July 2013 Reading, Listening, and Thinking Notes

2013/7/10

Yu Sheng: The spirit of Ah Q can be seen to some extent as a typical example of the peasant spirit. Lu Xun criticized the spirit of Ah Q as a representative of backward Chinese people, aiming to awaken the spirit of the entire Chinese people through the image of Ah Q: physical strength is not enough; mental health is also essential. Since the vast majority of Chinese people are farmers, it is natural that the spirit of Ah Q represents the spirit of Chinese farmers. Neither the orthodox Chinese bureaucratic intellectual like Jia Zheng in *Dream of the Red Chamber*, nor the pragmatic shrewd businessman like Jia Yucun, are far removed from the spirit of Ah Q.

As a literary work, Lu Xun depicted Ah Q’s bullying of the weak in his novel, which is quite different from the reality of Chinese peasants. Sympathy for the weak is a basic human trait, and the preservation of humanity in rural China, as a quasi-primitive society, is an inherent reason why the gap between rich and poor in rural China is not as large as in Europe.

2013/7/20

Listening to the lecture: Have we misread the history of the late Ming Dynasty?

Speaker: Shang Chuan

Speaker’s Affiliation: Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

From the Wanli era onwards, the late Ming Dynasty began to commercialize, which led to the rise of hedonistic ideas and ultimately to social corruption. Political corruption (as the saying goes: without state guidance, there was no space for capital accumulation and development).

Society has classes, but capitalist society does not; everyone is equal before money.

2013/7/26

Reading Hong Kong novels:

From “A Century of Hong Kong Short Stories (Part 2),” edited by Liu Yichang, Hong Kong: Joint Publishing, 2006.

Read: Lee Hui-ying: “The Complete Works of Li Hui-ying, Volume 2”, pages 1-19.

Chen Hui: Lost in the Road, pp. 408-413.

Pan Guoling: “The Unexplained Story of Blindness”, pp. 414-436.

For many years, I have rarely read literary works. Due to its novelty and the fact that short stories save time, I borrowed this book from the library. After reading it, I gained a lot: it was interesting and highly readable, and I also learned about Hong Kong society and literature.

2013/7/29

Read: Huang Zhen, “Water and the Origins of Chinese Law,” *Hunan Social Sciences*, 2004, Issue 4.

This article uses information from the dictionary, such as the character “法” (law) containing the radical for water, water gods, water judges, and the origin of civilization’s great rivers, to explain the relationship between the origin of law and water. This explanation has some merit, but it is not without its shortcomings.

The Tao Te Ching says, “The highest good is like water. Water benefits all things without striving, dwelling in places that others disdain, therefore it is close to the Tao.” (Chapter 8) It also says, “Man follows the earth, the earth follows heaven, heaven follows the Tao, and the Tao follows nature.” (Chapter 25) Here, “follow” is used as a verb, meaning in ancient times it meant to emulate, that is, ancient laws also had the meaning of emulating nature.

The Shuowen Jiezi (說文解字) under the tenth radical, section 1, defines “¡ °廌” (zì) as: “¡ °_, punishment. It is leveled like water, hence the water radical. 廌 is used to remove those who are not upright, hence the removal radical [廌]. 法 (fǎ), simplified in modern writing.” (From Huang Wen’s work)

(The ancient form of the character = water, 廠 + 焉, 去; the modern simplified form is 法.)

2013/7/29

Yusheng: The happiest people live in the original society and the quasi-original society.

My younger brother, who has lived his entire life in my rural hometown, told me when I returned home in 2013, “Chinese farmers are the happiest.” He said this based on his over fifty years of life experience, his extensive contact with different people as a village doctor, and his understanding of the world and life through reading, television, and movies. It wasn’t just random talk, nor was it a serious scientific conclusion. What I want to say is that my brother is largely right.

The following is quoted from my article “The Five Mourning Degrees System and Early Literary Thought in the East and West” (Xue Deng, Issue 8, 2008).

One article:

Compared to the targeted accumulation of secondary societies, the development of primitive civilizations exhibited a comprehensive characteristic of social thinking. If we compare primitive society to the earth, China built sturdy bungalows, with development space in all directions and little risk of collapse. Ancient Greece, on the other hand, built skyscrapers, with development space high in the sky, prone to collapse and difficult to rebuild. Therefore, unlike other civilizations that rose and fell in succession, Chinese civilization was able to develop continuously. While the accumulation of wealth between the two civilizations differed greatly, the construction of spiritual civilization, philosophy, and culture were quite similar. In terms of the average happiness of the total population, there is no doubt that people under the Chinese system are happier.

2013/7/30

Read: On the World Historical Significance of Zhu Xi’s Philosophy (Journal of Hefei University (Social Sciences Edition), 2004, Issue 2)

Zhang Yunyi

This article reveals that Zhu Xi’s works were introduced to Europe and played a role in the development of modern European philosophy and materialism. European scholars interpreted and understood Zhu Xi’s principles as the principles of dialectical materialism, which is not based on God.

Contemporaries of Zhu Xi (1130-1200) include the Arab philosopher Averroes (1126-1198) and the Arabized Jewish philosopher Maimonides (1135-1204). These two were among the first non-Christian scholars to introduce Aristotle to Europe, and their main contribution lay in their commentaries on Aristotle.

This is Thomas Aquinas (1224–1274), born on the Italian peninsula 24 years after Zhu Xi’s death. Both Zhu Xi and Aquinas were great philosophers active on the intellectual stage of the 12th and 13th centuries in both the East and West, and their historical positions share many similarities.

For example, Comte divided the entire history of European thought into three stages: before Descartes was the “Theological Age,” with Descartes ushering in the “Philosophical Age,” while the 19th century, in which Comte lived, was the “Scientific Age.” A commentary: Early Chinese society began with the Philosophical Age, but did not have a typical Western-style Theological Age.

Pure rationality, or atheism or materialism, is exemplified by Charles Peale, a prominent representative of the Cartesian school of skepticism, who insisted that Chinese philosophy was atheistic and asserted that Chinese society was an atheistic society composed entirely of atheists. (Quote)

2013/7/30

Read: A Century of Reflections on Two Cultures

Yu Yingshi

This article provides a brief overview of the changes in Western thought and culture over the past century, primarily from an academic perspective. It is worth reading.

2013/7/30

Reading: Wang Yan: Nature, Not Nature – Clarifying a Misunderstanding of Zhuangzi’s Emphasis on Nature

July 31, 2013. Source: Zhejiang Academic Journal, 2009, Issue 2.

This article mentions that the word “nature” is used seven times in the book Zhuangzi and five times in Laozi. It is rarely used as a noun, and when it is used as a noun, it is interpreted as the nature of things, rather than the natural world.

The author believes that Zhuangzi’s True Man is an ideal personality, not a human animal instinct.

¡ °The non-equivalence between human nature and animal instincts presupposed by Zhuangzi can be proved from the following three points: First, food and sex are considered to be the two most basic physiological needs of human beings, but Zhuangzi never advocates these two, and believes that¡ °His desires are deep while his secrets are shallow¡ ± (“The Grand Master”). Secondly, people all have the instinct to fear death, but the real person described by Zhuangzi¡ °I don’t know how to talk about life, I don’t know how to hate death¡ ± (“Ibid.”). Thirdly, as the incarnation of Zhuangzi’s ideal personality, real people are often hard to find in reality, while animal instincts are bound to appear in everyone. It can be seen that in Zhuangzi, nature is an ought concept closely related to the spiritual realm, rather than an actual concept that is equivalent to the instinct of natural objects.

Thus, it is evident that Zhuangzi’s true intention in advocating for nature lay in attaining a genuine and natural state of mind, rather than advocating for humanity to live a life centered on natural things. (Quote)

2013/8/2

Read: Xu Fuguan (1904-1982), originally named Bingchang, courtesy name Foguan, later changed to Fuguan by Xiong Shili, was a native of Fengxingwan, Xupeichang, Xishui County, Hubei Province, China. Xu Fuguan was an important figure in Neo-Confucianism and also had many unique insights into Chinese culture and art.

Quote: “The teachings of Confucius and Mencius are nothing more than teaching people a normal attitude towards life and a normal attitude towards interpersonal relationships. It can even be said that the normal attitudes established and required by Confucius and Mencius can only be universally realized in a truly socialist society.” Xu Fuguan’s Essays 3: Reflections, Taiwan Times Book Series, 1980, p. 76.

Baidu Baike states that Xu Fuguan made significant contributions to the study of pre-Qin and Han dynasty intellectual history. He advocated finding elements in Chinese culture that could be connected to democracy, striving to reveal the historical opposition and conflict between individualism and autocratic regimes, and between morality and politics. He emphasized the need to distinguish between Chinese feudal autocracy and traditional thought and culture, arguing that Confucianism inevitably became distorted and deformed under long-term autocratic oppression, demonstrating that the autocratic regime suppressed and hindered the normal development of Confucianism, but it cannot be said that Confucianism was a “protective shield” of autocracy. He believed that traditional Chinese thought originated in the Yin and Zhou dynasties, with human nature as its main framework, and that the human nature theories of Confucius, Mencius, Laozi, Zhuangzi, and the Neo-Confucian scholars of the Song and Ming dynasties constituted the mainstream of Chinese human nature thought. He proposed a “sense of crisis” distinct from religious terror and despair. The concept of “±” suggests that it was precisely this sense of crisis that sparked China’s moral mission and cultural spirit, which became the mainstream of traditional Chinese culture. In his view, among the three pillars of human culture—morality, art, and science—Chinese culture embodies its unique humanistic spirit in its long-standing moral and artistic traditions.

“The Spirit of Chinese Art” is structured around Chapter Two, which focuses on exploring Zhuangzi’s “pure art spirit” of art for art’s sake. The conclusion is that Chinese painting art is indeed guided by Zhuangzi’s philosophy, offering readers many insights.

Other:

Title: A History of Chinese Theories of Human Nature Author: Xu Fuguan Publisher: East China Normal University Press

Publication date: 2005 ISBN: 9787561744437

2013/8/2

Reading: Geng Ning: Two principles of the unity of consciousness: the state of being experienced[1] and the connection between various experiences

[Switzerland] Geng Ning / Text Ni Liang Kang / Translator Geng Ning / Proofreader

(Originally published in World Philosophy, Issue 1, 2011)

…

IV. Conclusion

Therefore, we possess two entirely different types of principles of consciousness unity, or rather, principles of self unity. On the one hand, there is a connection, a link, of experience, whether as the sensory system of the subjective body (I do not wish to use the word “I” at this purely sensory level), or as the form of the self in the present moment; on the other hand, there is the characteristic of the experienced state in the original form (original). Connection, link, allows for a “more or less”; the characteristic of the originally experienced state either exists or does not exist, there is an “all or nothing” here. Our understanding of “I” and “my experience” in philosophical discussions is largely nourished from these two sources.

Self-connection can dissolve itself, whether it’s a simultaneous experience or an experience in transition. What I experienced in my dream last night doesn’t necessarily need to be consciously connected to my current situation; I might not even be able to recall it. The same applies to many things I’ve experienced in the past. My self-connection is an unstable, unclear picture. The conscious connection to my present experience is weak; it may dissolve itself in different ways, so that, just as in my history, I am also a majority in my present. In this sense, I may have multiple selves.

However, the dissolution of these connections and relationships, including the dissolution of identity, does not mean the erasure of two distinctions: on the one hand, those things that were originally experienced, have been experienced, and can be experienced; on the other hand, those things that were not originally experienced, have been experienced, or can be experienced. What was originally experienced demonstrates the distinction between what is inherent and what is alien, without considering all actual connections and their dissolution. Therefore, it can be called the distinguishing principle of self-unity, while the principle of association creates various kinds of self-unity (self-connection) (unity principle) in consciousness. I think it is very important to note this distinction in today’s discussion of the “analysis” of personal identity. Because, as Derek Parfit’s reflections on identity make particularly clear, the rejection of absolute unity of consciousness or self-unity based on the relativity of actual conscious connections also leads to the disintegration and eventual blurring of certain distinctions: first, the distinction between what I have experienced and what I have not experienced; then, the distinction between what I have done and what I have not done; and also, the distinction between what I will experience and what I will not experience. For example, when Parfit discusses the past, he speaks of a series of “selfs” (my past self, one of my past selves, an ancestral self), which gradually transition into “not myself,” and progressively reduce my responsibility for their actions, just as, on the other hand, obligations and promises that extend into the future change their weight depending on my actual psychological connection: “I can distinguish between different successive selfes according to the degree of psychological connection.” Since connection is a gradual process, these distinctions are left to the speaker’s discretion and can vary with context. Following my suggested mode of speaking, we will use “I” and other pronouns only for those aspects of life with which we have the strongest psychological connection at the time of speaking. If these connections significantly decrease… If a significant change in personality, lifestyle, or beliefs and ideals occurs, or if this is manifested through a clear loss of memory, we can say: it was not me who did this, but a former version of myself. [15]

I think there is a kind of concealment and contempt for this principle of self or the principle of unity based on another principle of self. Parfit appeals to the Buddha in his view of personal identity. [16]

In most schools of Buddhism, the concept of a self as an independent spiritual entity is rejected: man is a composite of body and mind—an aggregate (skandha). This connection continuously constitutes and dissolves itself. In this respect, the Buddha agreed with Paphiat. However, on the other hand, the Buddha also vehemently opposed him. It is quite clear whether a past action (karma) was truly mine or not; what I do now, how I live now, has consequences for my future life, and it is clear what my future life will be like, unlike the lives of others. There is an either/or situation here. In Buddhist philosophy, the coexistence of the doctrine of karma and the doctrine of no-self (the absence of an absolute self) has indeed caused considerable headaches. But the reason why both doctrines can be upheld is perhaps because they do not ultimately constitute any contradiction, but rather represent two different principles of the self: the absence of absolute self-connection does not mean that there is no absolute difference between what I experience and what I do not experience or what others experience, or between what I do and what I do not do or what others do.

