a considerable number of them, or even the majority of young people.

Random Thoughts 18: A Perspective on the Polar Society Theory from American Happiness and Party Voter Maps

In July of this year, professors from Harvard University and the University of Vancouver published a survey on the life satisfaction of Americans. Using statistics from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other resources, and taking into account factors such as age, gender, race, income and others, they concluded that New Yorkers are the least happy.

Comparing the life satisfaction map with the party distribution map reveals that most areas with high life satisfaction are located in Republican districts, while areas with low life satisfaction are located in Democratic districts. According to the life satisfaction map, the San Francisco Bay Area has a satisfaction score of -0.06 to -0.03, indicating a relatively low level of satisfaction, and this area is also a Democratic district.

The Republican Party in the United States represents the interests of industry and the wealthy, tending towards a conservative political stance that seeks to maintain the status quo; the Democratic Party represents the interests of the poor, tending towards a progressive political pursuit of reform. From this perspective, it’s not surprising that those who are satisfied with the current state of affairs in America choose the Republican Party, while those who are dissatisfied and seek social reform choose the Democratic Party.

Strangely, the majority of these unhappy Democratic voters are concentrated in coastal areas, covering almost all of the coastal provinces of the United States. This aligns with the bipolar world theory presented on this blog: the ocean inspires ancient people’s fantasies of a secondary society, while the stable land allows people to be content with their original social life. The multi-faceted nature of this secondary society leads to competition and war, making six thousand years of human civilization a history of escalating warfare. This escalating warfare is the driving force behind humanity’s departure from its original social life and its expansion into secondary social spheres. It is precisely for this reason that the developed major cities in China and the United States are located in coastal areas, where unhappy people who want to continue reform and progress reside. It is said that surveys of China’s happiness index have also yielded similar results: rural people are happier than urban people.

Random Thoughts 19: Is there any hope for the impending collapse of Earth’s animals and humanity?

This blog post includes image reflections 19: Is there any hope for the impending collapse of Earth’s animals and humanity?

In the last paragraph of my presentation for the 10th International Society for Universal Studies (ISUD) this year, I mentioned that…

“The future fate of all living species on this earth, including humans, depends on humanity’s shift from a goal-oriented modern lifestyle to a Taoist-style pleasure-oriented primitive social lifestyle.”

I wrote this because in recent years, various media outlets have been constantly reporting news of the Earth’s ecological crisis, the extinction of animal species, and the collapse of humanity. Meanwhile, international conferences on reducing pollution emissions are always filled with mutual accusations and endless arguments. These conferences only discuss temporary, superficial reductions.

I. The animal world on Earth is facing mass extinction of species.

A report published in the journal *Science* on July 25th of this year states that 322 species of terrestrial vertebrates have gone extinct since 1500 AD, and globally, 16% to 33% of vertebrates are threatened or endangered. Researchers concluded that global human activity and population growth are the primary causes of the dramatic decline in animal diversity. Megaloceroses worldwide, including elephants, rhinoceroses, polar bears, and countless other species, have seen a significant decline in numbers; terrestrial invertebrates have also decreased by 25% in number and 45% in species. Invertebrates include beetles, butterflies, spiders, and worms. This trend is similar to historical extinction events, one of which was the extinction of dinosaurs and other animals millions of years ago caused by a meteorite strike.

II. The trend of modern civilization collapsing within a few decades is irreversible.

Safa Motesharrei, an applied mathematician at the National Center for Integrated Social and Environmental Studies in the United States, with the assistance of a team of natural and social scientists, used the “human and natural dynamics” model to predict the development of the industrial world 100 years from now and to explore the various pressures that could lead to the collapse of civilization.

The research findings reveal that even under the most conservative estimates, the world will rapidly head towards the worst-case scenario: unstable economic development, increasingly strained global resources, and the collapse of modern civilization within the next few decades. This will all happen with exceptionally rapid speed. The report states that “increased resource consumption” and “social stratification” are the primary causes of societal collapse.

According to the two-tiered social theory, social stratification is not the direct cause of the collapse of human civilization. The human body is divided into organs, tissues, and cells, and the human system has shown no signs of collapse even after millions of years. If civilized society developed according to the Taoist conception, stratification would not be a problem. The problem lies in the fact that Western war-driven civilization emphasizes material resources and uses social stratification to drive social material production, but it lacks an internal regulatory mechanism. In other words, this system, which relies on social stratification to drive social development, has never been designed with a self-balancing feedback mechanism to limit unlimited development.

