2013/01/23

Looking at Confucius from a different perspective

Based on the biography of Confucius in the Records of the Grand Historian, write a short introduction to his life and thoughts, highlighting the connection and hints between the primary society and the secondary society at any time.

@Some small monkeys can swim

2013/01/23

Sleep tip: Focusing on a sensation (feeling) is more effective for sleep than focusing on the lower abdomen, breathing, counting, etc. This sensation can be a general feeling or a feeling in a specific part of the body. The feeling in the specific part can change later or it can become a general feeling. This makes it less likely for your mind to wander.

Extended meaning: In primitive society, the overall psychological and emotional exchange among all members led to a shared overall feeling, which had a decisive influence on their social behavior. Although there were causal connections between their thoughts, these connections were not long enough to form a dominant ideological system that governed their social behavior.

Secondary societies are influenced by different ideologies. A person’s overall feelings at the level of deep consciousness, or their mindset, do not constitute the basis of their behavior.

A secondary society does not necessarily transform human nature, but rather it allows the subjective consciousness to form an independent ideological system that controls human behavior, thus transcending human nature. In other words, when humanity enters the secondary social level, it forgets about human nature.

@Original social psychological and emotional communication has the effect of purifying and spiritualizing emotions, and also has the cathartic effect mentioned by Aristotle.

Read on 2013/01/23 by Yu Wujin: How exactly should we understand Nietzsche’s words? °God is dead!

December 22, 2012. Source: *Learning Lamp*, Issue 4.

Both Hegel and Nietzsche viewed the death of God as an inevitable result of the Enlightenment’s progress in modern thought and its scientific development.

Nietzsche seems to have viewed faith in God as faith in something beyond real feeling. The Enlightenment led people to realize that there is no meaning beyond real feeling, and that feeling is the only existence. That is, God died and then the Übermensch came into being.

Yu Sheng: The Chinese Cultural Revolution was similar. After traditional beliefs were broken down, most people did not accept Marxism, especially since Mao himself adopted a pragmatic attitude towards Marxism-Leninism. The Great Leap Forward in 1958 disrupted the original rural society, leaving these people disoriented. Similarly, the Cultural Revolution brought young students into society, and they also needed direction, making them inclined to obey the superman Mao Zedong. Yu Sheng: Farmers are different from young students; they are more driven by helplessness. Therefore, historically, peasant uprisings may have been limited to the level of displaced people, like the Water Margin. In Yu Sheng’s hometown, only a small number of non-traditional farmers and intellectuals participated in the Anti-Japanese War and the revolution. The West may be different.

2013/01/23

Comparing Socrates (469-399 BC), Plato (427-327 BC), and Aristotle (384-322 BC) with Confucius (551-479 BC), Mencius (372-289 BC), and Xunzi (286-238 BC) to examine the differences between the two societies:

1) The three Western philosophers were teacher and student, while the three Chinese philosophers belonged to the same school of thought, thus compensating for the lack of a teacher-student relationship and making them comparable. Socrates and Confucius can be seen as the first people in Eastern and Western history to examine society and life from a philosophical perspective and with wisdom. Western philosophers before Socrates mostly considered questions about the material world, such as its composition. In China, before Confucius, there was Lao Tzu, who examined the world from a historian’s perspective, which differed significantly from Confucius’s.

2) If we use the terms simplicity, idealism, and realism to describe the changes in the core consciousness of these three scholars representing the Axial Age, the West developed a secondary social environment much faster than China, taking approximately one hundred and three hundred years respectively. Mencius and Xunzi lived closer to the West, while Confucius and Mencius lived much further back. Compared to the West, where the three scholars lived at roughly the same distance, this indicates that China only truly entered a secondary society during the Warring States period.

Between Confucius and Mencius was Mozi (480-420 BC), who belonged to a different school of thought. This represents the fact that China transitioned from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period, and simultaneously from a primitive society to a secondary society. This social change stemmed from the choice that humanity, as a primitive society, faced with different secondary societies. War itself forced human thought to focus on a new direction.

January 24, 2013. Read Xiao Xiang’s “Mao Zedong’s Attitude Towards Human Life and the Tragedy of the Great Famine” (http://www.aisixiang.com/data/60822.html). An excerpt follows:

This touches upon a sensitive and crucial question: Mao Zedong’s view on human life. As a revolutionary who had experienced countless life-and-death struggles, Mao Zedong developed a unique understanding of life and death through long-term armed struggle and bloodshed: “Where there is struggle, there will be sacrifice; death is a frequent occurrence” (Mao Zedong quote). This understanding determined Mao Zedong’s fearless attitude of disregarding life and death. In the era of war, where it was a matter of life and death for those vying for power, the fearlessness and willingness to sacrifice of leaders could be a powerful weapon for driving armies forward and achieving victory. However, in the era of production and construction where power is held, such fearlessness and willingness to sacrifice can easily evolve into an unexpected and frightening dangerous tendency.

　　”I debated this issue with a foreign politician. He believed that if an atomic war were fought, everyone would die. I said, to put it extremely, even if half the population died, the other half would be defeated by imperialism, the whole world would be socialistized, and after many more years, there would be another 2.7 billion people.” (Mao Zedong’s speech in Moscow on November 18, 1957, from Shen Zhihua, *History of the People’s Republic of China*, Volume 3, page 761)

　　”Even if we pay this price to catch up with Britain, we will still have to pay it. Each province should prepare for 500 deaths, which adds up to more than 10,000 deaths a year, and 100,000 deaths in 10 years. People die all the time, so we must be prepared.” (Mao Zedong’s interjection when discussing industrial accidents at the Chengdu Conference in March 1958, quoted in Li Rui, “Personal Account of the Great Leap Forward” (Volume 1), p. 209)

　　Half the population has died several times in Chinese history. We had no experience with atomic bombs, and the death toll was unknown. Ideally, half the population would survive; the next best would be a third. With 2.9 billion people in the world, over 900 million would remain. Several Five-Year Plans would then have allowed for development, leading to the demise of imperialism, the complete elimination of capitalism, and lasting peace. (Mao Zedong’s speech at the Second Session of the Eighth National Congress of the Communist Party of China on May 17, 1958, in Li Rui, *Personal Account of the Great Leap Forward* (Vol. 1), p. 390)

　　”In the past, many people died in revolutions and wars, but it was without consequence. Why can’t we do the same now?” (Mao Zedong’s speech at the meeting of directors of the cooperative areas on August 21, 1958, in Li Rui, “Personal Account of the Great Leap Forward” (Volume 2), p. 106)

　　With lofty aspirations and a willingness to sacrifice, we dare to change the world. (A poem in the seven-character quatrain style, written on June 25, 1959, in Shaoshan)

　　These are Mao Zedong’s remarks about the dead during the Great Leap Forward. We believe that any rational person with normal thinking would easily draw the following impression and judgment from these repeated mentions of the dead and the nonchalant tone: Mao Zedong’s disregard and indifference towards human life. The only potentially controversial point requiring analysis is the line from the poem, “With lofty aspirations, many sacrifices are made; daring to change the world.” As for the poem itself, it must be acknowledged that the heroic spirit and high morale it expresses have inspired countless people and served as a source of inspiration for courageous progress. However, when we understand that it was written against the special backdrop and context of the Great Leap Forward, a movement that was in full swing on Chinese soil, while tens of millions of people were suffering from hunger and hundreds of thousands were dying as a result, the poem’s unique meaning becomes easier to interpret. And the poet’s willingness to sacrifice himself, conveyed by the poem, cannot help but stir our hearts.

　　If this judgment is held to be insufficient to explain the essence of the problem solely by words reflecting ideological tendencies without factual support, then unfortunately, the following two examples, occurring both before and after the Great Famine, demonstrate this judgment through Mao Zedong’s attitude and reaction to the starvation of hundreds of thousands in Xinyang and to Liu Shaoqi’s account of the rare phenomenon of cannibalism:

　　On October 26, 1960, Mao Zedong saw the investigation materials on the Xinyang Incident prepared by four cadres from the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee and the Central Supervisory Commission. The materials stated that hundreds of thousands of people had starved to death in the Xinyang area and described the dire situation in the countryside. Mao Zedong simply wrote a dozen or so characters on the paper: “Please have Liu and Zhou review this today, and discuss the handling methods this afternoon.” (Yang Jisheng, *Tombstone: A True Account of the Great Famine in China in the 1960s*, Chapter 19, PDF)

　　One afternoon in early July 1962, a deeply anxious Liu Shaoqi went to the swimming pool in Zhongnanhai to report to Mao Zedong. Mao immediately berated him: “What’s your rush? Can’t you hold your ground? Why can’t you hold on?” Liu bluntly replied: “So many people have starved to death! History will record our deaths! Cannibalism will be reported!” Mao Zedong retorted: “The Three Red Banners have been rejected, the land has been redistributed, and you still can’t hold on? What will happen after I die?!” (Liu Yuan and He Jiadong, “The Mystery of the Four Cleanups,” in *The Liu Shaoqi You Don’t Know*, p. 90)

　　When the entire country was in turmoil and devastation, and Liu Shaoqi proposed implementing the household responsibility system in rural areas to salvage the situation and relieve the people from starvation, Mao Zedong was still preoccupied with the “Three Red Banners” and the legacy after his death. The relative importance of the people’s lives and value to the “Three Red Banners” in Mao’s mind is self-evident.

…

It is difficult to grasp its essence and also hard to convince people. Every politician’s behavior and beliefs are supported by a grand theoretical framework, leading to a grand narrative concerning the nation and ideology. The renowned German political scientist Max Weber, from a political ethics perspective, distinguished between two opposing types of politician behavior: “belief ethics” (also known as intention ethics) and “responsibility ethics.” Politicians who act according to their own beliefs and intentions, regardless of the costs or consequences, are practicing “belief ethics”; while those who focus on the effects of their words and actions, believing that acting solely on intentions without regard to consequences is irresponsible, are practicing “responsibility ethics.”

…

　Therefore, we can only conclude with a heavy heart that it was precisely because of Mao Zedong’s indifference and disregard for life that, in the summer of 1959, when the famine was already severe but could be alleviated, and death was beginning to spread but could be stopped, he, in pursuit of his ambition to “dare to change the world” and the grand ideal of communism, ignored the suffering of the people, disregarded death, ignored advice, insisted on his own will, and recklessly carried the Great Leap Forward to the end, ultimately causing an unprecedented tragedy that could not be averted, resulting in the deaths of tens of millions of people from hunger.

　　Finally, we would like to conclude this article by quoting a cautionary verse from Friedrich Hayek’s *The Road to Serfdom*, written in the 1940s, in a way that reflects on the roots of this tragedy: “Can one imagine a greater tragedy than that, when we strive consciously and diligently to create our future according to some lofty ideal, we actually and unconsciously create results diametrically opposed to what we have been fighting for?”

Read Chen Yun’s “On January 25, 2013”

Music, Time, and Human Existence: A Modern Understanding of Confucianism’s “Success Comes from Music” (http://www.confucius2000.com/confucius/drjcyldxdlj.htm)

For people in the original society, time was an eternal melody, like the Yangtze River, flowing endlessly, with the surging waves of the times and the gentle murmur of individual streams, tinkling in the human heart; space was a three-dimensional painting, with the charm of the universe, the silent beauty of heaven and earth, and the tender warmth of humanity.

2013/01/26

Read Chen Yun (with the upper part “斌” and the lower part “貝”)

“The Turning Point of Language and the Liberation of Man in the Modern Context” (http://www.confucius2000.com/admin/list.asp?id=1709)

Mr. Chen’s original text begins by saying:

Modern thought has entered an era known as the “linguistic turn,” in which not only does language constitute the core issue of philosophy, but the secrets of the world and reality are also believed to ultimately lie within the secrets of language. Wittgenstein asserted: “All philosophy is linguistic critique.”

Modern people have finally come to realize that for thousands of years, humanity has used language and concepts to construct reality, and simultaneously, to construct artificial secondary societies and humanity itself. Mr. Chen, reviewing human history, says that initially, humanity viewed language as an entity, just like other things; for primitive people, the illusion constructed by language was as important as reality. Later, humanity realized that language was merely a tool. In Mr. Chen’s words, the relationship between words and reality has undergone a process from unity to separation. For modern people, reality, through the role of language and culture, possesses at least three levels: the thing itself, the thing as referred to by language, and the words that describe that thing.

For example, the concept of a tree. First, a tree is the tree that exists in nature; second, it is the tree that humans perceive. Most people may not realize the difference between these two, assuming they are the same. In fact, there is a fundamental difference. When we hear “tree,” we think of the trees in parks or in front of our houses, and that the wood can be cut down to make furniture. On the other hand, earthworms and other creatures in the grass under a tree see the tree above them as the sky. Clearly, the “tree” we refer to is not the same as the tree in nature. As for the third type, as a word or concept itself, it is extremely important because humans can connect countless words and concepts to create literary works such as novels, plays, and poems. People can become completely absorbed in a captivating novel, identifying with characters like Baoyu and Daiyu. If they see their books being burned, they might throw themselves into the flames, exclaiming, “You’re burning my Baoyu to death!”

These devoted readers are nothing compared to the sheer number of people who are captivated by novels. But if these millions of people transform the fictional world of novels into reality, turning most of the world’s population into fanatics, then it will be a disaster. This has happened repeatedly throughout the five or six thousand years of human civilization, which is what Mr. Chen emphasized: “The liberation of language” has become the most fundamental form of human liberation.

By re-examining Mr. Chen’s thesis from the perspectives of primary and secondary societies, we can see that genetic coding and the classification of artificial societies make Mr. Chen’s arguments clearer and more visible, much like focusing something in the shadows under a bright light. This also allows the parts that Mr. Chen neglected to show in his article to be presented to the reader more clearly.

January 26, 2013: Read Chen Yun’s “The Beginning of Great Harmony, Moderate Prosperity, and a Life of Rites and Music” (http://www.confucius2000.com/admin/list.asp?id=2688)

Chen said, 1) Xiaokang was a society of rites and music, while Datong was not. The transition from Datong to Xiaokang was a historical process beyond human control. Confucius did not mean to belittle Xiaokang while praising Datong.

2) Datong is not a utopia. Utopia originally means a place where nothing exists, focusing on the future and ideals. Datong, on the other hand, is the primitive era of the past.

January 13, 2027: Read Chen Yun’s (上斌下贝) discourse on the Doctrine of the Mean.

Chen argues that China’s dominant ideology is the Doctrine of the Mean, which differs from Western thought. This stems from the fact that in early Chinese society, there was no space for the development of thought and social activities within a secondary social hierarchy. During Confucius’s lifetime, the four or five upheavals in the State of Lu all resulted in outcomes unfavorable to those who initially took extreme actions, thus favoring a middle-of-the-road approach. This also reflects the continuation of the custom in early society where chieftains lacked authority and were forced to remain neutral and observe. In rural China, under the small county government, a quasi-primitive society existed. Clan chiefs and gentry, in particular, lacked absolute authority and functioned more as chieftains, while a few gentry simultaneously acted as a bridge between the government and the villagers. Lacking the power and capital to take extreme actions, they were compelled to adhere to the Doctrine of the Mean.

Chen’s related articles: 1) Why do truly wise people always follow the Doctrine of the Mean? The unfolding of the ideas in the Doctrine of the Mean: Sincerity

(http://www.zhongguosixiang.com/philosophy/2013/0124/734.shtml)

2) Introduction and Preface to “The Thought of the Doctrine of the Mean” (read)

2013/02/01

Reading: Patterns and Their Changes ª¡ª The Issue of Tang-Song Transition from the Perspective of Historiography (Luo Yinan) (Yi+Wei) (Xue Deng, Issue 1)

Excerpt:

We can simply summarize his model as the following structural relationship: individual regional economic development, wealth and population growth → regional population equilibrium between different growth levels (spread of high-density population areas within the empire) → administrative difficulties leading to the decentralization of central authority to local areas, while the bureaucratization process of the central government tends to stagnate → the main ruling class evolved from the hereditary elite class in the Tang Dynasty to the professional elite (bureaucrat) class in the Northern Song Dynasty, and then to the regional elite (gentry families) in the Southern Song Dynasty.

According to Hartwell, this process spanned the entirety of Chinese history from 750 to 1550. However, based on his description, the first cycle of this transformation ended in the Song Dynasty, while its starting point was in the mid-Tang Dynasty.

…

American scholars such as Peter Bol proposed that the transformation of Tang and Song thought and culture was manifested in the shift from a history-based cultural view in the Tang Dynasty to a mind-based cultural view in the Song Dynasty; from the belief that the emperor and the court should have the final authority to interpret society and culture to the belief that individuals must learn to make their own decisions; Song Dynasty scholars believed that they could understand the “Dao” (the Way) through independent political power and serve the interests of local elites.

2013/02/03

Read “The Mystery of Persia: Imagination and Reality in Iran” by Pu Shi (Jinglue, Issues 13 and 14, originally published in Sanlian Life Weekly, Issue 52, 2011, Serial No. 663).

)

This is the first time I’ve read an article that speaks from a Chinese perspective about life and observations within contemporary Iran. It’s been very enlightening and eye-opening. The following is an excerpt:

In this theocratic state, Islamic law stipulates that women must cover their hair, wear tops that extend past their hips, and not expose their legs, to avoid tempting men. There is an apparent, insurmountable boundary between men and women; physical contact is forbidden. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution, bars, dance halls, and clubs—entertainment venues considered “corrupt and decadent”—were completely banned in Iran. Supreme Leader Khamenei also considers non-religious music as decadent (although this opinion is not an official decree or law).

…

Everyone sped up, everyone refused to back down, everyone constantly changed lanes, seizing every opportunity to weave through traffic, cars brushing past each other, leaving no room for possible emergencies. Tehran has one of the highest traffic fatality rates in the world. Perhaps this is a metaphor for the Iranian character: unrestrained, spontaneous, individualistic, free-spirited, and unpredictable.