(Geng Ning, Zwei Prinzipien der Bewusstseinseinheit: Erlebnis und Zusammenhang der Erlebnisse¡° published in Facta Philosophica, 2000, pp. 51-74. Author’s affiliation: Department of Philosophy, University of Bern, Switzerland; Translator’s affiliation: Department of Philosophy, National Sun Yat-sen University)

2013/8/2

Read: Roblibriman on Art and Communication (http://www.zhongguosixiang.com/their/2013/0801/1537.shtml)

Without communication, there is no love, no friendship, and no sense of community. The quality of love, friendship, and shared life is built upon the quality of interaction. I truly believe that art is important because the essence of life is the art of communication; the ability to express one’s views, to understand one’s feelings, and to share one’s experiences.

Art is the only language through which we express our deepest emotions and experiences. Mathematics can’t, economics can’t, technology can’t, because they have no content to express. When you have your first real-life experience—like falling deeply in love with someone, experiencing heartbreak, or facing death for the first time—you encounter poetry, music, novels, and so on, and you can read your own experience into them. Yes, right here, I am not alone. I am not the first person to experience this. That is clearly how I feel. So you can say to people, “Listen to this, read this, look at this, this is how I feel, this is what I am like.” It’s a tremendous liberation. This is the communication we need as human beings.

Translated from: The Meaning of Words: Rob Riemen on Art and Communication

http://www.openlooppress.org/interviews/rob-riemen/

2013/08/03

Rereading Anderson’s article “The Origins of the Ancient Chinese State,” I was deeply moved: the author’s meticulous observations and analyses are entirely based on the visible facts of the material level of secondary society, without the slightest consideration of different social strata, different directions of thought in secondary society, let alone aesthetic considerations of social order.

2013/8/3

Read: “Looking at the Sky from the Bottom of a Well: The Shattered American Dream,” and another blog post.

The author was born in Guizhou and went abroad in the early 1990s, traveling to Europe and North America before settling in San Francisco. In 2009, with the approval of the former UN Consul General, he published the book “The Game of Great Powers” in China. The later chapters of the book discuss the profound social changes that China’s former close allies, such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Arab countries, have undergone.

The author writes in a humorous, internet-savvy tone, such as referring to Xi Jinping as “Brother Xi,” but the extensive use of materials, data, and authoritative writings is noteworthy.

2013/8/5

Differences in the meanings of prison and hell and cultural differences between China and the West

1.

This brings us back to what Lu Xun mentioned in his “Night Talks in the Wind”: Westerners fight for freedom in prison—that is, they continuously fight for freedom in the prison of their own language-built secondary society. In the more than five hundred years of European modernization since the Renaissance, they have broken free from the religious constraints of the church, established representative parliaments, granted women and Black people the right to vote, and the workers’ movement has secured wealth and a minimum standard of living for the poor, and so on. Their achievements are remarkable and universally acknowledged. However, in the last century, the suicide rate in North America more than doubled. Compared to Europe, the United States has a large wealth gap, which is one of the driving forces behind its leading position in the capitalist world economy. Americans also have a very high level of religious fervor. From a Marxist perspective, their need for the opium-like effects of religion suggests a profound inner suffering. Therefore, the idea that Westerners have built a human prison is not merely a philosopher’s dream. Living in such a vast human prison, and striving day and night for centuries to improve it, the dreamlike realm of happiness and suffering is left to the religious concepts of heaven and hell.

China’s rural areas finally bid farewell to the reality of quasi-primitive society life in the 1950s. Countless facts show that primitive society is the most ideal society in human history. An ideal secondary society that is as suitable for human life as primitive society may still be far away. The Western world that some young people in China dream of is at best a human prison that allows members to have the right to fight for improvement.

If we refer to the quasi-primitive rural society inhabited by farmers in Chinese history as a quasi-ideal society, then the periodic upheavals in history, when more than half the population died, abruptly transported them from this ideal quasi-primitive society to the calamity of a secondary society: displacement and countless corpses. In this sense, the vast majority of Chinese farmers throughout history merely traversed between heaven and hell. Since heaven and hell were their reality, they had no need to create myths of heaven and hell, and therefore no need for Western religions based on the doctrines of heaven and hell.

2. The following phenomenological article suggests that the history of Western philosophy can be viewed as a process of constructing prisons with language. Compared with the history of Chinese philosophy, the West, starting with Plato and Aristotle, has been pursuing clarity and accuracy of concepts while continuously building massive philosophical systems, one after another. Only recently has so-called analytic philosophy, which analyzes language, emerged. The conclusion is that all the various philosophical systems of the past two thousand years are byproducts of language development, and their essence is merely a language game.

2013/08/07

Read: Phenomenological Constitutive Views and Ancient Chinese Thought (Author: Zhang Xianglong)

The author introduces the concept and essential analysis of phenomenology, which is worth reading: Phenomenology is a philosophy that transcends rationalist and empiricist philosophy and is closer to the essence of things: it abandons the distinction between subject and object, believing that the subject has intention before observing the object (whether there is intentional brain activity), and the intention is the object that already contains intention, that is, returning to the original state before the distinction between subject and object. The author believes that the benevolence and the Way spoken of in Confucianism and Taoism are such a unified original state.

Yu Sheng: The Dao of Taoism is a concept that transcends everything, and at the same time transcends the concept of phenomenology. The Dao is neither spirit nor matter. Human spirit and matter are created by the Dao and are its manifestations. The Dao exists independently outside the world. The Dao itself has spirituality, and human thought activities are merely a manifestation of this omnipresent Dao.

Write a short essay on “Looking at Western Phenomenology Through the Concept of a Two-Tier Society” (using encyclopedias, philosophical dictionaries, and this article as references).

The quote states: “It’s not that ancient Chinese learning couldn’t reach the level of conceptual philosophy; the reason it ‘didn’t conceptualize’ is because its major schools, deeply influenced by the ‘changing view of the Way of Heaven,’ possessed an almost innate sensitivity or aversion to the shortcomings of conceptual abstraction from the outset, and therefore resorted to the method of ‘construction.’ In the Confucian and Daoist doctrines of the pre-Qin period, there was a very unique attitude of skepticism or ‘suspended attitude.'”

It is precisely from this phenomenological and hermeneutic perspective that he viewed ancient folk songs like “Xintianyou” and “Pashan Diao” as expressions of “innocent thoughts,” experiencing a state of “perfect beauty and perfection” within the music of Shao. (You Sheng: Laozi elevated the primitive way of life to a philosophical level; Confucius: an aesthetic level.)

Conceptual philosophy is based on something ready-made and abstract, while phenomenology and Chinese Confucianism and Taoism suggest a purely constitutive context of occurrence.

2013/8/10

Read the online story: “Li Gan, a survivor of the Cultural Revolution: How I became a murderer over ten years.”

The author, You Sheng, argues that young people share a similar social and life position with those in quasi-primitive rural societies: they are closer to primitive society and not far removed from human nature. One aspect of human nature is the inability to kill. The author, Li Gan, who led killings during the Cultural Revolution and subsequently spent eighteen years in prison, recounts his psychological process during the killings. The first decision made after the establishment of the middle school revolutionary committee was to kill; originally, five people were to be killed, a collective decision made amidst revolutionary fervor. However, during this process, the phrase “human life is of paramount importance” echoed in Li Gan’s mind, causing him to hesitate three times. Unexpectedly, he received the agreement of others each time, indicating that others also experienced similar thoughts and emotions. This is an example of how human intuition triumphed over secondary social rationality.

Appendix: Original text from the internet

Recently, the third issue of the 2013 edition of the mainland media magazine *Jiangnan* published an article titled “Li Gan, a Victim of the Cultural Revolution: How I Became a Murderer in Ten Years.” In his memoir, Li Gan recounts in detail the Wuhan “125 Incident” that occurred in 1967. He reflects on the truth of the Cultural Revolution and expresses his deepest gratitude to all those who were harmed in the “125 Incident,” perhaps even kneeling down. He also served eighteen years in prison for this incident.

As one of the most direct participants in the Cultural Revolution, Li Gan vividly recalled that the horrific massacre occurred under the guidance of a fanatical revolutionary ideology. Two middle schools that were originally neighbors and coexisted peacefully became enemies due to their differing views on the Cultural Revolution, leading to mutual hatred, fighting, and killing. On December 4, 1967, the Revolutionary Committee of Wuhan Hongqi Middle School in Hubei Province was established. Under the pretext of “suppressing hooligans” and “eliminating harm for the people,” their emotions escalated during a meeting, ultimately leading to a decision to eliminate the opposing leaders, compile a “death list,” and carry out the killings according to the list at midnight.

Revolutionary movements escalated mutual hatred and hostility among the people, leading to murderous intent.

On December 4, 1967, the Revolutionary Committee of Hongqi Middle School was established (Wuchang Experimental Middle School in Hubei Province was renamed Hongqi Middle School during the Cultural Revolution). Afterwards, there was a humorous saying: 124 is not a lucky number; its pronunciation is similar to “yao er si” (要尔死).

Previously, a group from the neighboring No. 22 Middle School ransacked the overseas Chinese storage room of Hongqi Middle School and set fire to the office building, turning them into enemies. They harbored mutual hatred towards Hongqi Middle School, engaging in constant group fights and killings, thus becoming adversaries.

That evening, the newly established Revolutionary Committee gathered many followers for a meeting. Li Gan, who was also in charge of security, attended the meeting. Everyone had heard that Zhuang Hongyun, Kong Wei, Fu Qiang, Ding Hongbao, and other leaders of the gang from No. 22 Middle School were gathering, and that they had also invited Han Zhuanyun, a gang leader from Wuchang District.

Finally, news came that Kong Wei, Fu Qiang, and others had left No. 22 Middle School and gone home. Some people immediately relaxed, and some even wanted to leave right away.

However, some people felt that it was not easy to gather everyone together at once, and that it shouldn’t be left like this.

Some suggested going to their homes to arrest them, while others suggested more vehemently that arresting them was too much trouble and that it would be better to just kill them.

The meeting room fell silent. The proposal was too sudden and too shocking; most people were not prepared for it. Before this, everyone had only wanted to beat these people up and be done with it, never thinking of taking their lives.

Li Gan was struggling with his inner conflict and was hesitating when a voice suddenly rang in his ears: “Beihang Hongqi killed Li Jingquan’s son, and nothing happened to him.” After all, a life was at stake, and Li Gan still hesitated. However, from that moment on, the ancient adage “a life is at stake” began to waver in his mind.

Some people said that there were hooligans from several schools in Hankou who, under the guise of rebels, formed a five-school joint defense group and committed all sorts of evil deeds. The new No. 1 Middle School showed no mercy to them.

Everyone started talking at once, saying that hooligans should be suppressed and that the people should be rid of this scourge, and their emotions began to rise.

Li Gan’s emotions also surged, and he advocated for killing.

Jointly draft the death list

Everyone started listing the names:

Kong Wei, the leader of this gang of thugs, is the worst. To catch a thief, you must first catch his leader; we need to take him down first.

Fu Qiang, besides Kong Wei, is the one with the most bad ideas, a cunning strategist.

Zhuang Hongyun, the most capable henchman, is always the one who rushes to the front whenever trouble arises.

Ding Hongbao, along with Zhuang Hongyun, are two ruthless henchmen, and Ding Hongbao cannot be let go.

Also, someone mentioned someone they hated.

He was just a regular member, and someone immediately spoke up in denial.

Under Li Gan’s leadership, the meeting ultimately decided to eliminate Kong Wei, Fu Qiang, Zhuang Hongyun, and Ding Hongbao, with the operation commencing at midnight.

The ideological struggle: removing one person from the death list

A vague anxiety was slowly seeping from the depths of Li Gan’s heart; he felt uneasy, as if something was wrong. Suddenly, he realized it was the ancient adage, “Human life is of paramount importance,” stirring restlessly in some corner of his heart, impossible to suppress. Li Gan pondered repeatedly, feeling the decision was somewhat sudden and not his original intention, but ultimately his revolutionary theory of bloodshed prevailed. What troubled Li Gan was simply that four people had been shot—too many; the number needed to be reduced. Li Gan found Fu Jun, and together they went to the dormitory where the other two members of the Revolutionary Committee, He Rufeng and Liu Yingfa, lived.