Throughout human history, there have been numerous instances of human civilizations rising and falling. The study cites the decline of the Roman Empire, the Mauryan and Gupta Empires in India, and the various dynasties that ruled Mesopotamia, all of which testify to the fact that advanced, sophisticated, complex, and creative civilizations are fragile and not enduring.

This is the phenomenon of the life cycle of civilization proposed by modern Western scholars such as Toynbee: a civilization, like other living organisms, undergoes a natural process of birth, growth, aging, and death. Western scholars have also noted the extraordinary continuity of Chinese civilization. They are unaware that destruction is a phenomenon of the early stages of a secondary social civilization, because an artificial society cannot be perfectly created from the outset, and competition from other civilizations inevitably leads to its demise. The original society that humanity was born with is eternal. Confucianism and Taoism, as the mainstream cultures of China, both idealized this original society, thus avoiding the fate of decline and extinction characteristic of Western civilization. Modern China, brought into the so-called modern world by Western civilization, is now facing its inevitable collapse.

III. The current global crisis affecting animals and human civilization was foreseen by Laozi and Zhuangzi.

Lao Tzu advocated for small states with few people precisely because he recognized the unsustainability of a two-tiered society and its inherent inability to be manipulated. Zhuangzi said,

In ancient times, Yin and Yang harmoniously and peacefully cooperated: 1) Spirits and deities did not interfere with human affairs. 2) The four seasons changed in accordance with the seasons, and all things under heaven were not harmed. 3) People did not die young, and although they possessed wisdom, it was of no use. This was the perfect and pure state of Taiyi (the Unity of All Things). (Original text: At that time, Yin and Yang were in harmony and stillness, spirits and deities did not disturb, the four seasons were in accordance with the seasons, all things were not harmed, all living things did not die young, and although people had knowledge, it was of no use. This is called the ultimate unity. Zhuangzi, “Cultivating One’s Nature”.)

This is Zhuangzi using the ideal realm of Chinese Daoism in his writings as a contrast to satirize the frequent wars and widespread suffering during the Warring States period, and it was not without purpose. However, it can also be used as a standard to distinguish between Eastern and Western cultures; of course, actual society can only approach or deviate from this standard.

For ease of comparison, the author has inserted Arabic numerals into the translation of Zhuangzi’s original words and listed the opposite of the standard:

1) Ghosts and spirits interfere with human affairs; 2) The natural environment is damaged and the climate becomes abnormal; 3) Scheming is rampant in society, and people are unable to enjoy their due lifespan due to increased psychological pressure, suicide, violent conflicts and other human-caused reasons.

These three opposing versions precisely illustrate the differences between Eastern and Western civilizations, as well as the distinction between primitive societies and contemporary secondary civilizations. They are also a major reason why the world today faces collapse.

The *Zhuangzi*, in the chapter “Zaiyou,” states: “I have heard of governing the world by following its natural course, but I have never heard of governing the world by human intervention. By following its course, one fears that the world will indulge in its inherent nature; by indulging it, one fears that the world will change its virtue. If the world does not indulge in its inherent nature, nor change its virtue, then how can one govern the world? In the past, when Yao governed the world, he made the world joyful and happy, which was not peaceful; when Jie governed the world, he made the world weary and miserable, which was not pleasant. This lack of peace and pleasure is not virtue. And nothing that cannot endure without virtue has ever existed in the world.” In essence, it means: I have heard of the world following its natural course, but I have never heard of it being governed by human intervention. If the world follows its natural course, its inherent virtue will not change, and therefore there is no need for human governance. When Yao governed the world, the people were happy, but their hearts were not at peace; when Jie governed the world, the people were unhappy. This lack of peace and happiness is not the inherent virtue of the world. Nothing that can endure without virtue has ever existed in the world.

More than two thousand years have passed since the reign of Yao to Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi believed that these two thousand years of governance were a temporary phenomenon that was about to pass, and that the world would eventually return to a primitive state of anarchy. More than two thousand years have passed since Zhuangzi, and it is only now, facing global challenges, that we revisit Zhuangzi’s words: “When Yao ruled the world, people were happy, but their hearts were not at peace; when Jie ruled the world, people were unhappy. This lack of peace and happiness is not the original virtue of the world. That something without virtue could last forever is unprecedented.”

