Civilization and alienation are twins: civilization brings enjoyment, but history progresses through dialectics, and we are simultaneously bound and burdened by civilization. People repressed by civilization—Freud—desires should be expressed; due to repression, people suppress their consciousness into the subconscious. Civilized people are repressed by civilization, and when necessary, this repression must be released. In ancient Greece, women suffered even deeper repression because it was a patriarchal society. At this time, the worship from Asia Minor liberated women.

Di’s emergence was a reactionary movement against society and had a certain humanitarian significance. The government became wary and banned him.

Ancient Greece’s prohibition of Dionysian worship: Finally, in 186 BC, the Senate passed a decree permanently banning Dionysian worship in Rome and Italy.

Another religious ritual emerged: Apollo worship. Abundant evidence suggests that the Apollo cult accomplished the historical task of conquering the populace.

Di was a cynical and irreverent man, while Apollo was a healthy, dignified, and handsome man.

First, there is the sun god, representing light/civilization/rules, capable of predicting the future, possessing superhuman rationality and wisdom. Apollo is not a form of catharsis but a sublimation. Sublimation is changing the direction of primal desires, expressing them in a civilized way within the civilized world. Why do people go to church? It’s about sublimating their primal, repressed desires.

The lecturer said that religion, art, and science are three paths to sublimation.

The opposition between Apollo and Dionysus led the early Greeks to develop a more thorough understanding of both rational and emotional impulses; while the complementarity of Confucianism and Taoism resulted in the ancient Chinese not fully realizing the division between reason and emotion. In the West, reason became science, and emotion became sports; the ancient Roman slaves’ battles with wild beasts represented the ultimate expression of emotion, culminating in modern bullfighting.

American blockbusters, with their themes of sex and crime, and their formula of car chases and gunfights, stimulate our senses and arouse our desires. Modern Western art has become a form of intellectual self-indulgence, along with the screaming rock music and frenzied breakdancing. —Marcuse. Confucianism, with its policies of loyalty, filial piety, and governance through rites and music, naturally elevates literature to the lofty position of “a great undertaking for the nation, an immortal achievement.” Daoism’s spirit of “riding on things to roam the mind” makes it easier for people to approach all of life with an aesthetic attitude. Due to the harmonious unity of sensibility and reason, Chinese art rarely falls into the trap of purely emotional venting or purely rational speculation. This is not only due to the political necessity of “expressing emotions but stopping at propriety,” but also because the Chinese spirit easily integrates sensibility and reason seamlessly.

The differences between China and the West are significant: China has a clear class system, while the West does not, and highly respects individual rights. The West has a clear distinction between property rights, while China does not. The West emphasizes individual freedom (thought, speech, publication, association, procession, prostitution – establishing red-light districts, homosexuality, drug use – establishing drug corners, firearms, death – euthanasia), but also exhibits a coldness in human relationships. Liberty is Dionysian; law is Apollonian, hence Western law (1. the covenant between man and God; 2. the social contract between man and man) is strict. The costs of a legal society and its inability to fully address emotional and personal issues mean that China is not a legal society. Western law has two sources: first, the covenant between man and God, such as the Ten Commandments; second, the social contract. The transfer of individual freedoms and rights ensures the fairness of the law. Max Weber: “All governments face the unavoidable conflict between the abstract formalism of legal certainty and their desire to achieve substantive goals.”

The Taoist maxims of contentment, forbearance, and knowing when to retreat are limitations on the human condition. This cultural atmosphere, which disregards competition and suppresses adventurous spirit, not only hinders the development of the nation’s sports but also fosters a profound inertia in the nation’s overall development.

2014 Jan 30

Online courses: New perspectives on contemporary Confucian studies

Speaker: Du Baorui

Speaker’s Affiliation: National Taiwan University

Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism are all practical philosophies, philosophies of life practice. Wang Yangming, Zhu Xi, and others had very biased understandings of Buddhism and Taoism.

Epistemology confirms: the consistency of theory; and its feasibility in practice.

Feng Youlan’s theory of the four realms represents the Confucian ideals of governing the country and the world.

Metaphysics, psychology, and cosmology. Mr. Lao Siguang believed that psychology is the foundation, and everything is inseparable from psychology.

Mr. Tang Junyi loved all schools of philosophy, so he had a profound understanding of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism, and Western philosophy.

Mr. Mou Zhongsan uses Kant’s critical approach of practical reason to evaluate Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism.

2014 Jan 31

read:

A Look at the Philosophy of Life of Chinese Bureaucratic Intellectuals Through Liu Yuxi’s “Inscription of My Humble Abode”

Inscription of a Humble Abode (by Liu Yuxi, Tang Dynasty)

A mountain is not valued for its height, but for the immortals dwelling there; water is not valued for its depth, but for the dragons residing within. This is a humble abode, yet my virtue makes it fragrant. Mossy traces climb the steps, green grass filters through the curtains. Learned scholars converse and laugh here, no uncultured person comes and goes. Here I can play my simple zither and read the classics. There is no noise of stringed instruments to disturb my ears, no burden of official documents to weary my body. Like Zhuge Liang’s thatched cottage in Nanyang, or Yang Xiong’s pavilion in Western Shu, as Confucius said: “What is there to be ashamed of in such a humble abode?”

The Analects, Book 12, Chapter 16: “The Master wished to live among the Nine Yi tribes. Someone said, ‘It is a humble place, what should you do?’ The Master replied, ‘If a gentleman lives there, what is humble about it?'” This attitude of confidence and affirmation towards himself and the world, as expressed by Confucius, is fully reflected in Liu Yuxi’s “Inscription of My Humble Abode.” Some say that the Han Dynasty was the era of Confucian classics, and Dong Zhongshu’s religious interpretation of Confucianism involved a long process of acceptance by bureaucratic intellectuals. The rise of Buddhism and Taoism in the Tang Dynasty, along with the maturation of related religious theories, led the life philosophy of the bureaucratic intellectual class to lean towards religion. A secondary society is man-made and not to everyone’s liking, thus requiring self-psychological adjustment to adapt to the social environment and restore mental balance. Generally speaking, there are three different levels of methods: catharsis, worldly pursuits, and sublimation. Sublimation can be further divided into art, philosophy, and religion.

The era of Confucius differed fundamentally from the era following the Qin and Han dynasties. The former represented a primitive social system, and Confucianism, from the perspective of Confucianism and bureaucratic intellectuals, offered a philosophical summary of the social life of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties—a superpower-like society. This explains Confucius’s saying, “Those who follow different paths cannot make plans together,” and Mencius’s statement, “If repeated advice is ignored, one should leave.” Both illustrate that in their minds, their cultural beliefs were not only a philosophy of life but also a philosophy of the state and society. If the social philosophy of one feudal lord differed from their own, they could simply find another among the hundred or so feudal states. If that failed, they could form a separate society with hundreds or thousands of disciples, thus simultaneously being the master of themselves and the master of society. The order of primitive society was aesthetic. If catharsis is a form of self-expression, then in primitive society, specifically in Confucius’s time, catharsis, worldly pursuits, and art, philosophy, and religion as a form of sublimation were an undifferentiated unity.

Intellectuals after the Qin and Han dynasties were not as fortunate as Confucius and Mencius. The structure and ideology of the state and society had already been officially chosen, leaving them with no room for choice. Sometimes they didn’t even have the right to discuss it. Therefore, their philosophy of life could only govern themselves and a few close friends.

Reading, Listening, and Thinking Notes, February 2014

2014Feb03

Qiang Qiang San Ren Xing: Qiang Qiang 3 Ren Xing: Zhang Ailing, a modern Chinese writer, 2014-02-02.

Zhang enjoys a high reputation abroad, and domestically she is a symbol: an ordinary citizen, a woman. However, she is not highly regarded in academic circles.

The difference between Eileen Chang and Wang Meng: (Dou Wentao) Wang Meng said that he tried reading Eileen Chang’s works several times, but still found them uninteresting. Chang writes about the daily lives of ordinary people. However, both of them like *Dream of the Red Chamber*.

Jia Pingwa admires Eileen Chang, saying that it’s fortunate I don’t live in the same era as her, otherwise I wouldn’t have a place in her life.

Yu Sheng: I haven’t read many works by Wang Meng or Eileen Chang, but I’m clearly more moved by Chang’s work. Although Chang didn’t write a grand work about a nation’s era, but rather about the daily lives of ordinary people, she discovered the vastness and depth of life and society in everyday life, showing that the author had a deep understanding and grasp of the times and life. This is related to her aristocratic background, just as Cao Xueqin’s noble birth gave him a lofty understanding and perspective on life, while Wang Meng lacked this kind of life experience.

Yusheng: Zhang’s perspective is that of an urban dweller, an aristocrat, and a literary figure; Wang’s perspective is that of a revolutionary in the 1950s, a cadre, a rural person, and… a literary figure.

2014Feb03

Read: One Hundred Years of Solitude

Some critics believe this novel was written by an eight-year-old child, a view that Garcia Marx finds quite gratifying. This is a profound critical perspective, because this straightforward and concise language effectively reflects a new viewpoint, a self-awareness of a backward people (human children). The bitter smile of the person involved replaces that of the bystander.

The tears of the fools, their visceral pain of self-expression, replaced the seemingly fair criticism and analysis of the wise, and were more likely to evoke profound reflection from the group of fools.

One Hundred Years of Solitude is unique in style, both grand and fantastical. In its rougher strokes, it sketches the bloody cruelty of decades of civil war; in its more delicate depictions, it portrays the torment of passionate love; in its fantastical elements, it explores the unpredictable shifts between the human and ghostly realms, past and future. It possesses both lightness and depth, and is widely recognized as one of the most representative works of magical realism, a must-read masterpiece of 20th-century modern literature.

February 8, 2014

Online lecture: Let’s Talk: Wang Leehom’s Dream Creates Soft Power (http://www.tsctv.net/program/view/120722)

Having a dream is the beginning of building soft power. The world today is not about military conquest, nor is it about using economic power to subdue and buy off others. Instead, it’s about using culture to persuade others: use your songs, stories, and dreams to convince others and make them interested in you.

(Yusheng: This is precisely the perspective from which I define culture using my leisure time. It is about breaking free from the current secondary material forces of society, and it also shows that social life based on leisure time is aesthetic and is also the original source of human society. That is, human society originates from the common entertainment in leisure time, rather than cooperation in production. Cooperation in production is secondary and secondary.)

Popular culture is successful if it can change a thousand-year-old stereotype. Like the movie *Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon*.

2014 Feb 9

Qiang Qiang San Ren Xing: Chinese Gambling Culture Tycoon Goes Bankrupt, Cuts Off Hands, and Quits Gambling

[Yan Geling, Xu Zidong]

Yan explains the Chinese people’s love of gambling: Historically, the periods between dynastic changes in China were limited, and opportunities to get rich were short-lived, so people wanted to become wealthy quickly. The recent rapid rise to wealth in China is also driven by this mentality. The average age of Chinese billionaires is 46, and some are as young as 36, which is rare in the world. Yan says that one aspect of the Chinese character is their gambling instinct. The pursuit of brand names and other things quickly become vulgar in the hands of the Chinese.

Yu Sheng: 1) Secondary societies lack mature rules and are unstable, thus creating opportunities for speculation and giving rise to the concept of Machiavellianism; 2) Primitive societies are heavily influenced by dreams, prioritizing aesthetics over rationality, as seen in works like *One Hundred Years of Solitude*, which depicts rural life and Native Americans and is known for its magical realism; 3) Confucianism pursues a value system based on aesthetics, morality, and rationality, pushing the value of material interests towards an uncontrollable fate. Confucius said, “If wealth can be obtained through proper means, even if it means becoming a lowly servant, I will do it. If it cannot be obtained through proper means, I will follow my own inclinations.” (7:12) Confucianism’s dominant position in Chinese history led to the underdevelopment of Western material civilization, making wealth unattainable. This forced Confucian figures to pursue aesthetic and moral values, relying on fate and imperial rewards—a form of gambling mentality.

Online classes on February 10, 2014:

Coal Geology and Medical Geology

Speaker: Robert Finkelman

Speaker’s Affiliation: University of Texas

The text discusses the crucial role of the coal industry in the 2000 Bush vs. Al Gore election. Al Gore wrote a book advocating for the closure of the coal industry, while Bush exploited this by distributing the book for free in three states with a high concentration of coal industry workers. This persuaded workers there to change their minds and vote for Bush instead, resulting in a very slim chance of Bush’s victory.

China began using coal three thousand years ago, while Westerners collected coal from beaches, making the claim that Marco Polo brought coal to Europe questionable. Germany began scientific research on coal in the 1930s, enabling coal liquefaction. After World War II, Britain led the way in coal science, and now China is researching coal.

The United States burns 35 tons of coal per second, while China burns 115 tons of coal per second.

2014 Feb 11

Online course: Liberalism and the Good Life

Speaker: Zhou Baosong

Speaker’s Affiliation: The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Politics: How to live together.

Liberal system: 1) Equal basic rights; 2) Democracy and political equality; 3) Minimum social security (social welfare, etc.); 4) Principle of fair equal opportunity.

Humans live life to the fullest, while other creatures merely exist. We possess an autonomous self; this is the essence of a liberal life.

2014 Feb 12

Online lecture: Black holes that fill the universe

Speaker: Zhang Shuangnan

Speaker’s Affiliation: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Scientific questions about black holes: 1. What is a black hole? 2. What kinds of black holes exist in the universe? 3. Where are black holes located? 4. What do black holes do? 5. How are black holes formed? 6. Can we see astronauts entering a black hole? 7. What is the fate of astronauts after entering a black hole? 8. Will all matter in the universe eventually enter black holes? 9. How can we save a universe filled with black holes?

In 1976, Weeler proposed that matter cannot escape, photons cannot escape, and their redshift is infinite, i.e., a black hole.

Quantum black holes: Quantum mechanics theory states that there is no absolute vacuum, and positive and negative particles are constantly being formed. If this happens near a black hole, one particle will be attracted to the black hole, while the other can escape. This is Hawking’s quantum evaporation theory.

Stellar black holes: formed by stellar explosions, representing the end of stellar evolution.

Galactic central black holes: Every galaxy has one, capable of tearing apart and attracting stars. The Milky Way’s black hole is the size of four million stars.

A black hole that illuminates the entire universe: a gamma-ray burst.

2014 Feb 12

Comedians Miao Fu and Wang Sheng said that history can be learned by watching traditional operas, but not by watching modern movies and TV dramas, which are often fabricated.

Yu Sheng: Traditional dramas were literature for the bureaucratic and intellectual class; even Romance of the Three Kingdoms was not frequently adapted, as the latter was popular literature written for the urban class. Modern literature, on the other hand, is created from the perspective of ordinary people, so there is a great difference between traditional operas and those written by illiterate peasants, as exemplified by the story of Ah Q.

2014 Feb 13

Qiang Qiang San Ren Xing: Chinese writers are interested in writing about “sex”.

2013-12-31

Magical realism is a narrative technique where the cause-and-effect relationships in the stories often appear unrealistic. By the 15th century, Latin America had already developed three major cultural centers: the Mayan, Aztec, and Inca cultures, boasting long-standing cultural traditions. Latin America was inhabited by indigenous Indians, European immigrants, people of mixed European and Indigenous descent, and trafficked Africans, resulting in a highly complex way of life. It possessed the modern lifestyle brought by Western science and civilization from colonists, while simultaneously preserving a large number of religiously superstitious, feudal, and even primitive tribal totem worship-based lifestyles. These vastly different and diverse lifestyles were harmoniously blended together, forming the “magical” reality of Latin America. Therefore, almost all magical realist literary works feature ghosts, witchcraft, magical figures, and supernatural phenomena, all imbued with the strange, mysterious, and bizarre colors of Native American myths and traditional beliefs.

Magical realism typically arises in oppressive, authoritarian, or totalitarian societies, perhaps representing a form of adaptation to such a highly dangerous political reality. On the other hand, magical realism also transcends these social limitations.

Magical realism depicts its world as absurd, bizarre, and unpredictable.

For example, Mo Yan, the 2012 Nobel laureate in Literature, creates works filled with a mysterious, eerie, hazy, and ethereal atmosphere. The Nobel Committee’s award citation for him reads: Mo Yan “integrates magical realism with folk tales, history, and contemporary society.”

Yan Lianke said his novels are:

“Theocracy” is a new literary concept proposed by the famous Chinese writer Yan Lianke. He first put forward the term in his book “My Reality, My Theory” in 2011. [1]

Myorealism, in a simple sense, means abandoning the superficial logic of real life in creative work to explore a kind of “non-existent” truth, an unseen truth, a truth obscured by reality. Myorealism is estranged from conventional realism. Its connection to reality is not a direct causal relationship with life, but rather relies more on the human soul, spirit (the connection between the spirit of reality and the internal relationships of things and people) and the creator’s special imagination based on reality. To be frank, it is not the bridge to reality. Imagination, allegory, myth, legend, dream, fantasy, magical transformation, transplantation, etc., rooted in daily life and social reality, are all methods and channels through which myorealism reaches truth and reality. Myorealism does not reject realism, but it strives to create reality and transcend realism.

Theocracy draws on the modern creative experience of 20th-century world literature while striving to remain independent of the various “isms” of 20th-century literature, taking root and growing in its own cultural soil. Its distinction from other writing styles lies in its pursuit of inner truth, relying on internal cause and effect to reach the inner workings of people, society, and the world to write and create truth.

Creating reality is a distinctive feature of theorealism.

Yu Sheng: Yan said that Chinese farmers work hard, which is why they write long novels; Chinese novelists lack sexuality, so they compensate by writing about sex. The other party commented that it was very explicit to hear rural people talk about sex.

In terms of sex, rural areas are more conservative than cities, but to compensate, they are more unrestrained in their speech. In terms of work, rural areas are more leisurely than cities, and to compensate, rural people are more hardworking. Rural areas have less space for personal activities in a secondary society and fewer opportunities to earn money, so working in cities is more arduous, and Chinese people abroad are also more hardworking than foreigners.

The Chinese are the same; China’s strong rhetoric towards foreign countries is also a way of compensating for its perceived inadequacy in military strength and power. The same was true during the Cultural Revolution; it was a way of compensating for this perceived inadequacy and a release of long-suppressed emotions.

2014 Feb 13:

Qiang Qiang San Ren Xing: Many Chinese who disregard order are anarchists (October 24, 2013)

Cha Jianying and Wang Meng participated. Wang said that he met a highly respected person in the United States who had served as a diplomat in Hong Kong for many years and had also lived in Taiwan. This person said: “Chinese people are anarchists to the core. Here’s a phenomenon that doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world: when cars are lined up neatly, chaos ensues as soon as the cars arrive.” Wang agreed: “The Cultural Revolution was a manifestation of anarchism.”

Germany didn’t reflect on its actions after World War II; only twenty years later, with a new generation and a new culture, did it begin to examine its own shortcomings. Japan, being an Asian culture, refuses to reflect on its actions, and its emperor is still alive. Zha Jianying said that history is a mason, and people are swept along by it.

Yusheng: People in the original social life, upon entering a secondary society, were inherently anarchistic; in Chinese history, small governments were close to anarchy. This is different from Western anarchism, which advocates anarchism in the face of a secondary society, while China lacks the concept of government, and is truly anarchistic in its daily life.

February 13, 2014: Zhang Dali, a crosstalk comedian suffering from depression.

This video discusses Zhang Dali’s depression. Zhang mentions that many of his fellow artists take tranquilizers, and he also talks about his brief periods of mental instability, such as paranoia. Psychologists analyze that he may be introverted but appear extroverted; he may be a perfectionist, leading to excessive pressure; during the test, he noticed the person was deliberately observing him, yet he still diligently followed their instructions, indicating that Zhang considers others too much, causing him stress.

2014 Feb 15

Reading: [Repost] Wang Jinsi: Li Ao and Lung Ying-tai’s Verbal Battle ± How Many People Starved to Death in Changchun (http://bbs.zhongguosixiang.com/thread-100996-1-1.html)

Taiwanese writer Li Ao criticized Lung Ying-tai and her book “Big River, Big Sea 1949”. This book is an oral history compiled by Lung Ying-tai over a year by interviewing eyewitnesses and historical photographs, attempting to uncover the fate of a generation that suffered from the heavy burden of war and internal turmoil in 1949.

Li Ao criticized Lung Ying-tai for focusing only on phenomena without understanding the underlying causes, interviewing only ordinary people and neglecting to grasp the dynamics of high-level officials. Li Ao claimed that he had spent most of his life defeating Chiang Kai-shek’s propaganda team, and Lung Ying-tai’s use of a different approach to perpetuate Chiang’s thinking angered him. Therefore, Li Ao published “The Great River, the Great Sea Deceived You” in 40 days, using a question-and-answer format. In Li Ao’s view, after a lifetime of criticizing the Kuomintang, 1949 was clearly a time of devastation; where did the “great river, the great sea” come from? This is Chiang’s thinking, and precisely Lung’s error.

However, Li Ao wrote the following about Lung Ying-tai: “When a woman only has sex appeal but no sensuality, she can be a star; when a woman only has sensuality but no sex appeal, she can be a writer.” He was mocking her for not being pretty. In fact, both women share a sense of responsibility for the well-being of the people and are role models for Chinese youth.
The misfortune that followed for the city’s inhabitants was unimaginable; no one had anticipated the siege would last five months. From the second month of the siege, the city’s food supplies were depleted, and hunger began to spread through the streets of Changchun. Prices skyrocketed 700 times; a few flatbreads could buy a young woman. After killing all the cats, dogs, and rats, people slaughtered horses to eat. Once the horses were gone, tree bark and grass were also looted. The streets were littered with corpses, and the corpse-collecting teams would collect them, throwing them into their trucks while saying they were going to feed the dogs. Cannibalism and the sale of human flesh began to emerge. One mother, unable to bear seeing her child starve, paid someone to strangle him with a silver dollar.
The body lay scattered across the fields. The Nanjing-based *Central Daily News*, in an article titled “The Defense of Changchun,” wrote: “According to the lowest estimates, from the end of June to the beginning of October, the fields surrounding Changchun accumulated no fewer than 150,000 skeletons of men, women, and children.”

The exact number of deaths during the siege of Changchun is impossible to determine. PLA Lieutenant Colonel Zhang Zhenglong, in his book *Snow White, Blood Red*, claims 270,000 died (120,000 inside the city and 150,000 outside); Japanese media estimates 200,000-300,000; Duan Kewen, a war criminal released in 1975, stated in his book *Memoirs of a War Criminal* that 650,000 starved to death during the siege of Changchun. Lung Ying-tai, in her book *Big River, Big Sea 1949*, believes the death toll was indeed around 600,000.

2014 Feb 15

Video: Qiang Qiang San Ren Xing: Mo Yan Wins the Nobel Prize

Different social classes have different temperaments and tastes: the temperament of a literati is like the blank and distant space in Chinese painting. Chinese writers include those who are farmers who moved to the city, like Mo Yan; and those who are city dwellers who went to the countryside. Mo Yan lacks the temperament of a literati, while Wang Shuo and Wang Xiaobo do.

Dou Wentao, Wang Meng, and Zha Jianying (October 18, 2012). Wang Meng once predicted that Mo Yan would win the Nobel Prize. Beethoven walked past the king’s guard of honor with his head held high, while Goethe, following the proper etiquette towards the king, gave way. Mo Yan said that he admired Beethoven when he was young, but now he feels that Goethe’s attitude was even more difficult, requiring courage and intelligence. Zha said that Mo’s works are too noisy, too crude, and sensationalist.

Yu Sheng: People in the primitive society base their impressions of the secondary society on aesthetic emotions, which are dreamlike, that is, the indistinguishable between dreams and reality. Mo Yan’s works, which are based on the original feelings of people in the primitive society, are not relatable to urban people or people in the secondary society, but they still share a unique perspective among the many forms of the secondary society, which is why Mo Yan won the award.