They were having a picnic and drinking tea in the freezing cold… I couldn’t help but be deeply attracted to Iran. It exudes vitality and magic, making me dizzy, confused, surprised, and moved.

…

Article 22 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran protects the sanctity of the family and safeguards an individual’s “honor, life, rights, family, and work” from external intrusion. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini stated early in the revolution: “If you accidentally stumble into a private home or workplace and find corrupt weapons or tools, or heretical items such as drugs, you have no right to tell anyone. You have no right to arrest or beat the residents or landlord of the house, because this is beyond the scope of God.” Islamic law protects such private spaces as the family from intrusion and interference. Although in practice, Iranians’ private spaces are sometimes subject to censorship and interference, they have never been violated. Iran is far more than just an Islamic republic, and the daily lives of Iranians are far from the ethereal, otherworldly existence one might imagine. The purity of Shia Islam intertwines with the sensuality and exuberance of Persia, forming the dual identity of the Iranian people.

The Quran states this to limit men from having too many wives; four is the upper limit. Marriage is seen as a form of protection for women, thus encouraging men to help more women. In modern Iranian life, almost no one marries four wives. “One is enough for you!” the mullahs joke. “Besides, the Quran stipulates that marrying a second wife requires the consent of the first. Which wife would agree to marrying a second now? This rule is practically unworkable.”

…This agreement is negotiated by both sets of parents, and the most important part is how many gold coins the man should give to the woman. These Iranian gold coins are currently worth $500 each, and typically, 200 coins are the minimum. This money doesn’t need to be paid upfront; rather, the woman can request the man to return it if she deems it necessary during their married life, and this is legally protected. …He said, “Yes, Iranians believe that cemeteries are the resting place of the souls of their deceased loved ones, a warm and comforting place.”

…

The geographical location of the Persian Empire determined that it had historically been a confluence of Eastern and Western cultures, and had also been conquered or invaded by foreign civilizations on several occasions. Every Iranian we spoke with would say something like, “99% of what we wear, from head to toe, is made in China.” Iranians hold complex and contradictory feelings towards the West. Iranians around 60 years old today cannot forget the material glory of Iran during the Pahlavi era. But Khomeini also equated Islam with social justice. He praised the oppressed, barefoot, and shantytown poor, and condemned the oppressors, the wealthy, and the greedy royal family and their foreign asylum seekers. Thus, the Supreme Leader’s followers were divided into two factions. The populist, radical, and conservative clergy, represented by the “War Church,” showed more compassion and concern for the poor. They labeled the other faction, the moderate centrist clergy, as pro-American and capitalist. Supreme Leaders Khomeini and Khamenei maintained a balance between the two factions.

…

2013/02/03

Read: Overseas Chinese ° Discussion with Fukuyama on “The Origins of Political Order” ±

(December 18, 2012 Source: Strategy Magazine, Issue 20)

Excerpt: Fukuyama’s basic argument is that good governance requires a combination of three factors: state capacity, the rule of law, and accountability (democracy is one form of accountability, meaning the government is accountable to the majority; however, even an aristocratic or oligarchy can have accountability). While the process of state-building in the West occurred later, the development of these three elements was more balanced, with the first mature integration achieved in Britain, which then expanded to other countries. The book concludes by stating that contemporary China, like ancient China, only has a strong state but lacks the rule of law and accountability, a conclusion lacking sufficient evidence.

The following is an excerpt from other online sources:

Political scientist Dr. Francis Fukuyama primarily focuses on the cultural aspects of human society rather than its biological aspects. However, he explicitly put forward his own assumption that the social nature of humankind is universal, established around certain pre-existing behaviors, such as favoritism towards relatives, mutual benefit, the creation and observance of rules, and belligerence.

Because of this shared humanity and its biological basis, “human politics, in different periods and different cultures, is always governed by certain periodically emerging patterns of behavior,” Dr. Fukuyama writes. These global patterns are precisely what he attempts to describe in his analysis of periods ranging from prehistoric times to the French Revolution.

This book traces the development of political order starting with the earliest human societies—small groups of hunter-gatherers. Dr. Fukuyama argues that the first major social development was the transformation from hunter-gatherer bands to tribes. This transformation was possible because religious beliefs united large groups of people who worshipped a common ancestor. Because tribes could quickly mobilize men for war, neighboring bands had to tribalize or face defeat.

　　War also powerfully propelled the second major social transformation: from tribes to states. The organization and stability of states were superior to those of tribes because tribes often descended into internal strife after the death of their chief. It was only because states increased the chances of survival that people relinquished tribal freedom and accepted the coercive rule of the state.

　　Many of Dr. Fukuyama’s analyses focus on how tribes developed into states. In his view, factors influencing this transformation include geography, history, and especially the placement of the different components of the state system. Several distinct types of states emerged sequentially in China, India, the Islamic world, and Europe, and even within Europe, there are several significant variations on the same theme.

…

　Dr. Fukuyama emphasizes China’s position because it was the “first state.” The Qin Dynasty, established in 221 BC, overcame the default condition of a vast society—the tribal system—by developing a bureaucratic class loyal to the state rather than the clan.

　　The tribal system did not disappear in Europe until a thousand years later. It first gave way to feudalism – a system in which peasants were subservient to and served lords in exchange for their protection. Therefore, when kings appeared, they rarely possessed absolute power like the rulers in China, because they had to share power with feudal lords.

　　In Dr. Fukuyama’s argument, another obstacle to the implementation of autocracy in Europe was the early emergence of the concept of the rule of law, largely due to the development of church law by the 11th-century church. Therefore, when powerful rulers began to establish states, they had to consider the newly emerging civil codes.

Subsequently, an extraordinary idea emerged in Europe: the supreme authority should be the law, not the ruler. In pursuit of this principle, the English Parliament went so far as to execute one king—Charles I—and depose another—James II. This proved to be a long-term solution, not only addressing the issue of building a powerful state but also holding rulers accountable.

While other European countries developed systems similar to those of England, they failed to establish a sustainable balance of power between rulers and the elite. In France, the nobility resolutely refused to be taxed, resulting in an increasingly unbearable tax burden on farmers, ultimately leading to the French Revolution. In Hungary, the elite wielded such power that they refused to grant the king the authority to plan adequate defenses. In 1241, the Hungarian army was defeated by the Mongols at the Battle of Moi; in 1526, it was annihilated by the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Mohács.

　　According to Dr. Fukuyama, among the European powers, only Britain and Denmark established three fundamental institutions: a strong state, the rule of law, and a mechanism for holding rulers accountable. Subsequently, this successful model was adopted by other European countries through natural selection – this selection favored the most successful variants.

Although institutions are the cornerstone of modern states, the instinct to favor family has never disappeared and will inevitably reappear. Dr. Fukuyama says that in order to create a loyal administrative class, some countries have resorted to various primitive and extreme methods that have destroyed family ties.

　　Chinese emperors established a unique system of eunuchs as the core of their officials. These eunuchs had “the state” but no “family,” and were more trusted than ordinary court officials. In the 11th century, Pope Gregory VII mandated celibacy for Catholic priests, forcing them to choose between the church and their families.

The rulers of the Islamic world created a class detached from family ties through an unusual system of slave soldiers. They typically abducted young boys from the Balkans—primarily from Christian families—and then raised them as Muslims, enslaving and training them as soldiers. This system, though bizarre, was quite effective. One of the several forms of these slave soldiers, the Mamluks, defeated the Mongols and drove out the Crusaders. But what brought them success was also their downfall. The system was precisely destroyed by the very danger it was designed to prevent: the weak Sultan allowed the sons of slave soldiers to inherit their fathers’ positions, thus shifting the soldiers’ allegiance from the state to their own families.

Just as institutions are difficult to change, they are also difficult to form. Fukuyama said, “Poor countries are poor not because they lack resources, but because they lack effective political institutions.” In his view, the lack of a strong rule of law is “one of the main reasons why poor countries cannot achieve high economic growth.”

“My view is that the rule of law originated from organized religion, while democracy originated from a bizarre historical accident,” Fukuyama said. “The European Parliament has always had legislative power, while the British Parliament only reached a constitutional agreement and laid the foundation for modern democracy by fighting a civil war. This was entirely a historical accident.”

2013/02/08

Reading and Listening: Gu Zhun (Baidu Encyclopedia entry: http://baike.baidu.com/view/21851.htm)

Both Mao Zedong and Gu Zhun were original revolutionaries. In a country, there can only be one original revolutionary.

This is used to illustrate the tragic life of Gu Zhun, a true revolutionary. Secondary societies have countless possibilities. When revolutionaries seek an ideal society within a country through armed revolution and dictatorship, there is only one original choice: Mao Zedong in China and Lenin in the Soviet Union. Neither of them were true Marxists, but rather pragmatic original interpretations of Marxism.

The lecturer (Zhang Shuguang) said: Gu Zhun considered himself a democratic socialist, and he wanted to implement democracy under public ownership. In Western history, the emergence of democracy and constitutionalism was to solve the problem of taxation rights; it arose under the premise of private ownership. To talk about democracy under public ownership is tantamount to moving one’s money from one pocket to another. There is no precedent for democracy under public ownership. Gu Zhun’s development can be divided into three stages: From 1952, after being disciplined, to 1956, Gu Zhun devoured Marxist-Leninist books without deep thought, but was determined to go to the Institute of Economics. Second, from 1956 to 1969, he witnessed the problems of the Soviet Union, saw people starving and even cannibalism in the countryside, and explored how to proceed after the success of the revolution. Third, from 1970 to 1974, after his wife’s death, he was determined to explore, otherwise he would be letting her down. Gu concluded that revolution can create miracles, but after success, empiricism is needed to solve problems.

Audience question: Is it only after suffering and hardship that Chinese people can develop independent thinking? During wartime, officers and soldiers ate and lived together, and were equal and friendly, but there was an absolutely centralized decision-making and leadership from above. How does this compare to Western democracy?

Excerpt from Baidu Encyclopedia: (Thinking about the realities of China, striving to understand why the situation gradually evolved in the opposite direction to the original intentions of the revolution after its victory, he concluded that there was a shift from continental European rationalism to British empiricism, and from monism to pluralism. In March 1959, Gu Zhun was sent to Xinyang Prefecture in Henan Province for labor reform. This experience played an important role in his reflection on and understanding of the enormous harm of the ultra-leftist line. China) The first people’s commune was established in this region. From the autumn and winter of 1959, nearly a million farmers starved to death within four months. His diary is filled with the phrase “a scene of utter devastation,” recording the starvation deaths of labor camp members and farmers, even entire families. Gu Zhun was an old revolutionary, a veteran who, despite being a low-level intellectual, dedicated himself to the cause of “ideals” and had many years of practical experience. People like him, with similar experiences… The leadership of the Communist Party is of typical significance. This can be seen simply by looking at the backgrounds of those who held positions in various Party and government departments after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. From the first generation to the second, with the exception of a very small number from peasant and worker backgrounds, it can be said that the majority of those in leadership positions were revolutionary cadres from these lower-level intellectual backgrounds. Gu Zhun belonged to the second generation in terms of seniority and was at the second level in terms of status. He assumed his post at the very beginning of the People’s Republic of China. As the director of the Finance and Taxation Bureau of Shanghai, the largest economic and financial center, Gu Zhun held a high position and wielded considerable power. Had he continued down this path, a promotion to head of a central government economic department would have been a certainty. However, due to policy disagreements with his superiors, Gu Zhun was soon removed from his position of power. After several twists and turns, he ultimately embarked on a path of learning and seeking truth while still under investigation.

2013/02/10

The periodization of Chinese history is divided into the feudal period and the imperial period, with the Warring States period as the dividing line, which is considered a transitional period for the establishment of empires. This periodization was chosen to take into account the existing periodization names in the historical community, but this book makes a new definition.

2013/02/10

The traditional Chinese hierarchical division between superiors and inferiors was unbreakable.

After the division between upper and lower classes was broken, the establishment of a secondary society was imminent. This process could only proceed gradually because it required: 1) Choosing one from countless possible directions, which was no easy task, as there were many opinions and it was difficult to reach a consensus. However, in reality, people were inevitably influenced by the economic and political situation at the time to choose the newly established secondary social form, and even then, there would be a situation of many opinions and conflicting views. 2) During the imperial period in China, the bureaucratic class of the secondary society gradually shrank, and the urban grassroots did not develop the influential discourse power that existed in modern Western societies, while peasants were in a quasi-primitive society. Compared with the West, China did not form a secondary social discourse sphere that influenced the Chinese political situation. 3) After the Song Dynasty, the Chinese bureaucratic class showed a clear tendency towards aesthetics. 4) Once farmers and urban residents entered the secondary social strata on a large scale, they possessed strong destructive potential, becoming a cause of cyclical turmoil in history. 5) The mainstream differentiation of Confucianism and Taoism in China did not provide space for these farmers and urban residents to form their own secondary society. Confucius’s concept of the petty man as self-serving, and the cultural and economic circumstances of urban residents and farmers, made them self-serving, were not designed by either Confucianism or Taoism to create the possibility of constructing a secondary society based on material interests.

2013/02/10

The distinction between men and women, and between those inside and outside the home, in ancient China cannot be ignored.

2013/02/12

Online courses: Striving, Opportunity, Physics

Speaker: Hao Bolin

Speaker’s Affiliation: Fudan University

He said: There are different variables in the universe, and fast variables that change rapidly are enslaved by slow variables that change slowly. For example, people are enslaved by language, culture and history.

2013/02/18

In the article “On Confucius’s Idea of ​​a Fair Society (You Sheng) (Xue Deng, Issue 12),” add a section after “III. Mencius and Xunzi Both Lack Confucius’s Idea of ​​a Fair Society”:

Fourth, the centralized autocracy and Bai Qi-style mass killings during the Warring States period could prevent

If people during the Warring States period had acted in accordance with the ideas of Confucius and continued to vigorously promote the idea of ​​a equitable society, it would have effectively prevented the accumulation of wealth and the concentration of power, maintained the original social and economic model of the superpowers of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, and allowed power to be gradually balanced.

Even if ancient China had maintained its original social superpower model, the rate of population growth and wasteland loss would have slowed considerably. Generally speaking, the territorial limiting factor in Robert L. Carneiro’s (1927-) theory of natural barriers to the development of human civilization would have appeared sooner or later in Chinese history. If this slowness had occurred, Confucian figures, especially scholars following the ideas of Confucius and Mencius, would likely have recognized this problem and designed corresponding social mechanisms to replace the role of free peasant migration in the selection of those in power. A simple and effective measure would be to guarantee, or even fund, the free migration of peasants, thereby creating peasants’ choice over local government. Of course, this measure might eventually develop into a Western-style electoral system.

Such a measure would promote the formation of different local governments and different local social and cultural lives, ultimately leading to the formation of different secondary societies. Because China’s unified state is unique to China and because of the original superpower model of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou dynasties, China may exhibit a different path of secondary social development than the West: not through war and class differentiation driving material and cultural progress, but through human nature—that is, hobbies and a playful approach to life—developing material and cultural civilization. The author believes that the world today faces this possible path: not through war and competition driving economic development, but through humanity’s love of life and enjoyment of life itself driving the simultaneous development of material and spiritual civilization.

Readers may refer to the last chapter of the previous volume of this book, which discusses the imperial examination system and Plato’s Republic.

2013/02/19

Online Course: Living by Our Own Nature – Lu Xun and Hu Shi’s Views on Freedom

Speaker: Jing Kaixuan

Speaker’s Affiliation: Nanjing University

He said: Western culture is about being alive in the face of death, and only by facing death can we pay attention to the present moment, that is, only by facing death can we recognize our own existence; while Chinese culture is about being alive in the face of life, and Confucianism and Taoism both emphasize the permanence and eternity of this moment.

Yu Sheng: The concept of time in primitive societies was different; in primitive societies, time, life, and emotions were one. Life itself was beauty, was time, and death was not the end.

2013/02/19

Online courses: The charm of sound

Speaker: Zhen Lifu

Speaker’s Affiliation: China Speech and Eloquence Association

He said: Sensibility, understanding, and reason. Cao Chong’s weighing of the elephant represents understanding; Archimedes’ principle of buoyancy in ancient Greece represents rational thinking. Chinese culture, Confucianism and Taoism, Lao Tzu and Confucius all remain at the stage of understanding.

Human accents have a fundamental tone and overtones, much like the nucleus of an atom and the surrounding electrons. The electrons make the atom look fuller and more attractive.

2013/02/19

Online course: The multidimensional perspective of the integration of the three teachings in Quanzhen Taoism and its modern significance

Speaker: Han Xing

Speaker’s Affiliation: Shaanxi Normal University

He said that Ge Hong initiated the concept of “inner Taoism and outer Confucianism.” Wang Chongyang believed that the three teachings shared a common origin, like three trees growing from the same source. This mutual complementarity of the three teachings led to the emergence of Neo-Confucianism during the Song and Yuan dynasties, and the Quanzhen School arose alongside this intellectual current. Buddhism also saw the emergence of Chan Buddhism, all products of this mutual complementarity. Later, there were sayings such as “the three teachings belong to the same school,” “the three teachings are equal,” “the three teachings share the same good,” and “the three teachings share the same merit.” The Quanzhen School advocated the simultaneous use of the three teachings, studying the Classic of Filial Piety and the Tao Te Ching, as well as the Buddhist Prajnaparamita Sutra. Qiu Chuji was a disciple of Wang Chongyang.

