柏拉图：艺术是距离现实的第三重模仿 Plato: Art is Imitation That is Three Steps Removed from Reality

有人说西方哲学是对柏拉图的一系列的注解。柏拉图对西方文化的影响无疑是十分巨大，包括对艺术与艺术理论的巨大影响。

柏拉图发展了他的两个世界观的现实：不断改变的物质世界与永恒与不变的理念世界。理念世界是绝对、独立、理性与超越的。理念世界永远不变，是我们所看到的物质世界的主要自然事物的因。

美、公正与圆圈都是柏拉图的形式或理念的例子。很多个别的事物都具有圆圈、公正或美的形式。对柏拉图而言，这些形式是完美的理想，它们同时比客观物体更为真实。他称它们为‘真正的实在’。世界上的物质现象的实在只能限于它们对真实世界的模仿。

在柏拉图看来，不断变换的物质世界是完美、理性、永恒、不变的本质世界的劣等腐朽模仿本。美丽的花朵、夕阳、音乐或情爱都不过是美丽理念的不完美模仿品。在这个现象不断改变的世界，你可能有机会捕捉到醉人心弦的完美的短暂一刻，但是它必然会消失。它只是永恒的完美的线索。

艺术是模仿。但是，模仿什么？艺术模仿日常生活里的事与物。就是说，艺术作品是理念的模仿的模仿。所以它是距离现实的第三重模仿。以画一张床为例，它模仿物质世界里的床，而这物质世界床本身就是理念世界里的床的劣等模仿品，虽然它比艺术床较为好些。只有理念床才真正的存在。

所以，艺术作品比起日常经验更加虚幻。它们充其量不过是娱乐，而在最坏的情况下是危险的妄想。柏拉图关心艺术的认知方面，觉得既然它与真理有数重距离，它有歪曲知识的效果。他提议把诗人与剧作家驱赶出他的理想王国，或至少审查他们所写；同样的，他要求音乐与绘画经过严格的审查。他认为艺术强而有力地塑造个性。所以，为了保护理想社会里的理想公民，艺术应该受到严格的控制。

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It is said that all of Western philosophy is a series of footnotes to Plato. Plato's influence on western culture is undoubtedly a very strong one, and this includes a strong influence on the arts, and on theories of art.

Plato developed a two-world view of reality, the changing physical world and the eternal and changeless world of Forms, which is absolute, independent, rational and transcendent. The world of Forms never changes and yet causes the essential nature of things we perceive in the physical world.

Beauty, Justice, and The Circle are all examples of what Plato called Forms or Ideas. Many particular things can have the form of a circle, or of justice, or beauty. For Plato, these Forms are perfect Ideals, but they are also more real than physical objects. He called them the ‘Really Real’. The world of physical appearances only has reality to the extent that it succeeds in imitating the Forms.

Plato saw the changing physical world as a poor, decaying copy of a perfect, rational, eternal, and changeless original. The beauty of a flower, or a sunset, a piece of music or a love affair, is an imperfect copy of the form Beauty itself. In this world of changing appearances, while you might catch a glimpse of that ravishing perfection, it will always fade. It’s just a pointer to the perfect beauty of the eternal.

Art is imitation. But what does it imitate? Art imitates the objects and events of ordinary life. In other words, a work of art is a copy of a copy of a Form. It is therefore three steps removed from reality. A painting of a bed, for example, is the imitation of a bed in the physical world that itself is an imperfect (though less so) imitation of the Form or Idea Bed, which is all that really exists.

Therefore, the works of art are even more of an illusion than are ordinary experience. They are at best entertainment and at worst a dangerous delusion. Plato was also concerned with the cognitive aspect of art, feeling that it has the effect of distorting knowledge since it is several steps removed from truth. He proposed sending the poets and playwrights out of his ideal Republic, or at least censoring what they wrote; and he wanted music and painting severely censored. The arts, he thought, are powerful shapers of character. Thus, to train and protect ideal citizens for an ideal society, the arts must be strictly controlled.