2014 Feb 15

Video: Qiang Qiang San Ren Xing:

Chinese people are known for their civility and politeness, yet they can be quite violent, such as fighting for seats on buses. In Guangzhou, an elderly man and a young man got into a fight on a bus; the elderly man bit the young man’s nose, and the young man in turn injured the elderly man’s nose.

One person said: Chinese people say the values ​​they uphold are: individual value, freedom and human rights; foreigners say, polite behavior and knowledge.

Yusheng: Violence is a form of compensation for excessive civility and politeness, a catharsis, and also a social consequence: civility and politeness lead to social conflicts not being taken seriously, and thus there are no rules or spatial behavioral habits for secondary societies, resulting in violence. Compared to the ancient Roman Empire, China had slower dynastic changes and less violence, but China experienced periodic upheavals during dynastic transitions. Foreigners, with ample individual freedom and rights, value politeness and knowledge in society, while Chinese people feel their individual rights are not guaranteed, hence the emphasis on freedom and rights.

2014 Feb 15

Online courses: Confucian culture in the minds of cultural giants from India and Russia

Speaker: Shi Zhonglian

Speaker’s Affiliation: Fudan University

The lecturer began by mentioning that culturally, India influenced China, but China did not influence India. Buddhists in China primarily preached, unlike later Christians who gained a deeper understanding of China.

When Tagore came to China, he praised Chinese culture, but he mainly talked about Lao Tzu. Bianxi, during his visit to China, discussed the Chinese imperial examination system. Nehru’s appreciation of Confucian culture: He came to China in 1940.

2014 Feb 19

Video: Focus Interview: Thunder Operation Eradicates a Cancer 2014-01-14 (http://news.xinhuanet.com/video/2014-01/14/c_126004498.htm)

CCTV News (Focus Interview): Many villages now have their own unique industries, becoming specialized villages. However, in Lufeng, Guangdong, one village’s profession went astray, and it sounds terrifying: drug manufacturing and trafficking. Everyone knows that drug manufacturing and trafficking are punishable by death, but many people in this village made a living from it, young and old alike. Even the village secretary himself was called the “pioneer of drug manufacturing.” Recently, Guangdong police mobilized over 3,000 officers by land, sea, and air in a “Thunderbolt Drug Sweep” operation, successfully dismantling 18 major drug manufacturing and trafficking gangs headed by a Lufeng-born drug kingpin.

At 4:00 AM on December 29, 2013, Guangdong police mobilized over 3,000 officers from multiple locations to launch a unified operation codenamed “Thunderbolt Anti-Drug Operation,” targeting Boshe Village in Lufeng, Shanwei, Guangdong. This was a comprehensive encirclement operation involving land, sea, and air. In addition to the more than 3,000 fully armed police and armed police on the ground, the Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department also dispatched two police helicopters and four border patrol speedboats, laying a tight net around Boshe Village.

Boshe Village has a complex terrain and densely packed houses, making it even more shrouded in darkness, concealing many unknowns. This small village, covering only 0.54 square kilometers, has over 1,700 households, with more than 20% of families directly or indirectly involved in drug production and trafficking. Villagers possess a large number of firearms, including powerful AK-47 rifles, and even have an explosives factory manufacturing homemade bombs. Police raids have consistently encountered violent resistance.

Lin Chunjia, director of the Narcotics Control Office of Lufeng City, explained that this villager is known for his fierce and aggressive nature. Whenever there is any disturbance, drug traffickers incite the masses to come and watch and block the area. In addition, the village has a special geographical location with narrow roads that are blocked by large stones or vehicles, making it difficult for vehicles to enter and making it difficult to organize large-scale raids.

To avoid further violent resistance, the police chose 4 a.m., a time when people’s vigilance is at its lowest. 109 arrest teams quietly approached Boshe Village.

A capture team approached a target residence. The small building had security doors at both the front and back, every window was barred with iron bars, and cameras were installed in every corner, making it appear heavily guarded. The capture team decided to split into two groups to encircle the property from the front and back. After two minutes of forceful ramming and hacking with axes, the main door remained unmoved. At that moment, the team flanking from the back brought good news: the back door had opened.

This is a small villa with simple interior decoration and some furniture. A memorial tablet inscribed with “Heaven, Earth, and Parents” hangs on the wall, suggesting it’s a residential house. Could this villa be a drug manufacturing and trafficking den?

Judging from the ceiling, the villa appeared to be only two stories high, but police discovered a staircase leading to a third floor. The third floor was a spacious, empty hall, strangely devoid of any furniture. Along one side of the hall were several rooms with their doors ajar.

Inside a toilet, police found a large amount of white powdery drugs scattered in the toilet bowl, with a plastic glove lying next to it. Clearly, the suspect had tried to destroy the drugs before the police could, but fled in haste before he could finish disposing of them all.

At 4:06 AM, good news arrived: nine suspects had been apprehended. At 4:17 AM, 19 suspects were captured. At 4:27 AM, the ringleader Cai Dongjia’s top henchman was captured, along with 18 others. In the suspects’ homes, police seized nearly 3 tons of methamphetamine, 260 kilograms of ketamine, 23 tons of drug precursors, 9 firearms, and 62 rounds of ammunition.

Behind a villa, there was a yard full of waste. Inside a row of seemingly broken refrigerators, there were neatly arranged plastic boxes used to make methamphetamine, while in some plastic buckets around them were the raw materials for making drugs.

To evade police inspection, the suspects went to great lengths to conceal evidence. In a stove, police found nearly ten burned cell phones, which the suspects confessed were used to contact drug dealers.

In this raid, police arrested 156 suspects. In addition to Cai Dongjia, the village party secretary of Boshe Village and the top figure in the drug-making village, who was arrested in Huizhou, as well as Cai Lianghuo, known as the “founding father” of drug production and trafficking, Cai Xuan, the “authoritative figure in the Lufeng faction” of methamphetamine production, and Cai Zhaorong, the “heavyweight drug lord” who controlled the methamphetamine market in some provinces and regions of China, the police destroyed 18 major drug manufacturing and trafficking criminal gangs headed by a major drug lord from Lufeng.

The drug problem in Lufeng has a long history. In the past three years, Lufeng’s share of methamphetamine production has exceeded one-third of the national total, and Boshe Village is the largest village in the region with the most serious drug problem. From this perspective, it is likely that one-third of the country’s methamphetamine production is related to this village. It is understood that Boshe Village, as a key target of anti-drug efforts, was severely cracked down on twice, in 1999 and 2011. But why did the problem resurface after only two years, and why has it developed into such a large-scale drug production and trafficking operation?

Methamphetamine, also known as crystal meth, is a pure white, translucent crystalline substance that resembles ice in appearance. High doses can cause mental confusion, thought disorders, paranoia, auditory hallucinations, delusions of persecution, and other symptoms. As a relatively new type of drug, it was introduced to my country at the beginning of this century and has since replaced heroin as the most abused drug.

Qiu Wei, political commissar of the Narcotics Control Bureau of Guangdong Provincial Public Security Department, said they composed a few rhymes: Boshe is a drug village, high-voltage power lines are everywhere, generator sets are placed at the door, luxury cars and mansions are equipped with surveillance cameras, rented old houses are rolling in money, foul smells and sewage flow, wedding cars are beautiful every day, eight or nine out of ten drug manufacturing companies are successful, the law will not tolerate it and people will lose their heads, they will die without descendants.

The jingle reflects the large number of households in Boshe Village involved in drug trafficking. Family-run drug production and trafficking has become a widespread phenomenon.

In Boshe Village, there was even a large notice posted that read, “No littering of drug-making waste!” This shows that drug production has become so blatant.

This family-run drug manufacturing and trafficking village has been given all sorts of disgraceful titles by the outside world. It is the “number one drug village” in the Sanjia area, the “benchmark village” where “whether or not you can do business depends on Boshe”, and even the “number one fortress village” for drug manufacturing and trafficking in Lufeng.

Besides encountering violent resistance to law enforcement, another major problem the police faced when preparing to crack down on this “number one drug village” was the presence of informants and protectors. Cai Dongjia, the village party secretary arrested in Huizhou in the early hours of December 29th, was the village’s top drug producer. The 51-year-old Cai Dongjia had done business in Shenzhen more than a decade ago before returning to the village and becoming its party secretary. Evidence shows that shortly after taking office, he became a protector of drug producers and traffickers in the village.

Cai Dongjia was well-informed and had a powerful network of connections. Whenever someone in the village was arrested for drug manufacturing or trafficking, he would use various methods to get them released. Cai Dongjia’s downfall was precisely due to his efforts to secure releases. His cousin, Cai Lianghuo, was arrested in Huizhou, but Cai Dongjia was apprehended by police on his way to Huizhou to try and get his cousin released. Police stated that Cai Dongjia had sought help from the police during his attempts to secure releases.

It is precisely because of these protective umbrellas, large and small, that a drug village becomes an impregnable “fortress village,” capable of defying the law for a long time.

The drug production and trafficking in Boshe Village, characterized by family-run operations, industrialized management, and local protectionism, was utterly appalling and brazen. The police’s swift and decisive crackdown on the drug-ridden village was met with widespread approval. Currently, local public security organs are investigating the facts of the crimes and launching a new round of comprehensive crackdowns. Regarding the future development of Boshe Village, the local government has also carried out follow-up work, including public education, preliminary investigations, and guidance for villagers to work hard and achieve prosperity. While the experience of eradicating the source of drugs needs to be summarized, the fact that a “drug village” could operate as a “lawless zone” in broad daylight serves as a stark reminder and a cause for reflection.

Appendix

A family-run criminal gang was busted in Xingtai, Hebei Province, with 24 people arrested.

Source: Great Wall Network

November 17, 2009, 08:37

　　Changcheng.com, Xingtai (Reporters Wang Yingxian and Hou Yanhui) On the evening of November 15, the Xingtai Municipal Public Security Bureau organized more than 160 police officers to crack down on a family-run criminal gang suspected of organized crime in Beikangzhuang Village, Xingtai Development Zone. A total of 24 suspects were arrested, including the main suspects He Qinghai and He Yuan.

　　This family-run criminal gang, suspected of being involved in organized crime, is located in Beikangzhuang Village, Xingtai Development Zone. The ringleader, He Qinghai, nicknamed “Old Squat,” is a 55-year-old male and the former village party secretary of Beikangzhuang Village. Key members include his son, brother-in-law, nephew, and brother-in-law, among other relatives. He Qinghai served as the village party secretary of Beikangzhuang Village for over 30 years and wielded considerable social influence.

　　In June of this year, the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the Xingtai Municipal Public Security Bureau secretly established a special task force codenamed “6.08” to conduct a covert investigation using various methods. Through arduous work, they gained a basic understanding of the gang’s internal organizational structure and criminal activities. The Xingtai Municipal Public Security Bureau submitted a special report to the Xingtai Municipal Party Committee, the Municipal Government, and the Provincial Public Security Department, receiving high attention and strong support from higher-level leaders, who demanded meticulous organization and resolute eradication of this family-run criminal gang. To this end, the Xingtai Municipal Public Security Bureau made meticulous arrangements and formulated a rigorous arrest plan. At 11 PM on November 15th, the unified arrest operation officially commenced. The special task force command divided the participating police officers into multiple action groups, which simultaneously launched their operations according to the predetermined plan. By 10 AM on the 16th, all the main suspects had been apprehended.

　　Preliminary investigation revealed that this family-run criminal gang, primarily based at Haiyuan Group in Beikangzhuang Village, Xingtai Development Zone, engaged in a wide range of crimes under the guise of operating glass factories, paper mills, nail factories, pesticide factories, chemical plants, gas stations, and restaurants. These crimes included forced transactions, illegal detention, extortion, intentional injury, illegal occupation of farmland, tax evasion, economic fraud, and obstruction of official duties. They oppressed the public, amassed illicit wealth, severely disrupted local public order, and caused extremely negative social impact. Currently, the arrest of fugitive suspects, the investigation of their illegal assets, and the interrogation and evidence collection are all underway.

2014 Feb 16

Qiang Qiang San Ren Xing 2013-03-18 A: Dou Wentao: Zhao Benshan’s statement that “refined and popular culture are inseparable” is biased.

Host: Dou Wentao

Guests: Xu Zidong, Ma Jiahui

Introduction: Previously, Yu Junjian pointed out that the grassroots culture featured in the Spring Festival Gala should be moderate and not put the cart before the horse. He argued that the excessive prevalence of grassroots culture was harming the country’s cultural strength. During the Two Sessions, Yu Junjian reiterated his view on the need for moderation in grassroots culture, causing a stir among the audience. “I can’t speak with a prepared speech,” said Zhao Benshan, a newly elected member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, speaking last. He abandoned his prepared remarks and shared his views on refined and popular art: “I’ve been on the Spring Festival Gala for 20 years, bringing joy to the Chinese people for 20 years, including several years of collaboration with Dandan. I cherish those memories. I’ve always played farmers; I remember I will always be a grassroots person. Yu Junjian, I also participate in this event (referring to the Spring Festival Gala), but I really don’t know how to strike the right balance.” At this point, the entire audience burst into laughter.

2014 Feb

Qiang Qiang San Ren Xing: The formation of “loser culture” is due to the solidification of social classes

2013-05-21

Originating from the popular internet slang term “diaosi” (屌丝), this culture is a rapidly emerging subculture on the internet, following the nonsensical culture and hippie culture. It signifies that Chinese people have gained more perspectives and rights to interpret life. Diaosi culture is a deconstructive culture, encompassing both self-deprecating decadence and a defiant spirit that disregards the mainstream. It uses self-deprecation to dismantle orthodoxy and to oppose the sublime through self-degradation.

While young Americans inherit the rebellious spirit of their ancestors and take to the streets of New York to vent their discontent in the face of financial capital’s exploitation (can we do that?), young Chinese netizens are engaged in a “language carnival” to escape the pressures of reality.

Some psychological experts have analyzed that the “loser” group (or “diaosi”) is the most prominent group experiencing anxiety. Many of them come from rural areas and have been admitted to universities, with their families having high expectations for them, such as buying cars and houses. According to Zhu Chongke, a professor at the Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at Sun Yat-sen University, today’s society has formed interest groups, making it difficult for many young people from lower-middle-class backgrounds to enter the upward mobility channels. Some commentators believe that these young people are a relatively disadvantaged urban group; while they may lack competitiveness in high-income industries, what they lack most is social resources and family background.

The “diaosi” (loser/low-life) culture is a deconstructive culture, encompassing both self-destructive decadence and a defiant spirit that disregards the mainstream. While seemingly frivolous and superficial, the term “diaosi” carries a double layer of mockery: a mockery of their own lack of resources, upward mobility, and increasing marginalization, as well as a mockery of China’s mainstream tastes and success-oriented ideology over the past two decades. “Diaosi” don’t believe in Carnegie or Kai-Fu Lee; they don’t even believe in themselves. In their rebellion against mainstream tastes and success-oriented ideology, they form a collective self-identity as ordinary people, somewhat like the Ah Q of the internet age, only more sober-minded. They know their ideals are distant and reality is cruel, so they use escapism to forget the unattainability of their ideals and self-deprecation to dispel the harshness and confusion of reality. In a sense, they can also be seen as the contemporary Web 2.0 version of ancient Greek cynicism.

Some say that “loser culture” is a critique of materialistic culture. Losers lack cars, money, houses, and good looks, offering no advantages compared to the wealthy and handsome. However, with the rampant materialism of today, losers often fail to attract women. They can’t win a woman’s heart with 999 roses, nor can they create a romantic atmosphere with yachts and designer bags. Faced with this disadvantage, they often develop feelings of inferiority, lacking courage and daring not to pursue their desires. Therefore, their emotional world is often empty. It’s not that they don’t have girls they like, but rather that they feel ashamed and unworthy of them. Like Wang Xiaofei in the movie “Adolescence,” who falls in love with Cheng Xiaoyu at first sight but doesn’t dare pursue her, only silently protecting her and always standing behind her. He can only feel sorrow when he sees her with someone else. They are cowardly in love, and can only express their disappointment and resentment online, thus forming the “loser” community that comforts each other with self-deprecation online. With the development of “loser culture,” “loser culture” was born. Whether it’s self-deprecation or attention-seeking, it represents progress in social culture.

February 18, 2014

Li Lanni, female, born on December 25, 1956, Han nationality, member of the Communist Party of China. A professional writer at the Shenzhen Literary Creation Studio, chairwoman of the Shenzhen Writers Association, and member of the National Committee of the China Writers Association. She was diagnosed with lymphoma in 1988, but had already been diagnosed with depression as early as 1986.

He began publishing his works in 1981 and won the Guangdong Provincial Newcomer and New Work Award in 1981.

The full-length documentary literature *The Wilderness Without People: A Mental File of a Depressed Patient*, published by People’s Literature Publishing House in 2008, was selected for the “Classic China International Publishing Project” series of literary masterpieces by the General Administration of Press and Publication of China in October 2009. The full-length documentary novel *I Became Sick from Love: Dog Doctor Zhou Lele and Patient Li Lanni*, published by People’s Literature Publishing House in January 2013. Li said she wanted to commit suicide; standing on the balcony, thinking of jumping, she felt a sense of beauty, a feeling of flying, but she was a Christian. She firmly believed that psychological trauma could be passed on to the next generation through genetic material.

February 18, 2014

Online videos: including topics such as religion and crime maps in China.

The text discusses how Chinese people, while not deeply religious, are easily swayed by rumors. It notes that statistics show the highest percentage of Chinese belief in the 2012/12/21 doomsday prophecy. Wang Meng argues that religious belief concerns ultimate concerns, therefore materialism is also a form of religion; ultimate concerns are material things. (Yousheng: Rumors and hearsay exist at a secondary social level; while it’s not easy for people in primitive societies to accept a secondary social religious system, it’s easier for them to accept a particular religious narrative. These two aspects reinforce each other, creating a ripple effect.)

A Shandong armed police officer, who had traveled across the country conducting reconnaissance, remarked that people from the south and Hunan were particularly difficult to deal with. Based on materials he provided, someone created a map depicting different crime patterns across China, such as Xian County in Hebei being notorious for car theft. He explained that these different crimes were unrelated to local culture, but rather a result of locals inventing criminal methods and behaviors that then spread among their fellow villagers. (Yousheng: Underdeveloped secondary societies lead to face-to-face communication among villagers becoming the primary form of information dissemination.)

2014 Feb 19

Qiang Qiang San Ren Xing: A Look at Families (2014-02-19)

Mrs. Murdoch’s face suggests that Chinese people lack independent personalities; men, women, young and old all resemble children. [Li Jing, Yu Shicun]

Chinese people are too emotional, always loud and boisterous, their emotions overflowing without any restraint. Westerners know how to give others personal space and don’t judge others. Compared to Westerners, Chinese people are like children, not yet fully grown up. All three said they prefer watching American dramas to Chinese dramas, because they feel there’s no independent personality, only immature personalities; parents control their children, don’t allow them to be independent, and force them to have children.

A plump woman in a family is a symbol of family happiness, indicating a harmonious and stable family. A woman who is too thin is not a good sign.

2014 Feb20

Online course: Political History of the Late Qing Dynasty

Speaker: Wang Kaixi

Speaker’s Affiliation: Beijing Normal University

Category: History

Updated: 5 days ago

Number of views: 316,501

All over a hundred episodes were free. I listened to a few, mainly about the ban on opium and the Boxer Rebellion. A striking impression was that Qing dynasty decision-making and communication with lower-ranking officials resembled traditional Chinese family decision-making and instructions to children—a mixture of preaching and analysis, morality and command, resulting in contradictory outcomes. The Chinese court was suited to a small-scale government operation above rural quasi-primitive societies, not to the complexities of a secondary social structure. I think: the way Emperor Chongzhen of the late Ming dynasty directed the fight against Li Zicheng would have been different if there had been a proper social mechanism for decision-making. This is also a reason for China’s defeats by foreign powers, and a result of the highly autocratic rule of the Ming and Qing dynasties. This is the result of ineffective decision-making and command, while the Song dynasty was even more defeated by the disparity in military strength.

February 22, 2014

Online Courses: Peasant Studies and Traditional Chinese Society (by Qin Hui)

Organizational forms of rural society

Episodes 41-44. The essence of traditional rural culture, from the common people to the wealthy, recorded in agricultural books since the Ming and Qing dynasties. Yang Xiuyuan’s *Nongyan Lushi* (农言录时) describes a time without agricultural leisure, where farmhands are ordered to fish for field mice during the off-season, but they catch only a few in a day; in northern rural fields, the stones to be collected are only bricks and tiles. (Yusheng: This illustrates that China’s rural labor force lacks a developed and efficient market economy or other markets for utilizing surplus labor, and also reflects the leisurely and carefree lifestyle of rural life.)

Small communities in China were underdeveloped. Regional, religious, national, and clan-based factors contributed to this. Class struggle undermined identity. Tens of millions starved to death, leading to disunity and a fragmented, fratricidal society. Individuals were imprisoned. Collectives were forced into disunity. The difference between present and traditional identities is evident.

Tenant colonies and popular uprisings in traditional times

Episodes 23-27. Tenancy conflicts are not closely related to peasant wars. Opposition to oppression leads to rebellion: 1) Abuse of manpower; 2) State monopoly, centralized purchase and distribution; 3) Household registration control, prohibiting or forcing migration: implemented in the Ming and Qing dynasties, known as military service; 4) Corruption, extrajudicial extortion; 5) Conflict between state and civil society organizations regarding resources; 6) Natural disasters.

A disorganized populace is unlikely to revolt. Tenants are exempt from corvée labor for three years. Populist uprisings are caused by government coercion and rebellion. The reasons include the government’s abuse of manpower, economic control and monopoly, strict household registration, government corruption and extortion, competition for organizational resources between the government and the people, and natural disasters or external threats. The state monopolizes everything that can generate huge profits. Military service is for land reclamation and border defense. Legitimate taxes belong to the central government, divided into requisition and retention. Populist uprisings are difficult to occur when the populace is atomized and disorganized. Organizational resources are highly centralized. The White Lotus Religion and Buddhism are highly Sinicized. The *Lushan Lotus Treasure Mirror* originated from the court. Religion provides a form of folk association.

February 26, 2014

A Three-Person Talk Show: Zhu De’s Grandson’s Letter Confirms Kang Keqing’s Act of Upholding Justice Against His Own Family Members (February 24, 2014)

Yu Shicun, Li Qing

When discussing the Mao era’s concept of “sacrificing family for the greater good,” it was said that revolutionary principles overwhelmed kinship, a consequence of the times. For example, Tao Zhu’s wife recounted selling their child for a few silver dollars during the Long March to raise funds for the revolution, or giving the child away casually. Yang Mo and his wife, both high-ranking officials, enjoyed the privileges of high-ranking officials while deliberately avoiding sharing with their children. Yu Shicun mentioned a current cadre who, having embraced Confucianism, made his son kneel before him and recite the *Di Zi Gui* (Standards for Being a Good Student and Child). (You Sheng: 1) This reflects a lack of second-level social habits. A person transitioning from primitive society to the second-level social level relies excessively on a temporary belief. In contrast, Western Christian tradition, spanning thousands of years, includes the Bible’s instruction to stone Sunday laborers, with family members leading the way. This sounds even more akin to sacrificing family for the greater good. 2) All three mentioned that Western legal systems allow lawyers to fabricate evidence to defend the defendant, something generally not permitted in primitive societies. If someone committed a capital crime in a primitive society, sometimes the entire community would collectively shoot the criminal with arrows, a practice similar in nature to the Chinese concept of “righteousness even at the cost of family ties.” Allowing lawyers to commit fraud demonstrates that secondary societies permit the coexistence of different moral standards and value systems, reflecting their diversity and social acceptance.