2013/02/30

Read Epoch Times articles online

Looking at the backgrounds of the four “leftist fanatics” and the CCP: In 1958, Mao Zedong launched the Great Leap Forward, aiming to surpass Britain and catch up with the United States and build a paradise on earth. Almost all local party and government officials were afraid of falling behind others, and they rushed to be the first, showing off their high targets. At that time, Li Jingquan, secretary of the Sichuan Provincial Party Committee, Ke Qingshi, secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Party Committee, Wu Zhipu, secretary of the Henan Provincial Party Committee, and Zeng Xisheng, secretary of the Anhui Provincial Party Committee, charged ahead, holding high Mao Zedong’s Three Red Banners, and were known as the four “leftist fanatics”.

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Henan was the first province to establish people’s communes, while Anhui and Sichuan were among the first to announce province-wide satellite launches. Ke Qingshi of Shanghai, however, stood out in the Mao Zedong personality cult with his statement, “Believe in Chairman Mao to the point of superstition, obey Chairman Mao to the point of blind obedience.” Later, Sichuan, Henan, and Anhui were the provinces with the highest number of starvation deaths during the Great Famine, while Shanghai, through Ke Qingshi, sowed the seeds of extreme leftism and personality cult, culminating in the disastrous Gang of Four during the Cultural Revolution. The family and personal backgrounds of these four left-wing fanatics are deeply thought-provoking. Li Jingquan, from Linchuan, Jiangxi, came from a landlord family. He graduated from the Jiangxi Provincial Third Normal School, then entered politics, attending the Guangzhou Peasant Movement Training Institute, and later followed Mao Zedong to Jinggang Mountain, serving as Mao’s personal secretary for a long period. Ke Qingshi was from Anhui, also from a landlord family. He studied at Huizhou Normal School, enjoyed literature and calligraphy, and later went to study in the Soviet Union. Wu Zhipu’s family were large landlords in Henan; his father’s large earthen village was said to be able to house an entire division of troops. After graduating from middle school, he went south to Guangzhou, entered the Peasant Movement Training Institute, and became a disciple of Mao Zedong. Of the four, Zeng Xisheng’s family was the poorest, but still a fallen landlord family. After graduating from middle school, he went south to Guangzhou, entered the Whampoa Military Academy, and later went to study in the Soviet Union.

Yu Sheng notes: The division between the upper and lower classes, and the peasants entering the secondary society, were like potatoes sprouting from the ground. They lacked a sense of direction in the secondary society and could only blindly follow others. This created the peculiar phenomenon in Chinese history where emperors took turns ruling, with each year it being someone else’s turn. These potential emperors, the so-called “vagrants,” were neither peasants nor Confucian intellectuals and bureaucrats, but rather consisted of landlords, rural ruffians, petty intellectuals, and former soldiers—socially unstable opportunists.

Among the highest-ranking officials around Mao during the Cultural Revolution, were there also those who were enthusiastic about the Cultural Revolution and those who were indifferent to it? Lin Biao came from a landlord family, while Zhou Enlai came from a bureaucratic family and was somewhat influenced by Confucianism. Liu Shaoqi, who was persecuted, came from an ordinary family, and Peng Zhen, the first to be overthrown, came from a poor peasant family. The Gang of Four may have been genuinely revolutionary; they rose from the bottom and had not yet been tainted by the bureaucratic scheming.

Tan Zhenlin (1902-1983), a Han Chinese, was born in 1902 into an ordinary working-class family in Chengguan Town, Youxian County, Hunan Province. He served as a member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, Secretary of the Secretariat of the Central Committee, member of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee, Vice Premier of the State Council, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, and Vice Chairman of the Central Advisory Commission. In 1911, Tan Zhenlin entered a private school. Two years later, he became an apprentice in a bookstore, where he read extensively from progressive books and thus embraced revolutionary ideas.

At the Politburo meeting in February 1967, he took the lead in “making a scene at Huairentang Hall” and, together with Li Fuchun, Li Xiannian, Ye Jianying, Chen Yi, Xu Xiangqian, Nie Rongzhen, and others, argued with Chen Boda, Jiang Qing, Kang Sheng, Zhang Chunqiao and other members of the Central Cultural Revolution Group. This incident was later referred to by Mao Zedong, Lin Biao and others as the “February Countercurrent”.

Lin Biao: When Lin was nine years old, his father, Lin Mingqing, sent him to a private school. His teacher, Li Zhuohou, was the father of Li Siguang, the “Father of Chinese Geology.” Li had participated in the Tongmenghui (Revolutionary Alliance) in his early years and was open-minded and knowledgeable. Li said: “Yu Rong is gentle and difficult to control. Whether he is a dragon or a worm depends entirely on himself.”

Peng Dehuai came from a lower-middle peasant family. He began his formal education at the age of six, but dropped out of school at eight due to his mother’s death and his father’s illness, which worsened his family’s financial situation. He then chopped firewood to exchange for rice. According to Peng Dehuai’s autobiography, one New Year’s Eve when he was young, his family had no food left. His grandmother told him and his younger brother, Peng Jinhua, to beg for food from wealthy families. Peng preferred to go hungry rather than reveal that he was a beggar.

Peng Zhen: Poor Farmer

Mao Zedong: Born into an ordinary family, but his father became wealthy, placing him below Lin Biao and Zhou Enlai but above Peng Dehuai, and he possessed ideals and aspirations; while Zhou Enlai and Lin Biao followed the Confucian principles of following others. Mao had an idealistic side during the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution, but later, when problems arose, Peng Dehuai and Tan Zhenlin, who also came from ordinary families, spoke out in his defense.

My family is similar to Mao Zedong’s family, and my father, like Mao, pursued ideals.

2013/02/21

Taking classes online:

The spiritual power and inheritance of revolutionary songs

Speaker: Chen Aihua

Speaker’s Affiliation: Southeast University

She recounted that her mother, an underground worker, collected military shoes and rations, and organized rural women to participate in making military shoes and other tasks. Her method of mobilizing the masses was to teach them to sing revolutionary songs: songs of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army. When the February Solstice came, people would gather around, and she would spread the message among the farmers, who would then actively participate. Therefore, revolutionary songs had the function of mobilizing, uniting, and organizing the masses. (Yu Sheng: The pragmatic operation of the middle class relies on emotions rather than analysis of various possibilities and Western debates and Socratic dialectics. This makes it easy to mislead the peasants of the primitive society into blindly participating in the promotion of a secondary society after the primitive society level has been raised. This involves exploitation and deception.)

There are two types of “red songs”: revolutionary songs and songs expressing patriotism, which adopted forms popular with the public and news. Red songs existed before Mao Zedong’s Yan’an Forum on Literature and Art, originating spontaneously from the people. They appeared in large numbers afterward, driven by Mao’s speeches, serving the workers, peasants, and soldiers, and deeply integrated into the lives of the revolutionary masses. This fully reflects how the middle class in the social model utilized the quasi-primitive peasantry, organizing them into a designed secondary society, without caring whether the peasants truly accepted this direction or how to fundamentally transform them at the ideological and cultural level. As a result, when China surpassed Britain and the United States in 1958, it was completely different from the peasantry, necessitating the use of physical punishment and violence to enforce its policies.

Western church songs are more peaceful, but they have a similar effect to revolutionary songs, using aesthetics and emotions to organize and unite the masses. This is why the West had mass movements like the Crusades, and why modern Europe needed religious revolutions to loosen the constraints of religion for modernization.

China’s tradition of revolutionary songs fueled the blind actions of the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.

2013/02/21

Defeat from the outside and defeat from the inside

(The middle way between self-restraint and unrestrained indulgence, in the West; in Confucianism, moderation is an aesthetic, avoiding the moderation of a two-tiered society)

In the early 1970s, when I was in Guizhou, I read a book called Huxley’s Evolutionary Theory. I remember one of the theories said that if members of society are controlled too strictly, they will not receive the necessary training and experience in struggle, resulting in low fighting ability and defeat by the outside world; conversely, if internal strife is allowed, everyone will have the experience of struggle, but without internal coordination, the result will be defeat due to internal strife.

For example, in the early stages of World War II, Britain, the United States, and the Soviet Union were unable to cooperate and suffered repeated defeats against Germany. This is an example of being defeated by external forces due to internal strife. Germany, on the other hand, emphasized unity and iron discipline, but was ultimately defeated by external forces.

However, a culture that achieves a perfect balance—one that avoids internal defeat while ensuring its members receive sufficient training in struggle—will fail, while another culture, lacking this ability, will fail both internally and externally. This is precisely the case in the history of China’s contact with the West in modern times. This is because Confucianism emphasizes aesthetic order, offering no experience in struggle or iron discipline.

China was conquered by the Mongols and the Qing Dynasty, a defeat similar to that of Germany at the end of World War II. At that time, China was unified under the emperor, while the Mongols and the Qing Dynasty were still in the process of tribal transformation. China was also defeated by Japan because it was fragmented and unable to unite its forces. Japan was ultimately defeated by the US and the Soviet Union, while China was embroiled in internal strife. The CCP won, but economically it lost to Taiwan. This continues the historical pattern of culturally advanced countries defeating culturally backward ones, much like the defeat of Athens by Sparta in ancient Greece.

2013/02/21

Online courses: Science and Religion as servants of ecological civilization

Speaker: Philip Clayton, author of the book.

Speaker’s Affiliation: Clement-Lincoln University, USA

He mentioned a view held by contemporary Western philosophers: only scientific descriptions of the world are truth, and how humans explain themselves is irrelevant. (Yu Sheng: If we consider human self-explanation and science as human games, then they are equivalent; that is, the distinction between fantasy and reality is irrelevant, as long as humans adopt a playful attitude during their leisure time.)

He said that the ancient Egyptians believed in a sun god and observed that the earth revolved around the sun. Aristotle is the father of twenty different scientific disciplines, including physics.

2013/02/21

Online course: The total crisis of capitalism: including four aspects: economy, ecology, society and politics.

2012/02/23

I skimmed through eight articles by Zou Yumin on the China Thought Network, and recently read the summaries and browsed the entries. He specializes in Taoist philosophy and philosophical synthesis. He mentions that scholars interpret Taoism in two ways: Tao is an entity external to humanity, and Tao is a state of personal cultivation. His interpretation of the saying “Tao gives birth to One, One gives birth to Two” offers fresh insights.

2013/02/25

A cursory reading: Chen Yun (上斌下贝): The Theory and Practice of Tao and the Distinction Between Knowledge and Action (China Thought Network)

[Abstract] A fundamental difference between pre-Qin Confucianism and Song-Ming Confucianism regarding the issue of knowledge and action is that pre-Qin Confucianism focuses on action as its core humanistic value, while Song-Ming Confucianism emphasizes knowledge as its core value. This difference in the distinction between knowledge and action ultimately stems from the following ontological differences: pre-Qin Confucianism is a humanistic philosophy centered on the concept of “Dao” (the Way), while Song-Ming Confucianism is a humanistic philosophy centered on the concept of “Li” (principle). From the pre-Qin to the Song-Ming period, the transformation of Confucianism manifests as a change in its basic vocabulary, which is the rationalization of the Dao.

During the Song and Ming dynasties, Chinese philosophy underwent a shift in its “basic vocabulary”: the humanistic approach centered on “Dao” (the Way) in the pre-Qin and Han-Tang periods transformed into one centered on “Li” (principle). This phenomenon, known as the “rationalization of Dao,” is fundamental to understanding the philosophical consciousness of the Song and Ming dynasties. Although the School of Mind (心学) emerged after Lu Jiuyuan and Wang Yangming, it remains, in essence, a form of Neo-Confucianism. This is because neither Lu Jiuyuan’s “original mind” (本心) nor Wang Yangming’s “innate knowledge” (良知), as the spiritual subject, correspond to the Dao (Heavenly Way) but rather to the principle (天理). They frequently say that the mind is principle, and innate knowledge is the principle of Heaven, but rarely that the mind or innate knowledge is the Dao. This is the root of the concept of experiencing the essence of things in stillness, which frequently appears in Song and Ming Confucianism, by detaching oneself from human affairs and sensory practice. This concept of contemplating the essence of things manifests in various forms in Song and Ming Confucianism, such as experiencing the unmanifested in stillness, penetrating the essence of things, sudden enlightenment, and abrupt awakening. Ultimately, these forms a kind of “knowledge detached from action” (as described by Wang Chuanshan), that is, a pure theoretical consciousness detached from sensory practice. It is precisely this contemplative “knowledge detached from action” that undermines the principle of prioritizing practice established by pre-Qin philosophy. The saying in the *Shangshu* (Book of Documents), “It is not the difficulty of knowing, but the difficulty of doing,” represents the pre-Qin understanding of the problem of knowledge and action, the key point of which is the priority of practice (action) over knowledge. …

2013/02/27

Professor Tzu Chung-Yun’s View on How Americans and Modern Chinese Should Respect the Outside World

Speaker: Zi Zhongyun

Speaker’s Affiliation: Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Updated: 2013-02-27 09:00

She began with the Mayflower Movement, saying that America began with Puritan refugees and adventurous famine refugees who handled public affairs through elections and negotiation. After the founding of the nation, people continued to develop the West, following the same path: self-governance. In each new place, they established three things: churches, schools, and post offices. Pastors, like traditional Chinese branch secretaries, managed everything. (It’s very similar to three generations, but one is a primitive society, while America is a secondary society.)

Spencer proposed Social Darwinism. In mid-19th century Europe, the ills of capitalism emerged, and socialist doctrines flourished. The United States, half a century later, experienced a boom in newspapers in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The invention of rotary printing exposed the darker side of society and stimulated the development of sociology. A negative aspect of American democracy is the corruption of members of Congress, who represent local interest groups. The right to information, or communication, is the foundation of democracy.

She said that the United States promotes democracy and freedom domestically, but acts as a hegemonic superpower, bullying smaller countries. (This is similar to ancient Greece and modern Europe, which engaged in conquest and exploitation.)

2013/02/27

Lektorsky Academician Series Lectures

Speaker: Lektorsky

Speaker’s Affiliation: Russian Academy of Sciences

After the end of philosophy, what is philosophy? There are three perspectives: linguistic analysis, the study of consciousness, and the study of the scientific basis. The lecturer believes that philosophy studies the relationship between humans and the world, which has a paradoxical aspect: the world is in the human brain, and the human brain is in the world.

Activity theory views human cognition as a continuous process of activity.

2013/02/27

Writing Thoughts: The Original Social Aesthetic Order and the Self-Justifying Tendency of China’s Secondary Society

In ancient Greece, facing war and competition, relatively fixed social pursuits emerged, leading to a mature secondary society. This fostered the development of Socratic dialectics, a method of seeking truth, and a democratic system of public debate and voting, all of which were driven by the desire to clarify facts and seek truth.

The Art of War and the ancient Greek phalanx embody the former’s broad vision and the latter’s focus on constantly pursuing material-level effects.

When people from primitive societies are brought to secondary societies, they face numerous possibilities, making it impossible for them to pursue and take things seriously like in ancient Greece. The transition from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period was the moment that brought a primitive society to a secondary society, and peasant wars in Chinese history also faced the same predicament. This led to the farcical phenomenon of the Zeng Guofan peasant army and the Hong Xiuquan peasant army facing off. Similarly, Mao Zedong relied on peasants to seize power, but a few years later, he nationalized all the land allocated to them, excessively requisitioned farmers’ grain, leading to the starvation of farmers while urban residents did not go hungry.

Practical reason can have many self-contradictory forms.

(The *Critique of Practical Reason* is the culmination and purpose of Kant’s earlier work, *Critique of Pure Reason*. “Practical reason” refers to the will of the practical subject; the “critique” of practical reason is to examine the nature of the “will” that prescribes moral behavior and the principles it follows. The book comprises two main parts: “the principle of pure practical reason” and “the methodology of pure practical reason.”) The book’s significant theoretical meaning lies in its highlighting of the issue of human subjectivity, emphasizing the dignity and sublimity of personality, and demonstrating a strong humanistic spirit. Human reason has two functions: the cognitive function and the volitional function. Kant called the former theoretical reason and the latter practical reason. In modern philosophy, Kant was the first to introduce the category of practice into philosophy, although his understanding of practice was limited to the realm of ethics. Practical reason is the realm of freedom. McCormick believes that practical reason is the use of reason to determine how to act appropriately in specific situations.

Li Zehou said that Chinese tradition is an inseparable culture of musicality and practical rationality, which is different from the Western dialectical rationality and practical rationality, which can be separated.

2013/02/28

Historical ontology and Li Zehou’s philosophy

Li Zehou: Practical Rationality and the Culture of Pleasure, Sanlian Bookstore, 2005.

Li’s philosophy is called historical ontology, also known as subjective practical philosophy or the philosophy of eating. This book is a condensed version of his philosophy. Historical ontology is based on Marx, Kant, and Chinese tradition. (Yu Sheng: Primitive society had practical reason, but not historical ontology. The linear evolutionary view of history is suitable for Chinese bureaucratic intellectuals, but not for farmers. Replacing Western religious transcendence with history is only suitable for bureaucratic intellectuals.)

The following is excerpted from: Xu Youyu: Reading Li Zehou’s new book “Practical Rationality and the Culture of Joy”.

　　Written in 2004, “On Practical Reason and the Culture of Joy” is divided into two parts. The first part, “The Logic of Practical Reason,” attempts to provide a more systematic expression of his philosophical system, especially in defining his basic concepts such as “practical reason,” “practice,” and “empirical rationality.” These concepts form the backbone of Li’s system, and his overall approach is to synthesize the ideas of Marx, traditional Chinese thought, and the American pragmatist philosopher John Dewey.

　　The next section is about “The Essence of Emotion,” which is the core of Li Zehou’s classification of Chinese tradition as a culture of joy. Here, “emotion” is based on human existence in this world, contrasting with the Western tradition’s emphasis on the absolute and transcendent. It refers to family affection and even interpersonal relationships. Li Zehou speaks with ease and confidence on this topic. Listen to his words: “From ancient times to the present, from the upper elites to the common people, from erotic paintings to birthday celebrations, from toasting rituals to drinking games (‘wine culture’), from heart-to-heart talks to casual conversation (‘tea culture’), from food, clothing, housing, and transportation to sex, health, longevity, and entertainment, all demonstrate the essence of Chinese culture’s pursuit of happiness through the essence of emotion in celebrating birthdays, enjoying life, affirming life, and daily existence.” Despite knowing full well that death is the end, like fireworks, that life is short and the world is impermanent, I still bravely face the hardships of life without fear of emptiness.

