中国审美：自然与法的协调 Chinese Aesthetics: The Unity of Regularity and Naturalness

中国美学中有两个看来相反但必须协调的观念：自然与法。

唐朝律诗，是要遵守许多法则的，平仄，押韵，字数行数对齐工整，等等，可是我们读诗人李白，杜甫，王维这些诗人的诗，感觉上或是自由奔放，浑成天然，或是刚雄浩大，总之是无斧凿之痕，一派自然的情态。

可见法与自然，是没有矛盾的。其实就是自然之法。自然之法是活法，不是死法。活法随时代而改变。所以不同时代的艺术家都尽情地追求他们自己的活法和创造梦想。

石涛说：“至人无法，非无法也，无法而法，乃为至法。”就是说艺人进入艺术创造的最高境界，无所束缚，可以从心所欲，不逾矩。

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Extracted from 'An Intercultural Perspective on Chinese Aesthetics' by

Karl-Heinz Pohl: Traditional Chinese poetics and art theory give weight to two seemingly contradictory notions: to naturalness (ziran) and regularity (fa).

The stunning aesthetic effect of this unity of opposites can best be observed and studied in the so-called “regular poems” (lüshi), flourishing in the golden age of Chinese poetry, the Tang dynasty (6th-10th cent. AD). These poems have to follow a strict set of rules concerning length and number of lines, tone patterns, parallelism and the like. And yet, reading the works of not only the greatest poets of that time, such as Du Fu, Li Bai or Wang Wei, one gets a feeling of absolute naturalness and ease, recalling Goethe’s dictum, that “true mastery only reveals itself in restriction” (In der Beschränkung zeigt sich erst der Meister).....

The concept of unity of naturalness and regularity – in terms of following the rules of nature – was...... elaborated on by juxtaposing the notion of “living rules” (huo fa) against that of “dead rules” (si fa).....the Chinese traditional aesthetic ideal of a great work of poetry or art: that of a living, organic pattern, not dependent on rules derived from “orthodox” models or periods but following the rules of nature.

Such works come alive, creating their own rules, in each new period with each new poet-artist who is stirred by the world and its affairs. In painting, it was the influential unorthodox monk-painter Shitao (1641-1717) who pinpointed this idea with his famous notion of “no-rule” being the “ultimate rule” (wu fa er fa, nai wei zhi fa).

啊！狗肉，北京奥林匹克关你什么啦？.....Dog Meat Off the Menu During Beijing Olympics

七月十一日，Msnbc.com报导北京在奥林匹克期间，所有指定餐馆禁止出售狗肉。北京旅游官员也奉劝其他餐馆务必劝阻顾客点叫和狗肉有关的菜式。

有人就认为这是中国为了讨好西方和对中国文化没有信心的一种表现。

在西方，吃狗肉一般上是社会禁忌。其实，西方也有吃狗肉的历史。法国人在饥荒时就吃狗肉。德国人在十八世纪开始吃狗肉，直到1986年才被禁止。在瑞士，人们吃狗香肠，还有人认为狗香肠是其中最健康的。

美国人不吃狗肉，而且吃狗和宠物的肉是社会的禁忌。

可能中国人吃狗肉的历史最久。据说从新石器时代开始中国人就食用狗肉。这种文化在古代东亚被广泛传播。佛教传到日本以前，日本人也吃狗肉。

中国少数民族布依族对吃狗肉有一个传说：古代有一个低洼的地方，在插完秧之后许多人突然瘫痪。巫师占卜后说必须找一只狗来祭祀祈禳方可安宁。祭祀之后杀狗煮肉，每人一碗狗肉汤，果然病全好了。从此布依族才吃起狗肉来。而在这之前布依族不吃狗肉是因为传说狗从天上取来谷种，狗对人有恩，受到尊重。

《史记。越王勾践世家》记载，范蠡从齐国回来后给大夫文种留下一封书信说，鸟没有了，人们就把良弓藏起来，而兔子打完了，主人常常把猎狗杀来吃。越王脖子长，有一张鸟嘴，这种人只能与你共患难，而不会与你共欢乐的，趁早一走了之罢。这就是今天我们知道的“兔死狗烹”成语的来历。

《孟子。梁惠王上》说：“鸡豚狗彘之畜，无失其时，七十者可以食肉矣。”就是说，鸡猪狗这类的牲畜，不要错过它们繁殖的季节，这样七十岁的人就可以有肉吃了。

战国时侠客聂政，汉高祖刘邦的心腹樊哙，勇刺秦皇的荆轲和其好友高渐离，据说都曾经以杀狗为生的。

谈了这么多，并不是说我喜欢吃狗肉。相反，狗肉当前，可能还真的吃不下。只是说，人向来有吃动物的习惯，吃不吃某种动物的肉，和个人及某个族群的传统，喜好，过去经验，价值观念，宗教信仰，等等有关。硬说吃某种动物的肉是不文明的举动，这本身可能就是一种不可取的沙文主义吧。

Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reported on 11 Jul 2008 that dog meat has been struck from the menus of officially designated Olympic restaurants, and Beijing tourism officials are telling other outlets to discourage consumers from ordering dishes made from dogs.