Yu Shicun mentioned that in Chinese history, families who accumulated virtue benefited their descendants, and this was indeed true; those who accumulated virtue brought happiness to their descendants. He mentioned that accumulating virtue involved doing good deeds in the countryside and for the benefit of the community, and the descendants would enjoy the courtesy and preferential treatment from the villagers. (You Sheng: 1) This phenomenon illustrates the strong family lineage concept among Chinese people, a remnant of China’s hereditary system. The wealthy doing good deeds for their hometowns is a result of the tradition of an egalitarian society. 2) The diversity and high degree of specialization in secondary societies make it possible for families to accumulate knowledge and experience, as seen in the cases of the Kennedy and Bush families, two generations of American presidents, etc.)

March 2014 Reading, Listening, Thinking, and Notes (by Yousheng)

March 2014

Online courses: Lu Xun Studies

Speaker: Gao Yuanbao (Fudan University)

The speaker states that Lu Xun’s overall ideology primarily consisted of struggle and outcry, but also included repentance and self-analysis. Chinese people tend to focus on others’ faults rather than their own, thus overlooking Lu Xun’s self-analysis and repentance. (You Sheng: Based on a primitive society, Chinese tradition, when facing the possibility of a secondary society, easily sees its own potential strengths and others’ weaknesses. However, only those who emphasize their potential strengths are able to achieve them, and only afterwards do they discover the problems: This is the case in modern Chinese history, with revolutions occurring one after another.)

Lu Xun’s New Emotions: While reminiscing about past heroes, he also felt guilty and indebted. Lu Xun’s Guilty Remembrance: “Fan Ainong” expresses very complex emotions. Fan Ainong is a forgotten, ordinary revolutionary, stranded in Shaoxing, whom Lu Xun himself did not help. (In Lu Xun’s works, his hometown is a personified representation of China.) Fan Ainong’s death is related to him, causing guilt. Lu Xun does not consider himself an outsider; in “Call to Arms” and “Hesitation,” the deaths of many characters seem to be related to himself. Revolutionaries and intellectuals who sing lofty ideals, if they do not understand the psychological needs of peasants, can be as cruel as feudal kings. Lu Xun felt a guilt beyond sympathy for Wei Lianshu, Xianglin’s Wife, Kong Yiji, Zijun… This is a true self-awareness. This realization inevitably shattered the remaining self-affirmation and indignant sense of heroism within Lu Xun; from then on, he no longer considered himself a hero. He had to step into the opposite of heroism, which was extremely painful.

“A Reply to Mr. Youheng,” “A Sudden Thought,” “Publicity and Action,” “The Discount of Bold Words”

2014 Mar5

Online lectures: A re-understanding of Lu Xun and his significance in contemporary times

Qian Liqun (Peking University)

The May Fourth Movement had three main themes: democracy, science, and enlightenment. Lu Xun actively participated in enlightenment, but he remained low-key and skeptical. He felt he had inspired young people but then failed to provide them with a way out, which led to his execution. Excessive emphasis on science is also problematic, as is the attitude towards democracy. Democracy, by emphasizing the majority, can potentially lead to the oppression of the minority by the majority. Lu Xun’s attitude differed from others: he was both persistent and skeptical.

Others: Westernized, conservative, or Marxist-Leninist—all these attitudes were clearly defined. Lu Xun, however, was different: he held a hesitant attitude. The real Lu Xun! Profound, struggling internally, he saw everything too clearly, hence his suffering.

Lu Xun and the Left-Wing Writers’ League: Lu Xun did indeed participate in the Left-Wing Writers’ League and held a positive attitude. At the same time, Lu Xun was very clear about his actual position within the League: “I understand they only want to use me as a stepping stone.” The condition for cooperation with the CCP was: opposition to the Kuomintang’s autocratic rule. When he discovered that some people (Zhou Yang) deviated from this position, he fought back fiercely. The three basic ideals of the left-wing movement: revolution, socialism, and equality. How did Lu Xun view these? He supported the revolution: “People are oppressed, why don’t they resist?” He understood revolution as innovation, as continuous criticism and creation. Lu Xun not only supported the revolution but also advocated being a perpetual revolutionary. He affirmed Sun Yat-sen. His examination of the realities of revolution: Regarding revolution and killing, he believed: “Revolution is about people living, not people dying.” “Poverty is not socialism.” “Equality, if it drags the high down to the low, is a decline in the social standard (not a direct quote).”

Lu Xun was both a builder and a deconstructor of the new culture.

Lu Xun said that the true intellectual class consists of: 1) never being satisfied with the status quo and always being critics; and 2) always standing on the side of the common people.

The lecturer stated that Lu Xun refused to be co-opted in three ways: 1) He refused to be co-opted by any cultural system; 2) He refused to be co-opted by any ideological system; 3) He did not co-opt us either: he refused to be a national advisor, which is the opposite of Lu Xun’s approach, but rather a call for independent thinking. (Yusheng: Lu Xun represents the position of humanity itself at the secondary social level, not joining any possible secondary society, but possessing the vision and knowledge of a secondary society.)

2014 Mar5

Online lectures: To be born – Lu Xun and Hu Shi’s views on freedom

Speaker: Jing Kaixuan

Speaker’s Affiliation: Nanjing University

Lu Xun’s philosophy of life: He had religious sentiments but lacked religious faith; he was skeptical and pessimistic; he was in poor health when he was young; he studied the existence of the soul while studying medicine in Japan; he anticipated death; he waited (for the boredom of death).

The lecturer said: The West is oriented towards death, and the core question is why we live; China is oriented towards life, and the core question is how to live.

How to achieve self-realization in a culture that emphasizes being born, as exemplified by Hu Shi’s liberalism: individual and society (political liberalism). The individual is a member of society; independent thinking, freedom of speech; human rights movement; opposition to one-party dictatorship; advocacy of democratic constitutionalism; opposition to empty talk. Hu Shi could tolerate one-party dictatorship and being used by those in power, reflecting his liberal stance on the individual. Lu Xun’s ideal of freedom was individualism, exploring how to achieve freedom in a culture that emphasizes being born. He equated freedom of will with political freedom, rebelling for the sake of rebellion; advocating perpetual revolution; lacking faith in God, the self was the highest value. Goethe: freedom and equality cannot coexist; one must choose one. Lu Xun chose equality. He sympathized with the working class. (You Sheng: Chinese intellectuals have neglected political freedom, namely the establishment of a secondary social space for the individual.)

2014 Mar 8

Online course: Classics of Chinese Literature (Lu Xun), by Wang Binbin (Nanjing University)

Lu Xun’s grandfather served as a county magistrate and a high-ranking official in Beijing. He was sentenced to death by Emperor Guangxu for bribing examiners and spent seven or eight years in Hangzhou prison. During the Boxer Rebellion, the prison was breached, and the court issued an order that all escaped prisoners who returned home would be pardoned. Lu Xun’s grandfather was thus able to go home. (His grandfather, Zhou Fuqing, passed the imperial examination in 1871. In February 1893, after his great-grandmother passed away, Zhou returned home to observe mourning. Meanwhile, some members of his clan bribed the chief examiner during the provincial examination and became wanted criminals.)

Lu Xun studied in Japan for more than seven years from 1902 to 1908. Xu Shouchang recalled that he and Lu Xun believed that the qualities most lacking in the Chinese people were sincerity and love, which was related to the fact that they had been under foreign rule twice. How could slaves talk about sincerity and love?

Chiang Kai-shek assassinated one of Lu Xun’s friends in 1902, which was one of the reasons Lu Xun hated the Kuomintang.

2014 Mar 15

Online classes: The return of beauty

The Return of Beauty: I. Viewpoints ¤ Hickey [USA] proposed in 1993 that the return of beauty would become the dominant issue in the fields of art and aesthetics in the next decade. Arthur Danto: Good art doesn’t have to be beautiful. Rather than calling for the return of beauty, it’s more accurate to warn against the abuse of beauty. Welch [Germany]: There is no abuse of beauty in the field of art, nor is there a need for a return of beauty (life has already been aestheticized; art should maintain a distance from life, so a return of beauty is unnecessary). II. Academic Discussions ¤ Discussed at the 2000 Berlin World Palace of Culture Festival International Symposium, the 2003 World Congress of Aesthetics, and the 2007 World Congress of Aesthetics. ¤ Speakers’ Viewpoints: Art urgently needs a return of beauty, but a distinction must be made between two concepts. ª ª Shallow vs. Deep: The average beauty of daily life does not hinder the return of beauty. III. ¤ ¤ Koma and Melamed [Former Soviet Union] implemented the “People’s Choice” program globally in 1994, drawing based on surveys. They found that people tended to be relatively consistent (preferring figurative painting, etc.).

Positive interpretation: Supports the return of beauty, supports evolutionary aesthetics and cross-cultural aesthetics (beauty has cross-cultural commonalities, and a global style is established through the cultivation of aesthetic awareness).

Counter-interpretation: This demonstrates the abuse of beauty and that beauty is a result of commercial influence (aesthetics can be shaped).

Four,

Charlemagne: I have a fanatical idea to kill America.

Newman: The impulse of modern art is to destroy beauty.

Schusterman: The Numbness of Beauty

reason

After two world wars, doubts arose. Art, capable of providing beauty and aesthetic experience, offered no help in ending the ugliness of war.

Beauty masks human nature, and there is a desire to reveal the true face of life.

…

New Zealand aesthetician Dutton, through his analysis of the Koma and Melamed schemes, demonstrates that humanity’s preference for beauty was already formed 2 million years ago (during the Pleistocene). Research in environmental aesthetics also indicates that humans generally prefer environments like the vast grasslands with scattered forests of East Africa. Beauty has a prototype, passed down through heredity to this day; revealing the most characteristic aspect of things is the essence of true understanding; the concept of beauty acts as a bridge, allowing us to move from the real world to the world of ideas.

China—Dignity? Rome—Practicality? Greece—Ideal Beauty.

This demonstrates that people worldwide are pervasively influenced by calendar merchants in their judgments of aesthetic beauty. Our aesthetic tastes are controlled by capital. This began operating in the 18th century. Capital controls people’s aesthetic tastes. This was revealed by some Western sociologists, historians, and aestheticians in the 20th century, especially after the 1970s and 80s. Aesthetic taste has no standard…

Hegel said that art is beauty, superior to natural beauty, and that artistic beauty is the result of the beauty of the soul. Art is an open concept; different eras have different concepts of art. Life is full of beauty now, but this is average beauty, while artistic beauty is the beauty of presence, a beauty that language cannot describe: art leaves you speechless and stunned. Art reveals the uncertain aspect of humanity and the world; in this uncertainty, humanity and the world mutually limit and inspire each other, forming a shared depth. Artists are those who pursue this depth.

2014Mar20

Online lectures: Reflections on rereading Lu Xun and Chinese literary criticism

Speaker: Xudong Zhang (New York University)

Updated: 2014-03-20 09:4

Lu Xun’s three-tiered structure of memory: First layer, voluntary memory (“In Memory of Forgetting”); second layer, involuntary memory (traumatic memory); Benjamin: voluntary memory; involuntary memory. Voluntary memory: confining people to causal laws and rational social norms. Involuntary memory: things that are unpredictable and elusive. The most intrinsic meaning of the literariness of literature: to break through the cage of consciousness, rationality, and causality, and also to break through the division and connection of time quantification. (Walter Benjamin, born in 1892 and died in 1940, was a German thinker, philosopher, and Marxist literary critic, who published works such as “The Lyric Poet in the Age of Advanced Capitalism” and “One-Way Street.”)

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March 2014 (This is already in use on my blog)

Read and browse: *Animal Liberation* by Peter Singer (1946).

Thanks to Caiju Dongli’s reminder, I’ve browsed through the articles about animal liberation here. I haven’t read them in detail, so I can only offer a few random thoughts to express my own feelings and understanding of this issue:

1) I fully agree with and appreciate Peter Singer’s (1946) efforts and the basic stance of his book *Animal Liberation*. I have divided human society into two levels: the genetically encoded primitive society and the artificial secondary society. Corresponding to these two societies are: natural humans and artificial (man-made) humans. Modern society is characterized by the Western secondary society and artificial humans, backed by escalating wars. In the post-Cold War era, we should have a longer-term perspective and a broader vision: recognizing the necessity of liberating animals. Since Chinese civilization is based on a primitive society, Peter Singer hoped that China would not follow the Western path.

2) In previous years, I participated in Master Ching Hai’s Guanyin Dharma activities for many years. The activities emphasized that vegetarians can enjoy the various tastes of meat, saying that as long as you are skillful and know how to cook, you will not lack anything after becoming a vegetarian. In modern life, there is no need to worry about nutritional deficiencies.

3) Having worked in the medical system for many years, I have never conducted any animal experiments in my hospital work, nor do I recall ever witnessing any animal experiments. In the early 1980s, when I was working and studying at Cambridge Hospital in England, the hospital internally notified us to prevent animal rights advocates from infiltrating and releasing animals, but this did not happen. As an ordinary person, I don’t know where the hospital’s animals were kept. At the time, the prevailing saying in the hospital was: “If we don’t use animals, we have to use humans. If you oppose using animals, are you willing to replace them?” I believe that minimizing animal testing and hoping to one day completely eliminate it is possible.

4) Peter Singer’s *Animal Liberation* emphasizes the feelings of animals, while humans possess what is called empathy: that is, humans are born with the ability to understand the feelings of others, and this sharing of feelings is the foundation of primitive societies: emotional aesthetics. In some ways, civilized humans are inferior to the natural beings of primitive tribes, and even inferior to animals. The following is quoted from a book I published in China (Looking at Life and the World from a Different Angle: 21st Century Chinese Taoism).

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Chimpanzees have a habit of extending a hand to beg for food from their companions. If the one with food dislikes the beggar, it will still give the food, but throw it on the ground to show its displeasure. This illustrates that the chimpanzee’s emotion when sharing food—pity for the beggar—is paramount, unaffected by past impressions, and is an example of how immediate emotion overrides reason (or past memory) among animals. In modern, crowded cities, many beggars often line the streets, asking not for food, but for small change. They have so much; you can’t give to everyone, but every time you pass them without taking a coin, you feel a sense of shame, like a child who has done something wrong in front of their parents. The chimpanzee’s displeasure after giving and the human’s shame after not being able to give highlight the difference between primitive and secondary societies; the former is a victory of emotion, the latter a victory of reason.

5) The contradiction between emotion and reason: All animal societies are primitive societies, while human societies are divided into primitive societies and secondary societies. The emotions of primitive societies cannot solve many problems of secondary societies, and the emotions of primitive societies cannot be used to coerce the reason of secondary societies; conversely, the reason of secondary societies should not coerce the emotions of primitive societies. The best solution is the separation of primitive societies and secondary societies, that is, the separation of the emotional world and the rational world: this is the direction of the ideal society in the future.

April 2014 Reading, Listening, Thinking, and Notes (by Yousheng)

2014-04-05

Online lectures: Phenomenology of perception and the theory of sensory perception

Shi Zhongyi

Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

However, in its development, phenomenology gave rise to the phenomenology of perception, which altered the relationship between body and consciousness. Husserl advocated for consciousness and pure consciousness, but also devoted considerable space to discussing the importance of the body.

The publication of Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception in the 1940s marked the basic maturity of the phenomenology of perception.

Consciousness becomes the consciousness of real humans and animals only through its experiential relationship with the organism, and only for this reason does it gain its place in natural space and natural time. — Husserl

Consciousness enters the body, thus gaining its place in the present moment.

Being-there is a spatial concept; the present is a temporal concept.

Only when the spirit is truly and closely connected with the body can it possess a material world and a socio-cultural world.

The establishment of the phenomenology of the body is attributed to Sartre, Michel Henri, and others. They all targeted the foundations of classical dualism, criticizing the passive view of the body or the mere receptive view of the body, and striving to establish the decisive role of the experience of my body and the bodies of others, or the subjective body and the objective body, in the construction of the objective world and the world of human interaction. They used experience to demonstrate that our spirit or consciousness cannot be confined to a purely introspective world, nor can it be reduced to our bodies. Our living bodies are different from the things of the objective world; they are the essence of our life and the source of our existence. Focusing on the ways in which the body manifests in our life experience requires studying the typical characteristics of bodily existence. – This developed into a phenomenology of truly being-in-the-world.

Husserl observed that all bodily movements are governed by two factors: impulsive and passive factors (instinct); and the active subjective process of thought (consciousness). We are only free when the will is capable of suppressing instinctual factors; conversely, behavior constrained by the body is unfree behavior. (Yusheng: Taoism holds the opposite view, believing that instinctive behavior is true freedom.)

2104April8

Online course: The inferiority complex and deterministic view of history in modern and contemporary Chinese culture.

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Sichuan Normal University

Ilya Prigogine’s theory of chemical thermodynamics (dissipation) (1977 Nobel Prize in Chemistry) points out the randomness, contingency, unpredictability, and irreversibility (“irreversibility”) in the movement and change of matter from the perspective of natural science. This is a pivotal challenge to the Western deterministic tradition and has had a significant impact on Western social sciences. Since the regularity of the movement of matter is extremely finite in space and time, while randomness and contingency are universal and fundamental, how should social sciences, which often draw upon the “laws” of natural science, rethink their approach? In fact, Prigogine’s research in natural science has already had a significant impact on Western culture. As Alvin Toffler, author of *The Third Wave*, commented, dissipation theory is a lever for changing science, a lever that forces us to reconsider the goals, methods, epistemology, and worldview of science. (Ilya Prigogine, *From Chaos to Order: A New Dialogue Between Man and Nature*, Shanghai Translation Publishing House, August 1987.)

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Arnold Toynbee (from: Arnold and Urban) said: “We cannot verify whether the chart by which we understand the mysterious universe corresponds to the elusive reality; but for survival, we must draw such a chart and recognize it as an act of belief, and also an act of self-preservation.” In “The Appearance of God in History,” he said: “When people’s poetic exploration of historical facts evolves into awe of God’s apparition in history, the historian’s inspiration prepares for an experience described by those who have already received God’s gifts—an experience in which God can be seen face to face, no longer observed vaguely through a pane of glass. This means that the gaze, carrying the soul, transcends the boundaries of history, or any other path to God through the essential revelation in His works.” (Toynbee on Toynbee: A Dialogue Between Toynbee and Urban, pp. 88, 89, 16, 60, 59, Shanghai Joint Publishing Co., 1989.3)

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2104April13

Online courses: Fun discussions on Chinese and Western cultures

Speaker: Xiong Muqing

Speaker’s Affiliation: Sichuan International Studies University

India and Greece have a cyclical view of time, Judaism and Christianity have a linear view of time, while China’s view of time is linear in personal life but cyclical in cosmic history. The Chinese view of time is closer to that of ordinary people today.

There are four types of languages: those where the subject is primary, those where the theme is primary, those where both the subject and theme are important, and those where neither the subject nor the theme is important.

In ancient Greece, the order of importance was: philosophy, poetry, and history; in China, it was the other way around.

The concept of harmony between humanity and nature is a fundamental belief at the beginning of every nation. Chinese religions are practical and utilitarian. Mencius, Zhuangzi, and Dong Zhongshu advocated for the unity of humanity and nature. Western views are divided into three approaches: God created man; viewing man from a natural perspective, seeing him as part of the natural order; and viewing nature from a human perspective, separating humanity and nature.

Western culture demonizes women (Yousheng: Women have the freedom to go out and cause trouble), while China has a tradition of women staying at home and a hierarchical system. English has far more derogatory terms for women than for men. The same word can be complimentary for men but derogatory for women. For example: easy, cold, fast, etc. (Yousheng: Men control the expression and development of language; Western languages ​​are more hierarchical, while Chinese is closer to a more primitive society). “Lady first” signifies male dominance and female weakness.

Online courses: Fascism – Exploration and Reflection

Speaker: Zheng Yinda

Speaker’s Affiliation: East China Normal University

Characteristics of Japanese fascism: 1. Militarism 2. Nationalism 3. Defense-oriented nationalism 4. Emperor system 5. Restoration reforms

Nazism can be summarized as follows: 1. Extreme nationalism; 2. Racism; 3. The theory of living space; 4. The principle of leadership; 5. National community.

All three countries have glorious histories: Italy had the Roman Empire, Germany had the Holy Roman Empire, and Japan had the history of Asians defeating the White Russians for the first time.

I. The Jewish Issue in Europe: 1. Religious antagonism: Judaism versus Christianity. 2. Jews have a strong business and financial mindset; many Jews are capitalists. II. Why did fascism arise? 1. It was a reaction to an unjust world order; 2. It was a product of the malignant development of nationalist sentiment; 3. It was a product of the existing social dysfunction and crisis.

2014 April 18

Online movie: Please Praise Me (Fan Wei & Chen Hao)

The story centers on Yang Hongqi and his father, Yang Shengli, both from a rural background who find the greatest meaning in life in receiving praise and awards. One rainy night, Yang Hongqi saves a girl from an attempted rape. He then claims his father has cancer and demands newspaper recognition to fulfill his father’s wish. His father replies, “You’re over forty and have never received a single award. You need one to fulfill my wish.” The father, however, has countless awards and numerous newspaper recognitions throughout his life.

The film begins with Yang Hongqi going to the newspaper office to request recognition for saving a young girl. The story then unfolds as reporter Gu Guoyu investigates the incident, revealing numerous twists and turns. The girl initially refuses to admit it but is willing to help Yang Hongqi. The girl nearly commits suicide, prompting reporter Gu to realize he cannot push her too far. He resigns in anger, and the final commendation is written by the newspaper’s editor-in-chief.

After resigning, Gu’s family fell apart, and he came to Beijing alone. There, he unexpectedly encountered Yang Hongqi and his son, the elderly man who had previously claimed to have died of cancer. The three of them exchanged smiles. Later, Gu received an email from Yang Hongqi, who said: “My father’s illness has miraculously improved. My father said, ‘I told you, doing good deeds will always be praised,'”

Yu Sheng: This exaggerated technique only occurs in a rural father and son, while all the other city dwellers are normal. Does this have any realistic significance, and does this kind of magical realism only occur in Latin America and rural China?

2014 April 20

Online course: Appreciation of *Dream of the Red Chamber* by Sun Longhua, Qingdao University

The essence of Confucianism: putting the people first; emphasizing emotions, traditions, and culture; encouraging participation, action, and progress.

The essence of Taoism: relaxation and liberation; contemplation, imagination, and ambition; the ideals and pursuits of Taoism: worldly pursuits and the pursuit of a paradise.

The difference between Cao and Zhuangzi: Cao was outwardly cold but inwardly warm; Zhuangzi was outwardly warm but inwardly cold. The two were different, and Cao loved life.

Cao Xueqin is a embodiment of the complementary and mutually beneficial Confucian and Taoist thought of intellectuals, including those in power, that has existed in China for thousands of years. The lecturer said: There are Confucianism in Dream of the Red Chamber, such as loyalty and filial piety (Chapter 16), Baoyu’s affirmation of the bright virtue, mending the sky and Tanchun’s management of the family, but the thought is not high.

2014-04-01-02

Online course: Poetics

Lei Enhai (1969–), Lanzhou University

In *Poetics*, Aristotle expressed his views on art and tragedy, arguing that the essence of art is imitation, while tragedy is the imitation of a serious, complete, and lengthy act. *Poetics* has also had a profound influence on the Chinese people. In literature, as a source of human spiritual sustenance, Chinese poetry has long been a major genre, surpassing other works in both the number of authors and the quantity of poems.

Zheng Xuan said, “Poetry is for expressing people’s aspirations and intentions.” Zhu Ziqing believed that poetry and aspirations are the same, and that aspirations are expressed in poetry. The earliest poems are the “Broken Bamboo, Continued Bamboo, Flying Soil, Chasing the Crawler” from the Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue. The folk song “The Couplets at Bailiang Terrace” from the time of Emperor Wu of Han is the earliest seven-character poem.

Characteristics of Chinese poetry: 1) Emphasis on the expression of emotions and aspirations; 2) Attention to the beauty of moderation and harmony, and political and educational value; 3) Attention to artistic conception and connotation.

Chinese poetics should include: 1) basic theories of poetry and related poetic concepts; 2) changes in poetic form and creative techniques; 3) research on the history of poetry and the collation of poetry; 4) research on poets and groups of poets throughout history, including the collation and research of poetic theories and literature; and 5) research on poetic theory and criticism.