和实生物，同则不继 Harmony is Fecund, Sameness is Barren



Shi Bo 史伯

华人传统和谐的观念指向和而不同。西周末年的思想家史伯与郑国的桓公的一次交谈中谈到西周的衰败时，就很详细的解释了这个看法。这谈话记录在于公元前四世纪所编辑的历史叙事书《国语》中的《郑语》。

今日中国创造和谐社会的努力中，就广泛研究了史伯的看法。史伯的和谐观点强调异而不是同。

下面是史伯给予郑桓公的忠告：

夫和实生物，同则不继。以他平他谓之和，故能丰长而物归之。若以同裨同，尽乃弃矣。

故先王以土与金、木、水、火杂，以成百物。是以和五味以调口，刚四支以卫体，和六律以聪耳，正七体以役心，平八索以成人，建九纪以立纯德，合十数以训百体。出千品，具万方，计亿事，材兆物，收经入，行姟极。故王者居九畡之田以食兆民，取经入以食万官。周训而能用之，和乐如一。夫如是，和之至也。

于是乎先王聘后于异姓，求财于有方，择臣取谏，工而讲以多物，务和同也。声一无听，物一无文，味一无果，物一不讲。

王将弃是类也而与剸同。天夺之明，欲无弊，得乎？

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The Chinese traditional idea of harmony means unity in diversity. This idea was fully elaborated by Shi Bo, a thinker lived in the Western Zhou dynasty in a conversation he had with Duke Huan of the state of Zheng to explain the reason for the decline of Zhou dynasty. This was recorded in the classical book Discourses of States, a collection of historical narratives probably compiled around fourth century BC.

Shi Bo’s idea of harmony, which is extensively studied by China today in their effort to create a harmonious society, underscores the fertility of the kind of harmony that maximizes difference.

Below is the advice given by Shi Bo to Duke Huan:

While harmony is fecund, sameness is barren. Things accommodating each other on equal terms are called blending together in harmony, and in so doing they are able to flourish and grow, and other things are drawn to them. But when same is added to same, once it is used up, there is no more.

Hence, the Former Kings blended earth with metal, wood, fire, and water to make their products. They thereby harmonised the five flavours to satisfy their palate, strengthened the four limbs to protect the body, attuned the six musical notes to please the ear, integrated their seven orifices (senses) to nourish their hearts and minds, coordinated the eight (various) sectors of the body to complete their persons, established the nine main visceral meridians to situate their pure potency, instituted the ten official ranks to organise and evaluate the bureaucracy. This has resulted in having thousand grades of things, producing tens of thousands of ways of doing things, operating billion events, managing tens of billions of financial matters, collecting thousands of billions of tax revenues, working on numerous actions. Therefore the King possesses vast area of land for his subjects to produce food, and collects tax revenue to pay the court officials their remunerations. And harmony and pleasure prevailed to make them as one. To be like this is to attain the utmost in harmony.

In all of this, the Former Kings took their consorts from other clans, required as tribute those products that distinguished each region, and selected ministers and counsellors who would express a variety of opinions on issues, and made every effort to bring things into harmony. There is no music in a single note, no decoration in a single item, no relish in a single taste, no comparison with single thing.

Now the King of Zhou does not accept diversity of ideas, and instead adopts autocratic leadership style that favours telling people what to do. This has led the heaven to deprive him of his intellectual ability (to understand the meaning of harmony). And he still thinks that Zhou will not decay. How is it possible?

子曰：君子和而不同 Confucius Said: The Exemplary Person pursues Harmony, Not Sameness

华人的一个世界的世界观意味着人与自然世界有着直接与紧接关联。人生经验的目的就是要在构成世界的各种不同元素这取得和谐。

和谐与耕耘和谐在古代中国哲学中占了重要的地位。和谐从最具体与眼前开始；就是说，从个人来透视。强调的是有个人之修身为出发点，达到家庭、社会、政治与世界的秩序。

和谐的本质可以烹饪艺术来解释。中国的烹饪要求好的烹饪必须把所有的原料调和，同时要保留每一种原料的颜色、质地与味道。要成为一个好厨师，一定要是个好的安排者。每一种原料的味道都要调和（和谐）。没有调和就没有味道。菜式的颜色与质地的展示要十分重要。

《吕氏春秋》对烹饪艺术如此描述: ‘调和之事，必以甘酸苦辛咸，先後多少，其齐甚微，皆有自起。鼎中之变，精妙微纤，口弗能言，志弗能喻，若射御之微，阴阳之化，四时之数。’

所以，子曰：‘君子和而不同；小人同而不和。’

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The Chinese one-world world view means there is a direct and immediate affinity between the human being and the natural world and the purpose of human experience is to get the most harmony out of the various ingredients that constitute the world.

