Li Yousheng
The Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University, renowned for its research on China, appointed Professor Yi-Ming Song from Canada as its director this year. During his recent visit to China, he mentioned the need to “create new theories using Chinese thinking.” He said, “If you want to create a new theory now, it cannot be a theory, or a popular theory, unless it includes China.”
I have loved literature and history since childhood, later studied medicine, and after living in Canada for many years, I began studying Taoist philosophy in 1998. When I read Laozi and Zhuangzi’s works, I was deeply moved by their carefree and open-minded spirit and their lighthearted and humorous writing style, and I said to myself, “From this perspective, life is just a child’s game, and there’s no need to take it too seriously!” Later, I came across the so-called New Age movement that emerged in California in the 1960s, and I felt that they were simply repeating Laozi and Zhuangzi’s teachings, adding some new terms and techniques. Reinterpreting the world and history, society and life from this unique Taoist perspective of playfulness constitutes a subversive issue with broad prospects for development: the theory of a two-tiered society and its application. This is a culmination of multidisciplinary and multi-field research, spanning East and West, and encompassing both natural and sociological disciplines. Although I have already published several books on this topic, gaining recognition from some academic circles will take time, as it does not belong to any single modern discipline but is a hybrid of multiple disciplines. The author earnestly hopes for the support and participation of readers. I have a website that I have built and maintain myself. Although I am not very good at managing it, it contains dozens of articles in both Chinese and English for reference, and includes my contact address (http://taoism21cen.com).
I interpret Taoist thought as an idealization and philosophization of ancient primitive society, proposing a two-tiered social theory of natural and man-made society, which has been hailed as a contemporary decoding of comparative culture and a golden key to understanding different cultures. Young mammals have a habit of playing, which zoologists believe is preparation for adulthood. Humans retain this playful habit throughout their lives, preparing for a new life in the future.
If humanity has existed for 200,000 years, then we have been playing games for 190,000 years. The Chinese, however, continued this game until the time of Lao Tzu, which is what created the uniqueness of Chinese civilization and the philosophy of Lao Tzu and Zhuangzi. It is precisely because of this that Western civilization’s five thousand years is a history of escalating warfare, until the two World Wars. In contrast, China, after the Qin and Han dynasties, experienced cyclical upheavals with multiple deaths of more than half the population and an exceptionally stable social structure. I firmly believe that both the Chinese heavens and the Western gods led civilized humanity towards self-destructive warfare and competition. Under the ever-increasing pressure of war, the playful mentality of Lao Tzu and Zhuangzi transformed into a habit of working day and night, with working hours far exceeding leisure time, accumulating knowledge and wealth that doubled every few decades, preparing humanity for the truly secondary society of adulthood.
This preparatory stage for humanity’s future adulthood, as described by Marx, is a life-or-death class struggle—the so-called war is politics with bloodshed, and politics is war without bloodshed. This also includes the partisan struggles in parliaments around the world today. From the perspective of Lao-Zhuang Daoist thought, they simply took humanity’s 200,000-year-old game too seriously, which is why it actually escalated into war. Without war and the intense competition of humanity being its own enemy, humanity could accumulate knowledge and experience, and live more peacefully. I recently read Marx’s discourse on the Asiatic mode of production and was deeply impressed by his serious approach as a scholar. He repeatedly discussed the limitations of his theory of class society, stating that his doctrine, based in Europe, might not be suitable for Asia or other regions. Some scholars even believe that the class differentiation and class struggle described by Marx only emerged after the Industrial Revolution in Europe; before that, people lived their own lives without the partisan struggles found in today’s parliaments. Marx even argued that slaves in slave societies did not participate in class struggle because they lacked the capacity for it.
In the 1970s, I lived in Guizhou for many years. The farmers there dressed in what was described as Ming Dynasty style, and in rural areas, only one or two people dealt with the government; they didn’t care about changes in the government. I remember that after the Gang of Four fell in 1976, the hospital where I worked broadcast articles criticizing Jiang Qing over the loudspeaker. Nearby farmers angrily rushed over, saying, “How can you criticize the Empress? Heaven will punish you! Just wait, we’re going to be in big trouble!” They called the Empress “Niangniang” (娘娘), believing that criticizing her would bring divine punishment. This happened in Huaxi Town, a well-known suburb of Guiyang, where I learned that criticizing the Empress was taboo. Farmers in remote mountainous areas probably had never even heard of the title “Empress Niangniang.” According to my research, rural China in the 1950s was still living in a quasi-primitive society, where social order was maintained by emotional aesthetics rather than Marxist class differentiation and class struggle.
Some scholars say that the world in 2016 resembled a child’s game, rife with chaos: the failed Turkish military coup, Brexit, Europe plagued by refugees and terrorist attacks, the impeachment of the Brazilian president, and the rise of the extremely conservative and outspoken Donald Trump as the US presidential candidate, among other things. It seems we really need to view life and the world like children playing a game. Ultimately, humanity must move closer to Taoist philosophy and return to a more primal society.
