literary works

Four poems exchanged between Chinese students forty or fifty years ago

Li Yousheng Author’s Note: Scholars often say that communism and Christianity share similar doctrines. The European religious revolutions gave rise to the two major sects of Christianity and Catholicism, paving the way for the later capitalist modernization of the secular world; all three coexist to this day. China’s Cultural Revolution was a revolution against Soviet fundamentalist communism, paving the way […]

By Dr. You-Sheng Li

literary works

In his youth, he composed classical Chinese poems.

Li Yousheng Author’s Note: Although I have loved literature and history since childhood, I wouldn’t say I have a particular fondness for classical Chinese poetry. In recent years, while sorting through old belongings, I discovered several classical poems written between 1967 and 1971, preserved word for word. I’m sharing them with readers for their appreciation, as they also have sociological […]

By Dr. You-Sheng Li

literary works

Translation: Wearing the skin of a lion (beginning part)

Translated by Li Yousheng; written by Canadian author Michael Ondaatje (1943-). Title page 1 Joy will bow down to sorrow and grief. After you depart for the underworld, I will let your hair grow long, and you will wear the skin of a lion, wandering the wilderness. —The Epic of Gilgamesh Never again will a single story be told as […]

By Dr. You-Sheng Li

literary works

Two poems from the Cultural Revolution reveal the precious sincerity of young people during that period.

Li Yousheng I recently read a lecture transcript by Tsinghua University professor Qin Hui online. He said that after the Cultural Revolution rebels went abroad, they became democrats who promoted the democratization of mainland China. He also said, “In my personal opinion, the most important fact of the Cultural Revolution is that the ruling faction persecuted the people far more […]

By Dr. You-Sheng Li

literary works

Qu Yuan as Seen Through Emotional and Mental Illness

Li Yousheng (Community Newspaper, Issue 39, July 2016) In the early 1980s, when I was pursuing my doctoral degree at Cambridge University in England, I wanted to write Qu Yuan’s poem “The road ahead is long and winding, I will search high and low” on the title page of my dissertation. When I went to the library to look for […]

By Dr. You-Sheng Li

literary works

My Cultural Revolution Experience as Seen Through Several Classical Poems

Li Yousheng (2017) China’s Cultural Revolution was part of a broader global movement at the time. In the United States, there were Black and women’s liberation movements, student movements, and the world-renowned French student movement. When I traveled to Tehran, the capital of Iran, in 1979 while studying abroad, I saw portraits of Chairman Mao and slogans proclaiming “Long Live […]

By Dr. You-Sheng Li

literary works

The beginning of the manuscript of the novel “The Secret Records of Ah Q, the First Emperor and the Martial Emperor”

I. Ah Q did not die 1. Ah Q did not die. Ah Q did not die, and became the first person in history, both ancient and modern, to truly see a ghost, and indulged in the fantasy of being an emperor: first, he sat on the throne of Qin Shi Huang, and then, as Emperor Wu Cheng, he experienced […]

By Dr. You-Sheng Li

Laozi and Zhuangzi and the Taoist tradition of valuing nature

Ancient Chinese literati’s fondness for wine and the Taoist cultural tradition

Li Yousheng Mr. Li Xian’s article, “Many Literary Giants Are Drinkers” (World Journal, May 22-25, 2008), lists anecdotes about famous writers throughout history and across the world who enjoyed drinking, which is quite interesting to read. However, the conclusion that many literary giants were drinkers is highly debatable. The author did not provide any statistics, nor did he provide a […]

By Dr. You-Sheng Li

Laozi and Zhuangzi and the Taoist tradition of valuing nature

Ancient Greek tragedy and the flowing thinking of Taoism

Yusheng Humanity has long recognized the tragic nature of civilized life on Earth. Buddhist tradition teaches that the essence of life is suffering, and the only way to escape it is to relinquish personal desires and liberate oneself from worldly life. According to Jewish and Christian scriptures, Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge, learning […]

By Dr. You-Sheng Li

Laozi and Zhuangzi and the Taoist tradition of valuing nature

Taoist Emperors in Chinese History

Yue Shixuan (Yu Sheng) Aside from a few emperors who manipulated power and pursued immortality, claiming to believe in Laozi and Zhuangzi but not truly embracing them, Chinese history has occasionally seen emperors who genuinely believed in Taoism. They used Taoist principles to guide their vast empires. While Laozi listed many principles for governing a state, from a Taoist perspective, […]

By Dr. You-Sheng Li

Dr.-You-Sheng-Li
Dr. You-Sheng Li

In his later years, Li Yousheng studied Taoist philosophy and proposed the concepts of a genetically encoded primordial society and an artificial secondary society.

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