Scientists and sociologists agree that it is now too late; any remedial efforts can only mitigate the extinction of animals and the collapse of human civilization. Only the primordial social ideals of Taoism can guide human society onto a path of perpetual development free from destruction. The author has repeatedly argued that primordial social lifestyles can be equally rich, diverse, and magnificent—a kind of unbridled freedom akin to Zhuangzi’s boundless imagination and the soaring flight of the Kunpeng, rather than a human-driven conquest of nature driven by the depletion of Earth’s resources.

Random Thoughts 20: Two Poems, Two Different Worlds: Reading Li Shenzhi’s “Qinyuanchun: On the Spot”

When I read Li Shenzhi’s poem “Qinyuanchun: On the Spot” online, I couldn’t help but think of my own poem “Shuidiao Getou: Reading Chairman Mao’s Poems (1971),” which I uploaded to my blog a month earlier (July 8, 2014, 8:57 AM). Both poems are about Chairman Mao. Li Shenzhi’s poem was written after Mao’s death in September 1976, while mine was written before National Day in 1971, after the Lin Biao September 13 Incident, which brought down the second major event in Mao’s life, the Cultural Revolution. When I compared these two poems, I truly felt they were worlds apart. I believe my poem better represents the mindset and perspective of the average person. Li Shenzhi’s poem is more professional, more intellectual, and more objective, while Chairman Mao is a subjective, romantic, and aestheticized deity. In short: Li Shenzhi’s poem is based on the rational perspective of a secondary society, while my poem is based on the emotional and aesthetic perspective of a primordial society. The following are two poems:

1) Li Shenzhi: Qinyuanchun – On the Spot

Time flies, Mount Buzhou collapses, and mist fills Longgang. Even the proudest of heroes fades with the flowing water; the three kingdoms, though powerful, are inevitably subject to change. Red rain falls at will, chaotic clouds drift at will, once vying with the heavens for supremacy. Utterly helpless, alas, life is fleeting, and calamity is swift and desolate.

　　Some coldly observe the foreign powers, watching the world turn upside down with a sense of grandeur. What of Marxist-Leninist theory, the legalist methods of Shen Buhai and Han Fei, the achievements of Qin Shi Huang, the literary works of Cao Cao? Closer to Hong Xiuquan and Yang Xiuquan, further to Chen Yi and Wu Qi, they are comparable to those of past and present. All have passed, leaving only a thousand years of merit and demerit, a fleeting dream. (September 1976)

2) Yusheng: Shui Diao Ge Tou: Reading Chairman Mao’s poems

With spirit as majestic as mountains and rivers, and a heart as vast as the cosmos, my will resonates with the drifting clouds and flowing waters, a rainbow reflected in the azure sea. I coldly confront the anti-China tidal wave, the two superpowers dominating the world, their cries like the croaking of frogs. A song that shakes the earth, a whirlwind sweeping across the clear universe.

Disdainful of timeless verses, all are but fleeting sentiments: the sorrow of parting, the pain of separation, how can I bear to face the gentle flow of water and the light touch of falling blossoms? I intend to climb the mountain, carrying scrolls, to sing praises of the rosy dawn and rising sun, their melodies carried by the east wind, staining the sky and clouds crimson, reflecting a deep, radiant red. (September 1971)

The two poems above represent the different perspectives, viewpoints, and mindsets of political figures and ordinary people regarding the Cultural Revolution. They don’t necessarily represent different opinions or evaluations, but the former reflects the perspective of those directly involved, while the latter is an observer from the other side. The following is my own perspective on life during the later stages of the Cultural Revolution. Although I share roughly the same views as Li Shenzhi on the Cultural Revolution, our tone and mindset differ.

When Li Shenzhi wrote the above poem, I was working in a medium-sized hospital near Huaxi Park, a scenic area in the suburbs of Guiyang. The Cultural Revolution, launched by Chairman Mao, had quietly subsided after the Lin Biao incident. Although the routine meetings and political studies that followed the Cultural Revolution gradually decreased, they hadn’t stopped entirely, but were mostly spent chatting. As professional medical staff, we cared even less about politics, while the hospital’s leaders at all levels had long been openly dissatisfied with the status quo. In 1973, when Deng Xiaoping returned to power, our hospital staff treasured his speech, saying, “We should have done this long ago!” But when they heard that Deng Xiaoping had been criticized again for right-leaning reversals, everyone sighed, saying, “Everything is in chaos; we can’t even buy vegetables or meat.” In these casually chatting meetings, I heard people say more than once, “Don’t worry, things will get better after Chairman Mao dies.”