Harmony and cultivation of harmony therefore occupy a prominent position in Chinese ancient philosophy. The harmony begins from what is most concrete and immediate, i.e. from the perspective of any particular human being. The emphasis is on personal cultivation as a starting point for familial, social, political, and cosmic order.

The nature of harmony is explained by relating it to the culinary arts. The art of Chinese cooking requires that good cooking depends on the blending of various ingredients and at the same time for each ingredient, retains its own colour, texture, and flavour. In order to become a good cook one must first be a good matchmaker. The flavours of the ingredients must be blended with harmony. Without this harmony there is no taste. The use of colour and texture in the presentation of the dish was also stressed.

In Spring and Autumn Annals of Master Lu, the art of cooking described as follows:

‘In combining your ingredients to achieve a harmony, you have to use sweet, sour, bitter, acrid and the salty, and you have to mix them in an appropriate sequence and proportion. Bringing the various ingredients together is an extremely subtle art in which each of them has its own expression. The variations within the cooking pot are so delicate and subtle that they cannot be captured in words or fairly conceptualise. It is much like the fine skill of archery, transformation of yin and yang, and changes of seasons.’

Therefore Confucius said: ‘The exemplary person pursues harmony, not sameness (uniformity).’

华人的一个世界的世界观 The Chinese One-World Worldview

我们已经注意到华人世界观的基本假设是只有一个连续的、具体的世界，这个世界是我们所有经验的来源与所在地。作为一个最古老的活文明，中国继续运用这个整体得、有机的世界观。它不但渗透它的历史，也渗透它的文化本质、社会与社会关系。

一个世界的世界观意味着，由于只有一个世界，创造之能源就在这个世界本身中，这个世界的秩序与规则的依据并不来自或为某些独立的活跃的力量所施给，而是存在于这个世界，并成为其重新建构的来源。变化与连续性同样是真实的。这个世界就是它自己的动力因。

在缺乏外来作用的原创行动下，没有统领宇宙变化的最后目的的这种假设。由于我们不能置身于作这个世界之外，每一种东西（人与事物）都置于某一位置而被观视，所以，与其置身的位置连续的每一件东西都相互关联，并互为界定。在这种情况下，没有两样东西是相同的，有些安置会比另一些安置来的更有创意性。每一种东西都是独特的。

所以，对生命与宇宙的了解形成一个单一连续体，包含了一切，从宇宙的结构，到季节变化，到人与人之间关系的运作。用《大学》的话，就是：‘物有本末，事有终始，知所先后，则近道矣。’

自然与人为条件是没有明显分别的，它们全部都能自由地栽培、连贯与操纵。人生经验的目的就是要协调那些组成一个人在此时此地的世界的元素，并从中取得最有效的和谐。

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We have noted that the basic assumption of the Chinese worldview is that there is only one continuous, concrete world that is the source and locus of all our experience. As the oldest living civilization, China continues to operate from this wholistic, organic worldview. Not only does this view permeate their history, it permeates the very nature of their culture, society, and social relations.

This one-world worldview also means that, since there is only one world, the energy of creativity resides in the world itself, and that the order and regularity this world evidences are not derived from or imposed upon by some independent, activating power, but inhere on the world as a source of reconstrual. Change and continuity are equally real. The world is the efficient cause of itself.

In the absence of an initial creative act by an external agent, there is no assumed final purpose of goal that governs changes in the universe. Since we cannot get outside of this world, each and every thing (person or event) is perceived from some position or another, and hence is continuous with the position that entertains it, each thing is related to and a defining condition of every other. In such a situation, no two things are the same, and some dispositions are more fruitfully creative than others. All things are unique.