　　　It must be acknowledged that Li Zehou is the foremost philosopher in mainland China in terms of his ability to construct a philosophical system. If he had lived in Hegel’s time, his philosophy might have become a state philosophy, because his “philosophy of eating” and Hegel’s “what is rational” share a similar essence. Following Plato’s concept of “philosophy—the king,” a division of labor should have developed, with state philosophy not being crafted by monarchs or leaders, but by specialists. However, China’s development was completely haphazard, skipping this stage entirely. I think the resulting sense of loss and loneliness may be even greater than the forgetting of the past.

　　Li Zehou extensively used Western philosophical materials in constructing his system, but fundamentally, he didn’t understand Western philosophy very well. Of course, he understood Marxism and had studied German classical philosophy, one of its sources. He especially lacked understanding of contemporary philosophy, which is why he could utter such laughable statements: “All schools of 20th-century philosophy are characterized by anti-historical and dehumanizing tendencies, thus reducing people to animals rather than machines.” He could never grasp the metaphysics and transcendental dimensions of the Western tradition. His system couldn’t escape the traditional Chinese framework of “cultivating oneself, regulating one’s family, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world.” Perhaps no one told him this. What he was out of touch with wasn’t the times or the people, but philosophy itself.

The following is from Wikipedia: The philosophical composition of Li:

Practical Philosophy of Subjectivity

The ¡ °Practical Philosophy of Subjectivity¡ ± is the study of the human being on two levels, each level with its own internal additional two sub-levels of content: ##1. that of humankind, with both a techno-social structure and a ¡ °cultural-psychological¡ ± formation and ##2. that of the individual, at once a member of a society, a social class, an ethnicity, etc., and at the same time a distinct body and mind. These four dimensions interact and are interwoven.

With this construct of ¡ °Subjectivity,¡ ± the most fundamental dimension is the technosocial. ¡ °Human beings first need to ensure their bodily existence before they can occupy themselves with other matters.¡ ± But the cultural-psychological aspect, ritual, communal and linguistic dimension separates humans from animals.[6]

Motor Thinking

Motor Thinking is the conscious coordination of using a tool. To elaborate, the use of tools is not an instinctive biological activity, but rather one ¡ °attained and consolidated through a long period of posteriori learning from experience.¡ ± The Motor Thinking process creates self consciousness arising from the attention paid to tool making. Transmission of tool based activities to others, using primitive language, results in semantic thinking: ¡ °The forms of motor thinking gradually made way for the forms of language-led thought.¡ ± Coupled with primitive language, motor thinking ultimately results in the creation of a ¡ °vague, common consciousness of being a community.¡ ± which develops into the ¡ °symbolic tools of shamanic rites and ceremonies resulting in the establishment of primitive human society fundamentally different from that of the animals.¡ ±

Chinese Aesthetics and the Relation to Freedom

Li identifies four features that sum up his views on Chinese aesthetics. The concept of Li/Yue (Music/Joy) holds a central place in Chinese culture, ¡ °Music is joy.¡ ± Music has a civilizing effect and ¡ °prevents human emotions from developing in an animal-like fashion.¡ ± Music causes ¡ °people to be on good terms with each other, promoting harmony in society.¡ ± Music is linear, flows in time, and expresses emotion. From this linearity derives the second feature of Chinese aesthetics – the importance of the line in Chinese art. Li recalls that Immanuel Kant also felt was the superior aesthetic visual format. (Chinese art also emphasizes the expression of emotion and pays particular attention to rhythm, rhyme and flavor.) He then goes on to describe the third element which is the blending of feeling and reason: “imaginative reality is more significant than sensible reality.” Finally, he lists the “union of heaven and humankind” and describes it as the “fundamental spirit of Chinese philosophy…the relation between human and human, and between humankind and nature.” He then proclaims that “to roam with the arts” is essential to the attainment of freedom. Freedom is neither heaven-sent nor given at birth as Rousseau suggested. Freedom is established by humankind…” For Li, aesthetics are important!

Impact on Conventional Chinese Thought

Li also wrote critiques of contemporary Chinese thought in the second half of the 1980¡ ¯s. Li Zehou¡ ¯s 1987 essay ¡ °The Western is the Substance, and the Chinese is for Application,¡ ± turned conventional contemporary Chinese thought on its head. Li stated that Western Learning encompasses technology as well as conceptual systems and philosophies including Marxism and is the pluralistic and diverse technosocial basis of modern day China¡ ¯s reality. Li Zehou concluded that the Chinese application should adapt Western Learning with Chinese traditions, influencing but not dictating the results. To paraphrase, the goal of this examination synthesis should preserve in ethics the strength and splendor of giving precedence to others before oneself; should preserve the value of intuition within the process of reasoning, and should preserve the rich Chinese culture with regard to the handling of inter-human relationships.

In “Dual Variation of Enlightenment and Nationalism”, Li Zehou argued that all modern concepts such as freedom, independence human rights, which were discarded after 1919, and all Chinese traditions should be analyzed and investigated. He wrote that following a relatively long period of peace, developing prosperity and modernization, China would benefit from an examination of the West¡ ¯s ¡ °centuries of experience in political-legal theory and practice such as the separations of the three powers,¡ °. He foresaw that the concept of freedom limited by law would protect the weak and prevent Party officials standing above the law.

The following is from Baidu Baike (Baidu Encyclopedia).

Aesthetics:

Li Zehou’s contribution lies in introducing the concept of “practice” into the study of the essence of beauty. Li Zehou argues that the reason individuals can appreciate nature from an aesthetic perspective is because human “practice” alters the relationship between nature and humanity, transforming nature, which was originally opposed to humanity, into nature that is, to some extent, human-centered—what is called “humanized nature.” The exploration of the essence of beauty should not primarily rely on the so-called reflections at the level of individual psychological consciousness, but rather on the creation at the level of collective human material practice. This creative practice is process-oriented; therefore, the understanding of the essence of beauty cannot be limited to the horizontal cognitive relationship of individual aesthetic sense, but must also turn to the vertical historical process of the formation of beauty. It is in this sense that Li Zehou criticizes: “In Cai Yi’s work, ‘human beings’ exist merely as observers and acquaintances; they are not seen as simultaneously practitioners and transformers of reality.” In the birth of beauty, and simultaneously in the historical process of culture and civilization, the passive and reactive “mind,” or “aesthetic sense,” as a tool of reflection, naturally transforms into “human beings” who create history and themselves. Their scope of activity expands, and the rigid dichotomy between mind and matter is dissolved. “Practice” As a bridge connecting the subject and the object, it enables dialogue and exchange between humans as the subject and nature as the object, thus making a higher level of unity possible.

Practice

In the mid-1970s and early 1980s, Li Zehou, through critical research on Kantian philosophy, proposed the slogan “Subjective Practical Philosophy,” and based on this premise, conducted new explorations into many issues related to aesthetics. Although acknowledging that the subject exists on two different levels—the collective and the individual—the category of “subjectivity” is primarily defined in connection with “human nature”: “This humanistic structure of subjectivity is the internalization of reason (intellectual structure), the condensation of reason (will structure), and the sedimentation of reason (aesthetic structure). These, as universal forms, are confirmation of the suprabiological nature of humankind. In this sense, the individual’s survival activities, however important, still play the role of a vehicle, a form of manifestation.” The 1950s and 60s… Practical aesthetics, which attaches the determining power of essence to material practice as a species, retains this tendency in subjective practical philosophy: This does not mean that human subjective will, emotion, and thought are unimportant or ineffective, but rather that, philosophically speaking, they cannot function at the level of the ultimate source and essence of beauty. “Human” more specifically refers to humanity, not to an individual.

Accumulation:

We need to study how rational things are expressed in sensibility, how social things are expressed in the individual, and how historical things are reproduced in the psyche. Later, I coined the term “sedimentation,” which refers to the accumulation and sedimentation of social, rational, and historical things into an individual, sensual, and intuitive state, achieved through the process of “humanizing nature.” In this sense, the concept of “sedimentation” has not truly resolved the inherent tension in “subjective practice philosophy”—the need to affirm the individual’s position while upholding a collectivist stance.

The essence of emotion

Beginning in the late 1980s, the concept of “emotional ontology,” which differs significantly in temperament from the category of “subjectivity,” has increasingly attracted attention in Li Zehou’s aesthetic and philosophical thinking. Li Zehou has moved from “instrumental ontology” to “emotional ontology”: from Cheng-Zhu to Yangming to modern Neo-Confucianism, they all spoke of “principle ontology” and “nature ontology.” This “ontology” still compels people to submit to a knowledge-and-morality system or structure that is essentially based on power control. I believe that it is not “nature” (principle), but “emotion”; not “nature (principle) ontology,” but “emotional ontology”; not a metaphysics of morality, but an aesthetic metaphysics—this is the direction for a change today. Li Zehou’s reason for moving towards “emotional ontology,” according to his own explanation, is that “anthropological historical ontology” takes “human existence” as its starting point, and therefore names “human practical activities of using and manufacturing tools” as “instrumental ontology.” With the development of social productivity and the improvement of modern living standards, the moment when the spiritual world dominates and guides humanity’s future will clearly arrive. History will move away from historical materialism, and people will move away from traditional “Marxism.” Consequently, “psychological ontology” (the question of “human heart” versus “heavenly heart”) will replace “instrumental ontology” and become the focus of attention. He thus proposes “emotional ontology.” The concept of “subjectivity-based philosophy” reflects Li Zehou’s efforts to adapt to the direction of modern social development and the dominant trends in world philosophy, transcending the “subjectivity-based philosophy.” However, the loss of “emotional ontology” transcends character in a metaphysical sense, which is intrinsically related to his consistent emphasis on “instrumental ontology.” In Li Zehou’s thinking, transcendental value concerns and the pursuit of individual existential meaning do not constitute an internal link in the process of human practice. They are not essentially related to economic development, but are merely rights, enjoyments, and luxuries that people can obtain after “economic development” and social development to a higher stage. In “practical aesthetics,” the meaning of individual survival activities, including individual aesthetics and freedom, is defined as a form that embodies the necessity of “instrumental ontology,” while… The emotional ontology is defined as a highly developed derivative or embellishment of the tool ontology.

Reading, Listening, and Thinking Notes, March 2013

2013/03/2

Taking classes online:

Legal Studies in the Era of Globalization

Speaker: Deng Zhenglai

Speaker’s Affiliation: Fudan University

He said that modern globalization is a new thing, a new world, just like Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries, when it entered modern Europe from the Middle Ages and faced a new thing and a new world. That’s why philosophers like Rousseau established a new worldview for the times and a new political and legal philosophy for the new world.

He said that he smokes, but when he goes abroad, he feels embarrassed to smoke because nobody smokes there. China also bans smoking in public places, but nobody cares, and people still smoke. Why do Chinese people have this attitude towards the law? (Yu Sheng: There was a large sign that smoking was prohibited in the hospital, with a possible fine of up to HK$2,000. No one was seen smoking inside the hospital afterwards, but there were small groups of people smoking outside the hospital entrance. Brenda was only seen smoking once in the hospital courtyard, and she stopped herself. There are public smoking rooms in shopping malls. On March 1, 2013, Hong Kong banned the carrying of two cans of infant formula out of the city, and customs arrested ten people. The law stipulated a fine of HK$500,000 and two years imprisonment for violators, which was clearly excessive, using so-called increased punishment to deter offenders. Yu Sheng: Stealing HK$200 from a bank could result in four or five years imprisonment.) (Epoch Times: On March 1, Hong Kong implemented new regulations to combat the smuggling of infant formula to mainland China.) Under the new regulations, unless a permit is granted, it is prohibited to carry more than 1.8 kg of total net weight, equivalent to two cans of infant formula, out of the country. Those carrying formula must be at least 16 years old and have not left Hong Kong in the past 24 hours. Offenders, upon conviction, can be fined HK$500,000 and imprisoned for two years.

He said that China’s transformation is chaotic, with law and society indistinguishable, and law and politics indistinguishable, and that China’s holistic nature is in opposition to the independence and autonomy of the West.

2013/03/04

A Study of the Political Thought of Cao Feng in “Lüshi Chunqiu”

The main texts are “Rectification of Names” and “Examination of Divisions”.

February 19, 2013. Source: *Learning Lamp*, Issue 18.

This article includes a conclusion, which is worth reading. It reveals the fundamental difference between the language of primitive society and that of secondary society. The former involves aesthetic and emotional communication, and its meaning is flexible and fluid, without the need for precise and fixed semantics; secondary society, on the other hand, requires precisely defined language to avoid misunderstandings. This article discusses this process in detail. The pre-Qin philosophers, while discussing these issues, also introduced a large number of new nouns and concepts, indicating that a process of secondary socialization of language occurred during the transition from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period.

2013/03/04

Yusheng: The Subjective Expression of Chinese Poetry

Mencius said that the poetry of the Spring and Autumn period ended with the decline of poetry. The social custom of reciting poetry in social interactions disappeared during the Warring States period, replaced by lengthy analyses and arguments by persuaders. Qu Yuan’s poems, like those of the Spring and Autumn period, were also lengthy narratives. The gentle and honest style of Spring and Autumn poetry greatly diminished, replaced by lengthy complaints. This represented a transformation in lifestyle and culture, from a beautiful and tranquil pastoral life to one of turmoil, ambition, and failure. As ordinary people, social life deteriorated rapidly, but people in the early stages of society adapted and endured secondary social events by viewing them as climate change; although they felt sorrow, it did not extend to the secondary social level. Only Qu Yuan was an exception; he, with the sensibilities of an intellectual, felt the sorrow of ordinary people: the scene of people fleeing famine and migrating eastward.

Qu Yuan was the voice of an era that lacked the ability to express itself. He felt the sorrow of the times and combined the sorrow of the times with his personal experience, becoming the voice and spokesperson of the times.

Compared to ancient Greek tragedy, which had a popular appeal and featured noble and tragic figures confronting their fates, thus elevating their sublimity and greatness, Qu Yuan’s works lacked this perspective—the ability to confront the tragedies of his time and become a towering tragic giant. Instead, he sought liberation through Daoist escapism and fantasy, a path that influenced later Chinese literature, particularly during the Song Dynasty.

Qu Yuan was the lament of the Warring States period, a voice of the times, but he sought personal liberation, failing to become a more positive and uplifting figure of life, especially compared to the tragedies of ancient Greece. China has never truly lacked the lofty image of the ancient Greek kings and Hamlet. Precisely because of this, the ratio of “I” to “me” in the subject and object of poetry after the Tang Dynasty is similar to that of the suicide Qu Yuan. They neither became the lofty image of the ancient Greek kings and Hamlet, nor did they lament like Qu Yuan. They either hid their broken arms in their sleeves or sought self-liberation through Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism, remaining silent in the world.

2013/03/8

Read: Pang Hui: On the Schools of Thought in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods and the Tradition of Official Learning in the Western Zhou Dynasty

March 7, 2013. Source: *Learning Lamp*, Issue 21.

Abstract: The official academic tradition of the Western Zhou Dynasty, with its core elements of the “Six Arts” (rites, music, archery, charioteering, calligraphy, and mathematics), served as the cultural womb for the various schools of thought during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, and was the “traditional culture” that these schools of thought had to confront when establishing their doctrines. Superficially, the attitudes of the various schools of thought towards the Western Zhou official academic tradition differed greatly: Confucianism, which prided itself on “transmitting but not creating,” resolutely defended it; Mohism sought to reshape the tradition, intending to abolish it; Daoism adopted a stance of detachment with inclusion; and Legalism, focusing on reality, rejected the tradition altogether. The history of the era of the various schools of thought was a history of eliminating the old tradition and shaping a new one under the guidance of Legalist doctrine. However, Legalism’s attempt to sever the connection between the old and new traditions was rejected after the basic formation of the new tradition. After the era of the various schools of thought ended, the Western Zhou official academic tradition was molded into an authoritative intellectual force. The statement in the “Treatise on Literature” of the Book of Han that “all the philosophers originated from royal officials” reflects the recognition by Han Dynasty scholars under the “unified system” of the relationship between the Western Zhou official school tradition and Han culture.

2013/03/8

Read: Daniel Bell: From Marx to Confucius: Textual Changes in the Future of Chinese Politics

Published on 2013-03-07 by this website (http://www.zhongguosixiang.com/jingji/2013/0207/829.shtml)

Author: Daniel A. Bell; Translator: Wu Wanwei

The article states: “In the United States, the political future, for better or worse, is determined by the constitution, which has been in place for over 200 years. Unless drastic changes occur, such as nuclear war or a major terrorist attack, the political system is unlikely to undergo significant alterations in the coming decades. However, in China, the opposite is true; the political future is open.” “However, from a sociological perspective, it is quite interesting that so many people seem to derive psychological comfort from Confucian values.” “The possibility of the Chinese Communist Party being labeled the ‘Chinese Confucian Party’ in the coming decades is not entirely far-fetched.” “Confucian elite politics is achieved through the imperial examination system.” “Does Confucianism also pose a challenge to Western liberal democracy?” “There is reason to believe they coexist harmoniously, if not mutually reinforcing.” Many theorists believe they are consistent. (See, for example, Sor-Hoon Tan’s book *Confucian Democracy*.) In political practice, they often coexist harmoniously; for instance, *Wang* argues that the main leaders of various democratic movements in contemporary Chinese history all drew inspiration from Confucianism.¹⁰ Influential figures of the early 20th century, such as Sun Yat-sen, Kang Youwei, and Liang Qichao, all received Confucian educations. They believed that democratic institutions, such as parliamentary systems, elections, and equality of rights, were natural extensions of Confucianism. In his book published in Taiwan, titled *Life Faith and Benevolent Politics*, Chiang Ching proposed an interesting tripartite parliamentary system, consisting of a “Common People’s Council” representing public opinion, a “Comprehensive Confucian Academy” selecting Confucian elites through competitive examinations, and a “National Sports Academy” entrusted with the task of preserving and continuing cultural traditions.