Some people say that the ban on sale of dog meat during the Olympics is mainly to please the West as the consumption of dog meat is generally viewed as taboo in Western culture, and in the US, it is considered a social taboo to eat dogs or other animals traditionally considered to be pets or companion animals.

It is believed that dog meat has been a source of food in parts of China from at least the time of Confucius, and possibly even before.

Wikipedia: "In France, dogs were widely eaten during famines. Dog meat has been eaten in every major German crisis at least since the time of Frederick the Great, and is commonly referred to as "blockade mutton". Since 1986 dog meat is prohibited in Germany. Dog sausage and smoked dog jerky remains a staple in the Swiss cantons of St. Gallen and Appenzell, where one farmer was quoted in a regional weekly newspaper as saying that 'meat from dogs is the healthiest of all. It has shorter fibres than cow meat, has no hormones like veal, no antibiotics like pork.'"

However, this is not the first time that the dog meat is banned during Olympics. I found the following in Wikipedia:

"During the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea's capital city, the South Korean government asked its citizens not to consume dog meat to avoid bad publicity during the games. The controversy surfaced again in 2001 during the 2002 FIFA World Cup. The organizer of the games, under pressure from animal rights groups such as PETA, demanded that the Korean government re-address the issue."

艺术形似说: 画鬼容易画人难............ It is Easy to Paint Ghosts and Demons because.....

我们知道韩非子中国法家的集大成者。
在魏晋以前，他的一个故事是相当有名的。这个故事记载在《韩非子-外储》里：
客有为齐王画者，齐王问曰：“画孰最难者？”

曰：“犬马最难。”

“孰易者？”

曰：“鬼魅最易。夫犬马，人所知也，旦暮罄于前，不可类之，故难。鬼魅无形者，不罄于前，故易之也。”
他说：“画鬼怪最容易。狗、马是人们所熟悉的，早晚都出现在你面前，不可仅仅画得相似而已，所以难画；鬼怪是无形的，不会出现在人们面前，所以容易画。”
可是，魏晋以后就没有什么人引用他的这一典故了。这是因为自魏晋以来，中国艺术观念改变，写实和形似不再被尊崇。魏晋人重玄学，受庄子美学思想的影响而追求神逸的意境。
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During the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States periods, the Chinese artists actually saw the world with realist eyes and tried to imitate the external appearance of objects in their works. This had led Han Fei Zi to say that it was easy to paint ghosts and demons, but difficult to paint dogs and horses, since people had never seen ghosts or demons, but saw dogs and horses every day.
However, after the collapse of the Han Dynasty, the idea of shen (神) emerged in the paintings due to the influence of Zhuangzi's philosophy and remarks of Gu Kaizhi (顾恺之). Eventually, this idea was widely accepted by the artists in China.
Shen means "spirit"or "soul", thus the artists are by implication capable of conveying the soul or spirit of the object.

啊！自由：若为自由故，两者皆可抛............ Give me Liberty or Give me Death

西方人崇尚自由，那是不容置疑的。在中学读书时，这首匈牙利爱国诗人裴多菲所写的诗，给我留下深刻印象，几十年不忘：
生命诚可贵 , 爱情价更高。 若为自由故, 两者皆可抛。
诗人写这首诗和所表达对自由的追求，自有其特殊的环境和背景。历来西方伟大人物，无不称颂自由的重要和可贵：
[美]帕特里克·亨利：不自由，毋宁死。
[美]本杰明·富兰克林：哪里有自由，哪里就是我的祖国。
大概没有多少人会对自由的理念有异意。问题在于达到自由的手段。所以，不少人也对自由有了感叹和警惕：
[美]米尔顿·弗里德曼：对自由的严重威胁在于权力的集中。
[法]罗兰夫人：自由啊！自由！多少罪恶假汝之名而行！
中国孔子一辈子提倡道德自由：“七十而从心所欲不逾矩”，这应该算是站在个人的角度，划出了个人自由与社会自由之间的界限。可见，中国人有史以来就有自由观念。可是孔子的这个理念从来没有经过制度化，所以未能建立在合法的基础上。有人把这种精神领域的中国式自由称为“散漫的自由”、“一盘散沙的自由”。尽管它随时随地都存在，然而也随时随地都有丧失的可能。

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There is no doubt that many people in the West think that it is extremely important to have Freedom/Liberty. Here are some quotations about freedom and liberty:

Sándor Petõfi, a Hungarian poet: Liberty, love! These two I need. For my love I will sacrifice life, for liberty I will sacrifice my love. (The Chinese version says: Life is dear, love is dearer. Both can be given up for freedom.)