Therefore, the understanding of life and the universe forms a singular continuity embracing everything from the structure of the universe to the changing of the seasons to the workings of human relations. To borrow a passage from the Great Learning, ‘Things have their root and their branches. Affairs have their end and their beginning. To know what is first and what is last will lead us near to what is known as Dao (the Way).’

There is no firm distinction made between natural and man-made conditions – they are all open to cultivation, articulation and manipulation. The purpose of human experience is to coordinate the various ingredients that constitute one’s particular world here and now, and to negotiate the most productive harmony out of them.

西方的两个世界的世界观 The Western Two-World Worldview

我们注意到西方二元两个世界学说辨别了永恒的实在世界与变化的现象世界。

第一世界以‘实在’、‘知识’、‘真理’这类词语来界定，是正面、必然与自给的，而第二世界则以‘现象’、‘意见’及‘虚假’来描述，是负面、偶然与倚靠主要世界来解释。

第一世界被构成为创造泉源，把混乱变成自然与伦理秩序的创造与决定原理。西方人就是从这些决定原理中倾向于把世界解释为直线的与因果的，并在结论后面寻找前提、结果后面寻找原因、活动后面寻找作用者。

就是那个巴门尼德拒绝了世界呈现变化与多元化的普通见识，而坚持辨别现象与现实。现象世界就是所见之物体，或者是我们一厢情愿所欲目睹之物体。但是，官感是不能被信任的，因为它们是会犯错的，而它们一直在欺骗。真实只能通过纯粹逻辑、罗各斯，就是说以理性思维来接连。

所以，巴门尼德的这个想法后面含有另一个相同的重要的意见与真理的辨别。现象就只能产生意见，而实在才是真理的基础。

柏拉图承受了巴门尼德的存在不变的基本想法，发展了他自己的两个有差别的可知之真理世界与可视之意见世界。

西方传统以古典希腊的两个世界观作为‘客观’的学说基础；那就是置身事外而能观看事物的整体观的可能性。这个观点是说，独立于我们思维之外，存在着实在的客体与真相；而描述这一实在只能靠一种方法。

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We have noted that the western dualistic two-world theory distinguish between a permanently real world and a changing world of appearance.

The primary world which is defined in terms of ‘reality’, ‘knowledge’ and ‘truth’, is positive, necessary, and self-sufficient, while the second world is described as ‘appearance’, ‘opinion’, and ‘falsity’ is negative, contingent, and dependent for its explanation upon the first.

The primary world is construed as the originative source, a creative and determinative principle that brings both natural and moral order out of chaos. It is from this notion of determinative principle that westerners tend to take an explanation of the world to be linear and causal, entailing the identification of a premise behind a conclusion, a cause behind an effect, some agency behind an activity.

It was Parmenides who rejected the commonsense notions that world exhibits change and multiplicity and insisted on a distinction between appearance and reality. The world of appearance is how things seem or how one tends to perceive things. However, the senses are not to be trusted since they are fallible and they constantly deceive. What is real is only accessible through pure logic, the Logos, that is, rational thought.

Therefore, what lies behind this is Parmenides’ equally important distinction between opinion and truth. Appearance cannot produce more than opinion, whereas reality is the basis of truth.

Plato took Parmenides’ basic idea of the unchangeability of being and developed from this his distinction between the intelligible world of truth and the visible world of opinion.

The two-world view of classical Greece has given western tradition a theoretical basis for objectivity; that is the possibility of standing outside and taking a wholly external view of things. The view is that there is a reality of objects and facts that exists independent of the mind and there is only one correct description of this reality.