2013/03/09

Read: Liu Wenjin: The Tragedy of the European Spirit and Levinas’s Reflections. 2013-03-08 Source: *Xue Deng* (Learning Lamp), Issue 23

2013/03/10

Online course: Introduction to Marxist Philosophy

Speaker: Yang Xuegong

Speaker’s Affiliation: Peking University

The lecture explained the division of labor: natural division of labor (men and women, age, etc., natural environment and lifestyle); the division of labor in agriculture and animal husbandry; the division of labor in handicrafts; the emergence of cities and rural areas; the coercive and alienating nature of the division of labor, which separates spiritual and material production. Exploitation: from the worker’s perspective, it provides a reason for revolution; from the capitalist’s perspective, it is unjust, an unfair distribution, and a pursuit of social justice.

Yu Sheng: 1) The legitimacy of social accumulation, that is, the justifiable part of exploitation, and how social accumulation makes economic development and technological modernization possible. Society has yet to establish a mechanism for social management based on this social accumulation, resulting in a small number of people in power, including elected officials. 2) Christian religion has a mitigating and counteracting effect on worker exploitation and alienation. If workers increase their income and significantly improve their lives because of the existence of capitalists, they may not care about the exploitative aspects of capitalism. The positive aspects of the opium effect of religion. 3) If the division of labor in a secondary society is viewed as a game, and secondary society is seen as a game, if workers have sufficient leisure time and a relaxed mindset, they will not care about the existence of exploitation.

Yu Sheng: From the leisurely life of a squirrel to modern labor: 1) Agriculturalization involves short-term or even strenuous labor for future investment, but without spiritual alienation. 2) Agriculturalization is accompanied by a short lifespan, possibly due to agricultural ills; the extent of the farmers’ spiritual suffering is unknown. 3) Craftsmen make tools for many people, allowing for long-term work, but also enabling squirrel-like and farmer-like work. 4) The emergence of the coercive forces of secondary society is the establishment of Marx’s mechanism of production society; individuals cannot live independently outside this mechanism, as in Western society during Marx’s time; however, Chinese history has consistently lacked this mechanism. 5) The video of chimpanzees observing dead rats shows that humans have the ability to concentrate on one thing for a long time, and this ability itself is a kind of progress and new ability for humans to enjoy life, not a kind of toil. Einstein considered hundreds and thousands of absurd ideas over the years, 99% of which were useless. One accidental success was a groundbreaking discovery. Einstein found joy in this kind of long-term contemplation. Humanity can embrace many seemingly arduous human experiences with a joyful attitude.

The lecturer stated that capital itself is expansive, maximizing profits by dominating global markets. Marx spoke of India, saying that these idyllic rural communes, however peaceful and harmless they may appear, are ultimately the solid foundation of Eastern despotism. They confine the mind to a very small scope, turning it into a docile tool of superstition, a slave to tradition, incapable of any great achievements or historical innovation. Marx viewed China with similar ideas, believing that the West had a dual mission: to break down the old traditions of the East and to build a new world. Marx also described the Russian rural communes, suggesting two possibilities: 1) being broken down and assimilated by capitalism, and 2) directly entering communism through the canyons of capitalism.

Yu Sheng argues that India and China had the right to refuse the dumping of Western goods and capitalist practices, even through Western democratic decision-making processes. However, neither China nor India possessed democratic systems at the time. China’s autocratic dynasties’ closed-door policy had its justifications, while the West used cannons and opium to force open China’s doors. This demonstrates that global modernization is merely one of many forms of secondary society; it was commodities and cannons that propelled the entire world into modernization. Marx’s above statement, “It does not demonstrate any great achievements or historical pioneering spirit,” is essentially a Eurocentric view, assuming that modernization is the only historical direction of progress.

2013/03/11

Online courses: Theories and practices of Western historical anthropology

Speaker: Lu Qihong

Speaker’s Affiliation: Fudan University

The shift in Western history and anthropology has been characterized by: a shift from economics and population to culture and emotion; a shift in the primary sources of influence from sociology, economics, and demography to anthropology and psychology; a shift in subject matter from history to the individual; a shift in patterns from a single model to multiple models and interrelationships; a shift from groups to individual cases; a shift from analysis to narration; and a shift from a scientific approach to a literary one. In short, the integration of history, sociology, and anthropology has formed the basis of modern historical anthropology.

2013/03/12

Excerpt: From the “Preface to A Critique of Political Economy,” Selected Works of Marx and Engels, 1972, Vol. 2, p. 82.

Marx said, “It is not human social consciousness that determines social existence, but rather social existence that determines the realm of people’s spiritual and political life.”

Marx’s view that matter determines spirit is based on his observation of European history, which followed the path of building material civilization in the leisure time of its citizens, a path that was related to the escalating wars in the world.

Viewing this issue from the perspective of a two-tiered society, primitive society viewed leisure time as a kind of game. This game itself was a product of existing ideas, leading to concrete actions; that is, leisure time prioritized the spiritual over the material. Furthermore, primitive society was genetically determined, with only one form. Ideological and cultural influences lacked the power to transform human nature or change primitive society; the spirit had no effect on society or individuals. A two-tiered society, however, has countless forms. Even if a society chooses one form, it constantly faces other possible choices, and in this process of selection, the spirit precedes the material.

2013/03/16

Online courses: The Logic of the Market

Speaker: Zhang Weiying

Speaker’s Affiliation: Peking University

The lecturer said that two major events ten thousand years ago—the melting of the ice sheet—divided the world into three worlds (Africa plus Eurasia, Australia and the Pacific, and the Americas), each of which developed independently until 500 years ago.

Yu Sheng: 1) The three worlds illustrate that animistic beliefs were more prevalent and primitive in early societies, with many religions developing later. The South and Central America had developed religions, while the original North America remained animistic. 2) Comparing the three continents, the more civilized and populous the region, the fiercer the warfare. 3) Comparing the three, the larger the land area, the more advanced the civilization. This challenges the theory of territorial limitations, demonstrating another problematic aspect: under the condition of territorial limitations, humanity can still cooperate peacefully, rather than engage in competition and war.

The lecturer stated that there are two paths to pursuing happiness: 1) The robbery logic, either through the distribution of wealth or through legal acts of robbery. 2) The market logic, either through commodity markets or religion. World history is a result of the interaction of these two logics. Qin Shi Huang exemplifies the robbery logic, while the European Community exemplifies the market logic. World War II saw Germany and Japan employ the robbery logic, which subsequently evolved into the market logic after the war.

… (Capital) Market Logic: 2.5 Million Years of Human Economic History: In the past 250 years (0.01% of human history), the world’s per capita GDP has increased 37 times, reaching 6,600 international dollars (humanity has not actually made great progress in the long run, but there has been a big leap in the last 250 years).

2013/03/22

Yusheng: A Comparison of Chinese and Western War Cultures Through the Difference Between Art and Technology

(This topic came to mind while watching a Chinese martial arts film on the plane back to China! I will expand this article by searching for more information on kung fu online later, as a supplementary part.)

Sun Tzu’s *Art of War* is an art, while the ancient Greek phalanx, its counterpart, can only be considered a technique. The formations and organization of armies can also be called techniques. Techniques are constantly evolving and upgrading, which is why the ancient Greek phalanx, a symbol of the maturity of Western military culture, only remained popular for a few centuries before disappearing. Sun Tzu’s *Art of War*, however, seems to have an enduring legacy. Therefore, Mao Zedong’s Ten Military Principles were once ridiculed as a mere copy of Sun Tzu’s *Art of War*. While this claim of copying is somewhat extreme, it is a fact that Mao Zedong still applied Sun Tzu’s *Art of War* to command 20th-century warfare. Considering that, like the ancient Greek phalanx and the Spring and Autumn Period in China, generals were expected to lead from the front and charge into battle, the Greek phalanx itself encompassed both generals and soldiers, organizing all participants in the war. In contrast, warfare in the era of Sun Tzu’s Art of War was divided into generals and soldiers. Just as a general’s life could be an art, so too could a soldier’s life—this is the origin of the famous martial arts and kung fu.

Sun Tzu’s Art of War was translated as The Art of War, and similarly, Chinese martial arts were translated as the art of war. The term “kung fu,” which is popular in the West recently, is a direct transliteration. This better reflects that Chinese war culture, unlike the West, does not constantly escalate but remains at the same level, seeking an artistic approach.

The author has pointed out that China condensed the West’s continuously evolving 5,000-year history of warfare into the 250 years of the Warring States period, with two thousand years of stability before and after. From the early 20th century, the Qing Dynasty army, before its collapse, still used swords and bows, indicating limited progress in weaponry and warfare technology in China. While Western civilization has undergone continuous social and cultural evolution over 5,000 years, from primitive, slave, and feudal societies to capitalist societies, the vast majority of Chinese peasants remained in a primitive state, lacking the Western-style hierarchical social structure. Similarly, while Western warfare technology advanced rapidly, China in the early 20th century was still preoccupied with martial arts and kung fu.

Modern kung fu films mostly attract audiences with exaggerated and fantastical techniques, similar to the fantasy tastes of modern Western literature. This once again proves that the rural realities of China’s quasi-primitive society have endowed Chinese culture with modern elements since ancient times. The exaggerated and fantastical elements in Chinese rural culture are related to the perspective of leisure life in primitive society.

2013/03/22

Yusheng: The Biological Driving Force of Human Civilization

According to Darwin’s theory, the driving force of biological evolution is natural selection, a theory that has been widely accepted in academia. However, we should also see the limitations of this theory: organisms do not fight and struggle for individual survival until the moment of death as we imagine. They give up the motivation to survive when life becomes slightly difficult or the environment deteriorates slightly.

Civilized humans have broken free from the constraints of human nature and the trajectory of biological evolution based on natural selection.

1) The passage about the military competition and Toynbee’s conversation in the first article of Xue Deng is placed here.

2) When humans no longer faced external threats to their survival, they created a biological environment based on natural selection to continue evolving, essentially becoming their own enemy.

3) Innate biological factors that drive humanity to create a competitive, survival-of-the-fittest biological environment for continued evolution: a) The way to overcome anxiety is to fight, to fight to the death without regret or fear. b) Ancient Greek tragedy, facing a tragic life while pursuing lofty aspirations and character. c) Civilized humans possess the ability to transform bitterness into sweetness through thought, making it possible for humanity to create a harsh living environment for itself by being its own enemy.

2013/03/28

Reading Zhang Zailin’s “The Pursuit of True Friendship”: The Ultimate Value of Ancient Chinese Intellectuals (http://www.confucius2000.com/admin/list.asp?id=5610)

Abstract: Chinese culture’s deep-seated preference for “communicative rationality” rather than “cognitive rationality” determined that the “Dao” pursued by ancient Chinese intellectuals was more akin to a “Dao of communication” or a “Dao of interaction.” Simultaneously, the “empathic” nature of Chinese culture concretized this pursuit as a “seeking of mutual understanding” between individual lives, rather than a “seeking of consensus” among abstract ideas like those of Habermas. This “seeking of mutual understanding” initially originated from the chivalrous act of “a gentleman dies for one who understands him” by ancient Chinese knights-errant. Later, through the theory and practice of Confucius’s “Ren” (benevolence), it was sublimated into a conscious and universal life pursuit of ancient Chinese intellectuals. In Chinese history, whether it was the “poetry community” of the Tang Dynasty… The emergence of the concept of “superiority of teachers and friends” in the late Ming Dynasty can both be seen as a concentrated manifestation of this pursuit of life values. Therefore, it is precisely in this pursuit of values ​​that not only has the true inner voice of ancient Chinese intellectuals been composed, but “long live understanding” has also become the main theme of Chinese culture throughout the ages.

Yu Sheng: As the saying goes, “A scholar will die for one who understands him.” (Zhang Zailin: This saying comes from the mouth of Yu Rang, a famous hero of ancient times.)

The claim that the chivalrous act of Confucius was based on insufficient evidence may be unfounded. However, it aligns with the perspective of early social leisure activities and collective entertainment.

The author also says, “Jürgen Habermas (Jürgen Habermas, June 18, 1929)…”

Habermas is one of the most important figures in contemporary Western philosophy, even arguably the “Kant of the contemporary world.” His ability to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Kant and be considered a pivotal philosopher stems from two main reasons: first, if Kantian philosophy represents the culmination of the epistemological shift in Western philosophy, then Habermas’s philosophy embodies the highest achievement of this linguistic shift; second, this highest achievement of the linguistic shift is manifested in Habermas’s integration and fusion of the semantic principles of truth, the morphological principles of good, and the pragmatic principles of beauty inherent in linguistic communication. This integration makes linguistic behavior omnipresent and all-encompassing, encompassing truth, goodness, and beauty, while simultaneously establishing a new and more robust paradigm of rationality. The communicative rational paradigm emerged as a unique and crucial theoretical foundation upon which all human culture rests.

According to Wikipedia, Habermas’s theory of knowledge states that any knowledge originates from an interest. He proposes three types of human interests[1]:

1) “Experience-analysis-based scientific research” includes the cognitive interest in technology.

2) “Historical-Hermeneutic Scientific Research” includes practical cognitive interests.　

3) Critically oriented scientific research, containing a liberating cognitive interest. (Habermas, Jrgen. Knowledge and Human Interests. Trans. Jeremy Shapiro. Boston: Beacon Press, 1971.)

Yu Sheng: Habermas’s idea that knowledge originates from interest aligns with the amateur perspective of early society.

The following is from Baidu Encyclopedia: Types of Interactive Actions

In his theory of communicative behavior, he categorized human behavior into four types.

First, there is purposeful behavior. This is mainly concentrated in the production field, and involves activities that use instrumental rationality to transform the objective world. However, constrained by objective conditions, this behavior not only fails to give full play to human subjectivity, but also becomes a means of suppressing people, and therefore lacks rationality.

Second, normative behavior. This refers to behavior aimed at the shared values ​​of the actors, mainly reflected in people’s subjective and social worlds of value recognition and adherence to norms.

Thirdly, there is theatrical behavior. Similar to Bacon’s theatrical illusion, he believed that society is a stage, where each individual must perform for an audience, reciting pre-prepared “lines” and expecting the audience to understand their “subtext.” Therefore, this is not a rational behavior. However, society needs this behavior because it is a form of social interaction. The first three types of behavior either suppress individual subjectivity or turn people into socialized symbols and alienate them into some kind of tool, thus all being irrational. Therefore, he proposed communicative behavior.

Fourthly, communicative action. Communicative action uses language or non-verbal symbols as tools to understand each other’s actions, enabling them to reach a consensus on how to effectively coordinate their behavior. It is a synthesis and subtraction of the subjective, objective, and social worlds, and therefore necessarily a rational behavior.

Functions of social behavior

Habermas argues that his concept of communicative behavior has four functions: first, the function of understanding, which helps in grasping knowledge; second, the function of cooperation, which enables society to form an organic whole in order to achieve social goals; third, the function of socialization, which enables individuals to identify with social norms and values, thereby helping to form a certain value orientation; and fourth, the function of social transformation, because the overall purpose of the first three functions is to rebuild historical materialism, restore the proper functions of capitalist countries, and realize the structural transformation, structural change, and social evolution of capitalist society.

Zhang Zailin said that, in ancient China, this not only aligned with Habermas’s thought, placing interpersonal interaction rather than the cognition of the objective world at the center of human culture, but also, coincidentally, like Habermas who introduced the concept of “communicative rationality,” endowed this seemingly subjective and accidental activity of interaction with objective necessity, similarly linking it with so-called “rationality,” and labeling it with the so-called “rationality.”

2013/03/29

Reading “Mao Zedong’s Thoughts on the Party’s Unchanging Nature: Worrying for the People and the Party” °Introduction

Director of the Center for World Socialism Studies, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Li Shenming, Vice President and Researcher of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

(Yusheng: The following is all copied text)

　For example, on July 28, 1975, just five days after Mao Zedong underwent cataract surgery, Dr. Tang Youzhi, the ophthalmologist who performed the surgery, recounted the experience: “At the time, only Chairman Mao and I were in the room. Wearing his glasses, Chairman Mao initially read quietly, then began to murmur something, and suddenly burst into tears. I saw him holding his book, his white hair trembling from crying, his sobs filled with sorrow and lament. The incident was sudden; I was both nervous and frightened, unsure what to do. I quickly went over to comfort him, urging him to control himself and not to damage his eyes.” After a while, Chairman Mao gradually calmed down and handed me the book. It turned out to be “Nian Nu Jiao: Climbing Duojing Tower” by Chen Liang, a famous thinker of the Southern Song Dynasty. Chen Liang strongly advocated resistance against the Jin Dynasty and repeatedly submitted memorials to Emperor Xiaozong, opposing the policy of “preserving the country in a corner,” denouncing treacherous officials like Qin Hui, and advocating the restoration of the unified empire. The court ignored him. Out of a sense of patriotism, Chen Liang submitted three more memorials in 1178. Because his memorials were frank and outspoken, boldly exposing the ministers’ appeasement and pursuit of peace, and the impractical empty talk of Confucian scholars, he incurred the hatred of those in power. Chen Liang was imprisoned twice and suffered severe setbacks and exclusion, but his determination to restore the Central Plains remained unchanged. In 1188, during the fifteenth year of the Chunxi reign of Emperor Xiaozong of Song, Chen Liang, in order to refute the fallacy of the surrender faction that “Jiangnan is not easy to defend,” personally went to Jingkou and Jiankang to observe the terrain. He planned to submit a memorial to Emperor Xiaozong based on his actual investigation findings, proposing a series of specific suggestions for managing the south, advancing into the Central Plains, and unifying the country. Duojing Tower, located in Ganlu Temple on Beigu Mountain in Zhenjiang, faces the Yangtze River to the north. Chen Liang, with his masterful pen, expressed his feelings directly in a poem: “Looking back from this perilous tower, how many people throughout history have understood this sentiment? A divine construct, mistaken for the boundaries between the south and north by heaven. A river stretches across, with hills on three sides, creating a majestic and imposing sight.” What were the affairs of the Six Dynasties, reduced to nothing more than private schemes among powerful families? I laugh at Wang and Xie, who, climbing high and gazing into the distance, also wept like heroes. Relying solely on the Yangtze River, they could not control the endless stench of the Yellow River and Luo River basins. Perfect timing for a long drive, no need to look back, to seek a vow made midstream. A mere child has defeated the bandits; with momentum established, why bother with a strong argument!