Patrick Henry, a US orator, patriot, & politician in American Revolution (1736 - 1799): Give me liberty or give me death.

Benjamin Franklin (1706 – 1790), one of the founding fathers of the United States of America: Where there is liberty, there is my country.

I think very few people would argue against the importance of freedom. However, there may be some disagreements on the ways and means to achieve freedom and liberty. There are therefore people who comment on the threats to and express their disappointment on the misuse of freedom:

Milton Friedman (1912 - 2006), an American economist: The great threat to freedom is the concentration of power.

Marie-Jeanne Roland (1754-1793), a French writer and political figure: O Liberty, what crimes are committed in thy name!

In China, it can be said that Confucius mentioned the idea of freedom when he said: "At seventy I could follow the desires of my mind without overstepping the boundaries of what is right." However, such an idea has never been institutionalised, and up till today, it remains a dream to be fulfilled by individuals.

西方理性思维的源头：单一世界秩序 Inside the Western Mind: Single-ordered World

学者一般认为：理性思维是西方文明发展的基石，而东方文明的基石是审美思维，或者叫联想思维。

郝大维与安乐哲指出，西方宇宙学说中的一个重要的假设是认为世界是个单一的整体。这个假设令很多人否认多元世界秩序的存在。所以，西方人很难接受语言，风俗习惯和文化的多元性。为了要达到他们周围社会的稳定，他们希望看到的是和谐，秩序和一元化，而不是不和谐，混乱和无秩序，无政府状态。其结果是，在寻找全球性原则与规范中，和谐，秩序与一元化成为选定的概念。

在西方，无论是从社会或哲学角度，人们对于无秩序/无政府状态的概念存有恐惧。可以这么说，在哲学上，西方人不能忍受知识上的无所以依据，他们需要一个单元有秩序的宇宙作为稳定知识的依据。

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Extracted from "A Philosophical Evaluation of Western and Eastern Civilization from a Whiteheadian Perspective" by

Wang Shik Jang: It is often pointed out that while the advancement of Western civilization has been based on a rational way of thinking, that of Eastern civilization has been based on an aesthetic way of thinking......

According to Hall and Ames, one salient characteristic of the Western cosmologies lies in their presumption of the world as “a single-ordered whole.” With such a presumption of the world as a single-ordered whole, many people in the West deny that there are many world orders. For example, it has not been easy for the Westerners to accept plurality of languages, customs and cultures. Therefore, in order to achieve social stability in their surroundings, they favor harmony, cosmos (i.e., order) and unity rather than discord, chaos and anarchy. As a result, harmony, cosmos, and unity have become the selected notions that are sought in an attempt to discover universalizable principles and standards........
Some people may ask why a single-ordered world, i.e., cosmos has always been preferred in the West to the diffusing plurality of the world, i.e., chaos. An answer would be that the notion of anarchy, whether it is social or philosophical, has been feared in the West. Or, philosophically, it can be said that people in the West could not bear an epistemological uncertainty. Therefore, in order to arrive at a tolerable degree of epistemological stability, they needed the concept of unified world, i.e., universe.

审美距离：今日忽从江上望，始知家在画图中 Aesthetic Distance

今天，为大家抄录一首我所喜爱的小诗：清代女诗人郭六芳的《舟还长沙》：

侬家家住两湖东，

十二珠帘夕照红。

今日忽从江上望，

始知家在画图中。

人生很多的美只有在离开后的回归才能欣赏。诗人也是离开后的回归中发现自己湖边的家是如此如诗如画般美丽。
这里讲究的是整体的，与自然交融一体的美，这样的审美效果，只有通过一定的距离，通过“隔”的视觉效应，才能把握，反过来也正反映了这种整体观，自然观和与自然的合一观。这与西方美学不同，一位西方哲学家美学家说，一个艺术品从山上滚到山下，还是美的，把艺术看成一种独立的东西。
这首诗也很好的体现了审美中所谓的距离效果。因为隔江相望，有了空间距离，并且是透过江上烟波相望，平常的景物就变得格外美丽了。

The term "aesthetic distance" was coined by Edward Bullough (1880-1934) in 1912.
According to Bullough, a person is "over-distanced" when their perspective becomes too "cold" and "withdrawn" - resulting in a failure to be sufficiently involved with the works' emotional appeal to properly understand or relate to it. On the other hand, a person can become "under-distanced" when their view becomes too "subjective," thus resulting in a failure to be able to appreciate any of the larger issues involved with the work or any larger messages the work is trying to convey. Thus, proper aesthetic distance means finding some middle ground between the ways in which a work of art makes you feel and the ways it makes you think.