To ensure our staff could afford some meat, our hospital leaders had to rack their brains, resorting to methods like digging ponds to raise fish and driving to slightly more affluent Hunan to trade Guizhou’s medicinal herbs for pork, which was then transported back for everyone. But I can assure God that even with such hardship, people respected Chairman Mao; after all, he was the founder of the Republic. This aligns with the traditions of early Chinese society, lacking a broader perspective, viewing Chairman Mao with the familial affection of early society, feeling that he was, after all, an elder in their own family. The people I’ve heard say, “Things will be better after Chairman Mao dies,” are mostly young female nurses. The cadres wouldn’t say that; they have a clear understanding of the second-tier social hierarchy and corresponding self-restraint. We doctors wouldn’t dare say that either.

In remote places like Guizhou, a more relaxed political atmosphere might be more permissible. People in Beijing and Shanghai are unlikely to say things like, “Things will get better after Chairman Mao dies.” After Mao Zedong’s death, the first thing that came to my mind was: turning to the right under Chairman Mao’s banner. Soon after, news of the downfall of the Gang of Four spread. The young nurses said, “If Premier Zhou were alive, things would have been different; he certainly wouldn’t have wanted to arrest the Gang of Four.” They added, “If Premier Zhou had died after Chairman Mao, he might still have turned to the right and focused on economic development, and perhaps even transplanted European democratic reforms to the CCP Central Committee.”

When I recall my years working in Guizhou, I wrote: “The hospital, housing about two hundred people including their families, and its staff dormitory were built in the same compound, while outside lived farmers in the mountain valleys. The farmers’ clothing was said to be a legacy of the Ming Dynasty; they knew nothing of the Qing Dynasty, much less the Kuomintang or the Communist Party. Judging from the fact that they had no tradition of foot binding for women, I think it was even earlier: they may have lived like this since the beginning of time, unaware of the changes in the government above them. In such a remote mountainous area, coupled with the relaxed atmosphere of the later stages of the Cultural Revolution, our hospital had many primitive social customs: if a couple quarreled at night or beat their child, it became the talk of the town the next day; work was so casual that many people would go home to tend the stove or go out to buy groceries while on duty. Nearby farmers even ran businesses near the hospital specifically for this purpose.”

As ordinary people during the Cultural Revolution, we enjoyed several years of leisure. At that time, most of the doctors in the hospital were young people around thirty years old from inland areas such as Beijing and Shanghai, either unmarried or separated from their spouses, so we still lived in communal dormitories with four people per room. We lived on the second floor, and in the summer evenings after dinner, we would all rest on the long balcony in front of the door: everyone would drag out their own chair, lean against the wall, and put their feet up on the cement railing by the balcony. On long summer nights, we would sit there for hours, without any thought of tea or drinks, and we didn’t even chat much. We just sat there quietly, our minds as serene as the distant mountain shadows, solemn and leisurely.

Later, with the reform and opening up, life became busy and hectic. Only after retirement did I realize how precious that peaceful state of mind was, and how difficult it is to return to it: It’s very difficult for people living in a secondary society to return to the original society, even though our social life at that time was only somewhat similar to that of the original society.

Conclusion: The young nurses who casually remarked during the meeting, “Things will be better once Chairman Mao dies,” likely shared roughly the same views on Mao Zedong and the Cultural Revolution as Li Shenzhi, but their tone differed. According to Benbock’s theory of two-tiered societies, young people and women are closer to the natural beings of primordial society than adults and men; their expressions reflect this primordial perspective and are closer to my own poetry. Their frankness simply indicates a stronger primordial emotional connection to Chairman Mao, conveying more respect and love than Li Shenzhi’s words. When the Gang of Four fell, the hospital broadcast this over the loudspeaker, and a nearby farmer, enraged, exclaimed, “How dare they insult the Empress?!”—They called the Empress “Niangniang” (Empress).

author By Dr. You-Sheng Li

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