　　Mao Zedong has been gone for over 36 years. It’s difficult to accurately fathom the true state of mind of the leader at that time. But Mao’s state of mind now undoubtedly resonates with that of Chen Liang more than 700 years ago. Of all the known accounts of Mao’s weeping in his later years, this recent “wailing and lamenting” perhaps best reveals his anxieties, state of mind, and inner turmoil regarding the people and the Party in his later years. Therefore, I have devoted considerable space here to elaborating on this point.

Wang Xinde, a member of his medical team and an expert in neurology and geriatrics, recalled: “The Chairman insisted on personally reviewing every earthquake report that came in, despite his serious illness. The earthquake caused over 240,000 casualties, and the other losses were incalculable. When the secretary reported the extremely severe damage caused by the earthquake, the Chairman cried. This was the first time I had ever seen the Chairman so heartbroken.”

The stark contrast between Mao Zedong’s ideals and beliefs, his theories and the objective historical reality, and the limitations of his era that he himself could not overcome, and the situations that frequently occurred during the Cultural Revolution that even Mao Zedong himself could not imagine or control, ultimately resulted in a situation where “there were few supporters and many opponents” in the entire Party, the country, the nation, and the people. This left him in his later years in a state of constant worry, unease, loneliness, isolation, helplessness, despair, and even sadness, desolation, guilt, indignation, and pain in his thoughts, theories, and spirit.

On his deathbed, he repeatedly recited “Ode to a Withered Tree” by Yu Xin, a famous writer from the Northern and Southern Dynasties. The lines, “This tree, so graceful, has lost all its life!” and “Willows planted in the past, swaying gently in the south of the Han River. Now I see them withered and fallen, a sorrowful sight on the riverbank. If even the tree is like this, how can man bear it!” reflect his state of mind at that moment. His frequent tears, on another level, reflect his helplessness and powerlessness in the face of the unfortunate events that followed, as expressed in “His campaign unfinished, he died before achieving his goal, forever leaving heroes with tears in their eyes.”

Reading, Listening, and Thinking Notes, April 2013

2013/04/01

Reading Tong Zhengnian’s “Golden Glimpse” is a collection of short essays published by the author over the years while he worked as an editor for a local newspaper. The author states that he aspired to be a writer since childhood, but later discovered that he was not good at creative writing, and since the 1980s he has mainly focused on journalism, interviewing and reporting.

Tong was my classmate in elementary school, six years older than me. Reading his books, I learned about some things that happened in the nearby villages when I was a child, as well as some things that happened in rural Hebei in the 1960s and 70s. Tong was admitted to Hebei No. 1 Middle School in 1954, but after studying in Zhangzhuang Church in Xian County for a year, he transferred to Bozhen School. After graduating from high school, he was admitted to Tianjin Normal College, and after graduating in 1961, he became a teacher at the county committee school in Wen’an County. In 1974, he was transferred to Langfang, and in the 1980s, he began working as an editor of the supplement of the Langfang newspaper until his retirement.

After browsing through a few chapters, my impression is that the author’s thinking remains at the level of the 1960s, limited by the intellectual climate of that time, lacking any new ideas or deeper understanding of life. This is my initial impression, as I have not read the entire book.

2013/04/10

Read Ashwanisais’s “China and India: The Institutional Roots of Different Performance”

The article states that both countries inherited the widespread poverty of rural areas under the feudal labor system. A key difference lies in society and culture: China is a multi-ethnic country, with the Han Chinese comprising 90% of the population. Only one common language exists throughout the country—Mandarin Chinese. This cultural homogeneity provides an important and possible environment for China’s development, offering a broad basis for legitimacy in its political structure, ensuring the public nature of its social and cultural positioning and interests, and providing crucial assurance for what I call a transformation model involving nationwide mobilization. In contrast, India and China differ drastically in this respect: India’s culture and language are diverse, its caste structure and class differentiation are sensitive and complex, and its religious conflicts are acute. [1] China’s characteristics ensured that it could carry out such a radical institutional and economic transformation in such a short period of time; while the complexity of Indian society may make the rapid transformation process more difficult and fraught with tension. In China, power was concentrated in the hands of the revolutionary Communist Party based on workers and peasants, that is, the government was in the hands of the poor and their direct representatives. In contrast, control of the Indian independence movement was basically in the hands of the middle and upper classes and castes. Therefore, the state structure that emerged with independence, although embodying nationalism in language and to some extent, was basically still a tool for realizing the interests of the propertied class and caste. ¡±。。。¡ °III. Who is leading in development?

Since 1950, China has undeniably surpassed India in various economic and social indicators. Starting from roughly the same level in 1950, by 2003, China’s per capita income was twice that of India; regardless of the calculation method used, China’s total number of people living in poverty was far lower than India’s; China’s average life expectancy was 71 years, while India’s was 65 years; China’s adult literacy rate was 91%, while India’s was only 65%; China’s per capita number of healthcare workers was more than twice that of India; only 8% of children under 5 years old in China were underweight, with no cases of underweight, while the proportion of underweight or malnourished children in India was as high as 47%; only 14% of children in China had mild or severe developmental disabilities, while this figure was as high as 46% in India. However, the service sector accounts for a high 52% of India’s GDP, compared to only 32% in China. Therefore, some people view China as the world’s factory and India as the world’s office building.

Yu Sheng: China successfully implemented land reforms twice, in 1949 and 1980, while India’s land reform attempts failed in the face of resistance. The following passage highlights a key characteristic of China:

(VII) A nationwide mobilization model for transformation

Perkins (1980:127) emphasizes the role of labor in the transition to collectivism: “Compared to other least developed countries, Chinese people work hard all year round. Most of this is in very low-productivity jobs. Some suspect that if these farmers didn’t do this, they would choose leisure. Whether voluntary or not, China has successfully mobilized the vast majority of its labor resources, which are idle in most underdeveloped countries. This profoundly describes China’s model of total mobilization.”

Several potential and active factors collectively constitute the prerequisites for successfully utilizing a nationwide mobilization model: First, a near-nationwide cultural homogeneity; second, a strong sense of ownership and identification among the masses; third, calls from the masses for the adoption of key rural policies, such as land reform, rural industry, and rural social and economic security policies; fourth, an efficient organizational structure supporting two-way information flow; fifth, a strong and unified command structure; sixth, leveraging the ideological motivations of the rural masses; and seventh, success itself acts as a lubricant for the process—economic benefits are widely shared, therefore, hard work is both right and worthwhile. In India’s political structure, the old and new elites rule the country and society, and while they have successfully prevented any attempt at major forms of redistribution, they have not been able to prevent handouts arising from fear and the necessity to win elections every few years.

2013/04/11

Read Fang Shaowei’s article “The Chinese People’s Belief in Power and the Crisis of Faith”

Fang said, “Religion is an institutionalized and ritualized belief. Westerners are politically polytheistic and religiously monotheistic, while Chinese are politically monotheistic and religiously polytheistic.” Yu Sheng: This is the same statement I made in my 2006 Chinese article discussing tragedy.

2013/04/13

Why Do We Lack an Unconventional Attitude Towards Life? (Recommended by Hsiao Kung-Chin and Lin Kuei-Chen)

(from: fhttp://www.confucius2000.com/admin/list.asp?id=5649)

Article: The essential differences in individualistic personalities between the East and the West as seen from the division between polar societies

Abstract: This article discusses the differences between primitive society and secondary society by examining the essential differences in the independent personalities of the East and West. In primitive society, both independent personalities and various life pursuits, as well as different social cultures and directions, are constrained by human nature itself; it is in secondary society that a space for social development and individual activity, unrelated to human nature, is formed. As one of many possible directions and social forms, the ideal state envisioned by Confucius, Mencius, and later Confucianism has its own charm and brilliance, but Confucianism never intended to provide a platform for the struggle and interaction of various social directions.

Keywords: maverick, multiculturalism, homogeneous culture, primitive society, secondary society

I. Starting with Wang Guowei’s suicide

Wang Guowei committed suicide by drowning himself in Kunming Lake in Beijing during the Kuomintang’s overwhelming Northern Expedition launched from Guangzhou. It is said that other remnants of the Qing Dynasty also committed suicide. As a scholar still revered today, Wang Guowei’s suicide is considered a meaningless and foolish act; I have yet to read any articles praising his death. Even during the extreme left-wing period of the Cultural Revolution, the protection of minorities was still prevalent, with statements like, “I disagree with your opinion, but I will defend to the death your right to express it!” Reading Wang Guowei’s “Words on Humanity,” one senses his profound understanding and awareness of society and life. He was not someone who treated life as a game. When he made the decision to die for his ideals after long reflection, he saw the significance of the conservative ideology he represented in the face of the revolutionary tide. What social value did he give to his suicide? One can imagine that he was at least a pioneer who is now praised as a leader who bid farewell to revolutionary ideology. As the saying goes, everyone has their own ambitions. The act of sacrificing one’s life for one’s ideals, like Wang Guowei, is worthy of praise in any culture. Why is it that we, the descendants of Yan and Huang, whether on the mainland, in Taiwan, or overseas, praise Wang Guowei’s scholarship endlessly and write articles about him, and often lament the waste of his talent by dying young, but we do not write articles praising Wang Guowei’s sacrifice for his ideals?

Recently, I read the article “Why Do We Lack an Independent Attitude Towards Life?” by Mr. Xiao Gongqin et al., which made me think that compared with the West, our homogeneous culture lacks understanding and respect for independent personalities. This article discusses the homogeneous culture of China and the essential differences between independent personalities in the East and West from the perspective of the new concept of genetically encoded primordial society and artificial secondary society.

II. The Confucian Ideal State in Chinese History as Seen Through the Divide of Two-Tier Societies

By dividing human society into two types—genetically encoded and artificially constructed—and examining the various schools of thought in China and the philosophical traditions of the East and West, it is found that ancient Chinese civilization was based on a primitive society based on genetic encoding, while the West adopted the idea of ​​an artificial secondary society from the very beginning.

From the definitions, we can deduce many fundamental differences between these two types of societies. The genetically encoded primordial society is the society that humans are born into. Human nature is clearly the pillar of harmony and operation in this society, and human nature itself is sufficient to ensure its stability. Because it is determined by genetics, there is only one type. Anthropological research shows that this primordial society had about 150 people, based on face-to-face interaction and the principles of equality and reciprocity. Because they were face-to-face and lived together day and night, there was psychological and emotional communication between them. At a deep level of psychological and emotional consciousness, the primordial society was a unified whole, and each member was a part of this whole. The primordial society was governed by a leader who did not have the ability to force others to accept his will; he could only persuade and conform to the will of the people, which is the Daoist principle of non-action (wuwei). He had no reliable means of punishing those who disobeyed his leadership.

Since the secondary society is a man-made society, it has goals and directions, which is the ideological system of the society. Society also has corresponding social constructions that are compatible with this goal and direction. If today’s secondary society is regarded as a society where the accumulation of wealth is the goal, the degree of wealth becomes the scale of social rewards, punishments and measurement, thus forming numerous classes and strata symbolized by the amount of wealth. Since secondary society is a human creation, it naturally has countless possible forms. A society can only choose one form, blocking other possibilities. In order to prevent members of society from unbridled pursuit of other possibilities, legally mandated violent institutions such as the military, police, and courts are indispensable. In secondary societies, it becomes possible to impose established intentions on people and becomes a necessary means of organizing large-scale social projects. In a secondary society, its members cannot communicate psychologically and emotionally with society. The unity of a secondary society depends on the recognition of the society’s established goals and direction by all its members.

III. The essential differences in the individualistic personalities of the East and West as seen from the division between polar societies

Two-tiered society: The individualism of primitive society generally did not involve different social directions, but was limited to the individual. This is also the admonition of Confucius’s Four Don’ts and “Thinking without learning is futile”: it is not like the ancient Greek Plato and Aristotle, nor the modern Kant and Marx, who established different philosophical systems, implying different social directions and different ways of life. Confucius’s individualism emphasized the inheritance of the tradition of the primitive social system, while Zhuangzi’s individualism was limited to the individual. He did not use his own views to build a new world. When the King of Chu invited him to be the prime minister of Chu, he could have used this opportunity to promote his doctrines and establish a kingdom of Lao-Zhuang thought, in which the subjects of this kingdom would live a Lao-Zhuang lifestyle, but Zhuangzi refused.

The eccentricity of primitive society differs from that of secondary society; the former possesses a stronger aesthetic quality. Mr. Xiao’s grandfather was more like a primitive eccentric, while Einstein’s scientific achievements were the result of secondary eccentricity. Primitive eccentricity rarely reaches the level of lifelong pursuit of linear accumulation within the broad perspective of secondary society. Confucius embodied the eccentricity of primitive society, while Mencius resembled that of secondary society, and Xunzi was a person who adopted a realistic attitude within secondary society. Mr. Xiao connects his grandfather’s eccentricity with the transformation of modern society, but Du Shaoqing from *The Scholars* and the four eccentric characters at the end of the book can also be considered eccentric. Ji Xiaolan, known for his humor and satire, is also a form of eccentricity. It is said that one early spring, the young Ji Xiaolan, dressed in a cotton robe and carrying a fan, was mocked by the chief eunuch, who was born in the south, who said, “Little scholar, wearing winter clothes and carrying a summer fan, can you even read the Spring and Autumn Annals?” Ji Xiaolan immediately retorted, “Old eunuch, born in the south, now in the north, do you still have that thing?” That thing refers to the male genitalia, and the joke was somewhat excessive. All of the above stems from the unconventional behavior influenced by Confucianism in China, and none of them deviate from Confucius’s four prohibitions and the teaching that “thinking without learning is futile.”

Contrary to Confucius’s saying that “thinking without learning is futile,” Socrates of ancient Greece used his method of questioning and analysis, within the realm of common knowledge, to constantly challenge and refute established understandings, uncovering their flaws. Plato, Aristotle, and others inherited Socrates’ pure theoretical and speculative approach—what Confucius called “thinking without learning”—using pure speculation to open up new fields and create entirely new knowledge for humanity within the realm of common knowledge. If Confucius was a transmitter of knowledge rather than an author, the contributions of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, and others were primarily creative, not merely the transmission of pre-existing knowledge. To illustrate this, let’s use a quote from Einstein: “…” °I’ve been daydreaming for years, and a hundred, a thousand of them are wrong, but one is right. ¡ ±Chinese homogeneous culture lacks this tradition of daydreaming.

IV. Other Aspects

Like Plato’s Republic, the Roman Catholic Church, and the Christian world, it was an ideal way of life, not a platform for competition and interaction among different lifestyles and social directions. Ultimately, it failed in its competition with the materialistic secular world. This failure did not diminish the allure and brilliance of their ideal; their defeat, like that of a master artist destroyed by the guns of war, was entirely understandable. The Confucian approach to governing secondary societies using a primitive society as a model inevitably resulted in the following problems:

1) After the Song Dynasty, the northern barbarians began to enter the centralized state system, and the Chinese nation faced a formidable competitor for the first time. Chinese culture began to become more introverted.

2) The original society’s tolerance for different people turned into tolerance for violence, power, and homogeneous culture, which is the Ah Q spirit that Mr. Lu Xun denounced.

3) The lack of personal activity space in secondary society leads people to pursue material things with a short-sighted perspective.

4) China has moved toward cultural authoritarianism: The United States is a highly capitalist country, but it has scattered communist villages, most of which come from certain Christian denominations. In contrast, Confucian scholars are not lacking in different factions, but so far no organizations similar to communist villages have been established.

2013/04/16

Read Modernity and Global History

Jacques Bidet (France):

March 27, 2013 Source: Marxism Research Network

[Abstract] The “world-systems” paradigm, belonging to the historical materialist tradition, emphasizes structural aspects while neglecting the regional nature of the world, thus weakening Marx’s ability to understand historical phenomena. Meta-Marxism examines community land ownership through the lens of class ownership of the means of production, failing to explain the existence of modern nation-states and making no contribution to global historical theory. Only by reshaping Marx’s theory on a broader basis—on the basis of market and organizational relations—can we explain the relationship between the two modes of modern ownership (national and private). For the past 30 years (or longer), world states have been emerging, and the world system is increasingly entrenched within them. In the era of global history, the types of world systems and the structural types of world states are intertwined in many ways.

Yu Sheng: The author believes that the United Nations and other similar entities are emerging world powers that will replace the existing world order. The United Nations also monopolizes world arms.

2013/04/22

In his book “Heroes and Hero Worship,” Kabul states that society is built upon hero worship. All social statuses and classes upon which human societies depend are a kind of heroic polity (the government of heroes). What I call hero worship is now obsolete and will inevitably cease to exist. Throughout world history, we find that great figures were the indispensable saviors of their time—the spark that ignites the fire. As I have said, world history is a chronicle of great men.