子曰：三十而立 Confucius said: At thirty, I could stand.

在中学读到孔子这句话时，自然而然的就把它解释为：人到了三十岁，就应该成家立业了。‘立’就是‘立业’的意思。这种说法对吗？
“三十而立。”三十岁孔丘就可以“立”了。
孔丘说：“不学礼，无以立。”《论语·季氏》。又说：“立于礼，成于乐。”《论语·泰伯》
冯友兰认为‘立’就是懂得了行事为人的准则。所谓“非礼勿视，非礼勿听，非礼勿言，非礼勿动”《论语·颜渊》，立就是学礼已经达到一定的程度，那么视、听、言、动，都可以循规蹈矩，不至于违反周礼，可以站得住。
李泽厚《论语今读》说：“‘三十而立’，有人强调与‘立于礼’有关，是指人从六岁‘习礼’到三十岁才算完全掌握熟练，但后世注疏多不拘泥于学礼，而泛指人格的成熟，更佳。”
南怀瑾《论语中的名句》说：“立就是不动，做人做事处世的道理不变了，确定了，这个人生非走这个路子不可。”
杨伯峻《〈论语〉译注》的译文：三十岁，懂礼仪，说话做事都有把握。
蔡尚思《孔子思想体系》也说：“‘三十而立’，也就是学有所成。”这个学有所成，不单纯指知识和学问，还包括一个人的人生观、世界观、价值观，包括一个人的人格。
举了这么多学者的注解，大家明白了吗？
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Confucius said: "三十而立 San Shi Er Li" .

How to translate this into English? Here are some translations that I found on the Internet:
"Be successful by thirty"
"At thirty, I could stand."
"At thirty, I stood firm."
"At 30 I firmly took my stand."
"At thirty I had a place to stand."
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Let's talk about 立 first. Here li (立) means to establish, that is to say, our knowledge and learning, including our life philosophy, world view, sense of worth and personality have become mature and established when we are 30.

It also means to stand, to make a stand.

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Now the question is: What actually do you want to establish? What 'stand' do you want to take? There are many possible interpretations here. This is because Confucius did not elaborate on the What. Many scholars interpret What to mean li (礼) by quoting Confucius' own words: "Take your stand ie li(立) in the li (礼)." (立于礼 li yu li). Confused?

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Now, let's talk about 礼. According to Confucius, li (礼) is defined as proprietary rites or good manners. The concept of li determines how you act in a given relationship. In other words, li can be viewed as a person's morality. A person's morality is responsible for how they act or react to certain situations as well as how they view the world. Confucius advocates the necessity of li as a stepping stone to social harmony. li is interpreted quite differently throughout Confucian philosophy.
Fung Yu-Lan: "Confucius also said: 'Take your stand in the li (rituals, ceremonies, proper conduct).' (Analetcs VIII, 8) Again he said: 'Not to know li is to have no means of standing.' (XX, 3) Thus when he said at thirty he could 'stand', he means that he then understood the li and so could practice proper conduct.

新加坡：成功使它成为代罪羔羊....... Singapore: Success Makes It a Scapegoat

7月21日海峡时报刊登的一篇题为‘成功使它成为代罪羔羊’的评论，很好的解释了为什么西方的非政府组织和媒体喜欢对新加坡指指点点，认为新加坡虽然富有，可是没有吸引力。

为什么新加坡会被批评？因为新加坡小，因为世界上有很多国家认真的看待新加坡的治国模式，更因为新加坡很成功。

这样，新加坡的成功便成了他的最大问题。他不是亚洲唯一在经济和政治上有令人瞩目的大改革的国家，可是在亚洲各国中，唯有他的知识分子和政治家能够融入西方的知识圈子。这就使到他在国际上的可见度比他的国土大得多了。

令西方非政府组织烦恼不安的是，新加坡模式对其他发展中国家所其带来的启示。过去十年，苏联，中国和中东国家，都明确的表示希望学习新加坡的模式。这就令西方的非政府组织不满了。他们认为新加坡输出的模式正在挑战他们所珍惜的发展设想：所谓的‘华盛顿共识’- 这个共识规定‘好治理’，包括那些粉饰的民主，是经济繁荣的先决条件。