There were only the four of them in the room. After Li Gan explained the specific arrangements for the operation, he said that Zhuang Hongyun had already been beaten and had been taught a lesson, so he would be more restrained. Could we remove him from the list?

No one objected; the two answered simply with a “Okay!” without even thinking. Fu Jun nodded repeatedly. They asked for details about the operation, and Li Gan answered them one by one, repeatedly reminding them to be careful.

One of the deadly operations: Eleven shots were fired at Conway.

At midnight, more than forty students gathered on the back playground on time. All around was quiet, with only gusts of north wind whistling through.

The group set off in two lines, with the student leading the way at the front. The vast city seemed to be fast asleep; there were no pedestrians on the streets, only the occasional sporadic gunfire from afar reminding people that the night was far from peaceful. They arrived at a house facing the street near Hansoo Pavilion, a two-story building with three connected sections. Kong Wei lived in a room on the second floor of the middle section facing the street. This building had two entrances, one in the front and one in the back. If those two entrances were blocked, Kong Wei would have no chance of escape.

Li Gan started calling Kong Wei’s name and knocking on the old-fashioned wooden door with a hinge.

Finally, there was a response. An old woman wearing a cotton-padded coat opened the door. She crawled out of her warm bed, looking displeased, and said to Li Gan, “What are you doing here so late?” She suddenly noticed that Li Gan was holding a gun, and immediately shut her mouth, which was about to say something.

Fang Xingguo first discovered Kong Wei’s residence and shot him.

Li Gan quickly took a few steps forward and saw a man sitting on the ground with a long saber beside him, gleaming coldly in the darkness. It was Kong Wei. Almost touching him, Li Gan repeatedly pulled the trigger, not even counting how many shots he fired, until the trigger stopped responding. He turned and walked out the door, saying, “Withdraw.”

When Li Gan counted the magazines and the number of loaded bullets, he realized that he had fired a total of eleven shots at Kong Wei.

Part Two of the Death Sentence: The victim’s mother’s heart-wrenching screams drifted helplessly through the night sky.

Fu Qiang’s home is relatively close to the school, right next to the Imperial Stele Tower, so the team arrived quickly.

Fu Jun stepped forward and knocked on the door, while Li Gan and Fang Xingguo stood to the side. After a brief moment of tension, the door opened, an older woman came out, and then casually closed the door again.

She glanced at Fu Jun, hesitated for a moment, then stepped aside and opened the door. The room was dark, and she pointed inside.

Following her direction, and using the faint light from the streetlights outside, Li Gan vaguely saw a single bed and walked towards it. The person sleeping on the bed probably noticed someone approaching and sat up. Li Gan, worried about making a mistake, checked first and walked up to him, asking if it was Fu Qiang. The person nodded, his face blank.

A sudden hesitation gripped Li Gan’s heart. His hand, holding the loaded pistol, felt heavy. He hoped Fu Qiang would say something conciliatory, that everything in the past was just a misunderstanding. That way, Li Gan would release the gun, pat Fu Qiang on the shoulder, say he’d let him off this time, and turn and leave. He stared at Fu Qiang for at least ten seconds.

For a moment, the room fell silent. Fu Qiang stared at him blankly, showing no intention of saying anything. The die was cast, and the words about revolution and bloodshed echoed in Li Gan’s ears again. The hatred in his heart gradually solidified, and his determination to act was rapidly returning.

One, two, three. Li Gan stared into Fu Qiang’s eyes, mentally counting to three as slowly as possible. He pulled out his pistol and fired two shots, almost touching Fu Qiang’s head. Fu Qiang didn’t utter a sound and fell backward onto the bed. Fu Qiang’s family was completely stunned, never expecting such an outcome. By the time they reacted, Li Gan and his gang had already left the house and quickly retreated from the alley.

A deafening shout came from behind: “They killed my son!” In the dead of winter night, the sound was chilling, sending shivers down one’s spine. It sounded so helpless and desolate, drifting aimlessly through the night sky, disappearing into every corner it could reach, without any response from any direction.

Operation Death Part Three: Temporary Cancellation

The operation was swift and efficient, and everyone was quite excited. Fu Jun then led the way to Ding Hongbao’s house, preparing to complete the final task.

Li Gan’s steps began to feel heavy. The ancient proverb, “Human life is of paramount importance,” seemed to resurface from somewhere, perhaps evoked by Fu Qiang’s mother’s heart-wrenching screams, or perhaps it had never truly left him. “The needs of the revolution are the highest law!” Nothing could conflict with revolutionary ideals; everything must yield before the revolution: Lenin’s words began to echo in his ears. What to do?

The team continued marching towards Ding Hongbao’s house, their pace quickening until they were almost jogging. Li Gan’s heart pounded faster, and his inner turmoil intensified. Reason told him that taking down Kong and Fu was enough, and the operation should and must stop.

In a moment of urgency, Li Gan suddenly had an idea. He stopped the troops, walked quickly to Fu Jun, and asked in a voice that everyone could hear: “After we take down Kong Wei and Fu Qiang, do the remaining people still dare to endanger the Cultural Revolution and oppose us?”

No one expected Li Gan to ask such a question at this moment, especially Fu Jun. But everyone understood the purpose of the question; Fu Jun’s answer would affect the next step of the action, and everyone looked at Fu Jun at once.

After hesitating for more than ten seconds, Fu Jun finally spoke: “I guess he won’t dare to.”

Li Gan immediately said, “Okay, let’s go back to school.” After saying that, he turned the team around, and no one objected. Although he was somewhat confident beforehand, he still felt a sense of relief after it was actually done.

(Editor: Gu Chunqiu)

2013/8/10

Rereading: Chen Yun (with “Bin” above “Bei”): Music, Time, and Human Existence – A Modern Understanding of Confucianism’s “Success Through Music”

Chen interprets “the beginning of life is in poetry, the establishment is in rites, and the completion is in music” as a kind of eternal time dimension. Only through music can a person reach the ultimate state of completion.

Yu Sheng: I disagree with the author’s approach of isolating music. I believe that sound and visual imagery, in terms of the “metaphysical spiritual understanding” the author speaks of, are the same and indistinguishable. In Confucius’s time, the Shao music touched the depths of his soul, but when modern novels emerged, they were widely considered to have a religious function, known as the religion of the novel. If human subjectivity is a cultural construct based on language, then time is also a linguistic construct. At least the concept of time in primitive society and secondary society is fundamentally different, as is the concept of time in a language-speaking society and a languageless society (animal society). Animals may also have memories and integrate various images in their memories, and they may also use past memories and experiences to imagine, so much so that they can also find ways to solve problems in difficult situations. This animalistic imagining process is fundamentally different from the meticulous planning that humans make using language; only the latter has a true concept of time.

The following are quotations, mainly from Xu Fuguan, Hegel, and others.

The author states, “Because the subject’s grasp of the present scene within the visual field is merely a non-participatory, passive observation. Thus, the image-based visual field cultivates a purely abstract, theoretical attitude.” (Yusheng: What is the interpretation of “fusion of emotion and scene”?) The reason for this illusion lies in the fact that our waking consciousness is currently controlled by only one sense, completely adapted to the world of the eye, causing all our sensory impressions to adapt to visual impressions and be organized according to visual impressions. (Spengler, *The Decline of the West*, Beijing: Commercial Press, 1995, p. 91.)

Wang Chuanshan said: “Knowing sound but not music is like a beast; knowing music but not joy is like the common people. Only the virtuous can know joy. Music is the harmonious interplay of musical scales; music is the solitary, pure sound that pleases the ear. Joy is not happiness in the ordinary sense; it is a heartfelt joy that inspires self-improvement and purification. In its most essential sense, joy (music) is a metaphysical pleasure; in other words, it is a joy of the soul, not merely a satisfaction of the senses (the physical body).”

Hegel said: “The tones used in these two arts are continuous in time; they possess a simple externality that cannot be expressed by any other concrete means of representation. Things juxtaposed in space are immediately apparent, but in time, this moment has just arrived, and the previous moment has already passed; time flows endlessly in this coming and going. It is this fluidity and uncertainty that needs to be expressed with the regularity and uniformity of rhythm, to produce a fixed and consistent repetition, thus controlling the endless forward flow.” The rhythm of music possesses an irresistible magic, so we often unconsciously tap our feet when listening to music. The rhythm appears to be purely created by the subject, and upon hearing it, we immediately gain the belief that this orderly adjustment of time is solely the function of the subject. That is to say, this principle of pure self-consistency reflects the subject’s own recurring unity and harmony with itself in all different situations and varied experiences. Therefore, the rhythm can resonate in the deepest recesses of our souls, moving us from our own inherently abstract and self-unified subjectivity. From this perspective, what moves us about a melody is not its spiritual content, nor the specific soul within its emotions; what touches us most deeply is not the melody itself, but rather the unity of this abstract subject within time. This unity resonates with a similar unity in the subjective realm through rhythm and rhyme, allowing the sensory element to transcend its sensory scope. (Aesthetics, Vol. 1, Beijing: Commercial Press, 1996, pp. 317-318.)

Xu Fuguan analyzed this as follows: “Deep emotion” refers to its direct flow from the very roots of human life. “Civilization” refers to poetry, song, and dance, each possessing a distinct rhythmic form as they flow from the deepest roots of life towards the levels of life’s gradual contact with reality. Musical instruments function and have meaning when paired with the distinct rhythmic forms of the human being. Through the promotion of music, the latent emotions deep within life are brought forth, enriching life—this is what is meant by “vigorous spirit.” These latent emotions, though often unconscious, possess a decisive power over a person’s life. In the refined music advocated by Confucianism, emotions flow outward from the depths of the heart. Unlike some modern artists influenced by Freudian psychoanalysis, who base their art solely on the unconscious, driven by sexual desire, thus completely severing ties with consciousness and conscience and allowing sexual desire to dominate, Confucianism recognizes conscience as residing deep within life, becoming a more decisive source of existence. As emotions delve inward, they unconsciously merge with this more fundamental conscience. This fusion of conscience and emotion, expressed through music, arises from the vibrant energy emanating from it. Thus, life at this moment is both artistic and moralized through music. This moralization arises directly from the “artistic sentiment” that permeates the depths of life, coalescing with conscience, and transforms without form or trace; therefore, it can be called “transformation into the spirit.” (Xu Fuguan, *The Spirit of Chinese Art*, Shenyang, Chunfeng Literature and Art Publishing House, 1987, pp. 23-24.)

September 2013 Reading and Listening Notes

September 6th

Read: What is Effective Authority in Chinese Culture? A Review of Lu Xun Bai’s “Power and Politics in Asia” (by Fang Chaohui) (From Confucius 2000)

This article is quite long, over 20,000 words, and contains numerous quotations and discussions on the differences between Eastern and Western cultures, making it worth reading. Additionally, this article cites five data points from American psychological experiments, which can be used in future writings.

In his concluding remarks, Fang states that this article merely objectively and objectively examines the facts, concluding that the Confucian view of authority/power is more suitable for the habits of Chinese culture, but without presupposing any immutable premises. Of course, I believe that ancient Chinese dynasties did indeed establish a successful model of centralized/decentralized power. If you do not acknowledge the success of ancient Chinese dynasties in this respect, it does not preclude my explanation of the suitability of Confucian benevolent rule for Chinese cultural habits, because Confucianism never believed that any dynasty after the Three Dynasties fully realized its political ideals, but at least to a certain extent, their realization never ceased. I would like to point out that from the perspective of cultural models, there is no inherent superiority or inferiority between the Chinese cultural model (relationship-based) and the Western cultural model (individual-based), but each certainly has its own advantages and disadvantages.

Fang said, “History has long proven that Bai’s so-called separation of powers model in Chinese culture only leads to warlord conflicts and endless unrest, while the opposite Legalist totalitarianism causes rebellion and social suffocation. Therefore, Confucianism holds a severely critical attitude towards both (mainly reflected in the Spring and Autumn Annals, the Three Cardinal Guides, and the political thought of the Kingly Way). ” This point is inconclusive. Chinese scholars often settle for idealized postponements and do not conduct a series of Socratic counter-questions to explore the possible untenable aspects of a certain statement. I remember Chen Yizi, a member of Zhao Ziyang’s think tank, giving a lecture in Oak Ridge, saying that during his investigation in rural Shandong, elderly farmers recalled that the best time of their lives was during the period of warlord chaos in Beiyang. In any case, warlord conflicts were far better than the Great Leap Forward in 1958, which saw tens of millions starve to death. There is no doubt that some periods of authoritarianism were worse than anarchy.

Fang said, “The political system of ancient China is less about ‘rule by man’ and more about ‘rule by people.’ ‘Rule by people’ is the fundamental characteristic of the ancient Chinese political and administrative system.” This unconscious slip of the tongue into “rule by people” is truly frightening. Is a political design about making people the masters, or about persecuting people, like the Cultural Revolution?