Li Zehou believed that everything in the pre-Qin period was driven by practical rationality. Poetry was no exception.

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A Three-Person Talk Show: Looking at the Issues Between Mainland China and Hong Kong Through a Child’s Urinating Habits (Xu Zidong, Meng Guangmei)

An incident occurred in Hong Kong: a mainland couple, unable to wait in line for a crowded toilet, allowed their young daughter to urinate in the street, using toilet paper as a makeshift toilet. A Hong Kong resident took photos of the girl urinating, leading to a conflict. The mother physically assaulted the person and was detained.

Dou Wentao and others said: Hong Kong people, when arguing, don’t back down or resort to violence. Violence is illegal. They said Hong Kong people are different from Taiwanese and mainland Chinese, that they are materialistic and look down on others. Working with Hong Kong people is fine, but you can’t call them friends or chat with them.

“Three Men Talking About Qiang Qiang”: Hong Kong people’s unforgiving attitude when they are in the right stems from inferiority complex (Xu Zidong, Meng Guangmei)

Hong Kong has laws, Taiwan has benevolence and friendship, while the mainland, under Mao Zedong’s leadership, has reverted to an animalistic state, abandoning all rules. Dou Wentao said, “You Taiwanese and Hong Kong people haven’t enjoyed this ruleless life. I’m very nervous driving in Hong Kong, but as soon as I arrive in Shenzhen, I relax, like returning to the vast grasslands.”

Three People Talking: Gabriel García Márquez and Magical Realism* (Xu Zidong, Zhou Xiaozheng)

Gabriel García Márquez’s *One Hundred Years of Solitude* sold 30 million copies, including 2 million in China. Xu said that *White Deer Plain* most closely resembles *One Hundred Years of Solitude*. It showed Chinese writers that they could use fantasy to depict reality, and it combined the writing styles of *Journey to the West* and *Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio* with modern literature.

April 25, 2014

Tianshi.com: Jet Li’s Speech at Peking University

He said that youth is characterized by self-centeredness and everyone having their own stance. After returning from working in the United States and Europe, he began to abandon one stance and move between different ones. He said that there are many ways to walk a person’s life path. He said that only love can win people’s hearts, not just by force. He said that he represented Beijing at the age of eleven, and his early fame made him feel inferior.

2014 April 28

Online course: A comparison of Chinese and Western garden art, each representing their own “paradise on earth”.

Xia Guangzheng, Beijing University of Technology

Ancient Chinese cities were square and rectangular, while gardens were winding and meandering.

Ancient Western cities were winding and meandering, while gardens were square and rectangular.

The reasons for the differences between Chinese cities and gardens:

1. The square shape of ancient Chinese cities was a product of the centralized monarchical system.

2. The winding paths of the gardens reflect the escapist and reclusive thoughts of the literati class.

The reasons why Western cities and gardens differ:

1. The winding paths of ancient French cities were a product of feudal fragmentation and a testament to long periods of civil war and chaos. (Middle Ages)

2. The square shape of the garden reflects the emerging bourgeoisie and aristocracy’s desire to end the division and strive for national unity.

Gardens are places where people imagine and yearn for an ideal world when they are dissatisfied with the real world.

Differences between Eastern and Western cultures lead to differences in gardens:

1. Taking classical Chinese gardens as an example, Eastern gardens, starting from the idea of ​​respecting nature, simulate natural scenery through forests, pavilions, hills and valleys, and develop natural landscape gardens.

2. Taking Italian terraced gardens and French gardens as examples, Western classical gardens regard gardens as an appendage and extension of architecture, emphasizing axes and symmetry, and developing a regular style with geometric beauty.

The Chinese people’s moral character and aesthetic realm: 1. In terms of moral character, Chinese culture advocates that “the great man is in harmony with Heaven and Earth in virtue, with the sun and moon in brightness, with the four seasons in order, and with the spirits in good and bad fortune. He acts in accordance with Heaven’s will and Heaven does not contradict him; he acts in accordance with Heaven’s will and he follows the timing of Heaven.” 2. In terms of aesthetic realm, Chinese art pursues the aesthetic ideal of “like a lotus emerging from clear water, naturally beautiful without artifice.”

May 2014 Reading, Listening, Thinking, and Notes (by Yousheng)

2014 May 2

Online course: The historical evolution of Japanese civilization

Speaker: Feng Wei

Speaker’s Affiliation: Fudan University

Episodes 1-6: The Historical Evolution of Japanese Civilization

Weber: Civilization and culture differ in the following ways: 1) Civilization is discovered, such as scientific theorems, while culture is created. 2) Civilization has consistency and universal applicability; culture has exclusivity. 3) Civilization has a cumulative effect over time and space, while cultural creation is a one-time event, not repeatable or cumulative. 4) Civilization has purpose and social benefits, while culture lacks purpose and benefit principles. Chinese culture is stronger than civilization, while the West is primarily based on civilization.

German cultural sociologist Alfred Weber (1868–1958) argued that the difference between culture and civilization lies in the fact that civilization is invented, while culture is created. Inventions can be taught, passed from one nation to another without losing their characteristics; they can be passed from generation to generation while retaining their usefulness. All natural sciences and material tools can be considered civilization. Culture, being creative, is the expression of the national character of a place and an era. It can only preserve its original meaning within a certain time and space; people from other places, if they copy it, will always lose the original meaning. Religion, philosophy, art, etc., all belong to the category of culture. In his view, civilization refers to science and technology and their inventions, while culture encompasses ethics, morality, and art.

The Japanese national anthem is very characteristic of the nation. It conveys a sense of crisis and pathos. Japanese history is a process of continuous territorial expansion.

Stone Age, Jomon Age, Yayoi Age, Yamato Age, Asuka Age, Nara Age, Heian Age, Kamakura Age, Muromachi Age, Sengoku Age, Edo Age, Meiji Age, Taisho Age, Showa Age, Heisei Age.

2014 May 3

Online course: Re-understanding the history of the Song Dynasty

Speaker: Deng Xiaonan

Speaker’s Affiliation: Peking University

The lecturer stated: The Han and Tang dynasties ultimately experienced regional separatism, being replaced by forces they themselves cultivated; the Song dynasty was the first to change this situation; the Song dynasty rose to the forefront of the world, stimulating European development; the Han and Tang dynasties lagged behind West Asia in development. The Song dynasty was not unified, but the depth and breadth of its rule were unprecedented. The Song dynasty curbed feudal separatist forces. In fact, the Song dynasty had a high GDP and strong economic power, far beyond what could be described as poverty and weakness. Emperors Taizong and Taizu of Song essentially completed the unification of the agricultural regions within the Song dynasty’s territory. The core position and leading role of the Central Plains dynasty were not reflected in its leadership of the unification cause, but rather in the enormous and far-reaching influence of its political system, socio-economic system, and ideological culture. Discipline, Institutional Measures, and a Spirit of Righteousness: The Song dynasty’s system was both rigorous and open. The imperial examination system: rigorous yet open. Anonymous grading and closed examination halls selected talented individuals, requiring utmost effort and dedication. Even with the chief examiner’s favoritism, there was no way to gain favor; talented individuals from humble backgrounds flocked to the examination halls. The imperial examination system fostered greater social mobility, allowing more people from impoverished backgrounds to enter officialdom compared to the Tang Dynasty. The sheer number of families represented by the top-ranking scholars (状元) indicates that it was rare for prime ministers to come from the same family multiple times. In the Tang Dynasty, 369 prime ministers came from 98 different families, while in the Song Dynasty, 134 came from 126 different families. This reflects the changing social dynamics of the era, highlighting the rise of a group of talented individuals from humble backgrounds who possessed exceptional learning.

In ancient Chinese history, the period from the mid-Tang to the Song dynasty witnessed significant social transformation, characterized by a trend towards popularization, secularization, and humanization. Tang dynasty poets emphasized spirit and vigor, like young people, while Song dynasty poets valued intellectual pursuits, like middle-aged people. Tang poetry focused on the imagery of mountains and rivers, excelling in its expressive and evocative style; Song poetry, on the other hand, was known for its robust structure and profound philosophical insights. (Qian Zhongshu). In painting, the focus shifted from the divine and aristocratic to the common people. The Song dynasty’s choices differed. The Tang dynasty emphasized the beauty and elegance of women, while the Song dynasty emphasized their hardships and struggles. Comparing Tang and Song paintings, Tang dynasty paintings often depicted courtly subjects, portraying royalty and nobility. In contrast, Song dynasty paintings meticulously depicted ordinary citizens, a unique style in ancient times, exemplified by works like “Along the River During the Qingming Festival.”

Ordinary people began to learn to read and write, such as the Hundred Family Surnames, which originated in the Jiangnan region during the early Northern Song Dynasty. At that time, there was also a winter school for rural children, because they did not have to work during the winter.

Yan Fu: The ancients enjoyed reading the first four histories, mainly for their literary style. But if one wants to study the changes in people’s hearts and political customs, then the history of the Song Dynasty is the most worthy of in-depth study. The reason why China is what it is today, whether good or evil, is largely due to the people of the Song Dynasty; it can be asserted that eight or nine tenths of the reason is due to them.

2014 May 15

Online course: The historical truth behind the dominance of Confucianism and the spiritual transformation of Confucian scholars

Xie Qian, Sichuan University

Based on relevant records in the *Records of the Grand Historian* and the *Book of Han*, an analysis of the historical truth of Confucianism’s rise from the periphery to the political and cultural center of the Han Dynasty reveals that Dong Zhongshu’s suggestion of “suppressing all other schools of thought and exclusively honoring Confucianism” only arose under the premise that Emperor Wu of Han had already confirmed the policy of “dismissing all other schools of thought and promoting the Six Classics.” It was an agreement, not an innovation. Dong Zhongshu is revered as a “master of Confucianism” because he was the first to use the concept of Yin and Yang to interpret the calamities and anomalies in the *Spring and Autumn Annals*, employing analogies and metaphors to apply ancient wisdom to modern situations. He set a model for Han Dynasty Confucian scholars to adapt and transform their roles in a timely manner.

The lecturer said that the early Han Dynasty was dominated by Chu culture, such as the Donghuang Taiyi deity and the popularity of Sao Fu (a type of classical Chinese poetry). Emperor Wu of Han simply shifted to Central Plains culture, which is the traditional Confucian culture.

2014 May 15

Online courses: The world within books, the joy within books

Speaker: Zhang Qizhi

Speaker’s Affiliation: Northwest University

2014 May 30

Online lectures: Rereading Lu Yao’s “Ordinary World”

Huangping East China Normal University

Reading the works of Yu Hua and Mo Yan doesn’t provide insight into the feelings of ordinary people in today’s world, but Lu Yao’s works do. His novella “Life” depicts a rural youth’s desperate attempts to find work in the county town, including breaking up with his girlfriend, ultimately failing and returning to farming. The ending line is: “Brother, you’re useless; you sold your conscience to come back.” Avant-garde literature uses exaggeration and distortion. “Ordinary World” is beloved by ordinary people, becoming a perennial bestseller and an inspirational book for young people. It represents the lingering dreams of the 1980s, where labor was glorified. The 1990s saw office politics as fashionable.

The lecturer read aloud the final passage of the novel, criticizing its clumsy language and the use of grandiose words like “eternity” to mask its weak ideas. He argued that Lu Yao himself hadn’t truly understood life, hadn’t seen it clearly, and hadn’t fully grasped his own predicament. Or, to put it another way, China hasn’t produced a truly grand novel that reflects the profound changes of the past thirty years of reform and opening up: a novel that embodies our era, narrates our era, and finds the language and discourse of our time.

Online course: A History of Chinese Opera Tragedy

Xie Boliang, National Academy of Chinese Theatre Arts

Characteristics of Chinese tragic aesthetics: 1) Secularity, making it relatable to ordinary people; 2) Emotional balance; resentment without anger, sorrow without despair; suppressing sainthood into madness, and using laughter to express tears; long songs that are also cries, and distant longings that are also homecoming; 3) The fulfillment of the ending in Chinese tragedies, where the audience demands that good and evil be rewarded accordingly; the transformation into immortals, such as Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai turning into butterflies; and the continuous struggle leading to a happy ending.

2014 May 31

Online lecture: Beauty is the highest value in society (Jiang Dexing, Southeast University)

Western tragedy originated from the song of the goat, which itself was transformed into an independent art form.

The theory of heterogeneous isomorphism states that the psychological structure of humans can share the same structure as objects in the physical world. Students were asked to design any dance to express sadness; the designs were diverse, but all were characterized by a slow, descending frequency.

Levels of beauty: emotional level, self-confidence level, and spiritual level.

Scientists have a saying that beauty leads to truth, believing that scientists’ ability to appreciate beauty helps their scientific research.

2014 June Monthly Notes

2014 June 3-5

Reading: Wang Meng’s Autobiography: My Philosophy of Life

People’s Literature Publishing House, January 1, 2003.

Differences between Western and Eastern Parents in Raising Children: A Look at the Differences Between Two Societies

In his essay “How I Decided My Life” (see: Wang Meng’s Autobiography: My Philosophy of Life, People’s Literature Publishing House, 2003), Wang Meng begins by mentioning an American woman who married a Chinese man who told him: Chinese parents often say “Don’t” to their children and grandchildren—don’t play in the water, don’t climb high, and so on. American parents, on the other hand, prefer to say “Try it! Do it!” to their children.

This difference in parenting attitudes between Chinese and Western parents directly reflects the different origins of Chinese and Western civilizations. Chinese civilization originated from a genetically encoded primitive society, and in the early 1950s, vast rural areas were still quasi-primitive societies. That is to say, Chinese civilization, based on a primitive society, faced an unfamiliar secondary society, and naturally had to warn its naive children to be cautious. Western society, on the other hand, was a secondary society from the beginning; they have lived in a secondary society for five or six thousand years, and this secondary society, along with its various rules, was built by themselves. A nation and people who have lived in their own constructed world for five or six thousand years naturally encourage their naive children to be bold, because that world is old for adults but new for children. Here, we can use a quote from Lao Tzu: “Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish.” (Tao Te Ching, Chapter 60). China, based on a small, primitive society, faced a secondary society and had to proceed cautiously to avoid social chaos. Western large countries, based on secondary societies, had clear goals and plans, requiring everyone’s effort, and naturally encouraged their children to be bold. China operates by trial and error, without clear rules, while the West operates with clear and aggressive methods. I’ve lived in the Western world for many years, but before going abroad, I spent many years cycling around Beijing, and now I’ve cycled in the Western world for many more. The boldness and speed of Westerners’ cycling have left a deep impression on me; years later, I’m still amazed when I see white people speeding past me. This includes children. On a steep slope two or three meters high, I have to push my bike down several times before I carefully try to ride down. Yet, I see toddlers as young as two or three years old riding their tricycles downhill at high speed, making my heart race, but they are all safe and sound.

A woman told me that her son broke his leg in a bicycle accident. After being taken to the hospital and having his leg put in a cast, he wanted to invite many people to a party, where everyone would sign the cast as a lifelong memento and a symbol of his youthful bravery. It was clear from asking that this kind of heroic act of breaking a leg did not stem from any disregard for traffic rules.

Compared to me, a cyclist from China, Western children and adults alike are bolder on their bikes, but also more attentive to traffic rules. After living in the West for so many years, I’m still far less law-abiding than Westerners. At intersections, if there are no vehicles in my direction of the green light, or if there are vehicles but they’re far away, I push my bike across the intersection against the red light—something white people rarely do. But I’m not the only one; I only do it after seeing someone else cyclist or pedestrian run a red light. This shows that Chinese disregard for traffic rules also contains an element of caution, rather than boldness and originality. Therefore, Western children’s boldness stems from countless laws and social rules; Chinese children’s caution arises from facing a new world lacking readily available rules. The result: Western children have broad interests and are more likely to innovate; Chinese children focus on academics, achieve good grades, but have poor innovative abilities.

Wang Meng described his decision to write his novel “Long Live Youth” at the age of nineteen as a bold one. This decision led to his being labeled a rightist in 1958; he was probably the only rightist in the entire country, fortunate enough to have Mao Zedong intervene and exonerate him. Even so, he and his family were sent to Xinjiang for sixteen years of labor reform. After more than twenty years away from writing, Wang Meng was able to resume his work in 1979 after being removed from the rightist label. He was one of the lucky few; most people either died, were maimed, were forced to change careers, or became despondent. Westerners who, like Wang Meng, decided to dedicate themselves to writing at nineteen would never have had a similar experience. Their writing future was determined by their talent and diligence. Talent cannot be changed, but diligence comes precisely from parental encouragement in childhood. Wang Meng’s decision to write at nineteen was his own; at that time, most parents would have tried to dissuade their children, as science and engineering studies were less risky. In the West, parents might have discovered Wang Meng’s writing talent much earlier, encouraging and nurturing him in his teens, perhaps even starting to write at eleven or twelve. From this perspective, even in terms of Wang Meng’s writing, Eastern and Western parents differ: one should warn their children to be careful, while the other should encourage their children to be bold.

In his article, Wang Meng continued, discussing his literary creation, saying, “The novel becomes a brand new world you create; your writing process can only be compared to God’s creation of the world!” I share the same thought as Wang Meng. I once wrote, “Human beings can use language to create a completely new, fantastical world, just like some novels, especially science fiction. Every science fiction novel actually represents a new world created by humankind. Our secondary society is one of many such worlds created by humankind. Only this one is not a fictional world in a novel, but a reality of the real world, created by billions of people over thousands of years.” (Li Yousheng, “Looking at Life and the World from a Different Angle: 21st Century Chinese Taoism.” Beijing: Thread-Bound Book Bureau, 2009.)

Wang Meng’s creation myth comes from the Bible. God created Adam and Eve at the same time as creating the world, but their sons began to kill each other, leading God to regret creating humankind. The Bible provides detailed genealogical records, and scholars estimate that God created humankind around 4000 BC, the beginning of Mediterranean civilization. The Mediterranean civilization, originating in the West, began as a two-tiered society, divided into different city-states. Facing different civilizations, they were constantly at war, leading to humankind killing each other, just as the biblical story describes. In such a context, even if the rules of this two-tiered society were not yet fully developed, parents should encourage their children to be bold, because it was a necessity for survival in a war-torn civilization.

The Chinese version of the creation myth is entirely different because China, starting as a primitive superpower, like the United Nations today, was able to maintain a relatively peaceful environment. A popular interpretation among Chinese scholars is that the character “帝” (Emperor) is an inverted triangle symbol representing female genitalia placed on an altar surrounded by cloth, a product of ancient fertility worship, consistent with the higher social status of women compared to men in the Yangshao culture. This character “帝” aligns with the legend of Nuwa mending the sky and creating humanity. In a relatively peaceful atmosphere, people could observe the world calmly and see the coexistence of heaven, earth, and humanity; therefore, Nuwa’s creation of humanity could only have involved mending the sky. Living in the brutal, war-torn ancient Mediterranean civilization where individuals had no control over their own destinies, people psychologically needed and thus dreamed day and night of an all-powerful God who created heaven and earth, rather than a Nuwa-like figure mending the sky.

It is precisely because of this difference that China experienced two thousand years of stability before and after the Warring States period, lacking the history of escalating warfare seen in Western history. The so-called modern world is actually the result of escalating warfare and dramatic socio-cultural changes in modern Europe over the past five hundred years. If large-scale wars become a thing of the past, we will face a relatively peaceful new era, a new era of returning to primal society and natural humanity—what we call postmodernism: we will no longer need to constantly teach our children how to be cautious, nor will we need to relentlessly urge them to be brave; instead, we will let them enjoy life and do whatever they want.

Chinese Taoist philosophy, based on primordial society and natural human nature, teaches adults to learn from infants and animals, and to forget the cultural customs left to us by the civilization of war. Therefore, what we need in the future is not to admonish or urge our children, but to emulate them.

2014 June 5

Online lectures: Pre-Qin political wisdom

Speaker: Yi Zhongtian (February 2013)

Duke Zhou: We should prioritize people, govern the country with virtue, establish social order through rites, and maintain social stability through music.

Confucius’ teachings were divided into four subjects: morality, politics, speech, and literature.

2014 June 9

Can Xue said that Chinese writers are not good because they do not analyze and think about social realities.

For literary works to offer readers profound care, they must learn self-analysis and self-criticism, enabling each reader to recognize their own existence and use reason to monitor themselves. Those with this self-monitoring mechanism are more likely to be virtuous. Writers must maintain self-awareness during the writing process; readers, in turn, can become aware of their own participation through the medium of literature.

2014 June 9

Online lectures: “If you don’t know life, how can you know death?” “Reality, history, and myths along the Yangtze River.”

Speaker: Wang Yipei, Renmin University of China

The lecturer said he spent ten years wandering the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in Chongqing, inquiring about folk songs and legends.

2014 June 10

Online Classes: Village Temples and Community Public Life – Gan Mantang, Fuzhou University

2014 June 18

Reading: My Favorite Masterpiece – Remnant Snow (http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_46eacfc90100014y.html)

In this short essay, Can Xue frankly and clearly expresses her views on literary works. These views are her own and represent one of the potential directions for the development of Chinese literature—a direction that has not been recognized or accepted by the majority of writers, yet it is the mainstream of Western literature, something lacking in Chinese literature. This also reflects the different origins of Eastern and Western civilizations: Western civilization originated from man-made secondary societies, as the biblical story tells: the sons of Adam and Eve began to kill each other, to the point that God regretted creating humans on earth. This represents, from a personal perspective: emotional trauma, and understanding oneself and the world through pain—this is the essence of Can Xue’s great work.

She begins by writing: “The great works in my mind are those that possess timelessness. That is, the works of such authors, no matter how many centuries pass, continue to be interpreted by later generations, evoking new feelings in them. Such authors possess a kind of divinity, somewhat akin to prophets.”

Can Xue then further defined her great works, specifying them, saying: “Great works are introspective and self-critical. In my list of stars, there are writers like Homer, Dante, Milton, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Goethe, Kafka, Borges, Calvino, Saint-Exupéry, Tolstoy, Gogol, Dostoevsky, and so on. The mainstream of this list is Westerners and writers with Western ideas, because I believe the source of literature is in the West, while in China, literature has never existed as an independent spiritual product. Chinese literature has historically lacked the most basic characteristic of literature—human beings’ conscious understanding of their own essence. That is to say, Chinese literature completely lacks the power and skill to fully develop self-contradiction. Traditional literature has always been dependent and outward-looking (i.e., remaining on the surface).

Can Xue’s view of Eastern and Western literature will likely face strong opposition in China, but I deeply sympathize with and cherish her resolute cry: China lacks truly meaningful literature, and truly great literary works await Chinese writers to take on this responsibility. In Can Xue’s view, Chinese writers do not yet possess this awareness.

Chinese civilization originated from a primordial society encoded in our genetic code. The Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties were superpowers in this primordial society, and Confucianism and Taoism, as the mainstream cultures, both regarded this primordial society as their ideal. Humans in this primordial society, like other animals, viewed and understood the world with a leisurely and carefree attitude. They lacked the pathos and depth of Western-style artificial secondary societies, possessing instead a self-deceptive and opportunistic approach, much like Ah Q. I disagree with Can Xue’s evaluation of *Dream of the Red Chamber*. Cao Xueqin dared to portray all the women in the book as increasingly virtuous and all the men as increasingly wicked; a work that praises women and demonizes all men is profound in itself. However, I also agree with Can Xue that *Dream of the Red Chamber* ultimately aims to resonate with this primordial society, without placing people within a secondary society to explore their fates, possibilities, and the tragic and profound journey of human nature.