评论指出，新加坡人其实可以从这种情况中获得满足感。首先，他们成为国际好奇的目标，正好说明他们的制度行得通。他们被详尽的研究，正表示新加坡模式有更大的应用空间。

所以说，这是一个‘批评就是最诚恳的赞美’的情况，虽然会被叮入骨髓。

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On 21 Jul, the Straits Times published Jonathan Eyal's article entiled 'Success makes it a scapegoat' and I quote:

"..... Reports from a variety of non-governmental organisations (NGO) and international media sources periodically portray Singapore as a wealthy yet less than attractive state......

To a large extent, success is Singapore's biggest problem. It is hardly the only Asian country to undergo a remarkable ecomonic and political transformation. But it is the only Asian nation whose academics and politicians are completely plugged into the current Western intellectual circuit. So, Singapore's international visibility far outstrips the country's actual size......

...some international NGOs fret about what Singapore means for the development of other nations. Over the decade, countries as far apart as China, Russia and the Gulf states have explicitly praised the Singapore model as the one they wish to follow.....

Western NGOs resent Singapore because they see it as an exporter of a model which challenges their cherished assumptions of development, the so-called 'Washington consensus' which decrees that 'good governance' - by which they mean all the technical trappings of democracy - are a prerequisite for economy prosperity.....

Yet Singaporeans can also derive satisfaction from the current climate. First, they are the subject of international curiosity because theirs is a system which works.

And they are being scrutinised precisely because people suspect that the Singapore model does have wider applications.

So, this is one instance when criticism may be the surest mode of flattery. Regardless of how much it stings."

创作与灵感 What is Artistic Inspiration?

灵感存在于一切艺术创造中，书法亦然。
许多书法学习者，苦练书法多年，觉得没有进步和突破，直到在一个偶然机遇，令他‘悟’出了要突破的那一点，从此书艺大进，达到了一个新的境界。传说唐代大书法家张旭就是看了公孙大娘的舞剑器才悟出了写好书法的道理。

西方为了给艺术灵感下定义而争论不休，看下面英文的叙述就知道了。这是他们的可爱处。可中国人从来不给灵感下定义，盖言不尽意也。

灵感是需要寻找和追求的。许多人看到书法精品，可是没有感触，不能从中领悟出什么东西。为什么呢？因为他没有去追求。灵感有法可寻吗？这是个大问题。我们的老祖宗也没有明确的告诉我们。就从古人的诗歌中寻找吧：

众里寻他千百度，蓦然回首，那人却在，灯火阑珊处。

In the crowd for a thousand times, I failed to look for my love. Suddenly she turned her head and appeared in the corner, where lights were sparse and somber.

明白了，学书法不但要有追求，而且要‘寻他千百度’，蜻蜓点水式的学习是不行的。寻找是每一个学书法的人必须走的路程，走够千万里，路途由生而熟，所谓熟能生巧，那时还要谈灵感吗？

People often thinks of artistic inspiration arriving in a sort of thunderbolt moment of creativity.

The truth is, almost nothing is created out of thin air. "Great works of art set a standard, set the bar," says Clint Brown, author of Artist to Artist: Inspiration and Advice from Artists Past and Present. "Although they can be humiliating in a certain sense because they're powerful… they can give you new ideas and help things connect in your own work."

Wikipedia on Inspiration: Inspiration in artistic composition refers to an irrational and unconscious burst of creativity. Literally, the word means "breathed upon," and it has its origins in both Hellenism and Hebraism in the west.

In Greek thought, inspiration meant that the poet or artist would go into ecstasy or furor poeticus, the divine frenzy or poetic madness. He or she would be transported beyond his own mind and given the gods' or goddesses own thoughts to embody.

In Christianity, inspiration is a gift of the Holy Spirit. Saint Paul said that all of the Bible is inspired by God, and the account of Pentecost records the Holy Spirit descending with the sound of a mighty wind.

In the 18th century in England, .... John Locke's model of the human mind suggested that ideas associate with one another and that a string in the mind can be struck by a resonant idea. Therefore, inspiration was a somewhat random but wholly natural association of ideas and sudden unison of thought......Romantic writers such as Ralph Waldo Emerson (The Poet), and Percy Bysshe Shelley saw inspiration in terms similar to the Greeks: it was a matter of madness and irrationality.