September 6th

Read: °The World System: Empires and World Orders (Zhao Tingyang) (Read only the first 12 pages and the last part)

This article is quite long, discussing the differences between the Chinese concept of “Tianxia” (天下, all under heaven) and the Western concept of the world: “Tianxia” is a philosophical concept encompassing the physical world, human society, and ideal systems and public sentiment. Zhao argues that because ancient Chinese empires only partially and very limitedly implemented the ideal of “Tianxia,” this imperfect implementation primarily resulted in autocratic empires, rather than a model needed by the world today. Zhao believes the Iraq War demonstrates the problems of the modern world; discussion cannot solve problems, so the United States resorts to force. The United States is called a world imperialist power, and it claims to be the world leader. Zhao concludes by saying… Simply put, anything that can only be exchanged for rights is illusory; only what can be exchanged for power is real. Global interests cannot be merely concepts; they must be actual, existing interests. Otherwise, no one will be motivated to pursue them. If a mutually beneficial structure based on objective interests cannot gradually form in the future, then a world order will remain a distant dream, existing only as an ideal. Even so, ideals are still important; they at least allow us to know where we went wrong.

September 12th

Read: When Confucius Met Socrates (from the internet, one in Chinese and one in English, very short, from a 2013 document)

October 2013 Reading, Listening, and Thinking Notes

1/10/2013

Read: Su Li: Emperor as a System

Source: Law and Social Sciences, Volume 12 (2013)

Opening introduction:

There is no greater chaos than the absence of an emperor. Without an emperor, the strong prevail over the weak, the many oppress the few, and the people fight each other to the death without rest. ¡ª¡ª《Lüshi Chunqiu》[1]

Ask the public a question: Would you rather be ruled by a king or by a constitution? This question becomes: Would you rather be ruled in a way that you can understand or in a way that you cannot understand? The French would say: We would rather be ruled by an individual that we can imagine than by many people that we cannot imagine. Walter Bagehot[2] ([1] Xu Weiyu, Liang Yunhua, *Lüshi Chunqiu Jishi*, Zhonghua Book Company, 2009, p. 296. [2] Walter Bagehot, *The English Constitution*, ed. by Miles Taylor, Oxford University Press, 2001 (original 1873), p. 38.)

VI. Conclusion

I believe my analysis has partially revealed the rationality inherent in imperial rule, whether good or bad; therefore, the prevailing assertion in modern Chinese society regarding imperial despotism and ignorance is merely an ideology created by modern China for the necessary social revolution and transformation, and in this respect, once possessing significant revolutionary significance. However, a meaningful ideology is still an ideology. If we remain unreflective and complacent within it, especially when the target of revolution is lost and thus its revolutionary power is also lost, then only ideology remains, becoming contemporary despotism and ignorance.

Despite the inevitable misunderstandings, this article is not intended to praise or glorify the emperor. In fact, there’s no need. This article has already pointed out to some extent that what truly gives a system its vitality is not how many people praise it, nor is it simply the criticism and condemnation of the masses. Rather, it’s whether, after all the imagination and experimentation, including the self-inflicted torment of a “siege,” the system is ultimately accepted by those who are never satisfied with the status quo and are always critical, and under the various social conditions of the time, it is the most tolerable system. This is not a conservative proposition, but rather a proposition of change.

This article focuses solely on the emperor as one aspect of the constitutional system in ancient China, without providing a comprehensive overview. It only discusses a few issues that, in my view, have some theoretical implications. My hope is that through this analysis and understanding of institutional functions within a social context, I can advance the study of the ancient Chinese constitution and other institutions from a social science perspective, moving beyond purely moralistic and emotionalistic approaches, which, in my opinion, are overly fixated on ideological likes and dislikes and subjective judgments. I know such efforts will be controversial, but I look forward to more debate, reflection, and criticism regarding our ancient society and institutions, thereby leading to more and better research.

Moreover, if there’s too much debate, then there’s actually not much debate anymore.

November 2013 Reading, Listening, and Thinking Notes

2013Nov12

Taking classes online:

Volunteer travel, a multi-dimensional life

Speaker: Zhou Jing

This is a personal experience of an accounting graduate who traveled to several countries doing volunteer work.

She said her ideal life was a picture of men and women sitting together on a shady lawn, but what she encountered were ferocious and angry faces. It was in this contradiction that she developed her self, and in this contradiction, she found herself in English. (Yusheng: A seemingly typical and believable psychological journey of a young woman entering the world)

She asked the audience how many of them were doing what they loved, and less than a third raised their hands. She then said that finding what you need means: 1) a fulfilling lifestyle; 2) a pursuit that leads to an unknown future, such as starting a company and making money; 3) like her, not knowing what you need, which is a complete unknown.

She mentioned that gap years are very popular in Europe and in the United States, where people take a break to do volunteer work and enter a different social environment before starting work or further education.

She concluded by saying, “Understanding, tolerance, and respect for different groups of people,” as her overall feeling.

2013NOV26

Taking classes online:

Twelve keywords of traditional Chinese culture

Speaker: Xiao Yunru Speaker’s Affiliation: Shaanxi Provincial Federation of Literary and Art Circles

He said: Core content keywords: Harmony between man and nature, virtue carries all things, and moderation; Metaphysical representation: Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism; Characteristics of thinking: Simplicity, change, and immutability; Habits and drawbacks: Imperialism, the isomorphism of family and state, and emphasizing morality and kinship.

2013 NOV27

Taking classes online:

Chinese Civilization and Culture History

Speaker: Yao Zhongqiu (Qiufeng)

Speaker’s Affiliation: Researcher, Jiuding Public Affairs Research Institute

The lecturer stated that Chinese history has two traditions: the Qin and Zhou traditions, both originating from present-day Shaanxi. The Qin dynasty was autocratic and animalistic, while the Zhou dynasty represented freedom and humanity. Chinese history is a struggle between these two traditions. He also mentioned that Confucianism and Taoism complemented each other; the Qin dynasty had exhausted China, and then the Taoist tradition emerged to restore it.

Politically, it is: Heaven > Ruler > People, which is a practical political law; theologically, it is: Heaven > People > Ruler, meaning that Heaven sees and hears from the people, which determines the legitimacy of the revolution and is a natural law.

The lecturer said that the function of the ruler is to discover the laws of heaven.

Yu Sheng: The heavens have different directions, and the people can be controlled by high pressure, so the monarch has the power to independently choose and formulate laws. Chinese history has not seen this clearly, while Western history has seen it much more clearly.

The lecturer said that modern revolutions are revolutions led by bandits, unlike the Zhou dynasty’s overthrow of the Shang dynasty. The Zhou dynasty had already gained the support of the feudal lords and the people in the West, while the Shang dynasty had lost its mandate of heaven, which had already been transferred to the Zhou dynasty. Defeating the Shang dynasty was merely a process in which the overall situation was already determined.

There are two types of feudalism: feudalism that acknowledges the status quo and feudalism established through enfeoffment. Most of the feudalism in the early Zhou Dynasty was feudalism that acknowledged the status quo. The classical revolution aimed to restore traditional civilization, ensure its continuation, and remove obstacles to the continuation of civilization created by the former rulers.

2013 NOV29

Taking classes online:

The Human-Nature Relationship, and the Problems with English Grammar

Speaker: Andrew Goatly

Speaker’s Affiliation: Lingnan University, Hong Kong

Updated: 2013-05-09 10:23

The lecturer mentioned the Canonical and Gaia models. Grammar with subject, predicate, and object simplifies the problem. For example, the sentence about fishermen fishing in the North Sea ignores the impact of the fish on the fishermen and the active role of the environment in their actions. This sentence also subtly suggests a hierarchical structure. (Yusheng: Aesthetic theory is comprehensive)

The lecturer believes that a language represents a worldview, a construction of the world. European languages, like physics, neglect environmental issues. Unlike the Blackfoot language, which has almost no nouns but emphasizes processes—for example, a book in this language becomes a series of processes: recording, opening the book, the book’s shape, color, etc.—this language is more environmentally friendly.

2013Nov30

Taking classes online:

Kierkegaard’s critique of modern Western philosophy

Speaker: Stephen Evans

Speaker’s Affiliation: Fudan University

Updated: 2013-03-12 10:51

Kierkegaard said that “truth = subjectivity” doesn’t mean that truth is subjective, but rather that a person with passion, grasped by a correct emotion, lives in truth and attains the truth of life. The lecturer said this was his main contribution, replacing religious fervor with this kind of passion and emotion. Kierkegaard believed that there is no reliable foundation for knowledge.

The West regards epistemology as the foundation of all knowledge. Kierkegaard recognized that truth is a process, and we can only reach truth by living out truth. I always seek eternal truth, just as a person who always looks up at the sky may fall into a deep pit, that is, contradiction, or incongruity.

Some people believe that consciousness is an unsolvable problem, that consciousness is beyond reason, and that reasoning is not always reliable.

Yu Sheng: Two-tiered society: The original society was based on aesthetics and did not have the concept of truth of a two-tiered society. Only after a two-tiered society has a fixed system and direction can it have a system of truth. Our society has many directions and possibilities, so even truth and direction cannot be fixed.

Does ethics require religion as a prerequisite? A contract of government, a contract of morality. Morality should exist before we have government.

December 2013 Reading, Listening, and Thinking Notes

Literature Reading: (Already used on personal blog)

Read: Novella: One Kind of Life (Author: Xiao An)

(Selected from: City Magazine, February 27, 2009)

This is a love story that uses exaggerated plots to highlight two points: the timeless nature of love and the extreme deception that exploits emotions. Both violate the original intent of aesthetics, exceeding the harmonious tone of aesthetics, and are behaviors only found in a secondary society. In his “Explanation and Origin” section, this blogger writes: “Here, I cite a cosmological evolution chart to illustrate the fundamental difference between these two lifestyles: 1) Primitive society: aesthetics, pleasure, instinct, intuition, harmony, unity of man and nature, the original world of humanity; 2) Secondary society: utilitarianism, struggle, rationality, directionality, contradictions and conflicts, the separation of man and nature, the world of gods not yet grasped by humanity.” Because of this, the contradiction between emotion and worldly affairs becomes an immortal theme in literature, and also a lament of humanity after being ravaged by the artificial secondary society.

Having not read domestic literature for many years, this work reveals that Chinese literature has long since shifted from the refinement of words to the creation of fantastical storylines. The protagonist, Huang, begins to prosper after his employer, the Hongxing Timber Factory, goes bankrupt. He gains a stable income and a two-bedroom, one-living-room, forty-square-meter apartment. Now in his seventies and lame, Huang attracts numerous widows, one of whom, Zhao Caihua, in her forties, is attracted to his wealth. This deeply saddens Huang, prompting him to reminisce about his legendary life and love story.

Old Huang came from a family of Kuomintang officers. In 1948, when he was 15, his entire family fled the mainland, leaving him alone with his girlfriend, Dou Meijun. Dou Meijun became pregnant and was beaten to death by thugs. Old Huang himself was crippled by the Red Guards during the Cultural Revolution. Besides these two beatings, he was also robbed twice: once of the silver coins his family left him when they fled the mainland, and once of the Poria cocos he had prepared for Dou Meijun’s medical treatment—both were stolen by thugs on the street. The author handles these unexpected events with a simple, descriptive style, without any hint of praise or criticism. However, it’s merely used to contrast with Old Man Huang’s infatuation: Jia Baoyu’s romantic nature is tragically relegated to a secular world rife with deception and exploitation; it’s also the tragedy of a Kuomintang tycoon relegated to a petty-bourgeois society. This latter meaning is the work’s underlying message, though it’s not explicitly stated: the descriptions of Old Man Huang’s parents’ lives exude aristocratic elegance and refinement, intended to contrast with social reality.

Because he went to the wrong place, he met Mei’er, a hairdresser. Mei’er was actually a prostitute. Because Mei’er looked like the deceased Dou Meijun, Lao Huang sold his family property to pay for her father’s medical treatment and help her escape prostitution. His only old friend, Lao Liu, told him that Mei’er was a liar who had taken his money and run away long ago. The story ends with a weak and pale monologue from the protagonist, Lao Huang, leaving the reader to make their own choice: to believe in the sincerity of love or in the wickedness of the world? The ending follows:

Mei Jun, do you think I did the right thing or the wrong thing? That girl’s voice, smile, and mannerisms were so similar to yours. Even if she really is a liar, as others say, I don’t regret it. Really, I don’t regret it. Helping her is helping you, giving her money is giving you money—it’s all willingly. If this money can transform her and help her escape her predicament, it wouldn’t be a bad thing. Mei Jun, I’ve always listened to you and lived a good life. But I’ve lived too long. This time, I’m finally going to find you…

2013 Dec 3

Read: My Little Town (http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_6a95df020100kjxc.html) from Xiao’an’s blog.