I have a relative who, when discussing the tens of millions who starved to death during the three years of hardship, said, “They’re dead, they’re dead, why keep bringing it up?” In Western history, wars have escalated continuously, accompanied by a gradual escalation of social and cultural development, directly related to the kind of literary exploration of human nature that Can Xue describes. China compresses the three to four thousand years of Western war history into the two hundred years of the Warring States period, with two thousand years of stability before and after. After the Qin and Han dynasties, the ultra-stable social structures were interspersed with cyclical upheavals involving large-scale killings. The author once used the frequency of the word “I” in poetry to examine the degree of human subjective expression. The degree and persistence of the decline in subjective expression in the two thousand years after the Qin and Han dynasties are striking. The ratio of the “I” in the subject and object of poetry after the Tang dynasty is similar to that of the suicidal poet Qu Yuan, making one imagine the heart-wrenching pain of the ancients. What Chinese society lacks is precisely this kind of exploration and understanding of society and life that Can Xue advocates; what it has more of is Ah Q-style self-amusement and sophistry, including the works of Mo Yan and others.

Research on the degree of subjective expression shows that this Ah Q-style self-amusement and sophistry, including works by figures like Mo Yan, has not healed the psychological trauma of secondary society. My relative, when discussing the tens of millions who starved to death during the three years of hardship, said, “They’re dead, they’re dead, why keep talking about it?” She hadn’t psychologically healed from the mass death toll; she was still thinking about those who died, just not saying it. Even further, she stopped thinking about the dead altogether, instead, as Freud described, repressing them into the subconscious, only to surface in nightmares. Finally, she stopped even having such nightmares, but the psychological trauma remained; it was merely repressed into a deeper level of unconsciousness. Even ancient poets didn’t directly express this in their works, simply subtly reducing the use of the word “I.” I firmly believe that if, as Can Xue said, this repressed psychological emotion is expressed in the greatest literary works and sublimated to a perfect and radiant state, readers will all feel psychologically soothed and elevated after reading it. Only then will the Chinese people have a different mindset and temperament.

Can Xue concludes by saying, “A writer, regardless of their writing method, as long as they possess the curiosity to understand themselves, the impulse to transform themselves, and an open mind, will inevitably delve into the deeper realms of human nature, offering an unprecedented interpretation of that ancient contradiction, influencing readers and transforming national character while simultaneously achieving self-salvation.” She concludes her article with a quote from Shakespeare:

God created us and gave us so much wisdom so that we could see ahead and behind, not so that we would let this intelligence, this divine reason, rot away and become useless.

The great works in my mind are those that possess timelessness. That is, the works of such authors continue to be interpreted and evoked new feelings by later generations, no matter how many centuries have passed. Such authors possess a kind of “divinity,” and great works are introspective and self-critical. My list of star authors includes writers such as Homer, Dante, Milton, Shakespeare, Cervantes, Goethe, Kafka, Borges, Calvino, Deschober, Tolstoy, Gogol, Dostoevsky, and so on. The majority of this list consists of Westerners and writers with Western ideas, because I believe that the source of literature lies in the West, while in China, literature has never existed as an independent spiritual product from the beginning. Chinese literature has historically lacked the most basic characteristic of literature—human beings’ conscious understanding of their own essence. In other words, Chinese literature completely lacks the power and skill to fully develop self-contradiction. Traditional literature has always been dependent and outward-looking (i.e., remaining on the surface). Even a great work like *Dream of the Red Chamber* is largely outdated today because it fails to inspire self-reflection and self-improvement, and its depiction of the human heart is too superficial, lacking any exploration of inner conflicts—essentially literature about childhood. Lu Xun wrote some great works (the entirety of *Wild Grass* and some from *Old Tales Retold*), but far too few. The oppression of culture prevented him from fully developing his genius.

A writer, regardless of the method he uses, as long as he has the curiosity to understand himself, the impulse to transform himself, and an open mind, will surely enter the deep realm of human nature exploration, and interpret that ancient contradiction in a way that has never been seen in our history, influencing readers and transforming national character while saving himself.

I’d like to end this article with a quote from Shakespeare:
“God created us, and gave us so much wisdom / so that we might see ahead and behind, not so that we / might let this intelligence, this divine reason / rot away.”

Note: See page 317 of Hamlet, translated by Bian Zhilin, Zhejiang Literature and Art Publishing House, 1991 edition.

2014 June 21

Differences in Historical Perspectives Between China and the West (Part 1): Reading the Preface to Can Xue’s “Art and Childhood” (First Published in 2008)

In her preface, which is only a few hundred words long, Can Xue discusses the different historical perspectives of the East and West. She says, “Compared to them (Westerners), dare we say we have a history? History is not something to be spoken, but something to be done. Because we never act, all that remains behind us is an unchanging chaos and nothingness. We mistake clichés for history.”

According to Can Xue, Chinese history is a collection of empty rhetoric and clichés, while Western history is built on concrete actions. This difference between talk and action has nothing to do with the notion of Chinese diligence, because Can Xue explicitly mentions the word “creation.” Diligence without creation is the reason for a lack of history. Can Xue says, “Perhaps it’s because we don’t know what creation is that we’ve so thoroughly lost our childhood.” A nation without a childhood, of course, has no history to speak of.

I understand that Can Xue emphasizes that we, as adults, need to re-examine childhood and imbue it with a new and unique meaning. I once divided human society into a genetically encoded primordial society and a man-made secondary society. I discovered that Western civilization originated from the man-made secondary society, while Chinese civilization originated from the primordial society, which both Confucianism and Taoism idealized. As a result, Chinese history exhibited stagnation and an extremely stable social structure, while the West underwent rapid social transformation amidst escalating wars, with the former society serving as a model for the latter to learn from and transform. The different historical processes of China and the West naturally lead to different historical perspectives.

China has been renowned worldwide for its meticulous historical records since ancient times; no other nation or country in the world has preserved such a vast amount of historical material. Even a single county maintains its own gazetteer from various dynasties. In Canxue’s view, however, these vast amounts of text are rife with clichés. This is clearly related to the differences between the two levels of society. Primitive society was singular, best suited to human nature, while secondary societies are countless, offering ample room for evolution. But while the rapid changes in society are breathtaking, they do not necessarily bring comfort or joy.

Chinese history begins with figures like Suiren, Shennong, and the flood-taming hero Yu the Great, while Western history begins with the Bible’s account of God’s regret after creating man, because God saw that humanity was doing evil on earth, leading to the story of the Great Flood. This difference reflects the distinction between primordial and secondary societies. Humanity’s inability to manage secondary societies resulted in constant warfare in the West, and also led to the constantly evolving society and history as seen by Canxue.

2014 June 25

Reading Can Xue’s short story “Red Leaves” (2009-04-03 22:20:39) (See Can Xue’s blog)

A very unusual novel, unlike any I’ve ever read before. It’s not a Western classical reflection on life, but rather a transformation and fusion at a deep level of consciousness. Can Xue calls it a spiritual level, but I think it’s more like a literary expression of feelings at a deep level of consciousness.

Copied from her same blog

Creative Discussion

I’m writing this story about “Red Leaves.” Blood flows from the veins of the leaves, and that’s how they turn red. It’s a little story about life. Teacher Gu must be the “root” of the person sitting here writing. In this world, everyone has some ancient, unforgettable feelings. Teacher Gu’s feelings are related to a boy named Xiaoju. But who is Xiaoju? Xiaoju is probably the foundation of Teacher Gu’s existence.

June 25, 2014

The Cabin in the Mountain by Canxue

(Selected from People’s Literature, Issue 8, 1985)

June 28, 2014

Social Psychology

Speaker: Wang Xinjian

Speaker’s Affiliation: Nankai University

The history of social psychology:

The gestation period (social and philosophical stage):

One perspective originates from Socrates and Plato in ancient Greece, emphasizing the influence of the environment on people. Institutions, in turn, change people.

Secondly, Aristotle argued that society originates from human nature, which is determined by biological or instinctual forces. Therefore, the idea of ​​changing human nature and establishing an ideal state is unrealistic. Institutions control people.

Hobbs: Relationships between people, relationships between wolves.

Formation period (late 19th century to early 20th century) (empirical description):

Typical events:

In 1849, ;

Direct source:

1. German National Psychology

Germany, Wundt’s national psychology;

2. French mass psychology;

Talme, *On Imitation*

Group psychology

Suicide, suicide rate, and the environment that influences suicide.

3. British instinct psychology;

The story of Darwin. The theory of evolution influenced psychology. Michael, *Instinct Psychology*.

4. Industrial psychology;

Applying psychology to industrial organizations. This is related to organizational psychology.

Establishment period (early 20th century)

The landmark works that emerged were: Ross’s “Social Psychology” in the United States and Michael Douglas’s “Social Psychology” in the United Kingdom.

Allport, . Social psychology with a psychological orientation.

George Mead, *The Psychological Self and Society*. A sociologically oriented approach to social psychology.

July 2014 Reading, Listening, Thinking, and Notes (by Yousheng)

2014July01

Reading: Religious System and Japan’s Modernization

Author: Zhang Dazhe; Published by Religious Culture Press, September 1, 2006

　　This is a monograph combining historical research and theoretical analysis. It begins with the evolution of Japan’s state religious system and its impact on religion, using Japan’s defeat and surrender in 1945 as a watershed. It explains the formation and detrimental effects of the pre-war State Shinto system, dissects the core content of the State Shinto ideology, and analyzes the post-war freedom of religion, separation of church and state, the establishment of a modern religious system, and the resulting new atmosphere. The book also devotes considerable space to a comprehensive discussion and evaluation of emerging religious movements in Japan, offering insights into new trends in emerging religious phenomena worldwide. The book uses detailed and accurate data, providing valuable reference for understanding the characteristics of Japanese religious culture under different political backgrounds and religious systems.

　sequence

　　Chapter 1 The Formation and Perfection of the State Shinto System

　　I. The Political Prerequisites for the Formation of the State Shinto System

　　II. The Religious Foundation for Establishing a State Shinto System

　　1. The widespread popularity of Shinto at shrines

　　2. The distinct national characteristics of shrine rituals

　　3. Close relationship with the royal family

　　III. The Path to the Establishment of the State Theological System

　　1. Implement a policy of separating gods and Buddhas.

　　2. Comprehensive integration of shrines nationwide

　　3. Reform the clergy system

　　4. The unfolding of the national edification movement

　　Chapter Two: Deconstructing the State Shinto Ideological System

　　I. Absolutism in Emperor Worship

　　1. The Imperial View of State Shinto

　　2. The Cultural Origins of Absolutism in Emperor Worship

　　3. The Ideological Roots of Absolutism in Emperor Worship

　　4. The clamor and sales pitches of the powerful

　　II. The Ideology of Loyalty and Filial Piety

　　1. The State Shinto view of loyalty and filial piety

　　2. Exploring the Origins of the Ideology of Loyalty and Filial Piety

　　III. The Divine Kingdom of Japan and the Idea of ​​Eightfold Universe

　　1. The ideology of a divine nation in Japan

　　2.The thought of eight images and one universe

　　Chapter Three: The Restriction and Alienation of Religion by the State Shinto System

　　I. The Divergent Paths of the Divine Realm

　　1. Brief introduction of Shinto sect

　　2. The Tenrikyo sect, which has been repeatedly suppressed

　　3. The Golden Light Cult’s Many Twists and Turns

　　4. The successful development of the Kurozumi cult and the Shinto Shushoha

　　II. The Buddhist Community Following Closely

　　1. A Review of the Relationship between Buddhism and Political Groups

　　2. Buddhism’s submission to the state religion

　　3. Buddhist activities supporting the invasion of China

　　III. The ill-fated emerging religion

　　1. An Overview of Emerging Religions

　　2. Emerging Religions under the Wartime System

　　3. Internal factors that enabled individual religious groups to develop smoothly

　　Chapter Four: The Establishment of the Separation of Church and State and the Response of Traditional Religions

　　I. The Transition from a State Theocracy to a System of Separation of Theocracy

　　1. The promulgation of the Shinto Code

　　2. Denial of the Emperor’s Divinity

　　3. The promulgation of new religious regulations

　　II. Shintoism under the system of separation of religion and state

　　1. Reorganization of the Shinto world of shrines

　　2. Various attempts to rebuild the shrine economy

　　3. New explorations in developing shrine activities

　　4. Rapidly increasing awareness of lateral cooperation

　　5. The flourishing development of Shinto academic research

　　III. Traditional Buddhism under the system of separation of church and state

　　1. Traditional Buddhism confronts the crisis

　　2. Various reforms of different sects

　　Chapter Five: Emerging Religions under the Separation of Church and State

　　I. The rapid development of new religions after the war

　　1. A brief overview of emerging religions in the early postwar period

　　2. The characteristics of the era in which new religions emerged

　　II. Internal Factors Behind the Rise of New Religions

　　1. Secularism is the fundamental source of the rapid development of emerging religions.

　　2. A well-structured organizational framework is the backbone supporting the development of emerging religions.

　　3. Diverse missionary methods are the driving force behind the continuous growth of emerging religions.

　　III. The Development Trend of New Religions

　　1. Characteristics of the doctrines and structure of new religions

　　2. Social conditions that give rise to new religions

　　3. Cults mixed in

　　Main References

　　Postscript

[Zhang Dazhe] On the Emerging Religions in Japan and Their Response to Social Change (Originally published in Japanese Studies, No. 5, 2002).

Emerging religions in Japan generally refer to religious groups established and developed from the mid-19th century to the latter half of the 20th century, from the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate to after World War II. They can be broadly categorized into four major systems: Buddhism, Shintoism, Christianity, and various other religions independent of these three. Their common characteristics include: emerging and becoming active during periods of social transformation; being rooted in the lower and middle classes of society; adapting to the ideological, psychological, and spiritual needs of the masses during specific eras; and, to varying degrees, deviating from the norms of traditional religions, pursuing innovation in doctrine and ritual.

Faced with Buddhism’s over a thousand-year history and its integration with Japanese culture, the Tokugawa shogunate implemented the “temple registration system,” granting temples the power to regulate the people’s faith. This system mandated that every household become a patron of a particular temple, and residents were required to possess both a certificate of faith and identification issued by the temple to have legal status. This policy constrained the overall direction of Buddhism during the Tokugawa era: firstly, it rendered Buddhism subservient to the government, turning temples, with their “thought police” power, into long-term agents for the shogunate’s household registration system, reducing them to tools for controlling the people and significantly creating a divide and antagonism between the people and the temples.

Following the Meiji Restoration, the Meiji government, driven by the need to strengthen the Emperor’s supreme authority, shifted its policy, establishing Shinto as the state religion. This policy simultaneously suppressed Buddhism and promoted Shinto, intensifying the long-simmering trend of “abolishing Buddhism and destroying the faith.” Large numbers of monks were forcibly disrobed, countless scriptures were destroyed, many temples were abandoned, and those that survived declined and decayed, plunging Buddhism into an unprecedented crisis.

According to the Japanese “New Religious Encyclopedia”, from 1920 to 1936, there were 12 major incidents of suppression against emerging religions, involving 11 religious groups.

After the outbreak of the full-scale invasion of China in 1937, the Japanese authorities established a “national defense system,” or fascist system, through totalitarian policies. This system stifled and even completely destroyed the few remaining traces of modern civilization established since the Meiji Restoration. In the religious sphere, this manifested as a comprehensive centralized control over religious life.

According to statistics, between 1935 and 1940, 1,480 religious figures were arrested and convicted. Between 1939 and 1942, there were 159 incidents of religious suppression, and the vast majority of them occurred against emerging religions. Even established religious groups could not escape the fate of being banned.

2014 July 02

Reading Yan Geling’s “Lu Yanshi” online and a description, I experienced her writing style for the first time: she wrote about the details of life between Lu Yanshi, his wife Feng Wanyu, and his widowed mother Enniang.

July 6, 2014

Li ethnic group tattoos – The youngest woman with tattoos is about 70 years old.

The Li ethnic group currently has a total population of approximately 1.24 million, with the vast majority living on Hainan Island, the southernmost tip of China. They are divided into five branches, and the tattoos of women in each branch are different according to the patterns inherited from their ancestors. These tattoos serve as a symbol of different clans and tribes within the Li ethnic group. Young Li men can tell whether a woman shares a common ancestor and whether they can marry by looking at her tattoo patterns.

　　According to Chao, an expert in the protection of intangible cultural heritage in Hainan Province, there are currently about 2,000 tattooed women alive, the oldest being over 90 years old and the youngest around 70. Their passing will mark the end of the tattooing history of the Li ethnic group. (The current state of Li ethnic tattooing customs, reporter Luo Qinbiao, source: Haikou Evening News, 2009-05-26)

2014 July 09

This photograph, taken and archived the day after Einstein’s death, shows his desk, which had been in disarray all day. It’s said that this is common among those with exceptional genius; ordinary people like you and me are preoccupied with appearances, conforming to societal norms in our actions and thoughts—how can we possibly be geniuses then? This also aligns with Benbock’s theory of the two-tiered society: human civilization is not a genetic construct of the original society, but rather a journey against human nature. We are all products of a secondary social culture, or what we might call man-made beings. We are the result of the collective creation of the culture that nurtured us, and we ourselves were created by millions of predecessors.

When we forget everything we’ve learned, our minds enter a state akin to that of a preschooler, facing a vast world of countless possibilities, no longer trapped in the quagmire of any particular cultural tradition. We’ve all heard stories of scientists struggling to solve a difficult problem, working day and night without hope. Then, they fall into a deep sleep and find the answer in their dreams. Sleep loosens the constraints of cultural tradition, making creative thinking easier. It’s said that during World War II, British scientists claimed their inventions were made in the “3Bs”—bed, bath, and bus.

Another prominent characteristic of geniuses is the higher rate of mental illness among their immediate family members compared to the general population, and some geniuses themselves often exhibit mild psychotic behaviors. During World War II, Winston Churchill of Britain and Charles de Gaulle of France were both geniuses who defied public opinion and went against the tide, both known for their extraordinary personality traits. De Gaulle was famously neurotic, while Churchill suffered from bipolar disorder. Why do our geniuses deviate so much from the norm? This is determined by our artificial, two-tiered society. This artificial society deviates from human nature and needs rapid development, so it can only develop peripheral human potential, such as diligence, discipline, and courage—extreme qualities that make us work like ants and fight each other all day long. At the same time, it also has a great need for genius-like marginal figures, that is, people on the border between normal and abnormal.

July 10, 2014

Blog Random Thoughts 15: Future Society Prospects and Human Brain Memory

According to the two-tier society theory, society is currently in the early stage of the evolution of artificial second-tier society, much like fish in the history of biological evolution that have just crawled onto land and are still half-fish and half-reptile, the so-called total fin fish. Their lives are naturally very difficult because they are not yet true terrestrial animals.

In the 1980s and 90s, the Japanese scholar Francis Fukuyama (1952-) proposed the “end of history” theory in the United States, arguing that Western liberal democracy represents “the end of the development of human ideology” and “the last form of human rule.” From the perspective of the two-tiered society theory, Western democracy is merely a struggle and self-adjustment of humanity caught in the gap between primitive and secondary societies. The ultimate ideal society should resemble the human body’s management of trillions of cells, divided into hierarchical levels with no meaningful management beyond a balancing feedback mechanism—essentially the Daoist concept of non-action (wuwei).

Doctors now use computers to assist them in diagnosing and treating patients. The author once wrote, “If well-trained national administrators were to use mainframe computers to manage the country and society, decision-making would be faster and cheaper. The wishes of the people could also be input into the computer and considered simultaneously. Such a system would be more like the human body’s management system for its own cells, tissues, and physiological and biochemical processes.”

Coincidentally, scientists have recently appeared online predicting that in the future, medication will be used to input memories into the brain, thereby replacing learning and even school.

According to the British newspaper *Daily Mail*, renowned American scientist Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the MIT Media Lab, recently predicted at a TED conference that within 30 years, people will be able to learn languages ​​or literature by swallowing pills. He stated that while people are good at absorbing information through their eyes, this method is perhaps less efficient compared to other methods. He predicts that in the future, people will be able to absorb information in a “take-in” manner; simply by swallowing a pill, the drug will enter the bloodstream and act on it in the brain, instantly providing the information. He said: “You’ll swallow a pill and you’ll speak English. You’ll swallow a pill and you’ll understand Shakespeare.”

The scientist didn’t say that this method of medication could create different people, turning one person into a completely different one. A mute idiot who can’t even speak clearly could suddenly become a doctor, or even the President of the United States, after taking the drug. The author, in his 2009 book, “Looking at the World and Life from a Different Angle: 21st Century Chinese Taoism,” expressed ideas very similar to, yet different from, this scientist’s. The author wrote:

In the near future, we will be able to connect our brains to computers, downloading and transferring all our memories and thought processes onto the computer. When the computer’s capacity is as large as the human brain, it can become our consciousness. Scientists and philosophers have struggled to define consciousness, but we perceive its existence as long as we are aware of how the brain works. In fact, most of the brain’s work is unknown to us; it not only affects our consciousness but also often enters it in unpredictable ways, so we should also download it. What we see on a computer screen is merely a projection of the machine’s operation onto the interface; similarly, consciousness is a projection of the human brain’s operation at the level of awareness. If we don’t download the neural pathways of the brain and human senses into the system simultaneously, it’s what Western tradition calls the soul. If we do download these neural pathways simultaneously, it’s the Taoist concept of immortality—soul plus body. If we download all the information from the brain to another brain, human or animal, it becomes the Indian and Buddhist concept of reincarnation. Of course, before downloading, all the original memories of the animal or human brain must be erased. If the erasure is incomplete, leaving some traces, one might recall past lives during dreams or mental confusion. This is all due to the memory erasure being done too carelessly. Modern science tends to believe that people with past life experiences suffer from poor episodic memory of specific events; in short, they have confused different areas of memory.

July 11, 2014

The differences between the opening poems of the Three Kingdoms period and Homer’s epics have been written in a separate article.

July 13, 2014

I spent the entire afternoon and evening reading online about the life story of Zhang Qinli (1927?-2004) from Henan. I’ve left the relevant website address; I might write an article about it later.

…

Zhang Qinli becoming a prisoner in the Republic’s prison is a disgrace to our country’s judicial system.
　　While compiling this material, the following thoughts kept coming to mind: the long-standing ultra-leftist line and the flaws in the personnel system are rampant in our lives. Right and wrong are indistinguishable, good and bad are indistinguishable. These two deep-seated problems, intertwined in the chaos of the Cultural Revolution, flared up malignantly, pushing the entire nation to the brink of bankruptcy and to a perilous peak. When we were pulled from the edge and questioned, when we fell from the peak, the whole country was covered in wounds. We only bandaged the superficial injuries, without exploring the root causes of these deep-seated problems. The redress of wrongful convictions and the discussion on the criterion of truth led by Comrade Yaobang are like two monuments standing on either side of the gate of reform and opening up, warning future generations: do not create new wrongful convictions, and do not let one person have the final say. The former is a legal issue, the latter a systemic issue; both are fundamental problems. —Written by
　　Chen Jian, retired Xinhua News Agency reporter,
　　January 2002;
　　revised December 2003.

July 19, 2014

Online Classes: My Reading of Lee Kuan Yew’s Essays on How Singapore Adds Value to the World (by Lü Yuanli, Shenzhen University)

The People’s Action Party has won more than ten general elections since 1959, thus holding power in the country for a long period of time.

Lee Kuan Yew’s pragmatism resonated with Deng Xiaoping’s. His views included the “cat theory,” the “touching theory,” and the “no-argument theory.” Lee Kuan Yew’s approach was: “What works, what’s good, is left undiscussed.” Mao Zedong said: “Socialism is good.” Deng Xiaoping said: “What’s good is socialism.” Regarding the issue of public sentiment, Lee Kuan Yew believed that: Property rights consciousness is innate. Without stable property, people have no stable mind.

Lee Kuan Yew believed that talent determines success, and that the success of Hong Kong and Taiwan was a result of the influx of mainland talent to them after 1949. (http://video.chaoxing.com/serie_400002108.shtml)

July 21, 2014

Random Thoughts 16: Different Historical Perspectives Between the East and the West (Already Used on Blog)

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.