I saw a leftist online saying, “Elephants have the right to walk around ignoring the ants and caterpillars they kill.” The tragedy of this secondary human society is that if all elephants and ants looked like humans, everyone would be constantly worried about being killed by an elephant that looks like a human.

2012/04/25

Read “The Way of the King: The Direction of Political Development in Contemporary China—The Theoretical Foundation of Confucian Constitutionalism and the Tricameral System of Parliament” (Jiang Qing)

Chiang Ching-kuo’s tripartite separation of powers is essentially a Confucian interpretation applied to a Western parliamentary system. In a future article discussing this, I will address the following pitfalls of such a tripartite system: 1) It can lead to excessive debate without reaching a conclusion; 2) A parliamentary debate and voting system focused on a specific issue or situation can easily create two opposing viewpoints, potentially resulting in one house being neutral while the other two are locked in a direct confrontation; 3) The issues and matters that can be voted on by parliament are rationally assessable and fall into certain categories, primarily secondary societal categories. For example, while Western parliaments do not vote on moral and aesthetic issues, their decisions and elections can lead to biases in morality and aesthetics. 4) The Confucian three-tiered system is based on the politics of the Three Dynasties, which in turn was based on the primitive superpower society. Now, we live in a secondary society. In this secondary society, the three tiers represent different directions and do not necessarily represent destiny or historical culture. 5) Confucianism after Confucius and Mencius represents one possible direction for China. 6) A secondary society should be built based on the primitive superpower model. In this primitive society, the vast majority of farmers should be at different levels within the three tiers of parliament, much like the relationship between Chinese characters and literature, rather than the same content discussed in Western parliaments. How to create different levels of parliament requires further discussion: the upper house should have the option to pass or reject bills submitted from below if the approval rate is too low; the upper house could also control the speed of funding.

2013/04/25

Was the critique of national character by Lu Xun and others manipulated by Western discursive hegemony? (Archived)

Arthur H. Smith’s *The Character of the Chinese* summarizes 26 characteristics of the Chinese people: 1. Saving face; 2. Frugality; 3. Diligence and hard work; 4. Politeness; 5. Disregard for time; 6. Disregard for precision; 7. Prone to misunderstanding; 8. Indirectness; 9. Obedience without subservience; 10. Vague thinking; 11. Unhurried and unhurried; 12. Disdain for foreigners; 13. Lack of public spirit; 14. Conservatism; 15. Contentment with one’s lot; 16. Tenacious survival; 17. Endurance and resilience; 18. Contentment; 19. Filial piety and brotherly love; 20. Benevolence; 21. Lack of empathy; 22. Social unrest; 23. Implication of others for legal compliance; 24. Mutual suspicion; 25. Lack of integrity; 26. Diverse beliefs. Some have summarized these 26 personality traits into five main aspects: First, Chinese people are very hardworking, frugal, content, and patient, possessing tenacious vitality; second, Chinese people value etiquette, face, and filial piety, and tend to be indirect in their actions; third, Chinese people are very conservative, stubborn, and apathetic; fourth, Chinese people possess a sense of shared responsibility and are easy to manage and rule; fifth, Chinese people lack genuine love, social trust, and public spirit.

Yu Sheng: The above five aspects can all be explained by primitive society. The lack of a secondary social space and the absence of social rules contribute to the fifth characteristic. They lack the experience and perspective of living in a typical Western secondary society. For example, 1) disregard for time; 2) disregard for precision; 3) susceptibility to misunderstanding; 4) indirectness; 5) compliance without subservience; 6) vague thinking; 7) unhurriedness; 8) contempt for outsiders; 9) lack of public spirit… etc., all of which are related to the aesthetic social order of primitive society.

The article concludes by saying that Liang Qichao’s condemnation of the Chinese national character for its greed, narrow-mindedness, callousness, hypocrisy, flattery, violence, and cowardice, Chen Duxiu’s condemnation of its base, shameless, complacent, deceitful, and cunning nature, and Lu Xun’s portrayal of Ah Q as self-deception, bullying the weak and fearing the strong, numbness and forgetfulness, self-deprecation and arrogance, cowardice and cruelty, ignorance and servility, are still insufficient to reveal even the tip of the iceberg of the evil in the Chinese national character. Even more critically, the political environment that fostered this national character has not fundamentally changed, and the reality that the inherent weaknesses of the Chinese people contribute to wrongdoing may not have been eliminated. Therefore, the task of exposing, criticizing, reflecting on, and transforming the Chinese national character has only just begun, and it is a long and arduous journey.

The article also mentions: Why do foreign universities generally perceive Chinese students as obedient? Why do so many Chinese people studying abroad often fall victim to scams and deception by their fellow countrymen?

The following is to be read:

In his book *The Character of the Chinese*, Arthur H. Smith discusses 26 characteristics of the Chinese character, which can be broadly categorized into physiological, psychological, and ethical aspects. The psychological aspect can be further divided into intelligence and moral character, while the ethical aspect can be divided into family and social aspects. Strictly speaking, physiological characteristics do not fall under the category of character. The characteristics of being unhurried, apathetic, resilient, and adaptable are not only physiological traits of the Chinese, but also products of their harsh living environment and turbulent history. The Chinese are known for their endurance and inertia, and their apathy in the face of disaster and suffering—all manifestations of their ability to withstand such harsh conditions. Smith provides numerous examples illustrating why the Chinese seem to live easily but die difficult. They are highly fertile, adaptable, and long-lived, and major disasters and diseases cannot take their lives. Physiological characteristics are difficult to categorize purely as physiological. For example, nerve numbness is related to a state of endurance and indifference, while adaptability and a life of ease in life and difficulty in death are related to a contented and joyful attitude towards life. Therefore, it is difficult to discuss physiological characteristics strictly, and it is also difficult to strictly distinguish one characteristic from another. Arthur H. Smith often only describes features without focusing on explanation and analysis. Moreover, the boundaries between the characteristics he describes are not clear enough. Perhaps, in reality, they cannot be clearly distinguished. Psychological characteristics largely fall under the narrow definition of personality traits. However, psychological characteristics include both intellectual and moral traits. If we further subdivide, perhaps intellectual characteristics, such as inaccuracy, misunderstanding, and confused thinking, do not belong to personality. Personality belongs to the research fields of psychology and sociology, but its definition in these two fields is so ambiguous and has so many ambiguities. We can only use this concept, which represents the relative uniqueness of an individual or group, under the premise of general agreement, or even in a sense close to common sense, and assume that this uniqueness is manifested both in certain basic characteristics of the mind and behavior of a specific object, and in the unique combination of basic characteristics.

Patience, contentment, obedience, and even frugality, diligence, procrastination, and conservatism are all character traits. If we were to rank the Chinese character traits described by Arthur H. Smith from best to worst, procrastination and conservatism would already be considered bad habits, while indifference, jealousy, and dishonesty would be considered utter moral depravity. These so-called Chinese character traits are not Smith’s discovery; they have been repeatedly mentioned in various types of Western texts for over a century and have become established opinions. Smith’s additions and modifications are merely to make his descriptions more fair, gentle, witty, and vivid. In Chapter 17, Smith discusses the Chinese patience in connection with resilience. This patience has advantages, such as perseverance and persistence, but also disadvantages, such as inaction and passive acceptance. In the past, Western discussions of Chinese patience have mostly been passive, emphasizing a submissive and weak endurance with an Orientalist flavor, failing to see the resilience within gentleness. The positive connotations of this Chinese character trait will continue to be discovered and developed with the study of Taoist philosophy, becoming a fundamental characteristic of the Chinese spirit or the Eastern spirit. The same character trait can be seen as a strength by some and a weakness by others. This is the ambiguity in character studies. Looking at it positively, contentment is also a virtue related to patience and resilience. The Chinese often possess an incredible resilience to endure hardship. They survive adversity and struggle in despair, not because they yearn for a better future, but because they have no expectations to begin with. Without expectations, there is no disappointment, and hardship becomes commonplace—hence the saying “contentment brings happiness.” Arthur H. Smith believed that contentment is one of the virtues of the Chinese, but it can also lead to conservatism and a lack of ambition. It seems that no virtue transcends the absolute measure of good and evil. Smith’s pursuit of fairness appears to be more than just an attitude; it reflects his recognition of the multifaceted and complex nature of the national character.

The Chinese are not weak, but does that mean they are submissive? Arthur H. Smith’s insights are quite profound and unique. He saw that the Chinese are actually “submissive but not truly compliant.” Their compliance is superficial; deep down, they are stubborn and unwavering. “Submissive but not truly compliant” can be understood positively as persistence; negatively, it’s as being opinionated and inflexible. If this stubbornness manifests as clinging to old ways, it becomes conservatism. Westerners have long discussed the stagnation of Chinese civilization; from a national character perspective, the reason for this stagnation is conservatism. The belief that everything ancient is good is a uniquely Chinese mindset. If the perfect state of the world were one of unchanging stillness, then time itself would have no meaning. In the 19th century, a popular Western view divided people into two categories: those who lived before the Great Flood and those who lived after. Those who lived after the Flood understood the brevity of life and therefore cherished every moment, while those who lived before the Flood lacked awareness of the finiteness of life and were unaware of the urgency of time. Westerners believed that the Chinese belonged to the pre-Flood generation, lacking a sense of time. Chapter 5 of “The Character of the Chinese” discusses the Chinese people’s disregard for time, pointing out that they neither cherish nor respect time, habitually procrastinating and delaying, endlessly wasting time in both work and leisure. Chinese plays often run for many days, and banquets are always prolonged. Furthermore, while the Chinese are hardworking, working from morning till night, their efficiency is low, and labor has become a way to kill time.

Diligence and frugality are two of the most famous virtues of the Chinese. From emperors to officials and commoners, the Chinese have always been incredibly hardworking, working long hours, intensely, and year-round. The prevailing Western view considers Easterners lazy, but the Chinese are an exception. If diligence and frugality are the finest aspects of Chinese character, then, in the eyes of Westerners, indifference, even cruelty, suspicion, and dishonesty are the most depraved aspects. Chapters 21, “Lack of Empathy,” 24, “Mutual Suspicion,” and 25, “Lack of Integrity,” in *The Character of the Chinese*, are among the longest chapters, almost twice the length of some others. The perceived coldness and cruelty of the Chinese is partly innate, but also stems from the harshness of their living environment. The suspicion and deception among the Chinese seem to stem from both innate and social factors. Mutual suspicion and betrayal create a climate of fear. They distrust others and simultaneously deceive them, leading to a proliferation of rumors throughout the country. Lying is no longer considered immoral in China; almost everyone tells a lie. People are indifferent to their own lies, just as they are to others lying to them. Deception and suspicion are intertwined; widespread deception leads to widespread suspicion. From official to grassroots levels, the rarest thing in China is “truth.” Furthermore, the Chinese character flaws manifest mentally: inaccuracy (Chapter 6), susceptibility to misunderstanding (Chapter 7), and confused thinking (Chapter 10). According to Arthur H. Smith, the vast majority of Chinese are ignorant, narrow-minded, and mentally confused, spending their lives, aside from some absurd superstitions, knowing only… °Belly and wallet. In short, although the Chinese character exhibits various expressions of good and evil, the fundamental problem is a lack of personality and conscience.

While Arthur H. Smith expressed sympathy and understanding for the character flaws of the Chinese people, he never wavered in his stance of rejection. He believed that only by negating the Chinese national character could the West transform China using a “Westernization” model combining Christian faith and democratic politics. In his final summary, he compared the historical fates of China and the West: “Western countries face a future full of dawn, while China faces a long, dark past. What caused this?” His answer was the character flaws of the Chinese people: a lack of integrity and conscience. “The Chinese are not lacking in wisdom, patience, realism, or happiness; in these aspects, they excel. What they lack is integrity and conscience.” This lack of integrity and conscience is, in fact, the most thorough critique of the Chinese national character.

The publication of *The Character of the Chinese* brings a sense of settling after more than a century of Western discussion on the characteristics of the Chinese national character. At the beginning of the century, philosophers hypothesized a so-called “servile” or “national spirit” within the Chinese national character; by the end of the century, missionaries had identified 26 character traits that embodied this “national spirit.” These 26 basic character traits define a discursive domain with a certain constructive power. Any discussion of the characteristics of the Chinese people must derive vocabulary, assumptions, trait categories, and expressive strategies from them. These 26 character traits have been constantly cited, rewritten, restated, questioned, and solidified. For a considerable period in the 20th century, Westerners discussed the national character of China, and their theoretical assumptions were no more than those of Hegel, and their characteristic categories were no more than those of Arthur H. Smith. Bertrand Russell, a famous British philosopher who came to China at the beginning of the century, also talked about the Chinese people’s character traits such as being submissive, passive and lazy, easygoing, optimistic and content with their lot, concerned about face, greedy, cowardly, and cold-hearted.[1] The image of China in the minds of the American public investigated by American journalist Isaacs in the 20th century, including their good and evil character traits, were basically all described by Arthur H. Smith.[2] “The Character of the Chinese” not only widely influenced Westerners’ views on the character of the Chinese people, but also influenced the East, such as Japan’s view of China, and even dominated the reflection on national character in the New Culture Movement in China. In China, reactions to this book varied greatly: some praised it, such as Li Jinghan and Pan Guangdan, believing that while Arthur H. Smith’s statements weren’t necessarily entirely correct, they were fundamentally true, and that Smith possessed a broad mind, pure motives, and a strong affection for China; others opposed it, such as Koo Hung-ming, who believed Smith didn’t truly understand China because he lacked depth. However, regardless of whether they praised or opposed it, discussions of the Chinese character invariably began with this book. Lu Xun repeatedly mentioned Smith’s book when reflecting on the issue of national character. The existence of discursive hegemony is something you can accept or oppose; but even when opposing it, you must consider it as a premise. Lin Yutang, in his book *My Country and My People*, discussed the national character as characterized by “maturity,” “patience,” and “indifference to change.” °Old-fashioned and witty, ¡ °Peaceful, ¡ °Content, ¡ °Humorous, ¡ °Conservative, these characteristics are all mentioned by Arthur H. Smith and others many times. “The Character of the Chinese” is also Lin Yutang’s pre-existing framework for explaining our country and our people. Lin Yutang can refute, but he cannot remain silent. Not only is the rebuttal based on Western discourse as a premise and basic category, but also, due to being trapped in the hegemony of discourse, the rebuttal appears weak and ambiguous. [3]

The West’s “discovery” or “invention” of Chinese national character at the level of elite theory and mass public opinion was completed by the end of the 19th century. The power of discourse can be realized within a cultural tradition, and also through cross-cultural exchange in different cultural contexts, especially in disadvantaged cultures during the process of global modernization. Early Chinese modern thinkers not only endorsed Western modern discourse on the premise of national character transformation, assuming that national character is the fundamental factor determining the historical destiny of a nation, but also, discussions about the characteristics of national character took place within Western discourse. This discourse, initially established in the texts of Du Halde and Montesquieu, was completed by Hegel and Arthur H. Smith. Describing this “genealogy of knowledge” can reveal the latent imperialist and racist cultural logic within the concept of modernity.

The author, Zhou Ning, born in 1961, holds a PhD in Literature and is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Humanities, Xiamen University.

[1] See Bertrand Russell, The Problems of China, New York, The Century Co. 1922, P210-225.

[2] See Harold Isaacs, The Image of China in America, translated by Yu Dianli and Lu Riyu, Beijing: Current Affairs Press, 1999, pp. 77-78.

[3] See Zhou Ning, Fantasy and Reality, Beijing: China Workers Publishing House, 1996, Chapters 12 and 13.

2013/04/28

Lecture by Xiao Jun: Matteo Ricci’s Gift to the Chinese People

Matteo Ricci brought us: world maps, celestial charts for observation, and geometric principles.

In his preface to *The Original Text of Geometry*, Xu Guangqi states, “From the manifest to the subtle, from doubt to conviction. For it is the application of what is not used, the foundation of all applications; truly, it encompasses the myriad forms of things and the vast ocean of knowledge of all schools.” In his *Miscellaneous Notes on the Original Text of Geometry*, Xu Guangqi writes, “The ancients said: ‘The embroidery of mandarin ducks is for you to see, but the golden needle is not passed on to others.’ Our understanding of geometry differs from this. Therefore, I reverse the saying: ‘The golden needle is passed on for your use, but the embroidery of mandarin ducks is not passed on to others.'”

2013/04/29

Listen: Chinese fossils challenge Darwin

Speaker: Qian Kun

Speaker’s Affiliation: University of California

Animals appeared in the Cambrian oceans 500 million years ago, marking the Cambrian Explosion.

The Cambrian explosion, or Cambrian radiation, was the relatively rapid appearance, around 542 million years ago, of most major animal phyla, as demonstrated in the fossil record,[1][2] accompanied by major diversification of organisms including animals, phytoplankton, and calcimicrobes.[3] Before about 580 million years ago, most organisms were simple, composed of individual cells occasionally organized into colonies. Over the following 70 or 80 million years, the rate of Evolution accelerated by an order of magnitude (as defined in terms of the extinction and origination rate of species[4]) and the diversity of life began to resemble that of today.[5] All present phyla appeared within the first 20 million years of the period,[6] with the exception of Bryozoa who made its earliest known appearance in the upper Cambrian.[7]

Reading, Listening, and Thinking Notes, May 2013

2013/05/10

Read articles about Dream of the Red Chamber

In Wang Meng’s own words: “Dream of the Red Chamber is a book that can withstand reading, analysis, and even some tinkering.” According to Sun Weike, the number of “Redology” works published annually usually exceeds one hundred, with peak years reaching two to three hundred. As for academic papers, they are countless, including works by Redology experts as well as various grassroots works.