–broken

The decision to come to this small town was a sudden impulse. I turned off my phone and cut off all contact. Even the beautiful lotus was banished to the outside world.

The early autumn air in this small town, damp and cool, crept onto my skin, sending a shiver down my spine. The walls of the Hydraulic Hotel exuded a rustic chill. I wrapped myself in a coat and headed towards the small tower that I could see from the balcony every day. My bright red off-road racing car sat alone in the simple courtyard of the mountain valley. The angels shone with a cool, bright, and somber light. The air in this small town lacked the extravagance and restlessness of the city; it held a cool tranquility that could instantly calm a restless heart.

Standing at the foot of the small pagoda after climbing the steep stone steps, fine beads of sweat appeared on my face. Looking up at the only seemingly tall building among the town’s ancient architecture, a sense of emptiness filled my heart. The pagoda itself wasn’t tall, but it occupied a relatively high position. The small pagoda was named “Xingchun Pagoda,” signifying the hope for the town’s prosperity. To the north of the pagoda was a pavilion, and at a ninety-degree angle to its west was another identical pavilion. Inside hung a rusty ancient bell. Surrounding it were verdant cypress trees and some unidentified ancient trees. To the south of the pagoda was a forest of steles and a small ancient gate. The entire complex was small, perfectly complementing the town, exuding a strong sense of rustic simplicity.

Actually, while looking around, my peripheral vision kept being drawn to the shadows of the people on the benches in the pavilion to the west of the small pagoda.

She leaned against a pavilion pillar, her legs half-bent on the bench like a small bridge, a notebook resting on her lap. A pen was held lightly between two fingers. A cold wind howled across the highlands. Her gaze stretched straight westward like a bird staring at the sky, trembling slightly, swallowed by the oppressive chill.

She was very cold.

She wore plain white jeans, the edges of which were frayed, and a men’s black sweater that clung loosely to her body, revealing the skin of her neck through the neckline. She also wore pale casual shoes.

Her bob hair was messy. Her skin was clean and clear, with fine blood vessels running along her cheeks. But she wasn’t wearing any makeup.

Without realizing it, I moved closer to her. Standing beside her, I asked, “Are you cold?”

“I’m not cold,” she said. She turned her head slightly to look at me. There wasn’t the slightest hint of panic at my sudden arrival. Her face held a half-smile.

“What are you drawing?” I asked. Only then did I notice that she had a sketchbook on her lap.

“I don’t know,” she said. Her bright, mysterious, cat-like brown eyes narrowed slightly—was this her true smile?

She looked carefree and innocent, in her indistinct smile.

And I found myself having the urge to tear off that smile with my hands.

“What’s your name?” I asked, with my usual domineering air.

“Why should I tell you?” She jumped off the bench and stood directly opposite me. Her mysterious eyes stared at me with a sly look.

“I want to know.”

“Ha!” she chuckled. A dimple on the right side of her cheek flashed by.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing much. Still water,” she said.

“What?” I couldn’t quite grasp the logic in her words.

“I said, my name is Jing Shui. Understand?” She calmly explained what she wanted to say to me.

“Oh. Hehe.” I’m starting to like this girl a little.

“Are you coming to visit us? Are you alone? Do you need me to be your guide? Is there anything else you want to do here?” she asked herself a long string of questions.

“have no idea.”

She paused for a moment, then burst into uncontrollable laughter. I just stood quietly by, watching her laugh. She was a cool and lonely girl, yet she liked to bury herself with a smile. Her dependence on that smile had reached an incurable level.

Because she could no longer control herself.

It was an ordinary night. We went to Little Sheep Hot Pot and then returned to my room at the Water Conservancy Hotel. She occupied my balcony. I quietly watched the small tower flashing neon lights in the dark night, or the twinkling lights like starlight on the stone steps. An invisible aura made me unable to approach, so I could only lie in bed and watch TV. I don’t know how much time passed before I woke up in the cold. The TV was still playing something. I couldn’t feel that aura anymore, so I quietly went to the balcony, but I didn’t see her. I thought she had left, and I felt a little sad. When my gaze swept across the dark corner of the balcony, the sight of her curled up there pierced my eyes. When I gently approached, I found that she was fast asleep, and my heart ached slightly. I tried to pick her up gently and put her on the bed, covering her with a blanket. Her face was pale and indifferent, yet it evoked an impulse in one to protect her for life.

I was surprised by my own pity for her. Even the beautiful lotus had never received such meticulous care from me. And she, not beautiful, possessed a unique aura that drew those who met her closer, evoked pity, and even affection. Such a girl possessed an irresistible charm, yet she was dangerous and fragile. Too many scars lurked in her eyes.

My hand gently caressed her warm, pale pink lips, and I vaguely felt myself pressing a kiss against them. Her lips were so cold. Just like her. I got up and went to the balcony, smoking one cigarette after another. I think that’s how I fell in love with this girl from this small town. But she was like a cool, transparent glass, easily shattered. She needed a man to cherish her like a treasure. And I wasn’t that man. I had Lian.

At three in the morning, I fled the small town with her sketchbook. The girl I had suddenly fallen deeply in love with—I left her without a single word, hastily returning to my own world. I knew she didn’t need it.

I started my life again, thinking that we would never meet again;

But when I stepped into the university gates, I realized what it meant for fate to play tricks on us. That day, she walked past me laughing and joking with a few girls, without stopping for a moment. She probably didn’t even remember me anymore. My heart was filled with disappointment. I often saw her lonely figure drifting by like the wind when I was walking hand in hand with Lian on campus, and my heart would always ache at those moments. Sometimes, the person you meet will be your downfall. I think Jing Shui was my downfall. I pretended to be in a relationship with a woman, even married her and had children, but in my heart, I would always love her deeply.

I love you, Jing Shui.

I’ve locked her sketchbook in a delicate wooden box; what’s inside is no longer important. I keep it by my pillow. I’m willing to think of her like this all night long. My Jing Shui, if there’s an afterlife, I must be someone to you.

That day, the weather was lovely. Lian and I were strolling hand in hand on the playground. Jing Shui suddenly stood in front of me, her sharp, mysterious eyes, like a cat’s, fixed intently on me.

“I like you.” Lian’s exclamation successfully drew her attention. “Are you his girlfriend?” She remained calm as she looked at the furious Lian.

“Yes.” Lian Meili’s face twisted slightly.

“I’m sorry.” She turned and bowed deeply to Lian as an apology. Then, turning to me, she said, “She’s beautiful, and she suits you well.” Then she turned and left. Her departure was so resolute and aloof. I wanted to reach out and embrace her lonely figure, to tell her I loved her, loved her so much. But I was holding Lian’s hand. I couldn’t be an irresponsible boy. She didn’t like Jing Shui.

Later, Lian fell in love with someone else. And I could no longer find tranquility. I regretted not seeing Lian’s heart sooner. When everything was beyond repair, I could only fall asleep every night clutching her sketchbook.

(Yusheng: After reading this work, I seem to have gained some understanding of the style of contemporary young female writers: in a short story of just over a thousand words, she describes a brief encounter and conversation between a man and a woman, which can be considered a scene of their meeting. The emotions are conveyed between the lines, fully expressing the myriad feelings behind the laughter and conversation of a man and a woman at their first meeting, making it a very enjoyable read.)

2013 Dec 4

Online course: *Dream of the Red Chamber*

Speaker: Duan Qiming, Capital Normal University

The lecturer stated: 1) *Dream of the Red Chamber* is a product of the social changes and intellectual trends since the late Ming and early Qing dynasties; 2) it is the result of the accumulation of Chinese novelistic art; 3) the author possessed unique qualities: talent, knowledge structure, life insights, family background, and personal experiences; 4) his understanding of life and his experiences were extraordinary. Therefore, the lecturer began by explaining the author’s background.

The authors, Cao Xueqin and Gao E, were first identified by Hu Shi and others. Cao Xueqin’s ancestral home was Liaoyang, Liaoning, and he served as an official in Shenyang during the late Ming Dynasty. Cao Xi’s wife, Lady Sun, was Emperor Kangxi’s wet nurse, and Cao Yin was Emperor Kangxi’s study companion. According to the “Archives of the Cao Family of the Jiangning Textile Bureau,” Emperor Kangxi wrote four “be careful” and four “pay attention” comments on Cao Yin’s memorials. Emperor Kangxi made six southern tours, staying at the Cao family’s residence four times.

Cao Xueqin died on New Year’s Eve of 1742 or 1743. Based on his age, his birth year is estimated to be either the 54th year of the Kangxi Emperor’s reign or the 2nd year of the Yongzheng Emperor’s reign. He worked at the Xicheng Right Wing Imperial Clan School in Beijing, which was run by members of the imperial family, and there he met the brothers Duncheng and Dunmin. Two reliable lines from Cao’s poetry are: “Bai Juyi’s poetic spirit should be overjoyed, surely he’ll have Mansu, the ghostly courtesan, put on a grand show.” (Duncheng and Dunmin wrote a play called *The Story of the Lute*, for which many wrote poems; Mansu were two courtesans of Bai Juyi.)

2013 Dec 4

Online lecture: John Keats and his “Autumn Ode”

Speaker: Wang Ping

Speaker’s Affiliation: Jilin University

John Keats (1795–1821)

He said that beauty equals joy. Beauty is truth, and truth is beauty; beauty equals truth. He advocated that “beauty is truth, and truth is beauty,” excelling at depicting natural scenery and the appearance of things, expressing the color and three-dimensionality of objects, emphasizing writing techniques, and pursuing ornate language, which greatly influenced the creation of lyric poetry in later generations. He said, “I mean negative capability, that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.” That is, he emphasized intuition and perception; one should be able to remain in uncertainty, mystery, and doubt without rushing to seek facts and reason. Use intuition to perceive objective beauty, rather than subjectively participating. Intuition itself contains truth.

Ode to Autumn《Autumn》: Season of Mists and mellow fruitfulness,

Close bosom-friends of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless,

With fruits the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,

And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the ground, and plump the hazel shells,

With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,…

2013DEC5

Online courses: Mindfulness-based education and happiness index enhancement

Speaker: Wan Xiaoyan

Speaker’s Affiliation: Hubei Provincial Academy of Administration

This series by teacher Wan Xiaoyan mainly discusses how to improve one’s happiness index, starting with nurturing the mind and cultivating a positive attitude to achieve inner balance, cultivating a career-oriented mindset to achieve joyful work, and cultivating a developmental mindset to create a bright future. She uses examples of various famous people to explain the fundamentals of happiness and how to attain it.

Happiness differs from joy; the former is created by oneself, while the latter is fleeting, which can be given by others or created by oneself. Happiness is a mental process; the satisfaction of desires, etc., can bring happiness. There are three kinds of happiness: the barbaric view of happiness that involves taking wealth from others; the public view of happiness that involves creating wealth for the masses; and the noble view of happiness that transcends material possessions, such as Zhuangzi’s “Free and Easy Wandering,” which represents this noble and rational happiness.

Four life patterns and pursuits of happiness: Hedonistic type; Blindly striving type; Nihilistic type, who doesn’t value the present or the future; Meaningful type, who enjoys the present and hopes for the future.

Solutions to unhappiness: Qu Yuan died; Li Bai got drunk; Tao Yuanming left; Su Dongpo laughed it off.

This is an era lacking happiness; everyone is complaining.

2013 Dec 15

Online courses: Have we misread the history of the late Ming Dynasty?

Speaker: Shang Chuan

Speaker’s Affiliation: Chinese Academy of Social Sciences

Chinese history distinguishes between the Late Tang and Late Qing dynasties, beginning with the An Lushan Rebellion and the Opium War respectively, and the Late Ming dynasty marked the beginning of modernization. Other dynasties also have a “late” period, which is shorter than the “late” period. The late period is longer, characterized by political decline but economic and cultural prosperity. The Southern Song dynasty fits this description and is commonly referred to as the Southern Song. The Ming dynasty underwent a transformation before the Wanli Emperor, marking the beginning of modernization.

During the late Ming Dynasty, there was a man named Tan San in the suburbs of Suzhou who bought land at a low price to build fish ponds and raise pigs. He also went to Suzhou to sell crickets and other insects.

Commerce has existed in China since ancient times because men farmed and women wove, making them unable to support themselves. European castles, on the other hand, were self-sufficient and did not require commerce. In the late Ming Dynasty, a social trend emerged where gentlemen loved wealth but acquired it ethically. This led to a social atmosphere that emphasized consumption and ostentation, with sayings like: In the past, an eight-person table would seat four to eight people, but now guests always had a special table for each person.

Capitalism dictates equality for all, and in the face of money, everyone is equal. The lecturer mentioned two incidents from the Wanli era: First, public opinion claimed the imperial examinations were unfair, with sons of officials from wealthy families winning. The emperor said, “I won’t interfere; proceed as planned.” However, officials were still intimidated by the pressure, and the investigation revealed no fraud. Second, a minister submitted a memorial accusing the emperor of indulging in lust, wine, anger, and greed. His criticism was even more scathing than Hai Rui’s scathing critique of the emperor.