(Text by Li Yousheng)
Appendix (2016/12/25)
Local Chinese newspapers published articles documenting Li Yousheng
The London Times
1. The Chinese Taoist View of Freedom (2006)
2. The Death of Zhuangzi. (Includes author information and news of his award at the Paris Book Festival). The Popular Times, London, Issue 132, December 2014.
Red Maple Journal, www.redmaplenews.com
1. Mao Zedong and Taoist Thought (Part 1). (Includes author introduction and news of award received at the Paris Book Festival). Red Maple Forest, Issue 76, December 2014.
2. Mao Zedong and Taoist Thought (Part 2). Red Maple Forest, Issue 77, January 2015.
3. The Life Stories of My Grandfather and Father: The Arduous and Extraordinary War of Resistance Against Japan. Red Maple Forest, Issue 83, July 2015.
4. Starch, salt, chocolate, and wine. Red Maple Forest, Issue 84, August 2015.
5. The Different Backgrounds and Performances of the First Generation of CCP Leaders: The Charm of Natural Humanity (Part 1). Red Maple Forest, Issue 86, October 2015.
6. The Different Backgrounds and Performances of the First Generation of CCP Leaders: The Charm of Natural Humanity (Part 2). Red Maple Forest, Issue 87, November 2015.
7. On the Uniqueness of Chinese Civilization (Part 1). Red Maple Forest, Issue 93, May 2016.
8. On the Unique Characteristics of Chinese Civilization (Part 2). Red Maple Forest, Issue 94, June 2016.
9. Confucius and Jesus: Different Evolutionary Paths of Eastern and Western Humanities (Part 1). Red Maple Forest, Issue 97, September 2016.
10. Confucius and Jesus: Different Evolutionary Paths of Eastern and Western Humanities (Part 2). Red Maple Forest, Issue 98, October 2016
11. Confucius and Jesus: Different Evolutionary Paths of Eastern and Western Humanities (Part 2). Red Maple Forest, Issue 99, November 2016.
Community Newspaper
(Starting in December 2014, one article per month. The first article was only available on the website, i.e., article 0. Articles 1 and 3 were published over two separate months.)
0. Confucius meets Lao Tzu twice. (Includes author information and news of the Paris Book Festival award, along with photos of the author and two of his English books). http://www.ccvoice.ca/?p=39671
1. A beacon illuminating Chinese history: named after Song Xiang Gong.
Community Newspaper, Issues 21 & 22, January & February 2015 http://www.ccvoice.ca/?p=44700
2. The Precious Sincerity of Cultural Revolution Youth as Seen Through Two Poems from the Cultural Revolution. Community Newspaper, Issue 23, March 2015. http://www.ccvoice.ca/?p=40932.
3. *The Art of War* by Sun Tzu and the Ancient Greek Phalanx: Differences in Eastern and Western War Cultures. Community Newspaper, Issues 24 & 25, April/May 2015.
4. Both the Jewish sage Tobi and Confucius said: “Do not do to others what you would not have them do to you.” (Community Newspaper, Issue 26, June 2015)
5. Death and Immortality. Community Newspaper, Issue 27, July 2015
6. Compare Homer’s epics with the Romance of the Three Kingdoms. (Community Newspaper, Issue 28, August 2015)
7. The Love of Wine Among Ancient Chinese Literati and the Taoist Cultural Tradition. Community Newspaper, Issue 29, September 2015
8. Human Prison and Human Hell. Community Newspaper, Issue 30, October 2015.
9. Death is a cultural construct. Community Newspaper, Issue 31, November 2015.
10. Four poems exchanged between Chinese students forty or fifty years ago. Community Newspaper, Issue 32, December 2015.
11. Two-Tier Society Theory and the History of Human Civilization. Community Newspaper, Issue 33, January 2016.
12. See the world from a different perspective. Community Newspaper, Issue 34, February 2016.
13. A Different Perspective on Democracy. Community Newspaper, Issue 35, March 2016.
14. Throughout history, emperors have often been scoundrels. (Community Newspaper, Issue 36, April 2016)
15. The “Ah Q spirit” of self-deception is a portrayal of traditional Chinese literati. (Community Newspaper, Issue 37, May 2016)
16. The separation between superiors and inferiors, and the distinction between insiders and outsiders, are contrary to Confucius’s saying that “only women are difficult to deal with” and “petty people are hard to handle.” Community Newspaper, Issue 38, June 2016.
17. Qu Yuan as Seen Through Emotional and Mental Illnesses. Community Newspaper, Issue 39, July 2016.
18. A comparison between modern Europe and the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods in China. Community Newspaper, Issue 40, August 2016.
19. A Comparison of the Axial Age and Ancient Chinese and Western Philosophers. Community Newspaper, Issue 41, September 2016
20. My days in a remote mountainous area when I was young. Community Newspaper, Issue 42, October 2016
21. A disruptive issue with broad development prospects. Community Newspaper, Issue 43, November 2016 (Unpublished)
22. Five classical Chinese poems written when I was young in China. (Community Newspaper, Issue 44, December 2016)
author By Dr. You-Sheng Li
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