世界观：中西不同 Worldview: East and West See Different Views

世界观可以说是包含了那些就界定而言，不能在逻辑上被证明的基本信念与自明之理。

在西方，到了柏拉图与亚里士多德以后，所谓的‘两个世界’的世界观已经垄断了古典希腊的思想。西方思想家主要关心的是如何发现与分别实在世界与变化世界。他们寻找那些克服起初的混乱后获得统一、秩序、改变世界的设计的永恒不变的第一原理。他们寻找变化后面的‘实在’构造，一旦明了这些构造之后，生命就会可以预测与有保障。这些‘实在’构造有各种名称，如柏拉图理念、天神法规、自然律法、道德律法、天主，等等。

人类横跨两个世界，灵魂属于高级的、有原创力的、持久永恒的世界，而身体属于现象世界。灵魂通过理性与启示接触‘实在’，所以能获得知识。被假定为‘单一秩序世界’的基本宇宙秩序通过发掘后，宇宙变成可被人类认识与预测。

另一方面，华人世界观可说是‘单一世界’观，只有一个连贯的与具体的世界。这个世界是我们所有经验的源头与所在地。它肯定的有活力、自动产生、自我组织，也是活生生的。

在华人传统思维里，所谓的独立的秩序创造者与其建立的秩序之间是没有分别的。世界与世界任何时刻的秩序都是自我造化，自发的自然。（自然就是自己如此。）真、美、善作为标准并不是‘给定’的，而是历史的演变、我们所为、文化的产物。

因此孔子说：‘人能弘道，非道弘人。’

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A worldview can be considered as comprising a number of basic beliefs and axioms which cannot, by definition, be proven in the logical sense.

In the West, by the time of Plato and Aristotle, the worldview that had come to dominate classical Greek thinking is the so-called Two-world theory. The main concern of the Western thinkers is to discover and distinguish the world of reality from the world of change. They look for permanent and unchanging first principle that has overcome initial chaos to give unity, order, and design to changing world. They seek the ‘real’ structure behind change that when understood, made life predictable and secure. This ‘real’ structure is called variously Plato Ideas, divine law, natural law, moral principle, God, etc.

The human being straddles the two worlds, with the soul belonging to the higher, originative, and enduring permanent world and the body belonging to the realm of appearance. The soul has access to the ‘reality’ through reason and revelation, and thus can make claim to knowledge. It is through the discovery of the underlying cosmic order which is assumed to be a ‘single-ordered world’, that the universe becomes intelligible and predictable for the human being.

On the other hand, the Chinese worldview can be known as One-world view that there is one continues and concrete world. The world is the source and locus of all our experience. It is resolutely dynamic, auto-generative, self-organizing and alive.

In the Chinese traditional thinking, there is no final distinction between some independent source of order and what it orders. The world and its order at any particular time are self-causing – spontaneously ‘so-of-itself’ (natural, ziran). Truth, beauty, and goodness as standards of order are not ‘givens’ as much as they are historically emergent, something done, a cultural product.

It is for this reason Confucius said, ‘It is human beings who extend order in the world, not order that extends human beings.

朱庆徐：画眉深浅入时无？ Zhu Qingyu: Have I Painted My Brows with Fashionable Grace?

在古代，写诗一般是为了给读者提供一个意见，或者希望别人给予意见；经常，这些读者不是皇帝，就是地位高而又影响力的官员。所以，我们必须先了解这些诗的背景才能全面了解其所隐藏的意思。

唐代学者朱庆余就在科举考试前给一个高官写了一首诗：

洞房昨夜停红烛，待晓堂前拜舅姑。

妆罢低声问夫婿，画眉深浅入时无？

在唐朝，考生在考前向右地位的人探听自己能考上的机会是平常的事。一般是呈上自己的文章。上面这首诗就是这样的一首诗，由朱庆余献给当时担任水部郎中的张继。张继对后生的提拔亦是不遗余力。

如果我们单单从妇人日常生活起居来看这首诗，我们所看到的是恩爱的新婚夫妇的情景，尤其是一个害羞的新娘。可是，我们在仔细读一读，我们可以从题目察觉到诗的深一层意义：《近试上张水部》。

朱庆余的目的是请求张继在考前给他提供意见。诗人巧妙地以新娘在新婚第二天要见公婆是的心情来比较他赴考前的焦虑。‘画眉深浅入时无’时要问张继他的文学水准如何。张继读了他的诗后，亦恰当地写了《酬朱庆余》诗回复他：

越女新妆出镜心，自知明艳更沉吟。

齐纨未足时人贵，一曲菱歌敌万金。

两首都用类比手法。后面那首以美丽的越女来形容来自越地的朱庆余，完全肯定他的才华，最后一句‘一曲菱歌敌万金’表达作者的赞赏。这样，张继解除了朱庆徐对考试的忧虑。这两首诗完美地配合了各自的隐喻。