July 23, 2014

Reading: Liu Zaifu and Xu Jilin discuss Mo Yan (2013-01-18 19:05:05) Interview: Financial Times Chinese Website Editor: Xue Li Intern: Chen Yijia

Liu Zaifu: I like Mo Yan precisely because I admire his overflowing talent in writing, yet his somewhat naive and often foolish side in real life. If Mo Yan were too intelligent, he would never have achieved his current literary success. Many brilliant geniuses are numb and confused when faced with political games, and Mo Yan is no exception. His action can at most be considered naive, and should not be used to judge his character. The latter half of *Frog* even implicitly contains a sense of repentance between “I” and “my aunt”; “my aunt” was radical throughout her life, killing (forcing abortions) over nine thousand babies, yet in her later years, she and her husband sculpted over nine thousand clay dolls, and the last one they sculpted symbolized the baby conceived from “my” sperm. This sense of redemption shows that Mo Yan has incorporated “cold observation” and “critical examination” into his “flowing” writing style, which is worthy of researchers’ attention. In his speech at the Chinese University of Hong Kong on December 2nd last year, he described how “corrupt officials are also pitiful,” viewing them as human beings and from a human perspective. This indicates that Mo Yan no longer takes criticizing reality as the starting point of his writing, but rather takes “focusing on people,” “getting close to people,” and “expressing people’s feelings” as the basic principles of his writing.

Xu Jilin: Confucius said, “A hypocrite is a thief of virtue.” A hypocrite is someone who is nice to everyone, without any standard of value; that’s what hypocrisy is. Tolerance of evil is a kind of banality of evil. Mo Yan is merely banal; it doesn’t mean he’s evil. (Xu believes that Mo Yan’s plagiarism of Mao’s speech at the symposium on literature and art crossed a line that cannot be crossed.)

July 24, 2014

Reading: Xu Jilin’s View of the Light Reading Era (2014-07-22 14:07) (From Xu’s Blog)

Past intellectuals possessed a sense of tragedy and sublimity, but heroes of the era like Luo Yonghao embody more of a heroic spirit—a commoner’s heroism that inspires many young people striving for their ideals with the thought, “I can be like him,” and “A true man should be like this.” Thus, in a post-intellectual era, Luo Yonghao became a guru-like idol. Later, I posted a Weibo post referring to Tencent’s “Everyone” writing style as “light writing, light reading.” This term comes from the light music of the 1980s. Back then, people were tired of the stirring revolutionary songs, and Beethoven’s symphonies were too heavy; they preferred the likes of Mantovani and Paul Mauriat. Mobile phone culture will be a new culture; it will subtly transform you. You might become impatient with more grand and profound things, and subconsciously reject them. In this sense, China today has indeed entered a postmodern society, an era of fragmented information that opposes grand narratives and systems. Where does China’s hope lie? In my view, it may lie outside the system, in civil society. The rigidity and inflexibility within the system stifle too much innovation and talent, almost a reverse selection process. Outside the system and in civil society, there are vibrant and eccentric figures, such as Jack Ma in the business world, and Yu Xiangdong and Liu Zhongjing in academia—they all seemed to appear out of nowhere. But their unconventional thinking, bold imagination, and talent have enabled them to achieve what those within the system could not. What interests me most is, as a public intellectual, to intervene in reality through academic means, to explain the world and reality.

Reading: Xu Jilin: I am an unclassifiable bat (2014-04-23 08:11:44)

In Chinese intellectual circles, I am also an unclassifiable bat. Generally speaking, I am a liberal, but I often have a sympathetic understanding of the socialist theories of the New Left and the conservative stance of Neo-Confucianism. The late Harvard sociologist Niall Bell described himself thus: “I am a political liberal, an economic socialist, and a cultural conservative.” I think I am his accomplice… In contemporary China and the world, power and capital, the two most powerful dominant forces, both require vigilance and criticism. Especially in contemporary China, power and capital have formed a hidden, dominant alliance… The first generation of Neo-Confucians, from Xiong Shili and Mou Zongsan to Tu Weiming and Tang Yijie, all acknowledged the political value of liberalism. Their work was to “extract a new external king from the old inner sage,” laying a metaphysical foundation for democracy in China. However, the second generation of Neo-Confucians, represented by Jiang Qing, is no longer the “mental Confucianism” of the first generation, but rather a “political Confucianism” attempting to transcend democracy. The attempt to rebuild a holistic Confucian constitutional system, encompassing both moral character and institutional frameworks, is misguided. However, I do not believe that Neo-Confucianism can bypass the liberal tradition since the Enlightenment and create a so-called Confucian constitutional system uniquely in a pluralistic modern society. If, among liberals, the New Left, and Neo-Confucians, more unclassifiable individuals emerge who uphold their own values ​​while sympathizing with the positions of others, uniting to seek the “Middle Way,” then the faint hope may be transformed into a foreseeable reality.

July 25, 2014

Reading: Yu Yingshi: Anti-Intellectualism and China’s Political Tradition

On the Divergence and Convergence of Political Thought in Confucianism, Taoism, and Legalism

The Ming and Qing dynasties’ reliance on the eight-legged essay (a rigid, formulaic essay) for selecting officials is most criticized by modern people. However, setting aside the content of the exams, according to scholars, in the first hundred years of the Ming dynasty, as many as 60% of the successful candidates came from commoner families (i.e., families without official titles for three generations). Such a long-standing political tradition of absorbing intellectuals is unique in the history of world culture.

…To demote the emperor, dismiss the feudal lords, and punish the high officials—that was all it took to accomplish the king’s affairs. (From the preface to the Records of the Grand Historian?)

The most prominent examples are Sui Meng during the reign of Emperor Zhao (78 BC) and Gai Kuanrao during the reign of Emperor Xuan (60 BC), both of whom were executed for submitting memorials advocating abdication. This, in particular, represents the highest expression of the spirit of “criticizing the emperor.” After the Eastern Han Dynasty, the theory of abdication left the hands of Confucian scholars and became a theoretical tool for powerful ministers to usurp the throne; intellectuals no longer dared to speak of “criticizing the emperor.”

Huang Zongxi wanted the people not to judge right and wrong based on the emperor’s own judgment, and also wanted the emperor not to dare to judge right and wrong on his own. This was a revival of the spirit of “criticizing the emperor” in Western Han Confucianism.

Furthermore, Zhuangzi did not apply his “transcendental anti-intellectualism” to political thought. Therefore, we can say that Zhuangzi’s thought had no direct influence on the subsequent anti-intellectual tradition in politics. Laozi, however, is different. Laozi’s book is primarily based on political thought, which is completely different from Zhuangzi’s work, which is essentially a philosophy of life. Laozi speaks of “non-action, yet nothing is left undone,” but in fact, his emphasis is on “doing everything,” merely using the appearance of “non-action.” Therefore, the influence of Daoist anti-intellectualism on politics must be traced back to Laozi as its originator.

The so-called Daoism of the Huang-Lao school underwent a considerable period of development, roughly from the late Warring States period to the early Western Han Dynasty. The Huang-Lao school gained political power during the first sixty or seventy years of the Han Dynasty. Our preliminary examination of these newly discovered lost texts reveals that the Huang-Lao school’s popularity in the early Han Dynasty, a unified era, was not simply due to its abstract principle of “quietude and non-action,” but rather because the convergence of Huang-Lao with Legalism led to the development of a concrete system of methods for “the art of ruling from the south,” thus gaining favor with emperors.

The anti-intellectualism in the history of Chinese political thought reached its fullest development within the Legalist system. Whether in terms of suppressing intellect or intellectuals, Legalism’s propositions were the most thorough. More importantly, looking at history after the Qin and Han dynasties, Legalism’s anti-intellectualism had a lasting and profound impact on China’s political tradition, far surpassing the reach of Confucianism’s empty rhetoric of “benevolent governance.”

Therefore, in the land of an enlightened ruler, there are no written documents, but the law serves as the teaching; there are no words of former kings, but officials serve as teachers; there are no private swords for protection, but beheadings are considered courageous. Thus, the people within his territory, their words are always in accordance with the law, their actions are attributed to merit, and the brave are devoted to the army. (Note: My source is Chen Qiyou’s annotated edition of *Han Feizi Jishi*, 1974.)

　　This means that no books other than the law are allowed to exist.

The anti-intellectualism in *The Book of Lord Shang* is most representative in the chapter “Calculating the Land.” For two thousand years, Han Fei’s influence on Chinese political life has far exceeded common sense.

Let me briefly discuss a fundamental change in the political character of Confucianism in the early Han Dynasty. For the sake of convenience, I will tentatively call this change “the Legalization of Confucianism.”

The Confucian concept of ruler and subject in the pre-Qin period underwent a thorough Legalist transformation under Dong Zhongshu.

(End) For fifteen hundred years, we have been sitting here for this very reason, merely patching up leaks and letting time slip by. Although there may have been periods of relative prosperity, the Way transmitted by Yao, Shun, the Three Kings, the Duke of Zhou, and Confucius has never been practiced in the world for even a single day. (From *The Collected Works of Zhu Xi*, Volume 36, “Reply to Chen Tongfu,” *Sibu Congkan*, First Series Abridged Edition, p. 579)

　　Eight hundred years have passed since Zhu Xi, so we have no choice but to continue:

　　In the span of two thousand three hundred years, time has merely been used to patch up leaks. The Way transmitted by Yao, Shun, the Three Kings, the Duke of Zhou, and Confucius has never been practiced in the world for even a single day.

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.

July 26, 2014

Reading: Bi Tangshu: A Cultural Commentary on Mao Zedong’s “Ode to Snow”

Mr. Nie Gannu, who once stood up to defend Mao Zedong’s words, is a rare legendary figure among modern Chinese writers. He entered the second class of the Whampoa Military Academy in the 1920s, participated in the first Eastern Expedition during the Kuomintang-Communist cooperation, and later entered Moscow Sun Yat-sen University. He was a student of Zhou Enlai and a classmate of Deng Xiaoping, Wu Xiuquan, and Chiang Ching-kuo; he once discussed poetry and essays with Mao Zedong all night long; and he was one of the eight pallbearers when Lu Xun passed away. In 1955, he was implicated in the Hu Feng incident and placed under investigation; in 1957, he was labeled a rightist during the Anti-Rightist Campaign; during the Cultural Revolution, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for “counter-revolutionary crimes” and spent a long period of labor reform in the Great Northern Wilderness. During his long years of exile and imprisonment in the Great Northern Wilderness, Nie Gannu incorporated every event into his poetry, leaving behind a valuable poetic history, hailed as a “painful history of Confucian scholars” during the Mao era. Among them, “Elegy for Xuefeng (Part One)” is particularly poignant:

　　Amidst the fervent singing, a chill runs through me; and from the heavens, I see an abyss.

　　It’s easy to write nonsense, but difficult to express one’s true thoughts frankly and honestly.

　　One night, I greedily drank the last drop of wine before the wine cup; a thousand years later, I remained an outsider on Rotten Mountain.

　　From now on, I will not buy tube vegetables, so as not to recall the old Bi Gan of Chaoge.

　　In particular, the line “It’s easy for articles to spout nonsense, but difficult to frankly express one’s innermost thoughts” (those political henchmen are adept at fabricating accusations, escalating them to extremes, concocting charges, and wantonly framing people, but getting us to submit to their superiors and admit to the crimes imposed upon us is excruciatingly difficult) is considered to “highly summarize the painful experiences of intellectuals in various political movements.” When Nie Gannu wrote this poem, thinking of his “An Explanation of Mao’s Poems,” written in Chongqing in defense of Mao’s works, one wonders what he thought!

A study of Mao Zedong’s poetry reveals that most of his best poems were written in his early years when he was still a normal person with a normal mindset and humanity. However, once he became fully politicized, “great,” and especially after reaching the “peak” of self-importance, his poetry became deliberately self-aggrandizing, striving for “lofty and comprehensive” ideals. The result of this pursuit of “lofty and comprehensive” ideals was only “empty and pretentious.” Mao’s early poem “On My Pillow” written to Yang Kaihui and his 1957 poem “Butterfly Loves Flowers: Reply to Li Shuyi,” written in remembrance of Yang Kaihui, clearly illustrate this point.

It’s not that emperors or those with imperial ambitions can’t write good poetry. Emperors can also write good poems, create masterpieces, and become first-rate poets, like Cao Cao, whom Mao Zedong admired. But there’s a prerequisite: although they are emperors, they cannot write with an imperial air or adopt an imperial demeanor; instead, they must write about human feelings, human emotions, and human nature.

The influence of Mao’s generation led to a world of grand pronouncements and a single, overwhelming color across China – red. This resulted in the Mao era, particularly the Cultural Revolution, becoming an era devoid of beauty. The Cultural Revolution was Mao’s most important undertaking. Yet, this unprecedented revolution left behind not even a semblance of decent songs or poems, but rather absurd farces like quotations, hymns, and loyalty dances – embarrassing spectacle for the world. This reflects the ugliness of the Cultural Revolution.

The so-called revolutionary realism and revolutionary romanticism principle, which used Mao Zedong’s poems as a model and dominated the literary and artistic world, also ruined Chinese literature and art. It poisoned the aesthetic sensibilities of generations of Chinese people with artistic monstrosities such as revolutionary model operas that promoted violence, advocated struggle, and were devoid of any human beauty. It subverted the aesthetic tastes of several generations and created a special audience characterized by manic violence, arrogance, self-deception, narcissism, a desire for power, or simple-mindedness, lack of independent thought, and ignorance of citizenship—a group that persists to this day. This is also a major reason why “Ode to Snow” remains popular. In a mature modern civil society, no one would write such a poem, and even if they did, no one would pay attention; they would only be ridiculed.

Mu Yizhi devoted his life to classical Chinese poetry, leaving behind more than two hundred poems, none of which were published during his lifetime. They were compiled and published by the People’s Publishing House in 2009 to commemorate the centenary of his birth. Mu’s life was extraordinary and multifaceted; he was a remarkable person, a man of extraordinary talent and poetry. His political career, literary pursuits, swordsmanship, and poetry all reached high standards, unparalleled in the world. In him, universal values ​​such as democracy, freedom, and independent personality, along with traditional Chinese morality and the pursuit of socialist justice and equality, naturally blended together, creating a unique and remarkable figure.

July 30, 2014

Reading: A Comparative Study of the Great Leap Forward and Famine in Anhui and Jiangxi Provinces (by Chen Yixin)

Contemporary China Studies, Issue 1, 2009 (MCS 2009 issue 1)

Lin and Gong proposed using the “liberation time” (the start time of the Communist Party’s establishment of the regime) of each province as a variable to revise the theory of political radicalism. That is, the later the “liberation time” of a province, the shorter the “revolutionary” history, the shallower the party’s foundation, the more likely the province is to implement radical policies, and the higher the population mortality rate of the Great Famine. [11]

In Shandong and Gansu provinces, the provincial party secretaries were not classified as the most politically enthusiastic officials by Yang Dali, a researcher with a politically radical viewpoint. The participation rate in public canteens in the two provinces was much lower than in many other provinces, but the number of people who starved to death or the abnormal population mortality rate in these two provinces still ranked among the highest in the country. [14]

Under the Communist Party cadre system that values ​​revolutionary qualifications, honors and factions, Zeng Xisheng’s age, seniority, honors, rank, faction, and especially his personal relationship with Mao, gave him prestige and power far exceeding that of other provincial leaders. At the same time, Zeng’s autocracy was evident in his proposal at the Sixth Plenary Session of the Eighth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held in Wuchang from November to December 1958 that Anhui would complete 800 million cubic meters of earthwork in 1959, and then within 10 days, he kept doubling the amount, eventually reaching 6.4 billion cubic meters. During the process of doubling the task, Zeng Xisheng neither consulted with other provincial colleagues nor seriously considered what it meant for Anhui Province to expand the water conservancy project task eightfold in one go. However, Mao Zedong appreciated Zeng Xisheng’s fanatical passion and called on the whole party to learn from Comrade Zeng Xisheng’s “opportunism” at the plenary session. [62] Zeng’s “opportunism” The water conservancy plan satisfied Mao, but the result was that in 1959, more than 5 million laborers in Anhui Province were forced to work on water conservancy construction sites, leading to a prolonged agricultural decline. His leadership style, coupled with his notoriously bad temper, earning him the nickname “Tiger,” also instilled fear in others.

Unlike the Anhui Provincial Party Committee, the four main leaders of the Jiangxi Provincial Party Committee in the 1950s cooperated relatively well. Yang Shangkui, the First Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, came from a peasant background and had only completed five years of primary school education.

August 2014 Reading, Listening, Thinking, and Notes (by Yousheng)

August 1, 2014

Read: Shenyang: A Look at the Tragedy of the 1980s Through the Lens of Li Zehou’s Romantic Approach to Governance

Democracy in Taiwan and other places has nothing to do with traditional Chinese culture.

Are people merely satisfied with a culture of eating and enjoyment? How could a nation that has developed a philosophy of eating and practical rationality, and promotes it everywhere, have developed rationalism like that of ancient Greece, acknowledged procedural justice in ancient Rome, accepted the rule of law perfected by the Gospel of Christ on the cross, and embraced the common law thought of England? He opposes cultural criticism, yet why does he advocate the transformative creation of traditional culture? Where exactly is the boundary between culture and politics, and how can culture fulfill modern constitutional democracy?

The “culture of joy” is based on intuition and instinct, relying on personal experience and taking things for granted, with the ultimate goal of “pragmatism.” To cultivate a sense of elegance for “pragmatism,” it’s euphemistically called “practical rationality.” One could say Li Zehou was a materialist who advocated the transformative creation of traditional culture, and an Enlightenment thinker who believed eating was the most important thing in life. Who embodies the spirit of Li Zehou? In daily life, it’s those unambitious, unstrategic business owners who are only concerned with making a living, and petty, calculating bureaucrats; as well as the lower classes who are exploited and oppressed by these people, with few mechanisms for redress.

The development of the West tells us that there has never been a completely smooth political transition in this world. None of the countries considered beacons of freedom today have declared a break from revolution. Taiwan has not declared a break from revolution either.

Li Zehou’s thought is a modern version of the “moralism” and governance theory of traditional Chinese Confucian elites.

August 1, 2017

Geert Hofstede’s five cultural dimensions are an effective framework for measuring cultural differences and value orientations between countries: 1) Power distance; 2) Uncertainty avoidance; 3) Individual/collective; 4) Male/female; 5) Time dimension: long-term/immediate.

August 2, 2017

Online course: Gui Shichun, Psycholinguistics, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies

Psycholinguistics is a branch of linguistics and an interdisciplinary field at the intersection of linguistics and psychology. It studies the psychological processes involved in language production.

The first important characteristic of psycholinguistics is its process-oriented approach; it considers things (structure, function, and process). It approaches language structure from three aspects: phonetics, vocabulary, semantics, and grammar; functions: statements, descriptions, commands, and requests; processes: the storage, understanding, and generation of vocabulary; and the relationship between sentences and discourse, and between language and thought.

Information processing model

Information theory

Information processing model

Xunzi’s “Rectification of Names”

Those who share similar feelings and sympathy have the same intentions regarding things, hence the analogy can be similar yet interconnected.

1. Humans use perception to contact and perceive their surroundings and things, which then leads to thought and a sense of identity.

2. Feeling is the source of all knowledge.

3. Related to cognition and memory

4. The brain is the main organ controlling the five senses.

Modern information processing model

Expected execution of output (mouth, hand) control

↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓ ↓

Cyclic ← Effector ← Reaction Generator ←←←←←

(Develop a speech plan) ↑

Environment → Receiver → Sensory Recorder → Short Time → Long Time

↑ ↑ ↑ Memory ←Memory

Input (eyes, ears) Selective auditory discrimination↑

Language encoding

1. Environment: The intention of the Heavenly Official

2. Receiver: A mind with awareness

3. Execution of control: The mind resides within, thus governing the five senses.

4. Short-term memory: Knowing and having will, will is to store.

5. Sensory recorder: 1/4 second, enters short-term memory or disappears.

6. Short-term memory: 10-20 seconds, storing 7 independent units.

7. Long-term memory: Permanent (based on the number of propositions)

This model illustrates that information processing is an open system that interacts with its environment.

The brain’s control processes govern every step, encompassing both tangible physiological mechanisms and intangible psychological mechanisms. For example, various types of memory.

Expectation: ~ a specific motivation set to achieve a certain goal.

A process is a transition between structures; implementing one process allows one to move to another structure.

Short-term memory vs. working memory

Herbert Alexander Simon (June 15, 1916 – February 9, 2001) believed that cognitive science includes psychology, linguistics, computer science, philosophy, neuroscience, anthropology, and decision theory.

The lecturer also mentioned: 1) Human speech often contains many errors, but fewer errors occur during arguments. 2) Human language contains many redundant repetitions, such as “absolutely true,” which is repeated over and over again. Some say that 70% of human language is superfluous.

August 3, 2017

Read: Wang Xuetai: The Influence of Vagrant Consciousness is a Nationwide Consensus (2014/5/30)

China experienced two eras of chivalrous wandering: the late Qin and early Han dynasties, and the early and prosperous Tang dynasties. Chinese society during the Northern and Southern Dynasties period closely resembled the Warring States period, especially the Northern Dynasties. It was a society dominated by ethnic minorities, still in the early stages of the disintegration of primitive society, transitioning into an aristocratic society similar to the Western Zhou dynasty. Of course, such aristocratic societies were extremely unstable. The Tang royal family itself had non-Han ancestry, and the chivalrous spirit of the Tang dynasty differed from that of the late Qin and early Han dynasties. Their emphasis on friendship, disregard for life, and pursuit of territorial expansion and meritorious service were combined with these values.

From the Han Dynasty, through the Wei and Jin Dynasties, the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and up to the Tang Dynasty, large landowners owned numerous manors, which coexisted with the patriarchal clan system. After more than a century of war from the late Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, these powerful families were largely wiped out, and the Song Dynasty marked a new beginning. The Song Dynasty had two distinctive features: first, it did not establish a land system. Every dynasty before the Tang Dynasty had a land system promulgated by the imperial court, such as the well-field system, the military-agricultural system, the system of granting land to retainers, and most notably the equal-field system of the Northern Wei and Tang Dynasties. The state allocated 100 mu of land to each able-bodied man, including 20 mu of permanent land and 80 mu of allotted land.

Ah Q, a character created by Lu Xun, is a vagrant who doesn’t even know his own surname. However, the Ah Q spirit has national characteristics, meaning that the influence of the vagrant mentality is nationwide.

The imperial examination system was truly perfected in the early Northern Song Dynasty. This was manifested in several ways: first, the sealing system, which kept the examination papers sealed so the examiners had no idea who wrote them; second, the transcription system, which made it impossible to determine handwriting; and third, the recusal system, which required examiners to recuse themselves if they had relatives participating in the examination.

Why have there been so many revolutions in the last hundred years? The abolition of the imperial examination system was a significant turning point.

Ruan Ji of the Jin Dynasty looked down on rebellious heroes like Liu Bang and Xiang Yu. Passing by Guangwu, the site of the Chu-Han Contention, he lamented: “In times without heroes, even petty men gain fame.”

The defining characteristic of Chinese history is that “minor chaos occurs every fifty years, and major chaos every two hundred years,” forming a vicious cycle of “tyrannical autocracy – mob rule – tyrannical autocracy.”

At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang had 58 sons, daughters-in-law, grandsons, and granddaughters. By the Wanli era, this number had increased to 157,000. How many times greater is that?

The earliest mention of this phrase appears in Zhong Changtong’s “Changyan: On Order and Chaos” from the Eastern Han Dynasty: “Live in peace and prosperity, nurture your descendants, and the world will be at peace.”

The culture of vagrants is not a systematic ideology; rather, it is a simple but rather extreme form of thought reflected in the popular artistic works created by itinerant performers.