2013DEC19

Online course: Geographical distribution and spread of oilseed crops in historical periods

Speaker: Han Maoli

Speaker’s Affiliation: Peking University

Cash crops: sugars, oils, and fibers.

Oil is an additive used to enhance food quality, and it only emerged after food and clothing problems were solved. Originally, animal food provided oil, but after agriculture, oil-producing plants were discovered. China was the first to discover hemp seeds; perilla seeds, also known as white perilla, can be used to extract oil, but the oil content is low, and during the Western Han Dynasty, the Chinese still primarily relied on animal oil. In the mid-Western Han Dynasty, sesame was introduced via the Silk Road, changing this situation. Sesame was cultivated in both northern and southern China for food and lighting. Song Dynasty notes mention various oil crops from different parts of the country, such as tung oil in the south. Raincoats also used certain oils, including hemp and perilla seeds. Southern tung oil was used as a preservative and for painting boats, but it was not edible.

Rapeseed was introduced to China during the Han Dynasty, with two varieties: one for vegetable use and one for oil. The former arrived in China during the Han Dynasty, while the latter existed as early as the Song Dynasty but only became widely cultivated during the Yuan Dynasty. This type of rapeseed was planted in September and overwintered. The Mongol conquests to the west represented another exchange between East and West, and this was the origin of rapeseed cultivation, resulting in a different variety. In the south, rapeseed was cropped with rice; in the north, it was rotated with wheat and corn. In the south, rapeseed replaced sesame, while sesame remained popular in the north. Flax was cultivated north of the Great Wall and differed from sesame: the former had round stalks, while the latter had square stalks.

2013DEC23

Taking classes online:

Daoism Zhuangzi

Speaker: Hans-George Mechanic

Speaker’s Affiliation: Brooking University, Canada

Interpretation of Zhuangzi’s Butterfly Dream: 1) Both Plato and Hegel emphasized the importance of recollection and memory. Plato’s soul is immortal, and philosophers who are good at recalling can find the memories deep within their souls. 2) It emphasizes doubt, questioning the fundamental questions of life in order to discover the truth. 3) It emphasizes “I,” the English word “I.” Zhuangzi used the word “I” thirteen times, and Socrates emphasized the need to examine and study oneself.

Guo Xiang’s interpretation is different; it is not memory, but forgetting; not doubt, but affirmation; not emphasizing the self, but selflessness. This is the opposite of the ancient Greek concept of the soul’s transmigration.

The mind is not the same as the spirit. The spirit is the Chinese translation of the Western concept of the soul. The spirit is the projection of the spiritual world onto the individual, as Plato said.

2013DEC25

Taking classes online:

New Ethics

Speaker: Wang Haiming

Speaker’s Affiliation: Peking University

The lecturer presented ethics from a Western modern Darwinian perspective, discussing self-interest, love for oneself and others, and the different levels of love (compared to universal gravitation).

He said that ethics is the science of good morals, which has motivation, purpose, value, and behavior. Moral behavior is determined by reputation and conscience.

Yu Sheng: This doctrine lacks the perspective of a two-tiered society. From the perspective of the leisurely play of primitive society, loving others is an aesthetic emotional state, not a rational perspective of behavior and consequences in a two-tiered society. There are many kinds of two-tiered societies, and it is possible to build a society that measures values ​​by morality, in which loving others is the goal, and there are no other personal goals.

2013 Dec 25

Read: Xu Songyan: Preface to the Chinese Translation of Herodotus’ History (December 17, 2013, Source: New Philosophers Forum, Issue 8)

Later researchers estimated that his travels covered an area spanning approximately 1700 miles (about 2700 kilometers) east to west and north to south. More than 2400 years ago, under extremely limited transportation infrastructure, he braved hardships and overcame unimaginable difficulties to complete this remarkable long journey. During this time, he broadened his horizons through on-site investigations and personal interviews; he visited historical sites, investigated local customs and traditions, and collected folk tales and anecdotes; he simultaneously investigated, collected, and analyzed these materials, thus obtaining a wealth of firsthand information that laid a solid foundation for his writing of *History*.

Around 447 BC, Herodotus arrived in Athens. During his stay in Athens, Herodotus associated closely with political elites and social figures such as Pericles, the “first citizen” of Athens at the time[9] and the playwright Sophocles[10]. He actively participated in the cultural and educational activities of the city-state, wrote poems and essays, and gave speeches. It is said that he read his works aloud to the public[11] and once received a very generous prize[12].

In 443 BC, Herodotus, along with other colonists, moved to Thurii, a colonial city-state established by Athens in Italy. He devoted himself to writing until his death.

2013 Dec 26

A cursory reading: Peng Bo: “A Thousand Years of Land Changed by Eight Hundred Owners” and Land Relations in Modern China

—An analysis from the perspective of political power and land ownership

2013-11-26 Source: New Forum of Philosophers, Issue 7

Land consolidation problem

There was a popular view in the past that the buying and selling of land by feudal officials and landlords led to the continuous development of “land annexation”. Therefore, the concentration of land in China’s “feudal society” showed two trends: one was that in the long term, the later generations were more concentrated than the previous generations; the other was that the later period of a dynasty was more concentrated than the early period. However, after research, previous scholars believed that both of these views were problematic. There was no trend of continuous land concentration. [50] Moreover, Professor Zhao Gang of the United States pointed out based on data that in the two thousand years of China’s so-called feudal society, land did not become more concentrated, but more dispersed. [51] Other researchers such as Shi Jianyun, Zhang Peiguo, Guo Dehong, and Qin Hui also started from their own different perspectives. Their research results all showed that it was normal for landlords to own about one-third of all land. [52] Of course, even fewer of these belonged to the gentry class. V. Conclusion

Before the implementation of the Two-Tax System in the Tang Dynasty, land, as a crucial factor of production, was primarily allocated through political power. For officials and gentry, the scarce resource was political power, not land. Only by possessing political power could one acquire land at a very low cost, or even for free. The Two-Tax System recognized the freedom of the labor market. The Song Dynasty’s policy of “not establishing a land system and not suppressing land consolidation” objectively tacitly acknowledged private land ownership. This promoted the marketization of land and other commodities. The development of the market created conditions for the state to obtain resource supplies through the market, further weakening the necessity for direct government control over labor and other resources, including land.

The changing methods of resource acquisition by the state also altered the avenues through which officials and gentry acquired wealth. They could more easily obtain general wealth through the public power of the government. Their land ownership also shifted from direct possession to purchasing land after acquiring general wealth. If, before the Song Dynasty, land held by officials and gentry was both the means and the cause of their wealth accumulation, after the Song Dynasty, it became merely the result of wealth accumulation and a means of preserving its value.

In this process of transformation, the market-based allocation of land and the privatization of land have achieved relatively good development, and the price of land is basically a discount of land revenue. [53] This has a very important role in promoting the development of the whole social economy.

Yu Sheng: My overall impression is that in Chinese history, politics was ruled by men, and government officials could possess wealth and land. Commoners and landlords were also entangled with officials and gentry. However, land was not scarce, and wasteland always existed to varying degrees. Zhang Zuolin owned a large amount of land because there was a lot of wasteland in Northeast China. When the author was in middle school, his school organized a trip to Beidawo to cultivate wasteland, which was a large area of ​​wasteland.

2013 Dec 26

Read: Ode to Failure (by Costabramovich, translated by Wu Wanwei)

2013-12-19 Source:

Author: Kosterka Bradatan http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/15/in-praise-of-failure/?_r=0

Goethe once said, “A thinker cannot conceive of his own non-existence, nor of the end of thought and life.”

At least the history of Western philosophy is a history of failures, though these failures are numerous, varied, and fascinating. Any great philosopher essentially affirms themselves by discussing the “failures,” “errors,” “mistakes,” and “naiveté” of other philosophers, only to be seen by other philosophers as yet another example of failure.

Yusheng: A short essay that doesn’t mean much to me.

2013 Dec 26

Read: Dr. Ashok Malhotra, :

Reflections on Clash or Reconciliation of Civilizations

. . . the root cause of clash or reconciliation among civilizations is housed in the drama of consciousness! Two models of consciousness that highlight this drama are put forward here. First is Jean Gebser’s view, which asserts that the history of human civilization is nothing more than the manifestations of the development of consciousness. This development has taken place through five distinct stages: the archaic, magical, mythic, mental and integrative. Clash in civilizations is due to the fixation on the first four stages whereas reconciliation is possible through the use of the integrative stage. . . Gebser saw traces of the emergence (which he called “efficiency”) and collapse (“deficiency”) of various structures of consciousness throughout history. ﹐﹐﹐First is the archaic structure where consciousness is pure undifferentiated neutral psychic energy. Here this psychic energy has not particularized itself into the instinct, urge, passion or emotion. Without shape or form, and devoid of contraries, this psychic energy is the realm of distinctionless given of consciousness.

Second is the magic structure where the psychic energy undergoes its first differentiation by expressing itself in the form of instinct, urge, passion or emotion. Emotionality becomes the distinguishing mark of the magic consciousness structure.

Third is the mythic structure where the psychic energy expresses itself in the form of imagination. Here consciousness turns onto itself by delving into its own nature to unravel its own secrets. It shuts itself off from the external world and listens to the inner world of the psyche. ǒMythic consciousness depicts and makes audible through a statement or a report that which it has seen or heard inwardly.ō (Feuerstein)

Fourth is the mental structure where the psychic energy expresses itself as the empirical-rational mode. Here consciousness restricts itself to the empirical-logical rules and operates through analysis, division, and stratification on the one hand and through criticism, judgment, and evaluation on the other. Any consciousness structure that does not meet the requirements set up for the empirical-logical model is dubbed as pseudo-consciousness and is discarded as illogical, underdeveloped or primitive and therefore unreliable.

Fifth is the integral structure that brings together all the other structures of consciousness. Gebser believes that ǒAwareness is already integral. He introduces the notion of presentiation, which means to make something present through transparency. than to be subjected to them— To realize the various structures within one’s language and habits, and even within one’s own life and self is a difficult task. But — it is a task that we cannot choose to ignore without losing —He offers as a guiding note that just as there is also a time to act, there is also the much neglected time of contemplation. In a world where know-how is overvalued, simple knowing must also be nurtured in contemplation. Furthermore, he knew that thought was never simply a mental exercise restricted to one’s writing. He calls upon us to realize that we are what we think.ō (Wikipedia)

Tantric Yoga’s View of Consciousness

One of the earliest models of consciousness was presented in India by the system of Tantric Yoga (500 BC). It described consciousness as manifesting itself through seven chakras or wheels or energy centers. These wheels (chakras) of consciousness are spread throughout the body along the spinal cord: starting from the root of the spinal chord to the genitals, the belly button, the heart, the throat, the forehead and the crown of the head. the gross rudimentary animalistic-instinctive level to the compassionate level culminating into the altruistic-all-encompassing state of consciousness.

The first wheel of consciousness (chakra) is centered at the root of the spinal chord, in the area of ​​the anus. Here consciousness is involved at the most rudimentary level of basic security, survival and safety of the organism. It is territorial and would be ready to fight to protect its boundary.

The second wheel of consciousness (chakra) is centered in the area of ​​the sexual organs. It is motivated by the sexual urges or instincts and guided by the pleasure principle.

The third wheel of consciousness (chakra) is centered in the abdominal area near the belly button or solar plexus. Here consciousness expresses itself through the ego, domination, aggression, superiority, masochism and sadism.

The fourth wheel of consciousness (chakra) is centered in the heart area. Here consciousness expresses itself through love, compassion, caring, nurturance and service.

The fifth wheel of consciousness (chakra) is centered in the throat area. Here consciousness expresses itself as being loved by a higher person, who could be regarded as cosmic consciousness or a divine being. Here one goes beyond by surrendering one’s ego and by relying upon the higher being for inspiration, service and life. One shows compassion towards others because its source is the higher being, who expresses itself through the agency of the person. One regards oneself as a mere tool in the hands of this higher consciousness.

The sixth wheel of consciousness (chakra) is centered in between the two eyes. Here consciousness expresses itself as a third eye depicted as eradicating all dualism. Subject-object, good-evil, true-false and all other contraries are realized as the creation of the mere intellectual apparatus and are transcended. One realizes the unity or oneness underlying the diversity of the phenomena. This is the consciousness of a sage or an enlightened being.

The seventh wheel of consciousness (chakra) is centered slightly above the head where consciousness shines in its own light. All egotistical, personal and divisive goals are eliminated. There is nothing more to be desired for one self. The final goal of life is reached. This state is described as total blissful awareness where all is one and one is all.

2013 Dec 26

Online course: The evolution of aesthetic consciousness in Ming Dynasty novels and the value of *Jin Ping Mei*

Ning Zongyi, Nankai University

Novels are the history of the human mind. The Three Kingdoms and Water Margin, which appeared between the Yuan and Ming dynasties, reflect the social situation of heroes in a chaotic world at that time.