张继叫朱庆余把他的作品交给他，选了其中二十六首呈给当朝官员。由于这些官员尊敬张继，他们抄写与转读朱庆余的诗。因此，朱庆余考中了。朱庆余不但得到了张继的推荐，他的诗也深受张继的影响。
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Chinese Imperial Examinations 中国科举考试

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In ancient times, Chinese poems very often were written to offer the reader an opinion or to seek views; and, many times, this reader was an emperor or high and influential official. As such, one needs to read beyond the poem and know the background behind it before one can fully understand its hidden meaning.

During Tang dynasty, Zhu Qingyu, a scholar, sent the following poem to Minister before the imperial examination:

Last night red candles burned bright in the bridal chamber,

At dawn the bride will bow to new parents with the groom.

She whispers to him after touching her face,

Have I painted my brows with fashionable grace?

In Tang Dynasty, it’s popular for examinees to seek advices from social celebrities on their chances of passing the examination. This was done by sending their writings. The above poem was actually such a writing sent by Zhu to Zhang Ji, who was the Minister in charge of the Bureau of Waterways and Irrigation and was famous for recommending talents.

If one merely investigates this poem in light of the boudoir tradition, one observes a vivid description of an affectionate couple who were newly-wed, especially of a bashful bride. However, once we take a closer look, we are able to discover the deeper meaning of the poem through the hint of its title: ‘Presented at the Time of a Recent Examination to Minister Zhang of the Waterways and Irrigation’.

Zhu’s intention was actually to ask Zhang Ji further guide before examination. The poet ingeniously compares his own anxiety before examinations to that of a bride who was supposed to pay respects to her-parents-in-law the morning after the wedding. ‘Have I painted my brows with fashionable grace’ was to ask Zhang how was his competence in literature. After Zhang reading the poem, he artfully wrote the poem Reply to Zhu Qingyu,

The fresh adornment of the maiden from Yueh appears at the centre of Jing Lake,

Self-conscious of her radiant beauty, she fusses and frets all the more;

All the fine silks of Qi do not match the high esteem men hold her in,

One water-caltrop tune of hers is worth ten thousand pieces of gold.

Both the poems adopt metaphor. And the later one compared Zhu, a native of Yue county, to the beautiful Yue girl and gave fully confirmation about his talent, and the last line ‘one water-caltrop tune of hers is worth ten thousand pieces of gold’ expressed the author’s praise, through this way, Zhang relieved the worries about examinations of Zhu Qingyu. The two poems perfectly corresponded to each other with profound implied meaning.

Zhang asked Zhu for his works from all periods and selected twenty-six pieces to show to the officials at court. Because his contemporaries respected Zhang, they copied and circulate Zhu's poem. As a result, Zhu passes the examination. Not only did Zhu rely on Zhang's recommendation, but he also was greatly influenced by Zhang in his poetry writing.

好小子，不管三七二十一！ Oh Boy, Just Do It!

他在大雨中、炎热下，与大约一百个青奥圣火火炬手保持近距离，奔跑了超过两个小时，跟随着火炬经过学校与住宅区，共跑了大约十五公里。他这样做时，他只穿了T恤、百慕达式短裤和人字拖鞋。在这个过程中，他甚至还把他父母的相机给弄坏了。

这件事于8月10日发生于新加坡。他的名字叫做劳伟杰，一个12岁的小学学生。

2010第一届青奥运在新加坡举行。它于8月14日起，一直举行到26日。青奥运火炬旅程为青奥运旋开了序幕，目的是要把世界年轻人围绕在奥运会运动之下，激励他们去接受、拥抱与表现奥运会的价值观 - 卓越、友谊与尊重。

现在，一个小孩进一步体现了‘不管三七二十一’的热情，和为所喜爱的事物而行动的决心。

这个年轻人失去了和两位同学一起拿火炬在新加坡东北区跑步的机会，据说是因为他跑得太慢了。所以他决定自己跟随着圣火走。这位满身湿透的年轻人解释他为什么要这样做：‘我在报章上知道圣火会来到这里，我要亲眼看到它，追随它，不然我可能没机会再看到它了。’