August 5, 2014

Reading: Yang Guangbin: The Deep-seated Reasons and Implications of the Predicaments of Some Western-Style Democratic Transition Countries (from Consensus Net)

Huntington’s concept of the third wave of democratization (i.e., the democratization of Spain and Portugal starting in 1974, followed by democratization in East Asian countries and regions, South America, and the change of allegiance in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe in the mid-to-late 1980s)…

According to Professor Inglehart’s “World Values ​​Survey” project at the University of Michigan, a 20-year study (1981-2001) covering 81 countries, those who grew up during periods of economic instability and scarcity, and whose values ​​were formed during this period, generally possess “materialistic” values, emphasizing economic and material security, thus representing a “survival-oriented” value system. Conversely, those who grew up during periods of economic prosperity and stability generally possess “post-materialistic” values, such as placing greater emphasis on freedom and a clean environment, representing a “self-expression-oriented” value system.

It is generally believed that the third wave of democratization, the subsequent fourth wave beginning in Tunisia (the “Arab Spring”), and the current events in Ukraine and the periodic street politics in Thailand are all political manifestations of “self-expressive values.” Democratic politics itself is a form of popular rights politics, and popular politics will combine with various political ideologies, such as nationalism, religious forces, and populism. In other words, these political ideologies and forces will inevitably use democratic forms to achieve their political goals, resulting in the Muslim Brotherhood-style Islamist democracy in Egypt, the nationalist democracy in Ukraine, and the populist democracy in South America—the results of which are evident to all.

The premise of Western partisan democracy is: 1) Homogeneity, national identity, and the absence of ethnic issues; 2) Shared beliefs, with Western countries sharing the common beliefs of law and freedom; 3) An equal social structure.

Four forms of democracy: 1) Social self-governance; 2) Electoral democracy; 3) Deliberative democracy; 4) Participatory democracy.

August 6, 2014

Rereading: An Analysis of Mao Zedong’s Interpretation of Early Taoism’s Primitive Socialism, by Zhao Jianwei

Originally published in “Research on Mao Zedong Thought”, Issue 4, 2004.

Zhang Lu’s theocratic regime held sway over Ba and Han for nearly thirty years. [14] The series of primitive socialist political and economic measures implemented by it were very similar to the utopian ideas advocated in the early Taoist classic *Taiping Jing*, such as: all wealth in the world should be owned by society; [15] wealth should be used to help the poor and needy; [16] everyone should be self-reliant and oppose the forced acquisition of property; [17] and the egalitarian principle of equality and fairness should be upheld. [18] At the same time, it can be said to have been successful in practice, to the point that the people and barbarians were happy with it and the court could not punish it. [20]

Mao Zedong’s comment: The analysis of the above characteristics may contain errors. However, it is certain that it possesses an unconscious, primitive socialist character, especially for the poorest masses, rather than for their leaders (Zhang Jiao, Zhang Lu, Huang Chao, Fang La, Liu Futong, Han Lin’er, Li Zicheng, Zhu Yuanzhang, Hong Xiuquan, etc.). The current People’s Commune movement has historical origins in my country. Its methods included: believers contributing five pecks of rice to cure illnesses through religious means; establishing public dormitories along the main roads where meals were free (the aim seemed to be attracting refugees from the Guanzhong region); repairing roads (using those who committed minor offenses to repair roads); granting three reprieves for those who broke the law before execution (using persuasion as the primary method); not appointing chief officials, but instead having a libationer as the governing body; each libationer leading a group of followers, the one with the most followers becoming the chief libationer (approximately a combination of government and commune, labor and military, but based on a small-scale peasant economy). These points constituted the economic and political program of the Five Pecks of Rice Way.

Mao Zedong’s original idea for the People’s Commune was to combine industry, agriculture, commerce, education, and the military into a basic social organization in China. In the article “Under the Banner of Comrade Mao Zedong,” published in the fourth issue of *Red Flag* on July 16, 1958, Chen Boda revealed to the entire Party and the nation that Comrade Mao Zedong said, “Our direction should be to gradually and systematically combine industry, agriculture, commerce, education, and the military into a large commune, thus forming the basic unit of our society.” [7] On August 9 of the same year, during an inspection tour in Shandong, Mao Zedong further pointed out: “It is still better to establish the People’s Commune. Its advantage is that it can combine industry, agriculture, commerce, education, and the military, making it easier to lead.” [8]

August 6, 2014

Reading: Yu Yingshi’s “An Exploration of the Origins of Ancient Chinese Thought on the Relationship between Heaven and Man”: (Seemingly the first chapter of the book) The Breakthrough of the Chinese Axial Center and Its Historical Process

Third, since the 1960s and 70s, the traditional idea of ​​using empirical methods from the natural sciences to study humanities and social phenomena has gradually failed. In the social sciences, many feel that empirical methods are too limiting and insufficient for dealing with the more complex issues in the “human world.” Therefore, hermeneutics has seized this opportunity, giving rise to what is known as “interpretive social science.”

I believe in Max Weber’s view that humans are animals suspended in webs of meaning they themselves have spun. I see culture as these webs, therefore the analysis of culture is not an experimental science of searching for patterns, but rather an interpretative science of exploring meaning.

Around 1000 BC, people in these four kingdoms began to sing, recording their songs in writing, which were then passed down to later generations. In China, the oldest parts of the *Classic of Poetry*—the *Zhou Song* and *Daya*—along with India’s *Rig-veda*, the earliest Hebrew Psalms in the Old Testament, and Greece’s *Iliad* and *Odyssey*, all emerged roughly at the same time. (From: Wen Yiduo, “Historical Trends in Literature”)

Wen’s article was written in 1943, six years earlier than Jasper’s “The Origin and Goal of History,” truly demonstrating a shared understanding and philosophy. (Yousheng: The Axial Age represents a high level of philosophical thinking; poetry existed long before that. The author once said that gibbons sing, which is no joke. It is very possible that human language and singing occurred simultaneously, with singing possibly predating the birth of human language.)

August 7, 2014

I agree with the title of this article: Working for someone else is a foolish investment, reminding workers to strive for a better job.

But on the other hand, it is precisely because hundreds of millions of workers around the world create wealth, the so-called surplus value, that Li Ka-shing can so boldly declare: “Working for others is the most foolish investment!”

From the perspective of Western free-market economics, it is precisely because thousands of foolish investors lose money that a few smart investors like Li Ka-shing have the opportunity to make a lot of money.

August 10, 2014

The causes of periodic upheavals in Chinese history: In quasi-primitive societies, peasants failed to resolve the issue of wealth management: 1) Wealth led to rapid population growth; 2) Peasants preying on wealthy households caused social disorder, conflict between landlords and peasants, and large-scale killings: Landlords represented social order, but were no match for peasants who disregarded secondary social order; 3) Mao Zedong’s success relied on unprincipled pragmatism (disorder, a prairie fire) and the incitement of peasants and young people (the Cultural Revolution). Mao Zedong’s assertion that “poverty and backwardness” ironically allowed him to paint “the newest and most beautiful picture” further vividly expressed his transcendence of the orthodox Marxist-Leninist doctrine that “productive forces determine relations of production.”

August 10, 2014

Reading: Cui Zhiyuan: The Gains and Losses of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution Theory

Wang Shaoguang said: “Neither the conservatives nor the rebels of that time can accept the Central Committee’s statement that ‘both factions were wrong.’ The former conservatives believe that they opposed the radical practices of the Cultural Revolution from the beginning, so what was wrong with that? The former rebels emphasize that they attacked bureaucracy and the ultra-leftist policies before the Cultural Revolution (such as class division), and they do not admit any wrongdoing.”

Mr. Fei Xiaotong pointed out, “During the ten years of turmoil, the whole country suffered, but in Wujiang and the rural areas of southern Jiangsu, it can be said that the disaster brought a blessing in disguise. The commune and brigade industries were able to thrive and develop during this time, so some people say that the commune and brigade industries are ‘heroes born in troubled times.’ I was quite surprised by this at first, but after listening to some of the history of the establishment and development of commune and brigade factories, I realized that the factional fighting in big cities and the sending of cadres and educated youth to the countryside, which are things that city dwellers may still dream about today, became, from another perspective, an indispensable condition for the rise of small-scale rural industries.”

The book *Looking at China Through a Third Eye* (by Leueninger, published by Shanxi People’s Publishing House in 1993, translated by Wang Shan) states: “Many tragic events that later occurred in Chinese society proved the fallacy of Mao Zedong’s theory that the bourgeoisie was within the Communist Party. This is indisputable, and it is impossible to attribute it all to the Gang of Four. However, this theory is also a multi-step calculation problem. Did it go wrong from the beginning, or did it only go wrong in the last step? It is unfair to completely deny Mao Zedong’s thoughts and concerns, or to regard them merely as a fearful delusion of a paranoid and hypersensitive person. One of the reasons for the great turmoil in Beijing in 1989 was that public dissatisfaction with the corruption of society, especially Communist Party cadres, aroused public indignation.”

The Collected Works of Gu Zhun (Guizhou People’s Publishing House, 1994) contains numerous passages addressing the issue of how to institutionalize the “great democracy” of the Cultural Revolution. On page 365, it states: “Didn’t we have two factions engaged in armed conflict? These two factions are still at odds with each other. This has practically become the root of social instability. If we make the two factions engage in armed conflict according to democratic rules, the factors of chaos can be transformed into the driving force of progress.”

Mr. Li Rui pointed out: “Mao Zedong’s early intellectual passion seems to have rekindled a kind of ‘nostalgia’ in his later years.”

Strictly speaking, the concept of a “bourgeoisie within the party” or a “new class” was not first proposed by Mao Zedong within the scope of the world socialist movement. Trotsky and Djilas both pointed out that the bureaucratic group in existing socialist countries had formed a “new class.” However, what makes Mao Zedong particularly remarkable is that, as the leader of the ruling party, he boldly put forward and implemented a theory on how to prevent the emergence of a new class and achieve “great democracy” in socialist society.　

Peng Zhen: “They (the Communists) live a life of military communism based on a supply system. Moreover, they lead a strict collective life, possessing at least the same level of organization, discipline, and consciousness as industrial workers. The actual social composition of these party members is no longer peasant, but revolutionary staff or revolutionary soldiers. The so-called peasant component is merely a historical component for them. (They have long since broken free from the constraints and limitations imposed on them by small plots of land and small-scale production.)” (10)

Li Zehou pointed out that Mao Zedong’s thought was deeply influenced by ancient Chinese “practical theory” and “military dialectics.”

Based on the above discussion, we can conclude that the “gain” of Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution theory lies in his breakthrough from orthodox Marxism-Leninism, asserting that “public ownership of the means of production” without integration with “great democracy” cannot guarantee the socialist direction of the working people being masters of their own destiny. However, Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution theory also had serious flaws. Its crux lies in his failure to fully break free from the constraints of Marxist-Leninist dogma and to create a new “discourse structure” suitable for the construction of a “great democracy” system. “Great democracy” is Mao Zedong’s unfinished work and the most important part of his political legacy.

III. The Contradictions of Western Modernity: “Laws” and “Liberation”: This article argues that mainstream Western modernity possesses a profound internal contradiction: on the one hand, it pursues human liberation; on the other hand, it demands that liberation be achieved according to “laws” and “reason.” Orthodox Marxism-Leninism is a prominent manifestation of this contradiction, rather than a solution to it.

The first book, *Cosmic Politics: The Hidden Program of Modernity*, is by the renowned American philosopher Stephen Toulmin. He begins with a simple, often overlooked fact, posing the question: Why didn’t Copernicus in the 16th century suffer the same persecution from the Church as Galileo did a century later? This fact vividly illustrates that the 17th century, supposedly a time of “science and reason,” was not as vibrant and intellectually stimulating as people had imagined.

Marx’s neglect of the peasant question (such as his opposition to the term “people’s state” in *Critique of the Gotha Programme*, since the “people” in Germany were still largely “peasants”) directly influenced the later strategic and tactical failures of the German Social Democratic Party. Third, due to his belief in the idea that “workers have no country” and “the state will eventually wither away,” Marx failed to develop a complete theory of the state.

It is thought-provoking that although Rosa Luxemburg wrote *The Russian Revolution* in 1917 while imprisoned in Germany, asserting that without the development of socialist democracy, the Russian Revolution would inevitably degenerate into a bureaucratic system that stifled the creativity of the working masses, the development of the Soviet Union over the past 70 years since the October Revolution has proven Luxemburg’s foresight quite remarkable. Furthermore, Mao Zedong’s anti-bureaucratic theory of “great democracy” shares many similarities with Luxemburg’s ideas.

Mao Zedong’s core new thought was that “the people create history.” By fully developing this thought, there was no need to strive for liberation solely according to the “laws of the natural historical process,” and thus, “being poor and blank-headed was a good opportunity to create the newest and most beautiful picture.” From this, we can understand why Mao Zedong, in his notes while reading the Soviet textbook *Political Economy*, said that a highly centralized command economy violated the principle that “the people create history.”

In summary, as discussed in the previous two sections, Mao Zedong attempted to overcome the contradictions of mainstream Western modernity by using the theory that “the people create history.” His advocacy of “great democracy” during the Cultural Revolution was a major practical application of this theory. Although this practice ended tragically (partly because Mao Zedong’s Cultural Revolution theory itself did not thoroughly transcend orthodox Marxist-Leninist dogma), its lessons offer valuable insights for building the political and economic systems of 21st-century China. This section will, through a dialectical analysis and critical examination of Mao Zedong’s “great democracy,” envision the systems of “economic democracy” and “political democracy” in 21st-century China.

Since the 18th century, representative democracy has gone through three stages: the first stage was characterized by non-partisan, personalized candidates, such as the drafters of the U.S. Constitution, Madison and Jefferson, who both opposed political parties; the second stage was party politics from the mid-19th century onwards; since the late 1960s, due to the rapid development of mass media, the party affiliation of candidates has become less important, and “personalized” candidates are once again dominating. According to reliable recollections of Lin Ke, Mao Zedong’s longtime secretary for international affairs, Mao Zedong greatly admired the Sixth Patriarch of Zen Buddhism, Huineng, and often carried the *Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch* with him.　　　　

August 10, 2014

Reading: Cheng Yinghong: The theoretical root of the Cultural Revolution is the ultimate truth of the universe (This article was published in The Leader, October 2013, Issue 54)

This article examines the discussions on natural sciences related to cosmology by Mao Zedong and his followers from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s, particularly regarding the infinite divisibility of matter and the finiteness of space and time. Extensive historical materials demonstrate that these “scientific” discussions and the origins and development of the theories of the Cultural Revolution completely overlap in time and are closely related in content. The 1950s to 1970s coincided with a period of intense international scientific discussion and significant breakthroughs regarding the fundamental microscopic and macroscopic order of the universe. Mao himself and his followers not only showed a strong and urgent interest in these discussions but also sought to participate in them or respond to them within the Chinese context. This article argues that these “scientific” discussions constituted a crucial part of the ideology of the Cultural Revolution, becoming metaphysical and even elevated to the level of religious belief. It can be said that, in an ultimate sense, the Cultural Revolution sought legitimacy by claiming it conformed to the fundamental laws of the universe. This fundamentally distinguished the Cultural Revolution from ordinary line struggles and political purges.

Judging from newspaper and periodical materials from the Cultural Revolution era, China at that time was undoubtedly the most “philosophical” country in the world. Not only intellectuals but also ordinary laborers, from steel furnaces to wheat fields and sentry posts, were all adept at using the basic concepts of so-called dialectical materialism to guide their work, namely, the division of one into two, the unity of opposites, the universality and particularity of contradictions, the mutual transformation of opposites, etc. In specific expositions of the Cultural Revolution’s ideology, the most powerful basis for the view that socialist society still had classes and class struggle was often primarily these basic concepts of dialectics rather than social reality. Many of Mao Zedong’s speeches on the Cultural Revolution were filled with philosophical terms, even directly derived from philosophical concepts, which is very different from his arguments on the New Democratic Revolution. Maoism believed that matter was infinitely divisible and that the universe was without beginning or end in time and space. Any scientific discovery or research that conformed to these ideas was Marxist and proletarian; conversely, it was idealistic metaphysics, bourgeois and counter-revolutionary. A “layer model” was introduced. Qian Sanqiang, who was in charge of the project, said that the name embodies Mao Zedong’s brilliant thought that the elementary particles can be infinitely divided layer by layer.

August 12, 2014

Reading: Guo Yuhua: The Logic of Civilization in Communist China

This article is excerpted from Guo Yuhua, “The Narratives of Sufferers: The History of Ji Village and the Logic of a Civilization,” Chinese University Press, Hong Kong, 2013. The title was suggested by the editor; the original title was “The Power of Suffering: Understanding the Logic of Civilization and the Transformation of Civilization.”

Abstract: Ordinary people’s accounts of their own suffering can, like folk tales, “show how the world is structured and how to cope with it.” Listeners can then enter the field of mental history research, gaining an understanding of historical processes and logic. Through listening and recording, we can learn about a unique civilization: communist civilization and its operational mechanisms and logic.

Even today, the villagers of Ji Village primarily remember the landlords of the past as benevolent. “The landlords here were incredibly benevolent” is a common opening line in their stories. This benevolence encompassed both “partnership” – the landlord rented out land, provided “base materials” (seeds, fertilizer, etc.), livestock, feed, and farm tools, while the tenants provided labor – and “providing shelter for the tenants” – the landlords also provided the tenants’ food, firewood, and living quarters, with the harvest split equally between the landlord and tenants at harvest time. Beyond these agricultural benevolence, social contributions such as rent reductions and exemptions during famine years, helping tenants find wives, and sponsoring education for the children of bright tenants and farmhands were also part of the villagers’ memories of benevolence. Their basic assessment is that “the landlords back then were extremely good.” The Party established an ideology to shape people’s thoughts and actions to achieve this goal. In other words, during the land reform, concepts like “landlord” and “class enemy” were primarily symbolic and moral concepts, not necessarily material categories. Mr. Fei Xiaotong also wrote: Tenants might be very poor and immediately demand rent exemption or reduction, while landlords, influenced by humanitarian education, would be unwilling to extort tenants. 5

Political movements, as state rituals, possess a pervasive and coercive nature. As a form of “cultural performance,” rituals have a certain coercive characteristic; once they become rituals, they possess an undeniable force, capable of manipulating the fate of ordinary people. Specifically, participation in the ritual becomes a marker of identity, distinction, and determination of class and status; and the initiators of the ritual (movement) hold the survival resources of the majority, thus making participation and how one participates a matter of life and death. In the history of the “movement” in Ji Village, everyone was a “victim”: mobilized to participate in class struggle, line struggle, or become the target of struggle. Between these two, most people had no choice but to become the former, because the latter meant becoming a “class enemy” to be overthrown or even eliminated. During a considerable period of socialism, rural Chinese families were almost destitute, their most basic survival resources dependent on the approval of power. It is not difficult to imagine how immense the power of a totalitarian economic system combined with totalitarian politics could be. And such domination indeed possesses the power of life and death. This is very similar to the concept of “collective effervescence” used by Emile Durkheim (1858-1917) when discussing religious life.11 As one of the important logics of ritual, the atmosphere is more important than the result.

1) Discourse hegemony as symbolic violence is an important component of political rituals. Symbolic power refers to the force exerted upon a social actor based on their own collusion. The social actor does not recognize this force as power; instead, they accept it. Bourdieu calls this phenomenon misrecognition. In Bourdieu’s analysis, gender dominance is a typical manifestation of symbolic violence.

From people’s accounts of their past experiences, we can easily discover an ancient sense of community and the ideal of “Great Harmony” (the ideal of universal harmony) that is a cultural tradition of the peasantry. Even more intriguing is the successful fusion of the communist ideal, the dominant ideology of the collectivization period, and the peasants’ ideals of “equality” and “Great Harmony,” reconstructing rural society while simultaneously reshaping the peasantry’s mind. Words, like rituals, possess a powerful coercive force; this force, while violent and destructive in its governance of the soul, can gradually lead to habituation and acceptance.

2) “Using official power to settle personal scores” constitutes a crucial mechanism for the continuation of movements. It is particularly noteworthy that after the reform and opening up entered a new historical period, in a society increasingly moving away from tradition and towards modernity, “movements” as a mechanism for social mobilization and governance have not ceased. Urban and rural society in China has not abandoned ritualistic operations. Many current rural social governance strategies are still products and traditional approaches of the movement mechanism, i.e., ritualistic social operations. In this new historical period, the consciousness of “movements” has not disappeared from people’s minds. Ritual activities in modern social and political life are not distant fantasies, and the socio-cultural foundation that draws people onto the “movement” chariot and into its wheels has not vanished.

3) The third logic: “King Chu loved slender waists”: No exercise is ever without going “too far.” Going too far also stems from a ruling chain that is only responsible to superiors, not to subordinates or the people.

4) Logic Four: To achieve one’s goals, any means are justified, even resorting to the mobilization of evil forces. The infiltration of “hooligans” or “black-skinned” individuals into peasant associations and their active participation in movements may bring temporary benefits, but it inevitably leads to negative social consequences because it taps into and mobilizes people’s selfish desires and the evil deep within their hearts.

5) The fifth logic: the logic of “the victor is king, the loser is villain,” worshipping power, and glorifying violence. This logic inevitably poisons the entire nation’s spiritual world, causing it to abandon the pursuit of social fairness and justice, lose basic humanity and kindness; it makes the masses blindly follow superiors, committing the “banality of evil”; it both fears and hates power, yet deeply worships and is infatuated with it; it even leads to a lack of discernment between right and wrong, good and evil. Even today, this logic still influences our social consciousness and plays a significant role in the practice of power. The “movement” has stopped, but the “movement atmosphere” has polluted the entire political and social life, leading to the collapse of the entire value system, social rupture, and even the decline of the civilization system, leaving the entire nation with lasting harm and suffering. (Yousheng: The internal movements of the Communist regime are still continuing; previous nationwide movements were merely extensions of the internal movements of the Communist Party.)

August 13, 2014

Reading: Dong Guoqiang: Factional Identity, Personal Circumstances, and Political Choices: Reflections on the Cultural Revolution from a Local Perspective (Source: 21st Century, June 2014)

Abstract: This article, based on a systematic tracing of the mass movements during the Cultural Revolution in Nanjing, re-examines the causes of local factional factors and the driving forces behind the prolonged turmoil of the Cultural Revolution, and elaborates in depth on the intrinsic connection between factional identity, personal circumstances, and political choices. The author argues that, whether viewed from the perspective of elite politics or mass movements, the Cultural Revolution was not a true revolution. The strategic use of revolutionary discourse by the initiators and all participants of the Cultural Revolution largely obscured the essential nature of factional struggle within it.

In Western academia, from the early 1970s to the late 1990s, a wave of research on the Cultural Revolution arose. These studies broke free from the traditional confines of elite politics research, shifting their focus to the grassroots level of society. The theories of social conflict and interest groups, proposed based on these studies, quickly became the main theoretical frameworks for understanding and explaining the Cultural Revolution in Western academia.

Yusheng Summary of Factions: Initially, there were two factions: the conservatives and the rebels. The conservatives weakened, and two new factions emerged. The Revolutionary Committee, composed of military personnel, cadres, and rebels, combined their influence. The 1968 purge of class ranks and the investigation of the May 16th Movement led to the military monopolizing power. After the Lin Biao incident in 1971, the military withdrew. In 1974, local party and government cadres, who had long been ostracized by the military, joined forces with former rebel leaders purged during the “Investigation of the May 16th Movement.” Taking advantage of the “Criticize Lin Biao and Confucius” movement, and under the banner of “Investigating People and Things Related to Lin Biao,” they mobilized other social forces to overthrow the military’s rule.

From the above description, it is not difficult to see the development of local factional struggles in the later stages of the Cultural Revolution. It is particularly important to point out that a key difference between the factional struggles in the later stages of the Cultural Revolution and those in the earlier stages is that, because the rebel leaders had already integrated into the party and government bureaucratic system during the “Great Alliance” of 1968, the subsequent local factional struggles were essentially power struggles within the party and government system. However, similar to the factional struggles in the early stages of the Cultural Revolution, a very clear internal connection remained between the factional identities, personal circumstances, and political choices of each party in this series of struggles.