The essence of language is fundamentally an abstract ideal. Human beings, as spiritual beings, and human life cannot be expressed through abstract language. The true image of humanity and life as a whole can only be expressed through the illusory language of art. This is why novels present such a difficult language. The thinking in artistic creation can only be spiritual, not rational.

Characters should not be treated as political or moral symbols. Humans are spirits, and their spirit should be captured in writing. Positive characters are like holy spirits, while negative characters are like evil spirits. Only when characters possess spirit can they have life and become real.

I believe that real life is about people, and what are people? People are spirits! Therefore, the essence of real life is spiritual. This spirituality is beauty, life, and freedom. Thus, realism must reflect the spirit of humanity, the spirit of life. Only then can it be beautiful! *Jin Ping Mei* reflects ugliness and lacks spirit, but we must not forget that this spirit resides in the author’s heart; it is his soul. Therefore, *Jin Ping Mei*, despite its many ugly aspects, does not lack the light of beauty and remains a work of realism.

What is beauty? Beauty is life! What is ugliness? Ugliness is contrary to life! Desire is inherently contrary to life. Love is life, it is beauty. But unrestrained lust is contrary to life, it is ugliness. By writing down the ugly aspects of unrestrained lust, the candle of beauty is lit.

Jin Ping Mei represents a reaction against the romantic heroism of the Three Kingdoms and Water Margin, turning towards everyday life.

2013 Dec 26

Online courses: Thoroughness and Transcendental Philosophy

Speaker: Qian Jie

Speaker’s Affiliation: Sun Yat-sen University

The lecturer stated that ancient Greece sought the origin of all things, a pursuit initially rejected by Hummels. Kant transcended this debate, proposing the integration of human representation and objectivity. The lecturer introduced the term “transdential,” referring to the pursuit of an ultimate concept that transcends all philosophical schools.

2013DEC29

Online course: A framework for interpreting Chinese philosophy through textual interpretation.

Speaker: Du Baorui

Speaker’s Affiliation: National Taiwan University

The following are notes uploaded by online listeners:

Professor Du’s explanation of the architecture’s positioning—tool-like.

The purpose of this explanatory framework is to explain how the theories of truth held by Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism are valid.

The function of this interpretive framework is: through textual interpretation (it is capable of textual interpretation). It can delve into the details of the text, serving as a grammatical model and a model of the text’s thought patterns, thereby revealing the text’s intent. This set of tools is neutral to the value systems and worldviews of Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist texts. Therefore, this text is entirely instrumental.

The aim of studying Chinese classical studies is to return to traditional concepts, while the aim of philosophical research is to propose philosophical perspectives and discuss Chinese philosophy by addressing specific problems.

To understand a text, we must assume that the text itself is question-driven. A text is a philosophical theory, a philosophical theory is a philosophical claim, and a philosophical claim is an answer presented after reflection on a particular question; therefore, it must contain philosophical questions. These philosophical questions may not be Western philosophical questions, but some questions in Western philosophy are also common to Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism in China.

Identify the common problems in the philosophical thinking of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism as fundamental philosophical problems in Chinese philosophy. Then, approach the topic from the perspective of these fundamental philosophical problems and identify the viewpoints put forward by the texts of the three schools.

Professor Du’s textual interpretation approach to Chinese philosophy is a research approach and method for addressing a fundamental philosophical question, rather than a method that returns to the conceptual scope of traditional Chinese studies.

The research method of conceptual categories: using traditional concepts such as li (principle), qi (vital energy), xin (mind), xing (nature), tian (heaven), and dao (the Way) as tools to study China and its framework.

Tools and frameworks: as questions for studying China and as answers for studying Chinese philosophy.

Introduce three concepts: problem, materials, and proposition.

1. What is a problem? Problems in the theory of the Way of Heaven are problems, metaphysical problems, cosmological problems, epistemological problems, and ethical problems are problems; they are concepts about the subject.

2. What is a proposition? The three theories of sexuality, monism, and dualism are propositions.

3. What is material? Concepts and categories are not suitable as questions or claims; the real role is that of material.

When I discuss the issue of worldview, I use the terms Heaven, Tao, and Qi. When I ask about ethical issues and how to operate and practice, I use the terms Heart, Nature, and Emotion. So the key is not the concept category. Concept categories are the material, the Chinese characters used to raise questions and make claims. Each character contains very rich meanings and is the most useful system.

Chinese philosophy is philosophy, and Western philosophy is philosophy. As philosophy, it has philosophical questions and universal questions, which have been raised by Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism.

As powerful viewpoints of truth, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, systems that encourage self-sacrifice, righteousness, and unwavering commitment to justice, certainly have their own theories and universal philosophical questions. So, what are these questions?

Therefore, I need to find out the fundamental problems of Chinese philosophy.

Once identified, it can serve as an explanatory framework, meaning that over the two thousand years of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, the proposals of certain philosophers and philosophical theories have always focused on certain philosophical issues.

The fundamental theories of metaphysics are the basic theories of Western philosophy, encompassing metaphysical problems and epistemological problems.

So, no matter how you discuss Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism as philosophies and as views on truth, you’ll always be talking about a few issues, which are their fundamental philosophical questions.

Once the fundamental questions are identified, the relational structure becomes the explanatory framework.

Chinese philosophy is a philosophy of practice.

If we look at it from the perspective of the fundamental philosophical questions of Western philosophy, Chinese philosophy is entirely ethics, because it is meant to be practiced, to be used for self-cultivation to become an ideal and perfect personality, to pursue sages and saints, and to achieve immortality or Buddhahood.

The defining characteristic of Western philosophy is its speculative nature, which enables the formation of a philosophical system.

Today, we are far removed from the environment of traditional Chinese learning. The 19th century has long ended, and the 20th century has also ended. We live in an era of globalization.

We will discuss the theoretical characteristics, or the systematization of theory, using Western philosophy as an example. The idea of ​​”presenting theory in a systematized manner” was already discussed a century ago by Liang Shuming, a master of Chinese studies, often referred to as “the last Confucian of China.” Presenting theory in a systematized manner is a crucial path that our philosophy today can and should take. This is a characteristic we have learned from Western philosophy.

It’s not that Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism lack Western metaphysical theories; they do. Chinese philosophy also has epistemology in a broad sense, resembling Western philosophical forms. However, in a narrower sense, it’s difficult to say it exists, and strictly speaking, it doesn’t. This is precisely what we need to develop. We also have ethics in the Western philosophical sense, and it’s more complex because it’s entirely focused on ethics concerning human life.

(Yu Sheng: Western epistemology is a characteristic of secondary societies, pursuing ultimate objective knowledge because it faces disputes from different social directions; primitive societies also have epistemology, but they do not need to abandon the subject in order to seek the pure object.)

Chinese philosophy, as a practical philosophy, has four fundamental questions: cosmology, ontology, practice, and realm of understanding.

1. Cosmology concerns specific questions of time and space, matter, and the categories of beings. Note: Cosmology is not a Western philosophical concept. The universe itself is Chinese; the meaning of cosmology lies within Chinese philosophy and the definition inherent in the Chinese language. Therefore, cosmology is entirely a Chinese philosophical concept!

2. Ontology. The term “ontology” has a catch; it can be translated as “theory of existence.” Therefore, the Daoist theory in Chinese philosophy is also an ontology. It is argued that a distinction should be made between the definitions of ontology and ontology: In Chinese philosophy, “ontology” originally meant the ontology of value consciousness. The knowledge in the Analects is the Confucian ontology, Prajna (wisdom) and reality are the Buddhist ontology, Wuwei (non-action) is Laozi’s ontology, and Xiaoyao (free and easy) is Zhuangzi’s ontology. Here, “ontology” refers to its original use in Chinese philosophy, as the ontology of value consciousness—the Confucian concept of ritual, the Daoist concept of nothingness, and the Buddhist concept of emptiness—the practical significance of ontology in Chinese philosophy.

When Ontology is translated as “theory of being,” it is actually the metaphysics of the speculative philosophy approach.

The point here is that Chinese philosophy has never lacked ontology involving conceptual speculation; it’s just that when we discuss practical philosophy, we incorporate it as another form of ontology, or address this issue later. We are now discussing the ontology of value consciousness in the pursuit of an interpretive framework for the Chinese philosophical view of truth, and discussing this issue brings to mind the problem of the Chinese philosophical theory of the Way of Heaven.

If we discuss Christian philosophy without discussing God’s creation of the world, then why believe in Christ or Jesus? Christian philosophy is founded on cosmology. All religious philosophies are founded on cosmology. Buddhism, a branch of Chinese philosophy, is based on the Buddhist concepts of cause and effect, reincarnation, and karma. Taoism is similar; if it didn’t claim a supreme Taoist god created the world, why would it have a belief system or immortals? If Taoism didn’t have an ontology of immortals, where would its theory of immortals come from? The Taoist philosophical system argues that immortals exist and can be cultivated. Therefore, Confucianism and Buddhism must have a cosmological philosophy. Of course, Confucianism doesn’t accept the cosmological philosophies of Taoism and Buddhism, so it created its own cosmological philosophy, as exemplified by Zhang Zai.

Affirmation, negation, faith, belief and disbelief—these are not philosophical discussions.

Confucian ontology is discussed within the experiential world of family, state, and the world. (Yu Sheng: The foundation of emotional communication in primitive society was experience, especially social and psychological experience. Even newborns have the brain function to communicate with others.)

Lao Tzu’s concept of “wuwei” (non-action) is discussed within the context of the world’s experience regarding family, country, and the world; it represents a value system of wuwei with a selfless meaning.

Zhuangzi’s concept of “free and easy wandering” is open to debate. Does he refer to immortals as beings who cultivate themselves and exist on Earth, or is it his own idealized yearning for such a state of being? Zhuangzi treats immortals as a system of knowledge with psychological significance, forming his values ​​and his view of “free and easy wandering.” Zhuangzi’s value proposition of “free and easy wandering” presupposes the existence of immortals, rendering human struggle and contention meaningless and superfluous. The yearning for the higher realm of immortal life is the ultimate goal, which Zhuangzi pursued. The “Discourse on the Equality of Things” deals with worldly concerns and the struggles of reality.

The value and significance of cosmology are derived from reasoning based on practice and experience; Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism all follow this line of reasoning.

3. The Theory of Subjective Practice

The Confucian classics *The Great Learning* and *The Doctrine of the Mean*, with their emphasis on “careful reading,” and Mencius’s concept of “knowing the vast and righteous spirit of Heaven,” are all theories of self-cultivation.

Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism all use self-cultivation to prove the correctness and truth of their respective theories, ultimately reaching a certain state of being.

How can Western philosophy, speculative philosophy, and universal principles be proven true? Through epistemological reflection.

The truth of Chinese philosophy and the concept of the Way of Heaven, as practiced philosophy, lies in our diligent practice to truly rectify it. (Yu Sheng: This is a different explanation: the West pursues the objective effects of a secondary society, mainly material; China pursues personal psychological experience, which is subjective, related to the original social system, as well as the underdevelopment of the secondary society and imperial autocracy. There was no external space, so it could only seek within.)

Confucianism pursues peace and prosperity throughout the world. “Investigating things, extending knowledge, making things sincere, rectifying one’s conscience, cultivating one’s character, and bringing peace to the world”—these are the means to achieve peace and prosperity. Giving, observing precepts, patience, diligence, meditation, and wisdom can lead to becoming a Bodhisattva or a Buddha. —These principles of sincerity and rectification in Chinese philosophy are based on the theory of practice. The theory of practice is the practice of the individual. Why is it called the individual? Because we are free; we can govern ourselves and decide for ourselves what to do. Therefore, the individual’s practice is the practice of making decisions for oneself. Thus, Confucianism’s emphasis on self-cultivation and understanding one’s true nature is also about self-reliance.

(Yusheng: Taoist kung fu is not discussed here; it was intentionally omitted.)

4. Philosophy of Realm

In Chinese philosophy, only Confucianism has the concept of a “sage”.

Under what circumstances can someone be called a sage? Was Guan Zhong a sage?

Confucius highly praised Guan Zhong, believing he could bring peace to the world, preventing the people from dying from war. In Confucianism, bringing peace to the world is considered the mark of a sage; Yao, Shun, Yu, and Tang are sages, representing the ideal of a perfect personality.

Lao Tzu also had a concept of a perfect personality and a sage, as did Zhuangzi.

The Arhats of early Buddhism, who are immortal and without birth, represent the ideal and perfect personality in early Buddhism. The ultimate ideal of life is to pursue this, which is the only way to achieve perfection.

Therefore, the philosophy of realm is the ultimate goal of the philosophies of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism.

Therefore, the philosophy of realm is the last and most important destination when discussing Chinese philosophy.

Can an ideal, perfect personality exist without a theory of value? Can an ideal, perfect personality be achieved without a theory of effort?

Therefore, cosmology, ontology, theory of practice, and theory of spiritual realm are all fundamental philosophical questions.