新加坡报章在8月11日报道了他的故事。明显的，他感动了很多新加坡人，包括他的校长、新加坡青奥运组委会的负责人和松下公司的管理层。

在8月11日那天，他的校长当着全校的面前表扬了他，还代表松下送一架新的相机给他。在8月13日，新加坡青奥运组委会帮他圆了当圣火火炬手的梦。

干得好，保持下去。

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He ran in heavy rain, then in scorching heat, keeping pace with around 100 Youth Olympic Flame torchbearers, running for more than two hours as the torch went past schools and residential districts, covered a distance of around 15km. He did it wearing a T-shirt, bermudas and flip-flops. And he even damaged his parent’s camera in the process.

This happened on 10 August in Singapore. His name is Low Wei Jie, a 12-year-old primary school student.

The inaugural 2010 Youth Olympic Games is being held in Singapore. It started on 14 and will end on 26 August. As a prelude to the first Youth Olympic Games (YOG), Journey of the Youth Olympic Flame (JYOF pronounced ‘JAY-of’) seeks to connect youth around the world to the Olympic Movement by inspiring them to embrace, embody and express the Olympic values of Excellence, Friendship and Respect.

And now, this youngster further embodies the passionate spirit of ‘Just do it’ and determination to act on something that is dear to his heart.

The youngster missed out on a chance to join two schoolmates carrying the torch around the North East community district of Singapore because he was deemed too slow. So he decided to follow the flame run on his own. The drenched boy explained why he needed to do it, 'When I read in the newspapers that the flame was coming here, I just wanted to see it for myself, and follow it, I might never see it again.'

His story was reported by the local newspapers on 11 August. ">He clearly moved many Singaporeans, including his principal, the people in-charge of the 2010 Singapore YOG Organising Committee, and the management of Panasonic.

On 11 August, his principal prasied him in front of the whole school and presented him a beand-new camera which was given by Panasonic. On 13 Aug, his dream of becoming a torchbearer finally came true – thanks to the YOG Organising Committee.

Well done, keep it up.

中国广东省的方言 Dialects in China’s Guangdong Province

最近，有关中国广东省主要电视台的节目应以中国官方语言普通话为主的建议，引起省内市民的关注，担心粤语会被弱化。

在新加坡，一位姓蓝的读者于八月五日写给《海峡时报》，谈广东省的方言。以下是该文主要内容：

人们有一个普遍的错误观念，以为粤人是中国广东省主要居民；而事实是，省内有三大族群：粤人、客家人、潮州人。

粤语是古代越国语衍生出的一种方言。古代越人居住于现在的广东、广西与越南北部。越人很可能采用中国书写文字，但却保留了他们本身的语言。所以，粤语并不是唯一保留古代中国文字的语言。

其实，从中原搬迁过来的客家人，他们客家话可以说是真正的保留了中国古代语言。

古代中国的政权集中在中原，也就是现在的西安与洛阳。中国的主要语言应该是该地的语言。客家人自中原搬迁到南方，居住于与外隔绝的山地中，他们很可能保存了中国古代文化与语言。

有关粤人发动了动摇满清政权的主要历史事件的说法，是值得进一步考证的。

这些事件的领导人如洪秀全与孙中山等固然是来自广东，他们都是客家人。粤语成为播音界主要语言是因为它是香港主要的语言。香港溢出效应弱化了其他主要方言，如客家话与潮语。

所以，粤人对以普通话来播音的建议迅速提出抗议，他们也应该知道由于粤语的强势，其他主要方言因而受害。

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Recently, proposals for Guangdong's main television company to broadcast primarily in Mandarin – China's official language – have caused concerns among people in the province, who fear that Cantonese is being sidelined.

In Singapore, Lester Lam wrote to The Straits Times on 5 August 2010 to talk about the dialects spoken in Guangdong Province. Below are extracts of his letter:

There is a common misconception that southern China’s Guangdong province is overwhelmingly Cantonese, when it is actually peopled by three main dialect groups: the Cantonese, the Hakkas and the Teochews.