It is also worth noting the subtle attitude of the veteran cadres and former rebel leaders towards the spontaneous mass movement of the spring of 1976. The spontaneous mass movement that erupted in the spring of 1976 reflected the disillusionment and awakening of the general public after the turmoil of the Cultural Revolution.

Because trillions of people were involved in this movement, it’s difficult to summarize their motivations with a single explanation. However, my research suggests that many people initially joined the Cultural Revolution not out of political passion but out of political pressure. This indicates that under an authoritarian regime, people essentially had no personal choice. They could only avoid becoming victims by displaying the necessary revolutionary passion and radical stance. In other words, their initial motivation for joining the Cultural Revolution was not to gain anything, but to avoid losing anything; not for advancement, but for self-preservation. To paraphrase a military term: proactive offense is often the best defense. This might explain why the Cultural Revolution movements sprang up across the country in such a short time.

The fundamental characteristic of political practice during the Cultural Revolution remained the dictatorship of a minority over the majority. The reason this movement evokes associations with revolution is that its initiators and participants strategically employed numerous radical revolutionary rhetoric.

Reading: Shi Li: Religious Action, Values, and Social Integration – A Field Survey Based on the Sociology of Religion. *Jianghai Academic Journal*, 2014, No. 2.

[Abstract] The two major theoretical traditions of the sociology of religion are the structural/institutional paradigm represented by Durkheim and the hermeneutic paradigm represented by Weber. Under the guidance of these two theoretical orientations, secularization theory and rational choice theory have developed respectively. However, in both theories, religious believers as actors within cultural contexts and social structures are often overlooked. In fact, as the subjects and entities of faith, religious believers are always influenced by existing culture, power, and social structures, taking corresponding religious actions out of the need to construct social relations and the orientation towards multiple forms of authority identification. The collective religious actions directly lead to the generation of a normative and value system, which in turn leads to the production and reproduction of social relations. If this value system and social relations are compatible with general social norms and order, new social integration will occur; otherwise, it can only exist as a form of social solidarity.

Secularization led to the non-monopolistic nature of various religions, thus making the private nature of religious belief possible. The new society became a secular society, and religion became a matter of the private sphere. This led to the rational choice paradigm, also known as the religious market theory. In empirical research, the author noted that the motivation of religious believers often stemmed from a strong religious sentiment and a willingness to dedicate themselves, sometimes even from a sense of intimacy and trust based on personal relationships unique to Chinese society.

Whether it’s Liang Shuming’s discussion of China’s family-oriented, group-based society (13), Xu Langguang’s research on the Chinese people’s situation-centeredness (14), or Fei Xiaotong’s classic metaphor of the differential order pattern (15) derived from the traditional Chinese moral system, all depict the unique behavioral habits and fields of the Chinese people. In such a society, the relationship between people becomes an important standard for people to define themselves and others. And this relationship is not only synchronic, but also diachronic, and even lifelong. In layman’s terms, they value “how to be a person” more than how to transcend. In the Christian church, a trustworthy “brother and sister” relationship similar to that of family members will emerge; in Buddhist groups, the titles of senior and junior brothers and sisters also carry the shadow of a family relationship. This new type of social relationship, which bears traces of traditional Chinese family relationships, may not be as reliable or close as family or clan relationships, but its form and interaction patterns still carry traces of traditional society. People can still continue and create their practical systems and cultural patterns within it.

Tocqueville, in his research, discovered the face of the French Revolution: the French Revolution had two distinct phases. In the first phase, the French wanted to abolish everything in history, and in the second phase, they wanted to restore what remained. Thus, a large number of laws and political customs of the Old Regime suddenly disappeared in 1789, only to reappear a few years later, much like some rivers that sink underground and then resurface not too far away, allowing people to see the same flow on new banks. (28)

August 18, 2014

Online course: Modern Chinese Philosophy, Hu Weixi, Tsinghua University

The three fundamental questions of ancient Chinese philosophy are: the relationship between Heaven and humanity, the relationship between self and others, and the relationship between body and mind. The four key aspects of ancient Chinese philosophy are: the theory of Heaven and humanity, the theory of character, the theory of self-cultivation, and the theory of spiritual境界 (realm/state of being). Ancient Chinese philosophy is also highly summarized as the philosophy of the study of Heaven and humanity and the philosophy of inner sagehood and outer kingship.

The characteristics of modern Chinese philosophy are: First, its close connection with socio-political issues; for example, Feng Youlan’s *Zhenyuan Six Books* (1937-end of the War of Resistance Against Japan). Second, its engagement with the debates between ancient and modern, Chinese and Western thought. Third, the academicization of philosophy and the emergence of specialist philosophies. Three major schools of thought: *Modern Neo-Confucianism: Xiong Shili* *Chinese Neo-Realism: Jin Yuelin, Feng Youlan* *Modern Chinese Neo-Idealism: Zhang Dongsun, He Lin*

August 23, 2014

Reading: Jin Guantao: Negating the Cultural Revolution – The Second Enlightenment in the 1980s

Source: http://www.aisixiang.com/data/66557.html

An ultra-stable system exerts strong political and ideological control over society, preventing institutional reforms and the growth of new social organizations; however, corruption is irresistible, resulting in the collapse of dynasties and inevitable upheavals. Therefore, throughout China’s two-thousand-year history of traditional society, every feudal dynasty, while experiencing periods of social stability and prosperity, could not sustain such periods. At the end of each great dynasty, phenomena such as unhealthy commercial prosperity, extreme wealth inequality, and rampant bureaucratic corruption emerged—phenomena we call “pseudo-capitalism.” The result was widespread upheaval, with centuries of accumulated productivity and progress vanishing. While upheavals effectively eradicated corruption and allowed for the reconstruction of social order, the re-establishment only created a new dynasty with the same old political structure, rather than evolving into a new social structure. This is because the accumulated progress for building a new society was destroyed by the upheaval. We believe that it is precisely this mechanism of alternating order and chaos within the ultra-stable system that bound traditional Chinese society to its original trajectory, preventing it from transitioning into modern society, no matter how developed its internal commodity economy. This is why the first modern society arose in Western feudal society, rather than in traditional Chinese society where the market economy was once more developed than in the West.

…In fact, the most shocking discovery people made about the Cultural Revolution was that feudal autocracy was resurrected in the name of revolution. During the Cultural Revolution, revolution was loudly proclaimed, and many people regarded it as a completely new value. But how many people realized that the word “revolution” has existed in Chinese since ancient times, and its meaning is precisely the change of dynasties!

…If we consider Marxism’s answer to this question as economic determinism, then Weber’s theory belongs to a broader category of conceptual determinism. The reason I emphasize systems theory is that I don’t want to fall into any kind of single-factor determinism.

…After 2000, with the postmodern trend of deconstructing determinism, many people abandoned the exploration of this issue under the guise of the meaninglessness of grand history. We believe that this wavering is precisely caused by a lack of correct methodology.

…During the enlightenment movement of the 1980s, I advocated rebuilding Chinese culture on the basis of scientific rationality, including reflecting on Confucianism and the revolutionary traditions of modern times. In the past two decades, an increasingly vigorous trend of irrationality (even anti-rationality) has been rising in China and the world, causing me unease. It should be noted that I have never denied the legitimacy of irrationalist philosophy (or anti-rationalism).

…I have a basic assessment of the 1980s: it was China’s second great enlightenment movement. There have been two enlightenment movements in Chinese history. The first was the May Fourth Movement, which generated new ideas and completed the reconstruction of the Chinese nation-state. The second enlightenment was the semi-grassroots enlightenment movement of the 1980s, which echoed the ideological liberation movement within the system and laid the ideological foundation for China’s reform and opening up. Without the ideological liberation and enlightenment of the 1980s, China’s rapid economic development today would be inconceivable. However, neither of these enlightenment movements was fully realized.

…Science has always been viewed with positive significance and value; its value has been unquestionable since the May Fourth Movement. Democracy, however, is different. Not only has it failed to popularize science, but many people also deny or doubt it. In other words, we find that the May Fourth enlightenment movement was incomplete. It only established one modern value: science, not both science and democracy.

…It is precisely because intellectual enlightenment was interrupted that people worried in the late 1990s that scholarship had become scholarship without thought, and that China today faces a crisis of losing its critical spirit and morality.

…In 2000, we completed Volume I of *The Origins of Modern Chinese Thought*, which examines the intrinsic connection between the revolutionary utopia that swept China in the 20th century and the great Chinese tradition. …This year’s forthcoming *Studies in the History of Ideas* aims to clarify how the May Fourth New Culture Movement reconstructed Western modern thought, forming a Chinese-style modern thought. …Today, the intellectual circles are indeed very divided; they cannot be integrated by interests alone, nor can they be integrated by dividing people into factions.

Economic Observer: Many people nowadays lack a sense of direction.

　　Jin Guantao: This is the biggest problem. Losing our sense of direction is not only a problem for China, but for all of humanity. To find our future direction, we must not only restore the power of thought, but also promote spirituality in this era of material abundance. …Reflection means allowing skepticism and critical thinking to coexist with any value we advocate. For example, in the 1980s, everyone called for modernization and promoted super-growth in the economy, but at the same time, they remained wary of such growth. When the first batch of books in the “Towards the Future” series was published, it included “The Limits to Growth,” which discussed the major environmental and resource problems brought about by development and advocated zero growth. At the time, this book seemed to contradict the general trend of demanding China’s economic take-off, but it was remarkably prescient, foreseeing today’s problems.

August 25, 2014

Reading: Jin Guantao and Liu Qingfeng: Mao Zedong Thought and Contemporary “Saint King” (from Aisi.com)

In the history of the Communist Party of China, there are two pivotal moments: the Zunyi Conference in 1935, which granted Mao Zedong de facto supreme power within the Party; and the Yan’an Rectification Movement in 1942, which elevated Mao Zedong Thought to the throne of ideological authority. In July 1943, Wang Jiaxiang, in his article “The Chinese Communist Party and the Road to National Liberation,” first referred to Sinicized Marxism-Leninism as Mao Zedong Thought. In 1945, at the Seventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China, Liu Shaoqi stated in the principles of Party building: “Studying Mao Zedong Thought, propagating Mao Zedong Thought, and following the instructions of Mao Zedong Thought in our work are the duties of every Party member.” In our view, the Sinicization of Marxism-Leninism was essentially its Confucianization and peasantization. Confucianization achieved a shift from a knowledge-centered to a moral-centered approach and broke down anti-traditional mentality. Peasantization, while Confucianizing, simultaneously regarded peasants as proletarians, incorporating their wartime experience and cultural system into Marxism-Leninism. A new ideology suited to China’s national conditions, especially capable of resonating with the hearts of hundreds of millions of peasants, was finally created and began its unstoppable process of integrating Chinese society. The Shaanxi folk song “The East Is Red” shows that in the hearts of the Chinese Communists and the people of the border region, Mao Zedong had been elevated to the status of a “saint king” who was the “great savior of the people”.

August 25, 2014

Reading: Jin Guantao: Never Giving Up the Pursuit of Questions ª ª Written on the 60th Anniversary of the Publication of “The Origins of Totalitarianism” (This article was originally published in “Thought” Issue 12, “Ethnic Equality and Freedom of Speech”)

“The Origins of Totalitarianism” is a famous work by political philosopher Hannah Arendt, which was completed in 1949. After nearly 60 years, the simplified Chinese translation was finally published by Beijing Sanlian Bookstore in 2008.

Hannah Arendt argues that a key characteristic of 19th-century globalization was the impact of the West on less modernized regions. She believes that the continuous global expansion of capital destroyed the fundamental structure of the nation-state. When Western modern nation-states exported capital and solved their own problems through colonization, the powers controlling vast colonies were no longer the nation-states that guaranteed civil rights at the dawn of modern society, but rather imperialist powers. Their nationalism, driven by social Darwinism, rapidly transformed into racism, fueling the rise of Pan-Germanism and Pan-Slavism, with anti-Semitism being merely its extreme form. Arendt then details how the expansionist nature of capital transformed individuals with private property into masses pursuing private desires and disregarding public life. She describes how mob politics and totalitarian systems flourished in Germany and the Soviet Union. She further explains how a false, grandiose, and empty ideology, under the banner of heroism, destroyed human conscience, forming a hollow, onion-like totalitarian rule.

The essence of globalization is the continuous transformation of personal property into reinvested wealth. If it has led to nation-states becoming imperialist and citizens becoming mobs, how should we evaluate globalization today?

If we categorize party-state systems as totalitarianism, the historical experiences of the Soviet Union and China cannot be fully summarized in the book *The Origins of Totalitarianism*. There is no doubt that German totalitarian ideology originated from racial nationalism, and that totalitarian rule stemmed from the transformation of the nation-state.

Modernity is built upon three major values: instrumental rationality, individual rights, and national identity. If individual rights are removed from these three values, regardless of the form of modern society that emerges, the nature of totalitarianism will inevitably manifest itself in one way or another.

August 26, 2014

Read: Xu Zhangrun: Art Saves Lives (Consensus Net)

When humanity encounters hardship, it inevitably turns to art, for only art can overcome suffering, only art can touch the most subtle feelings, and preserve humanity by revealing its essence. However, authoritarian regimes monopolize truth, making it impossible to distinguish between truth and falsehood. They punish the Muses by making them kneel, making people feel that without guns and cannons, there is no truth, and a profound sense of powerlessness will dominate their hearts.

August 28, 2014

Read: Zhao Dingxin: The Historical Roots of China’s Unification (from: http://www.aisixiang.com/data/77214.html)

During the Spring and Autumn Period, the core territory of China covered only 1.5 to 2 million square kilometers. In comparison, competition between European states, starting from ancient Greece, involved North Africa, West Asia, and Eastern Europe, covering an area nearly ten times the size of China during the Spring and Autumn Period. For example, the Indian subcontinent covers over 2 million square kilometers and is largely isolated from the outside world. Geographically, the conditions for its unification should be similar to those of China, but India has never had a long period of unification in its history. The first sustained unification of all of India was achieved by the British East India Company.

In ancient times, the unification of a region was almost always the result of prolonged military competition. Clearly, China’s powerful bureaucratic state was not a product of the commonly cited “water management and agriculture,” but rather a product of the interaction between the state and society within the context of warfare during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. Compared to Europe, the social structure of China during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods was remarkably simple. At the beginning of the Spring and Autumn period, Chinese society had only two power classes: the monarch and the nobility. We know that the emergence of the concepts of “international society,” “international law,” and “sovereignty,” as well as the formation of nationalism, were two major reasons why modern Europe failed to achieve great unification.

In China, the success of Legalist reforms and the dominance of Legalist thought in politics made “realism” the sole principle of international relations during the Warring States period. Consequently, not only did the anti-Qin alliances fail to last, but other states also resorted to “beggar-thy-neighbor” tactics, attempting to divert the threat of Qin elsewhere. This allowed Qin to implement a strategy of “befriending distant states while attacking nearby ones,” defeating them one by one and leading China towards unification. It was precisely because of its strong aristocratic culture and identity that Chu became the only one of the Seven Warring States to produce someone like Qu Yuan, whom modern historians can portray as a “patriot.” This lack of nationalism also accelerated China’s unification process in this sense.

However, behind the concept of the “Mandate of Heaven” lies the idea that “rebellion is justified,” meaning that the people have the right to overthrow incompetent rulers. Countless peasant uprisings in Chinese history bear the mark of this concept.

Having learned from the Shang Dynasty’s swift demise, the rulers of the Western Zhou Dynasty pioneered a new form of empire. Instead of establishing puppet regimes on conquered territories, they dispatched members of the royal family to strategically important locations to establish vassal states, and established a complex system of rituals to control these states and their rulers. This resulted in a centralized, bureaucratic state that based its legitimacy on Confucianism while employing Legalism as a tool for governing the people.

The rise of Christianity not only hastened the fall of the Roman Empire but also made it more difficult for Europe to achieve unification after the collapse of the Roman Empire. Throughout the Middle Ages, the Catholic Church needed the protection of the state but did not want the state to become too powerful and erode the interests of the Church. Thus, Europe was fragmented in the cooperation and competition between the state and religion, and could never regain the “glory” of the unified Roman era.

The reasons for the downfall of each dynasty in China were very different, but the formation of a new unified state was based on similar reasons: the ruling class would immediately realize that Confucianism was the most suitable ideology for rule after coming to power, and in order to achieve political stability, they had to obtain the support of Confucian intellectuals.

Modern scholars often view disasters such as the Anti-Rightist Campaign, the Great Famine, and the Cultural Revolution as consequences of the “Eastern autocracy” culture resulting from China’s long period of unified rule. However, similar disastrous national policies have occurred in many countries with vastly different cultures and histories, including Germany, Japan, the former Soviet Union, Cambodia, and Iraq. These events constitute the dark side of “modernization,” representing examples of how developing countries, driven to extremes by the interplay of imperialism, nationalism, and domestic politics, have become increasingly adept at achieving their goals.

August 28, 2014

Reading: Ye Linsheng: Multiple Misunderstandings about Peasant Uprisings (Source: Yanhuang Chunqiu, Issue 8, 2014)

The term “peasant uprising” should refer to uprisings initiated and led by peasants. Let’s begin with the Song Jiang uprising mentioned at the beginning of this article. The initiators and leaders of the uprising included landlords (such as Chao Gai and Lu Junyi), lower-ranking officials (Song Jiang, etc.), impoverished scholars (Wu Yong, etc.), hunters (Xie Zhen and Xie Bao, etc.), fishermen (the Ruan brothers, Zhang Heng, Zhang Shun, Li Jun, etc.), vagrants and proletarians (Shi Qian, etc.), religious followers (Gongsun Sheng, etc.), and horse traders (Duan Jingzhu, etc.). These initiators and leaders were not peasants, and therefore should not be called a “peasant uprising.”

Was the contradiction in ancient Chinese society truly between the landlord class and the peasantry? My answer is no. The primary contradiction was between the bureaucratic class and the broad masses of people.

　　This statement is not my invention. As early as the fourth century BC, during the formative period of bureaucratic politics, the *Mozi* (a classic Chinese text) stated, “Officials are not permanently noble, and the people are not permanently lowly,” a statement based on the stark contrast between the perceived nobility of officials and the perceived inferiority of the people. Because of this, uprisings throughout history primarily targeted the bureaucratic class. According to Hong Mai’s *Rongzhai Essays* (a collection of essays from the Song Dynasty), the Huang Chao Rebellion at the end of the Tang Dynasty particularly hated officials, killing all those captured. This led to the scene described in Wei Zhuang’s poem: “The streets are trampled with the bones of officials.” Fang La of the Song Dynasty considered officials his enemies, subjecting any captured officials to brutal tortures such as killing and mutilation. Chen Youliang’s rebel army at the end of the Yuan Dynasty boiled alive any officials they captured. Today, people may criticize their cruelty, but this issue should be considered separately. These actions reflect the nature of the fundamental and primary contradictions of society. The novel *Water Margin* also reveals the phenomenon of “officials forcing the people to rebel.” The reality of the conflict between officials and the people. It should be said that the contradiction between the bureaucratic class and the broad masses of people is the primary contradiction, the main contradiction, and it is inevitable that the people would revolt to strike at the bureaucrats and overthrow the rule of the bureaucratic class.

I believe that the economic foundation of the ancient bureaucratic class was all economic forms under the shadow of its power. Marx said: “In the Middle Ages, every form of power, liberty, and social existence manifested itself as a privilege. Court offices and judicial power, etc., were the private property of various special classes; provinces were the private property of individual lords, etc. My rights are also special private property.” This was precisely the case in ancient China.

If we acknowledge this fact, then we can say that the economic foundation of the ancient bureaucratic class was all socio-economic forms (both directly and indirectly) within the reach of their power network, and not just land.

Imperial power was neither the representative of the bureaucratic class nor the protector of the people. It represented the interests of the new aristocracy.

　　The so-called new aristocratic class, in contrast to the old aristocratic class before the Spring and Autumn Period, refers to an interest group centered around the imperial clan. While their systems of land grants, father-to-son succession, and privileges shared some similarities with the old aristocracy, they also had many differences. Therefore, I call them the new aristocratic class.

From another perspective, popular uprisings often differentiated between the emperor and officials, as exemplified by Song Jiang’s uprising, which targeted corrupt officials but not the emperor. Li Zicheng’s enthronement edict stated: “The emperor is not entirely ignorant, but he is isolated and often misled; his ministers are all self-serving, forming cliques and rarely showing true loyalty.” The primary target was the bureaucracy. Therefore, in certain situations, imperial power was not the main source of conflict.

August 31, 2014

Reading: Yang Jisheng: Blood Awakens People! The Myth of Blood (Preface, Tan Hecheng’s “The Myth of Blood”) (http://www.doc88.com/p-990232005870.html)

The root cause of the Daoxian massacre, a horrific tragedy, was the system. For many years, people have used the term “feudal society” to describe China’s political system over thousands of years. In reality, since Qin Shi Huang, China has not been a feudal society, but an autocratic one. The society corresponding to Mao Zedong is totalitarianism. Totalitarianism is characterized by strong central rule, attempting to control and guide all aspects of individual life through coercion and repression. Totalitarianism imprisons the entire society within the state apparatus; it monopolizes the economy, politics, truth, and information. Through these “four monopolies,” the regime exercises pervasive rule over the entire life of the people.

Before the Cultural Revolution, the bureaucratic class dominated China, with officials enjoying privileges according to their rank. Workers and peasants nominally held higher political status but had no real right to participate in decision-making; they were economically deprived, receiving only minimal social security but remaining impoverished. The masses were extremely dissatisfied with this bureaucratic system. Whenever someone called upon them, they would rise up to “smash” this “state apparatus.” Mao Zedong was also dissatisfied with this system and wanted to change it. The reasons for Mao Zedong’s dissatisfaction were multifaceted: it could be populist thought, utopian ideals, hatred of bureaucracy other than his own, or fear of losing power. Mao Zedong hoped to “smash” this system, aiming to achieve “great order through chaos.” He called on the people to rise up against the bureaucrats. Years of idol worship had cemented Mao Zedong’s sacred status, coupled with the people’s hatred of the bureaucrats; when Mao Zedong raised his voice, a nationwide anti-bureaucratic tsunami erupted. The bureaucrats received both deserved and undeserved blows, and the bureaucratic system collapsed overnight. Without a bureaucratic system, society descends into chaos. Mao Zedong could not offer a substitute for the bureaucratic system; the Paris Commune and the May 7th Road were not effective systems to begin with and could not be used to quell the chaos. The country could not remain in a state of disorder for long. Faced with societal needs and the pursuit of bureaucratic interests, Mao Zedong had to yield to the bureaucrats, and the original bureaucratic system gradually returned to its original state. Once the bureaucrats who had been impacted returned to power, those who had responded to the call to revolt faced repeated retaliation: the “One Strike, Three Anti” campaign, the “Purge of May 16th,” and the “Cleansing of the Class Ranks” were all aimed at the common people. The “Criticize Lin Biao and Confucius” campaign and the “Counterattack Against the Right-Deviationist Reversal of Verdicts” were merely a contest between Mao Zedong and the bureaucrats who were restoring the old order. During the Cultural Revolution, various political forces rose and fell; “the flags changed hands frequently,” with some bureaucrats gaining power today and others tomorrow. Ordinary people who stood against those in power were persecuted. “Endless queues, countless apologies, endless self-criticisms, and endless tears.” This folk song, circulating during the Cultural Revolution, perfectly reflects the plight of ordinary people. (According to the book *The Myth of Blood*, from August 13th to October 17th, 1967, a period of 66 days, 117 households in Daoxian County were wiped out, resulting in 4,519 deaths, accounting for 1.17% of the county’s total population at the time. Among them, 4,193 were murdered, and 326 were driven to suicide. Affected by the Daoxian massacre, 9,093 people died unnaturally in the entire Lingling area (including Daoxian) during the Cultural Revolution, including 7,696 murders and 1,397 driven to suicide; in addition, 2,146 people were injured or disabled.)