Liu Xinwu: Research on “Dream of the Red Chamber” Reflects Social Anxiety

Published: 2012-04-25 10:03:56 Views: … times

“My study of *Dream of the Red Chamber* is a reflection of my anxieties about contemporary society,” said Liu Xinwu, a renowned Chinese scholar of *Dream of the Red Chamber*, at the Guangzhou Southern Book Festival on the 21st.

　　

　　Liu Xinwu said that in 1977 he wrote the short story “The Class Teacher”, which focused on social reality. After that, he turned to studying “Dream of the Red Chamber”, but this did not mean that he no longer cared about social reality. Studying “Dream of the Red Chamber” was a manifestation of his anxiety about real society.

　　 …

　　

　　Liu Xinwu recalled that in 2000, when he gave a lecture on *Dream of the Red Chamber* in London, he found that young people there greatly admired Shakespeare, regarding him as a symbol and hallmark of British culture, and were intolerant of any criticism of him by foreigners. “But in China, it’s difficult to find this shared cultural brand, which is also my anxiety about contemporary society,” Liu Xinwu said. “I believe that for Chinese culture to take off, the most important thing is to preserve the legacy of our ancestors in the best possible way.”

　　

　　…

　　

　　In addition, Liu Xinwu repeatedly cited historical materials such as the commentaries of Zhiyanzhai during his lecture to support his assertion that Cao Xueqin had already finished writing “Dream of the Red Chamber,” but lost the last 28 chapters due to certain special reasons.

Source: Chinese Classical Studies Website; Editor: Compiled…

How many people are now trying to imitate or even copy *Dream of the Red Chamber*? Liu Xinwu is probably the most recent. In his sequel, Lin Daiyu drowns herself in a lake, Xue Baochai dies of depression, Jia Yuanchun dies in a palace coup, Wang Xifeng commits suicide by drowning, and Miaoyu dies alongside Prince Zhongshun to save Jia Baoyu. Jia Baoyu begs for a living with Shi Xiangyun, who eventually dies of hunger and cold, while Jia Baoyu has a profound awakening and returns to the celestial realm as the Divine Stone Attendant. Liu Xinwu claims that he can find evidence for these plot points in the first eighty chapters of the novel and in the commentaries by Zhiyan Zhai.

2013/05/19

Lecture: History of Chinese Literature – Song and Yuan Dynasties

Speaker: Wang Xiaoshu

Speaker’s Affiliation: Shandong University

Wang said: The Song Dynasty differed from the Tang Dynasty. The Song Dynasty emphasized civil affairs over military matters, while the Tang Dynasty emphasized military affairs. The Song Dynasty learned from the situation of warlordism that followed the Tang Dynasty, implemented policies such as “releasing military power over a cup of wine,” developed the imperial examination system, and did not punish speech, etc. The economy also greatly expanded from the Tang Dynasty’s single-sector agriculture to include commerce and industry. Taiwanese scholars have proposed the concepts of Tang-type and Song-type culture.

The history we have lived through leaves its mark on today’s reality. Urbanization has an impact on literature.

2013/05/19

Reading:

A critique of the subject and the philosophy of the subject

(2011-04-25 19:27:03)

A critique of the subject and the philosophy of the subject

Zhang Weichen (http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_543091b30100qsmt.html)

Since modern times, humanity has been seduced by the illusory idea of ​​infinity. This infinity floats within a purely artificial, ultimately inexplicable contingency. Humans are no longer seen as created beings or products of nature, but as subjects. [Epigraph]

A critique of the subject and the philosophy of the subject

Abstract: Descartes championed an abstract, isolated subject that was anti-traditional and anti-authoritarian, whose sole characteristic was “I think.” This subject was later criticized by numerous scholars. Nietzsche countered by elevating the body to a prominent position; Freud replaced it with a scattered mind, often unaware of its own consciousness; Heidegger and Merleau-Ponty re-examined this subject within the context of the world to dissolve its isolation. These criticisms brought the once-popular philosophy of the subject to an end.

2013/05/21

Lecture: Literature and Suffering

Speaker: Zhou Daxin

Why do so many literary works focus on the suffering of human life? Suffering is a major aspect of life. Confucius, Cao Cao, and others all experienced hardship. Suffering can be categorized as follows: 1) Personal suffering: poverty, illness, broken families. 2) National suffering: war (Palestinians and Jews). Creators of suffering: nature, humanity itself (war, murder), and the god of life. Reducing suffering: respecting nature, governing society well, and actively and rationally accepting the arrangements of the god of life.

2013/05/26

Attending a lecture: Russian Orthodox Church

Speaker: Zhang Baichun

The Christian Trinity consists of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Father is defined by the Old Testament, the Son by the New Testament, but the Holy Spirit is not explicitly stated. The New Testament designates the Holy Spirit as absolutely inviolable, so no one dares to speak of it. Hegel described it as the Absolute Spirit, which he considered to be the Holy Spirit. This was in the 19th century; if it had been in the Middle Ages, he would have been killed.

Eastern Orthodoxy emphasizes spirituality, its original meaning being the practice of the spirit. The Eastern Orthodox Church originated from a group of Christians who fled the Roman Empire after the Edict of Milan. They sought solace in desolate regions, aiming for union with God and pursuing experiences of this union: emotional experiences. They believed that during the persecution of Christians in Rome, those persecuted experienced union with God, but now, without the threat of death, they could only pursue spiritual traditions: seeking solace in desert regions like Egypt and Palestine. However, it took a thousand years, from the fourth to the fourteenth centuries, for the Eastern Orthodox tradition to be established.

The lecturer believed that secular society pursues horizontal development, while religion pursues vertical development, and only Taoism pursues horizontal development that leads to immortality.

2013/05/26

Lecture: A Comparative Study of Ancient Eurasian Social Models (Min Jiayin, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

This series introduces the feudal system of Western European monarchies and aristocrats and its characteristics, the Russian Tsarist aristocratic autocracy and its characteristics, the Japanese imperial feudal system and its characteristics, and Chinese feudalism and its characteristics.

(Copied from video notes) 1) Feudalism was a social system formed by the fusion of the remnants of the Roman Empire’s social system and the military organization of invading Germanic tribes. Characteristics of the Western European royal and aristocratic feudal system included: the tiered distribution of land and the personal dependency relationship between lords and commoners. 2) European feudal society lacked a standing army and salaried bureaucrats. It was an era of multiple monarchs, a time of numerous kings. There was no primogeniture system; sons-in-law and nephews could also inherit the throne. 3) After Qin unified the country, it brought the military system to the entire nation, dividing it into 36 commanderies. Initially, the commandery governors were military officers. A patriarchal landlord system was in place. Official rank replaced noble rank. During the Cao Wei period, fiefdoms were granted but not established, while the Western Jin dynasty actually granted fiefdoms to princes, resulting in a clan system that lingered between these two systems until the Tang dynasty. 4) Japan did not have schools, eunuchs, civil service examinations, literary inquisitions, bound feet, and women—these are the four elements that served despotism.

2013/05/27

Lecture: “The Meaning of Freedom: The Formation of the Modern Zhuangzi Interpretive Tradition” (Chen Jing, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)

The meaning of freedom

Before modern times, there was relatively little interpretation of Zhuangzi using the concept of “freedom.” Now, it’s all about freedom. However, there’s a tradition in modern interpretations.

1. “逍遥游” (Xiaoyaoyou) is translated as “absolute freedom theory.” Freedom and “逍遥游” are linked. Freedom is not a foreign word. Historically, they were not linked.

2. When expressing Western concepts of freedom in Chinese, do you use their original meaning or a modified version?

3. When using “freedom” to understand Zhuangzi becomes a common reading habit, is the meaning of “freedom” traditional or modern?

The meaning of freedom is to be one’s own master. In modern times, freedom has also included the meaning of defining the boundaries of rights.

Zheng Xuan: “自” means “to be free.” Freedom is something one can enjoy when one is alone, outside the curtain of worldly affairs. It does not involve others, similar to Zhuangzi’s concept. Zhuangzi’s carefree spirit contrasts with worldly etiquette. In the Book of the Later Han Dynasty, the meaning of freedom was rapidly vilified.

Modern freedom has acquired a meaning it lacked in the past. Freedom includes the delineation of rights. It is an important concept in arranging power relations within society. It encompasses the freedom and power, and the limitations of power, within social groups. Yan Fu linked freedom with the concept of non-interference. Freedom is political non-interventionism. (The last phrase, “心游,” is a poetic expression and doesn’t directly relate to the preceding text.)

2013/05/27

Lecture: Research on the Complexity of the Nervous System

Speaker: Wang Dahui

Outline

1. Brain is the adaptive response to environment

2.Building blocks of the brain

3. Different philosophy about how the brain works: Time compensation as an example of the holism.

4. The computational research on decision making and working memory: working memory and decision making.

1. Brain is the adaptive response to environment

Genetic substances

The primary response to and adaptation to the environment: the genetic DNA varies with the changes of environment.

Very slow(years,hundred years),many generations:Example:the origin of new species.

individual immune system

Response to the invasion of bacteria,toxin and other organisms in environment;the immune system.

Slow(hours,days,even months) in one generations:Example:cold.

Nervous system

Detection and response to the fast variation of the environment: the neural system. Fast(millseconds,second) in one generations.

The evolution of the neural system

Symmetrical radial neural system (jellyfish), moves in any direction after being stimulated;

A linear neural system (cephalococcygeal structure) with precise head and tail can limit choices while reducing confusion from external information;

The formation of an enlarged brain in the head helps with the rapid collection and processing of information.

Three stages of human brain adaptive adjustment

Genes form the blueprint for the brain and nervous system, and are an organism’s response to its living environment and a prediction of its future environment;

After a living organism is born, its genetic material is finely adjusted based on experience, learning skills to deal with threats and seize opportunities to survive;

Adapting to certain instantaneous processes and responding optimally to situations that occur in an instant.

2.Building blocks of the brain

Neuron types: excitatory neurons, inhibitory neurons.

Yu Sheng: Organisms are not merely products of adaptation to the environment; they are also products of the biological mutation process itself. In the same environment, even with a constant environment, different species can emerge. Within the same environment, among many mutations, one mutation may survive, or even several. These multiple mutations within the same environment are products of the mutation process itself. The same applies to secondary societies. The diversity of secondary societies stems from the free creation of human consciousness, but is simultaneously tested and selected by social practice.

Reading, Listening, and Thinking Notes, June 2013

2013/6/3-6

Read: Understanding abnormal behavior seventh edition by David Sue, Derald Wing Sue, Stanley Sue. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.

Pages 365-366: Depression manifests differently in China, presenting primarily as physical symptoms. In the United States, Native Americans and Americans of Southeast Asian descent are more prone to depression than other Americans.

p390 Suicide: In the United States, Native Americans have the highest suicide rate, followed by: Whites, Mexicans, Japanese, and Chinese (p390). p367 A table lists ten characteristics of suicide. The first is that the purpose of suicide is to seek a solution to a problem; the second is to stop (subjective) consciousness (Yu Sheng: Without subjective consciousness, there is no need to end it; one can still live without subjective consciousness. Even without secondary social subjective consciousness, there may still be primordial social subjective consciousness, i.e., pure aesthetic thinking). Childhood suicide: Suicide is the third leading cause of death among 15-24 year olds in the United States, and has increased by 40% in the past decade (40% for men and 12% for women). It is now the second leading cause of death for men in this age group (pp. 388-389). Recalling past events: In recent years, the suicide rate among Americans aged 85 and over has increased significantly, with a high suicide rate among elderly Chinese Americans. This is explained by the fact that first-generation Chinese immigrants to the United States did not fulfill their planned goals, failed to bring their families over, and did not integrate into mainstream American society, leading to suicide.

Yu Sheng: The hierarchical distinction between the primitive society and the secondary society, as well as the emergence of subjective consciousness, are definitely related to human mental illness: 1) Mental illness in the era when humans had no subjective consciousness; 2) Mental illness after humans developed subjective consciousness; mental illness in the primitive society plus subjective consciousness; 3) Mental illness in the secondary society. Currently, mental illness can be divided into the above three types. Of course, some mental illnesses are a mixture of the above different types, or are caused by humans traveling through these three different eras: the confusion of time travel, such as the failed time travel of bipolar disorder, is a contemporary explanation for mental illness.

Reading the chapter on schizophrenia: Schizophrenia may be a disease spanning three different eras: incoherence between speech and behavior indicates a problem with the subject’s consciousness; stimulation in secondary society and lack of affection from the primary society (family) are causes of the illness. Therefore, an important part of treatment is: community support, and psychotherapy to adjust the connection and understanding between the primary and secondary societies. Patients in developing countries have a rapid onset but a good prognosis because their society is closer to their primary society, making it easier for them to reintegrate. (p. 414) This disease is more common among African Americans in the United States due to poverty and high divorce rates. Men tend to develop the disease earlier than women. (p. 419) When patients mention the word “pen,” they cannot suppress related secondary concepts such as paper. (Yusheng: Low level of subjective consciousness, insufficient symbolization) Differences between East and West: Western patients often present with depressive symptoms, thought broadcasting, and insertion, while non-Western patients experience more visual and directed auditory hallucinations (pp. 421, 422). This disease has a rapid onset and good prognosis in developing countries, with fewer relapses, possibly related to their rapid reintegration into society and return to work. Expressed emotion (EE) is high in the West and low in India (Yusheng: Two examples: “You are lazy,” “You cause a lot of problems for your family,” etc., are so common in Chinese families, possibly due to desensitization). This EE is associated with a high relapse rate (p. 442). Underdeveloped countries seem to have more hysterical psychoses, possession syndromes, and brief psychoses. P450 “Individuals with auditory hallucinations are often terrified: the voices are viewed as omnipotent, producing feelings of helpless.”

2013/06/7

Reading: Music, Time, and Human Existence – A Modern Understanding of Confucianism: Success Through Music (by Chen Yun)

Abstract: Confucius once said, “One is inspired by poetry, established by rites, and perfected by music.” This means that only through music can a person truly complete themselves and become a truly mature individual. But why is this? This paper attempts to answer this question. The paper argues that music liberates people from a visually centered spatial perspective, placing human completion within the temporal realm. Thus, “perfected by music” means becoming a “time-man” who is “both beginning and ending at the same time.” Therefore, “perfected by music” also means that human existence becomes an endless undertaking that can never be completed or ended, a continuous search for some new beginning until death. In other words, through “perfected by music,” human existence acquires a temporal dimension.

Yu Sheng: Language has rhythm. The fetus perceives the rhythm of the world through the mother’s heartbeat and also the rhythm of its native language. I don’t know much about how the fetal retina perceives light. Music and art are both human creations, and both have the spiritual uplifting effect mentioned by the author. Humans initially developed music and language; pictures and art developed more slowly in early times and cannot compare to music and language. However, later, writing appeared, and pictorial writing is similar to language, surpassing music in its sophistication. We imagine that early humans, like deaf children, used images and gestures to convey information and emotions, and then used pebbles of different sizes, shapes, and colors to communicate, thus forming a silent symbol system. Finally, language was invented to represent this symbol system. There are countless possible reasons why humans didn’t take this path, but the spontaneous language of deaf and mute children suggests that this path exists and is possible, if the early human world happened to have countless visual symbols readily available.

2013/6/10

Read: Understanding abnormal behavior seventh edition by David Sue, Derald Wing Sue, Stanley Sue. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.

The following is copied from this book, providing a simple classification and an overview of the diseases:

Chapter 6: Dissociative Disorders and Somatoform Disorders

1. Dissociative identity disorder: A separation or fragmentation of at least part of the patient’s consciousness, memory, or identity. It is classified into four types:

1) Separate amnesia: Partial or complete forgetting of basic personal information, usually occurring after stress and psychological trauma. The patient is highly likely to be hypnotized. Types include: Limited amnesia: Forgetting events within a specific timeframe, often centered around the traumatic event. Selective amnesia: Forgetting details of an event, such as murderers often claiming no memory of the murder. Systematic amnesia: Forgetting a specific aspect of life, such as matters concerning family or a particular person. Persistent amnesia: Forgetting everything from a certain point in time to the present. Posthypnotic amnesia: Forgetting events that occurred during hypnosis.

2) Separation FUGUE: Forgetting one’s personal identity and running away from home.

3) Depersonalization: a change in perception, a separation from one’s own thoughts and body, such as dreaming, where one feels that things are not real.

4) Multiple personality disorder: coexistence or successive different personalities, accompanied by different memories, attitudes, and perceptions. Inability to remember important personal information.

2. Somatoform disease: mimicking the physical symptoms of certain diseases, without a pathophysiological basis, not faking illness, and not intentional.

1) Somatoform disease: four types of muscle pain symptoms, two types of gastrointestinal symptoms, sexual disorders, and pseudoneurological symptoms.

2) Somatoform disease: those who do not meet the diagnostic criteria.

3) Conversion Disorder: Named after Freud, it transforms sexual and aggressive conflict into physical symptoms. Patients lose voluntary movement and certain sensory functions. For example, some bystanders of the brutal violence in Cambodian concentration camps lost their sight; 150 people in an American community of 8,500 Cambodians suffered from this disorder. This book uses the same term as [another name for a specific disorder].

4) Pain: Pain without organic lesions.

5) Suspicion

6) Body deformity disorder: believing that parts of one’s body are abnormal in shape, or being overly worried about minor abnormalities.

2013/6/11

Read: Understanding abnormal behavior seventh edition by David Sue, Derald Wing Sue, Stanley Sue. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2003.

The illustration on page 173 of this book mentions seven types of specific symptoms of segregated and somatic diseases, which is worth reading.

When discussing various personality disorders, this book mentions that the definition of this disorder is unclear and easily influenced by doctors. The number of cases has increased significantly in recent years, which is related to media reports.

Page 186 mentions: Somatoform, formerly known as α, is more common in women, twice as prevalent in those who did not graduate high school. On page 194, Heppocrates believes that uterine movement causes patients to experience difficulty breathing, numbness, and seizures.