Sigmund Freud and other later psychologists located inspiration in the inner psyche of the artist. The artist's inspiration came out of unresolved psychological conflict or childhood trauma. Further, inspiration could come directly from the subconscious. Like the Romantic genius theory and the revived notion of "poetic phrenzy," Freud saw artists as fundamentally special, and fundamentally wounded.
Materialist theories of inspiration again diverge between purely internal and purely external sources. Marx did not treat the subject directly, but the Marxist theory of art sees it as the expression of the friction between economic base and economic super-structural positions, or as an unaware dialog of competing ideologies, or as an exploitation of a "fissure" in the ruling class's ideology........

In modern psychology, inspiration is not frequently studied, but it is generally seen as an entirely internal process. In each view, however, whether empiricist or mystical, inspiration is, by its nature, beyond control.

西方学者谈中国的男人主义 Let's Talk About Sexism

还没有机会读郝大卫与安乐哲的名著《汉哲学思维的文化探源》，虽然闻名已久。在网上却找到了Saniba Knight 一篇评论该书的文章。文章中提到的《中国男人主义》(Chinese Sexism) 部分引人注目。

作者认为，在男人支配的西方社会，虽然在个人事业发展和社会地位方面给于的男人很多特权，女人至少还有机会达到男人同等的社会地位。可是在中国，由于传统阴阳观念强调阴阳调和，男女互补，所以男女平等这颗种子根本就没有机会被播种，更不用说开花结果了。老子《道德经》提出阴性地位只是为缓和男女间极度不平衡而下的解毒药。

结论就是：中国的男人主义其实十分残忍，它根本就没有给于妇女一个做人的可能性。换句话说，汉代人并不把妇女当作人来看待。

这个看法和结论令我十分困扰。男女平等是一个怎样的概念，并不是我们这些凡夫俗子所能讲清楚的。可是强调阴阳调和，男女互补，依我看，倒是一个十分实际的对待社会现实现象的办法。

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I have not had a chance to read David Hall & Roger Ames's book entitled 'Thinking From the Han: Self, Truth, and Transcendence in Chinese and Western Culture'. However I have found on the Internet a review article on the book. The article, published in Fall 99 issue of the China Review International, was written by Sabina Knight.

The section on Chinese Sexism caught my attention and I quote:
"In Western cultures male dominance has led to definitions of personal achievement that privilege masculine gender traits, and the hegemony of dualistic categories means that women can at best achieve the status of honorary males. In China, emphasis on complementary pairings means that a realized person achieves a harmony of human traits and dispositions, balancing both yin and yang characteristics. The fundamental hierarchy of these relations, however, means that no basis exists for gender equality. The authors thus argue that the Daodejing’s rehabilitation of yin characteristics and feminine traits is merely an antidote to excessive imbalance, not a privileging of these characteristics as some earlier scholarship has argued.
Chinese sexism is thus profoundly more “brutal” insofar as it denies women the very possibility of becoming human. Whereas the Western tradition guarantees a woman an essential human nature even as it forces her to resign her difference to achieve it, the Han tradition views becoming human as a cultural achievement and offers no guarantee about the sanctity of human life. The tradition thus esteems fully realized, authoritative humans who are more cultured and better educated while likening less cultured people to animals. This qualitative hierarchy has historically led to a reluctance to view women as fully realized persons and at times even been invoked to justify abuse."

I am disturbed by the statement that "Chinese sexism is thus profoundly more “brutal” insofar as it denies women the very possibility of becoming human." I really do not understand what is wrong with the idea that man and woman are a complementary pair and that a realized person achieves a harmony of human traits and dispositions, balancing both yin and yang characteristics. As a Chinese, I am definitely not aware that our ancestors had in any way denied women the very posibility of becoming human.

子曰：唯女子与小人为难养也 Is Confucius the Enemy of Feminism?