The Four Noble Truths of early Buddhism: suffering, the origin of suffering, the cessation of suffering, and the path to the cessation of suffering.

These four characters are the answer to the fundamental questions of Chinese philosophy.

Suffering is ontology, the origin of suffering is cosmology (the Twelve Links of Dependent Origination are about phenomena), cessation is a theory of states of being, and the path is a theory of practice (the Eightfold Path, eight correct ways of dealing with oneself: right view, right thought, right speech, right conduct, right occupation, right effort, right intention, and right meditation. Only by doing these can one attain Nirvana).

# The actual situation of cosmology, ontology, practice theory, and realm theory, and the relationship between them.

1. Cosmology: How did the universe come about? What was its origin?

The question of the class of beings. Beings are a cosmological problem.

Do God, angels, bodhisattvas, immortals, and ghosts exist in the universe? If we believe they do, will our worldview be affected?

Are there people, animals, and plants in the universe? Yes, we believe so.

The question of life and death, and attitudes toward death, are ontological questions. Confucianism did not discuss what happens after death, but only the meaning of death for the living, which is a question of value consciousness.

On the afterlife: reincarnation, soul.

The question of fate: how is fate formed in the course of life? (If there is fate) Chinese fortune telling and Western astrology are cosmological systems that determine your fate.

The question of fate is a cosmological question.

Problems of fate and problems of personality are also very similar.

Human cosmology and Taoist alchemy.

2. Ontology: Value Consciousness

Confucius’s concept of benevolence has been discussed for two thousand years; can it be changed? No.

Can the original Buddhist doctrines of suffering, its origin, its cessation, and the path to its cessation, and the Mahayana Buddhist doctrine of emptiness, be changed?

Can Lao Tzu’s concept of “wuwei” (non-action) be changed to “youwei” (action)?

Therefore, once the value is defined, the value consciousness is also defined.

The ontology of value consciousness has nothing to change.

What needs to be discussed is how the ontology of value consciousness relates to other philosophical theories, constructing new philosophies, and constructing new cosmologies, theories of practice, and theories of realm.

Ontology and cosmology: Cosmology is knowledge, it is objective, and we cannot experience it.

Ontological value consciousness is a concept, a concept is a choice, and a choice is a dogmatism, a decision, a belief.

The concept of ontology comes from the knowledge of cosmology, which explains the ontology of value consciousness.

Ontology and Practice: If we understand the cosmology of the human body, can the human body become a deity? If we understand the question of whether it is possible, the next step is to realize it through practice.

Confucianism states that the fundamental nature of things is ultimate value consciousness. Since this ultimate value consciousness serves as the common guide for Heaven, Earth, and humanity, human behavior must also purify our subjective will—including our heart, emotions, and spirit—based on this ultimate value consciousness. We cannot allow our thoughts to wander; we must uphold benevolence and righteousness. This purification of the fundamental nature is called the practice of fundamental nature cultivation.

The operation of the fundamental skill lies in the purification of will. Purification is the standard of ultimate value consciousness and the rule of behavior.

This is the relationship between ontology and practice.

Why not talk about superficial work? Because we want to purify our subjective thoughts. There’s another term for purifying subjective thoughts: reverence.

Ontology and the theory of spiritual realm: The subject has no distracting thoughts; with a peaceful mind, there is no need for precepts;

When the subject puts in effort and reaches the purest state, that is, reaching a state of enlightenment. The relationship between ontology and the theory of enlightenment is that the subject develops value consciousness to a completely pure state.

3. The Theory of Practice

The issues of practice and spiritual attainment are close and related.

The problem of practice: Practice from an ontological perspective and practice from a cosmological perspective are two forms of practice in subjective practice.

From an ontological perspective, the practice is a cultivation of character, a cultivation of the mind. (Yu Sheng: The Taoist practice of returning to simplicity is a different kind of practice; it is about avoiding the pollution of the world.)

From a cosmological perspective, practicing physical cultivation involves understanding the body itself; it’s about physical practice, a form of spiritual cultivation. Running, for example, is a form of spiritual cultivation.

However, during running, being careful not to step on flowers or grass, and not scolding others when bumped into, and not colliding with others—this is a matter of self-cultivation, a matter of mental cultivation. Mental cultivation is based on value ontology.

Physical cultivation is based on the body’s cosmological knowledge, that is, cosmology, which enters the body. Taoist practices such as refining essence into qi, refining qi into spirit, and refining spirit to return to emptiness are cultivation theories. Their knowledge is human cosmology, and knowledge is cosmology. It is a cosmological approach to physical cultivation, and it is also a form of practice theory. Buddhism includes both physical and mental practices, such as meditation and vegetarianism, which are physical practices. Other practices include giving alms and offering one’s own flesh to an eagle. (The Buddha once encountered a hungry eagle chasing a poor pigeon. The pigeon pleaded with the eagle, “Please spare me! You are hunting for food; if you miss me, there will be another. I am fleeing for my life; I only have one!” The eagle replied, “I know what you mean, but I am starving and will not eat you.”) “I can’t live like this. Life is hard enough for everyone in this world; I won’t relentlessly pursue you unless you’re driven to the brink.” Hearing this, the Buddha felt compassion and took the pigeon in his hand, hiding it in his robes. The eagle, enraged, argued with the Buddha, “Buddha, you are so compassionate, saving this pigeon’s life. Can you bear to let me, an eagle, starve to death?” The Buddha replied, “I cannot bear to see you harm this innocent pigeon, nor do I want you to starve in vain. As the saying goes, ‘If I don’t go to hell, who will?'”

So the Buddha took out a balance scale, placed the pigeon on one side, and on the other side, he placed pieces of flesh cut from his own body. The pigeon appeared small, but no matter how much flesh the Buddha cut, it seemed unable to support its weight. When the Buddha cut off the last piece of flesh, the scale finally balanced! The heavens and earth changed color, and the true Buddha was born. (The act of gouging out one’s eyes and giving them away is a matter of mental cultivation, a spirit of generosity. Buddhism also has mental and physical cultivation, which it calls the theory of practice. Therefore, practice includes both the ontological cultivation of the body and the holistic cultivation of the mind.)

Therefore, there is a thinking model behind the theories of self-cultivation, cultivation, and practice, which is the model of the relationship between the fundamental philosophical questions and the theory of practice that I mentioned earlier.

Is science about invention or discovery of truth?

Most people tend to discover.

When discussing the theory of practice, we can talk about where to begin. Confucianism presents many questions about how to approach it.

Mencius was most adept at discussing the fundamentals of practice. “If you grasp it, you will survive; if you abandon it, you will perish.” (This saying comes from the “Gaozi” chapter of Mencius.)

Lu Xiangshan: Founder of the “Mind Learning” theory of gradual progress. The eight steps of the *Great Learning* (investigation of things, extension of knowledge, sincerity of will, rectification of the mind, cultivation of the self, regulation of the family, governance of the state, and pacification of the world) embody the theory of gradual progress. Practicing without following these steps will lead to spiritual deviation. Knowledge precedes action; the completion of action is the completion of knowledge. Knowledge is not inaction; this is the emphasis on gradual progress. Only after this can one achieve the unity of knowledge and action. Zhu Xi further developed the gradual progress theory of the *Great Learning*. The gradual progress of practice is an important philosophical issue.

When Confucius reached the age of 70, everything he did was up to standard; that was reaching a high level.

Cheng Hao also spoke of the realm of skill: there is no need for prevention or inspection, no need for exhaustive searching.

To follow one’s heart’s desires without transgressing the rules. (Confucius said: “At fifteen, I set my heart on learning; at thirty, I stood firm; at forty, I had no more doubts; at fifty, I knew the will of Heaven; at sixty, my ear was attuned to the truth; at seventy, I could follow my heart’s desires without transgressing the rules.”)

The language of spiritual attainment does not mean that no effort is required.

On the contrary, those who speak of profound skill often ridicule those who speak of inferior skill.

Those who often talk about the theory of practice ridicule metaphysics. Lu Xiangshan criticized Zhu Xi: “Simple and easy practices will eventually lead to great achievements, while fragmented endeavors will ultimately fizzle out.”

Those who frequently study philosophy often ridicule those who do not.

After discussing epistemology (cosmology and ontology), Chinese philosophy will discuss the theory of practice, which is to verify the theories put forward by cosmology and ontology as truth.

Therefore: the theory of practice established the metaphysics of Chinese philosophy, while the theory of epistemology established the metaphysics of Western philosophy.

4. Philosophical Problems of the Theory of Realms

Concern for the affairs of the world, for the affairs of the world are my affairs—this is the ideal and perfect personality that aligns with and influences this.

The theory of realms is the highest form of the theory of practice.

Conceptual research is a research methodology.

The significance of the problem, the significance of the material,

5. Research on Epistemological Issues

Topics such as the research areas and choices of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism.

The three schools of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism are all based on ethics.

2013 Dec 29

Online course: Urbanization Process and Chinese Literature Studies

Speaker: Yang Yang’s works

Speaker’s Affiliation: East China Normal University

China’s primary aesthetic experience is rural and rustic, emphasizing the beauty of mountains, rivers, and villages. It’s rare to hear people talk about the beauty of Shanghai or the pride of Beijing as the capital city. It’s also difficult to find literary works specifically about life in Shanghai.

China’s urbanization rate reached 40-45% in the 1950s, 10% in the 1960s, 20% in the 1970s, and then dropped to 17%. But now, rural life is not much different from that in the city, and even remote villages can watch TV and listen to the news.

Simmel’s *Philosophy of Money* and *The Metropolis and the Mental Life of Man*—Replacing Emotion with Reason, Digitalization, Indifference, and Melancholy.

Georg Simmel (March 1, 1858 – September 28, 1918) was a German sociologist and philosopher. His major works include *The Philosophy of Money* and *Sociology*. He was a founder of formal sociology. He argued that modern society would be dominated by a vast model of computational rationality derived from monetary calculations, citing the clock as an example. Only through the calculations of time and money could modernity be realized. Money’s dominance of the lifeworld meant that quantity triumphed over quality, allowing means to supersede ends—making only money valuable, creating an inversion. Ultimately, money controlled us, rather than merely serving a unifying function. Money is a faceless, indistinguishable thing that erases the value and irreplaceability of everything.

2013DEC30

Online course: Confucianism and the formation of the East Asian cultural sphere

Speaker: Shih Chung-lien

Speaker’s Affiliation: Fudan University

Vietnam was part of China from 214 BC to 938 AD, but its territory was limited to the north and central regions. It gained independence after 938 and experienced several dynasties. It was conquered by France at the end of the 19th century and became independent after World War II, forming North and South Vietnam. Vietnam has historically been deeply influenced by Confucian culture, and its people generally have strong ancestor worship beliefs, with ancestor worship customs being quite common. In the 13th century, the Vietnamese invented their own script, Nôm (Chữ Nễn), which was used alongside Chinese characters to write their language, marking the beginning of a unified spoken and written form for Vietnamese.

The influence of Confucianism in China has led to a particularly advanced field of history.

2013DEC31

Online course: Problems and methods in studying Chinese philosophy

Speaker: Du Baorui, author of the book

Speaker’s Affiliation: National Taiwan University

The texts of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism all advocate philosophical systems that emphasize life, the ultimate truth, and reality. The study of Chinese philosophy over the past 100 years can be divided into four stages: 1. Late Qing and early Republican periods; 2. After the Republic of China and the War of Resistance against Japan; 3. From 1949 to the Reform and Opening Up in mainland China; 4. From the 1980s and 1990s to the present. The questions raised in stages 1-3 are whether Chinese philosophy is truly philosophy. Stage 4 involves Western research on Chinese philosophy and Sino-Western exchange.

2013DEC31

Taking classes online:

From “Harmony among All Nations” to “Unification of the Country”

Zhang Chuanxi, Peking University

Zhang stated that the unification of China began with Qin Shi Huang and was consolidated by Emperor Wu of Han. The West possesses three civilizations: material, spiritual, and political, while China only has material and spiritual civilizations, lacking political civilization. China had Mr. Seminar (Science), but not Mr. Democracy (democracy). From Qin Shi Huang to the Kuomintang government, autocracy was the norm, and this remains unchanged to this day—this is the general view among scholars. The lecturer argued that authoritarianism is also a political system.

2013 Dec 4

Online lecture: John Keats and his “Ode to Autumn”

Speaker: Wang Ping

Speaker’s Affiliation: Jilin University

John Keats (1795–1821)

He said that beauty equals joy. Beauty is truth, and truth is beauty; beauty equals truth. He advocated that “beauty is truth, and truth is beauty,” excelling at depicting natural scenery and the appearance of things, expressing the color and three-dimensionality of objects, emphasizing writing techniques, and pursuing ornate language, greatly influencing the creation of later lyric poetry. He said, “I mean negative capability, that is when man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.” That is, emphasizing intuition and perception; one should be able to remain in uncertainty, mystery, and doubt without rushing to seek facts and reason. Use intuition to perceive objective beauty, rather than subjectively intervening. Intuition itself contains truth.