…… Cantonese is the derivative of the language spoken by the ancient Yue, who populated present-day Guangdong, Guangxi and northern Vietnam. The Yue would most likely have adopted the common written Chinese language but retained their language. So, the retention of ancient words in Chinese dialects is not unique in Cantonese.

In fact, the Hakkas, who migrated south from China’s central plains, can truly claim to retain the ancient Chinese language in the Hakka dialect.

Power in ancient China was focused in central China, in present day Xi-an and Luoyang. The dominant language there would have been the dialect of that area. As the Hakkas were central Chinese migrants who remained isolated in the mountains of southern China, they could well have preserved the culture and language of ancient China.

(The) claim that several historical events that jolted the Qing Dynasty were started by native Cantonese speakers also bears scrutiny.

While they originated in Guangdong, their leaders, such as Hong Xiuquan and Sun Yat Sen, were Hakkas. Cantonese shows dominate the airwaves in Guangdong largely because of the popularity of the dialect in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong spillover effect is causing the decline of major dialects such as Hakka and Teochew.

So, while the Cantonese are quick to protest moves to air programmes in Putonghua in Guangdong, they must also acknowledge that other important dialects in their province are suffering because of the dominant of Cantonese.

中庸：中西不同 Golden Mean: East and West See Different Means

看来，所有文化都认识到‘适中’的价值。

节制，就是说在行动中寻找中庸之道，古希腊人尊为基本道德，与友谊、勇气、智慧及公正有同等地位。亚里士多德把节制列为道德，反映出对适中的要求。这已经进入古希腊人的意识之中。

在中国传统里，中庸的原理具有真正的普世意义。它不但在道德法则中扮演重要角色，同时预先决定了指定的‘感官战略’，意思是指中国人特有的目标之路：不直接进入，而是要绕个圈子。这和典型的希腊人不同。

所以，西方所说的中庸与儒家经典《中庸》所说的中庸是有所不同的。

一般上，亚里士多德与西方思维里，中庸是指中位数或者有关一系列观察或数据或哲学立场中的中央位置。古希腊原本的中庸思维后来发展为数学与科学中的黄金比例与黄金分割。在西方哲学里，大哲学家一般不涉足于中庸，这已是常识了。也就是说，西方哲学是建立在把天与人、主与客分开来的。

在中国，在《中庸》与其他经典中，中庸意味着无一定位置，因为其结果是看每一个特殊情况而定的。一个智者寻求对中庸的敬仰，就要常常以行动来增强和谐与秩序，促进天地人之间的平衡而不是其相反。所以，各别情况的性质决定什么是适当的行动。也就是说，中庸是所有智慧之本。

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It seems that all cultures recognize the worth of moderation.

Temperance, i.e., the ability to choose the golden mean in actions, statements, etc., was esteemed by ancient Greeks as one of the basic virtues on a par with friendship, bravery, wisdom, and justice. Aristotle’s definition of temperance as a virtue reflected the demand for moderation, which was ingrained in the consciousness of ancient Greeks.

The golden mean principle acquires a truly universal significance in the Chinese tradition. It plays here not only the role of a moral rule but also predetermines a specific ‘strategy of sense’, the singularity of the Chinese path to a goal: not by gaining direct access, as typical for Greece, but taking a detour.

Therefore, there is a difference on the idea of the mean as used by the West and in the Confucian classic Zhongyong.

In Aristotle and Western thinking generally, the mean is taken as an average derived as a median or similar measure of centrality in relation to a body of observations or data or philosophical positions. The original idea of golden mean of the ancient Greece was later developed into mathematical and scientific studies of golden ratio and golden section. In philosophy, it is a common knowledge that the great philosophers have never set their feet on the middle path. In other words, the western philosophy is built on the separation of nature and man, subject and object.

In China, in the Zhongyong and other Chinese classics, the mean implies no predictable position because it results from responding to each situation in its particularities. A wise person seeking to respect the mean will always act to increase harmony and order, to achieve equilibrium rather than their contraries between heaven, earth and man. Therefore the nature of the situation determines what action would be appropriate. In other words, the doctrine of mean is seen as the root of all wisdom.