《论语·阳货》说“唯女子与小人为难养也，近之则不逊，远之则怨。”
中学读书时，对孔子这句“唯女子与小人为难养也”话留下最深刻的印象。当时并没有注意到这句话后面的‘近之则不逊，远之则怨’。一般入对孔子批评最多的也是则句话，认为是孔子鄙视妇女和体力劳动者的论据。。
现在再读和尝试重新了解孔子所要表达的意思。可是现在人对古文注解不易。
女子是指女性，应该是没错。。可是还有一种说法认为孔子这里所说的“女子”不是指一般的妇女，而是指那些上层贵族家庭的姬妾。
一般认为“小人”是指“儿童”、“孩子”。李泽厚引《朱注》：此小人，亦谓仆隶下人也。南怀瑾认为小人就是普通人。也有说“小人”也是指贵族家庭中的奴仆，但也不是最低贱的干粗活的奴隶，而是“有头脸”甚至是受宠的上等奴仆。
古代“养”字除“养育、奉养”外，还有“调教、教育”义：《周礼·保氏》：“养国子以道，乃教之六艺”。《礼记·文王世子》：“立太傅、少傅以养之。”郑玄注：“养者，教也。”
由于对词句的注解不同，就有不同的译文：
1。“只有女子和小人是难得同他们共处的，亲近了，他会无礼；疏远了，他会怨恨。”
2。“只有妇女和小人难以对付：亲近了，不谦逊；疏远了，又埋怨。”
3。“女孩子和厮仆辈调教起来特有难处，对他们太亲近了，会不听从调教，疏远了则心生怨恨。”
4。“只有家里的妾侍和仆人最难养。你若和他们近了，他将不知有逊让。你若和他们远了，他便会怨恨你。”
5。“只有女子与小人是难以共处的；与他们亲近，他们就无礼，对他们疏远，他们就抱怨。”
6。“只有女子和小孩子们不好培养，过分接近，他们就与你没正形，过分疏远，他们就对你有意见。”
谁是谁非，不是我们这些普通人能辨别的。
有人问于丹：“‘唯女子与小人为难养也’作何解释？这句话是否表明孔老夫子歧视女性呢？”于丹答曰：“‘女子与小人难养’这句话一直为学界所争论，目前比较普遍的诠释有三种。第一种最直观，就说女子和小人一样难以理喻，因为女子长期待在家里以致和社会脱节，又不读书从而见识颇短，就跟小人一般；第二种将女子拆分解释为女儿和儿子（即‘女’和‘子’），小人指小孩子，故解为‘小孩子很难养’，意思是说小孩子不容易带；第三种把小人也解释为小孩子，说女人就跟小孩子一样，‘唯女子与小人为难养也’后面还有一句‘近之则骄，远则怨’，说的就是女人和小孩子一样，过于宠溺她会侍宠而骄，不理她又会心生怨气。”于丹是倾向于第三种解释的，她不认为这是孔老夫子在歧视女性，至多只能说孔夫子对女性的娇嗔不太解风情罢了。
南怀瑾《论语别裁》里说得最好： 孔子说女子与小人最难办了，对她太爱护了，她就恃宠而骄，搞得你啼笑皆非，动辄得咎。对她不好，她又恨死你，至死方休，这的确是事实，是无可否认的天下难事。但问题是，世界上的男人，够得上资格免于“小人”罪名的，实在少之又少。孔子这一句话，虽然表面上骂尽了天下女人，但是又有集体男人不在被骂之列呢？

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It has always been not easy to translate accurately the Chinese classics into English. This is because the origin Chinese words and phrases are subjected to many possible interpretations. If inaccurate and inappropriate translation are widely read and accepted, it may result in wrong interpretation by the English readers of the real spirit of Chinese culture and philosophy.

One of the most controversial sayings of Confucius appeared in Chapter XXV of Book 17 of the Analects. It was translated by James Legge (理雅各; December 20, 1815 – November 29, 1897):

The Master said, 'Of all people, girls and servants are the most difficult to behave to. If you are familiar with them, they lose their humility. If you maintain a reserve towards them, they are discontented.'

The Chinese scholars are still debating hotly on the possible meanings of '女子' and '小人' without any conclusion so far. I believe the English readers have very little choice but accepted the meaning of '女子' as 'girls' since James Legge is renowned Chinese expert in the western world and his translation of Chinese classics are widely read.

This may explain why there are many people in west have described Confucianism as “the enemy of feminism”. They often argue that Confucianism is the source of the patriarchal society and may have produced significant works about Confucianism's role in preserving the idea of women's subordination to men; they argue that the idea of men's superiority to women is embedded in Confucian philosophy.

While I am not so sure whether this is the correct interpretation of Confucius' view on women, I do believe that the underlying beliefs and assumption in many cultures are that, beyond biology, women and men possess essentially different capacities and functions. Understanding this assumption helps make sense of the perpetuation and even institutionalization of male/female difference with regard to behavior expectations, position within the family, legal rights, public status, education, and types of work. While this most often results in the subordination of women’s position in society vis-a-vis men, it sometimes can be a source of women’s special strength.

In China, the concept of gender difference appears visually in the male/female aspects of the yin/yang Taoist symbol. The dark swirl within the symbol’s circle is the passive, yielding, feminine yin; the light swirl the active, aggressive, male yang. Neither principle is considered subordinate to the other; each complements the other and is capable of expressing both female and male characteristics.

书法与汉字的可塑性 The Malleability of Chinese Characters

书法就是写汉字的线条艺术。鲁迅认为汉字具三美：意美、音美、形美。书法取汉字之形，所以说“形美以感目”。汉字的可塑性把它对书法自由发挥的约束性减到最低。

汉字的可识的前提下，可塑性很强。历经甲骨文、大篆、小篆、隶书和楷书而不改其骨架，草里行间各具风韵却能法古不泥、异流同源，完全符合多样而统一的形式美原则。

首先，汉字构形的基础部件-笔画，本身是丰富的。在不同的位置上，相同名称的笔画可能有着完全不同的形式特点，而经过组合之后，又能衍生许多其它形式特点。只要保持其点划和结构的相互位置关系基本稳定，其正斜、长短、方圆和粗细等，到结体的正斜，疏密，狭扁等等，在处理时都有很大的灵活性，变化的空间很大。因此具体到每一个书写者的笔下，汉字的形体总是千变万化而非千人一面的，即使是清代馆阁体也不例外。
其次，汉字在不同历史时期呈现出不同的面貌，形成不同的字体，各个字体之间的点画系统、结构原则既相联系，又相区别，使其形式更加丰富。西方表音文字、甚至东亚取材于汉字偏旁部首而创立的韩文、日文之所以无法独立发展成为一门书写艺术，根本原因就在于其形式的贫乏、简单。汉字的形式美因素丰富多彩，其根源就在于汉字由象形走向表意。这使得其形体的来源不全是约定的，而是通过“师法自然”获得的，约定不免简单，而自然则是无限的。师法自然并将从自然中获得的形体丰富性的特征坚持下去，使汉字的形式越来越丰富，从而为人们在书写时发挥创造能力提供了空间，为人们展现自己的审美追求准备了足够的“语汇”。

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The term "ideogram" is commonly used to describe logographic writing systems such as Egyptian hieroglyphs and Chinese characters. However, symbols in logographic systems generally represent words or morphemes rather than pure ideas.
A logogram, or logograph, is a single grapheme which represents a word or a morpheme (a meaningful unit of language). This stands in contrast to other writing systems, such as alphabets, where each symbol (letter) primarily represents a sound or a combination of sounds.

A Chinese character is a logogram used in writing Chinese, Japanese and Korean . Its possible precursors appeared as early as 8000 years ago, and a complete writing system in Chinese characters was developed 3500 years ago in China, making it perhaps the oldest surviving writing system. Chinese characters are derived directly from individual pictograms or combinations of pictograms and phonetic signs.

Just as Roman letters have a characteristic shape (lower-case letters occupying a roundish area, with ascenders or descenders on some letters), Chinese characters occupy a more or less square area. The characters are composed of strokes which are the building blocks of its structure. The character structure is composed of component parts that are squashed together in order to maintain a uniform size and shape. The more component parts the character has, the more complicated it is. The character structures and the unique strokes written with a brush provide the calligrapher a high degree of freedom to express his feeling and emotion and thus form his unique style.

There is another reason for saying that the Chinese characters are malleable. This is because they can be written in many styles. There are five major styles of Chinese calligraphy – Seal (Zhuan 篆), Clerical (Li 隶), Running (Cao 草), Walking (Xing 行), and Standard (Kai 楷) Styles. Each major style has many variations or derived sub-styles throughout the Chinese history.

The calligrapher's expression can actually be extremely creative. He is free to produce an infinite variaty of styles and forms. To the artist, calligraphy is a mental exercise that coordinates the mind and body to choose the best styling in expressing the content of the passage.

书法与阴阳学说 Chinese Calligraphy and the Yin-Yang Theory

中国的哲学思想最主要的就是阴阳五行学说。
阴阳学说，两千多年来，在中国被广泛运用于社会生活，思想文化和科学技术诸多领域。阴阳学说，认为宇宙间任何事物都具有既对立又统一的阴阳两个方面，经常不断地运动和相互作用。这种运动和相互作用，是一切事物运动变化的根源。古人把这种不断运动变化，叫做“生化不息”。
我们日常自然而然的说：上下，左右，高低，远近，冷热，前后，黑白，明暗，水火，等等，显然就是被阴阳学说潜移默化的结果。
中国书法当然也深受阴阳学说的影响。书法上说：方圆，黑白，虚实，向背，粗细，浓淡，大小，刚柔，奇正，枯润，疏密，巧拙，等等，要求创作者能够处理好，这样就能达到阴阳互动，生生不息，千变万化，生动美妙的结果。以黑白为例，传统书法理论讲求计白当黑，黑处是字，白处也是字，这是阴阳相生，相反相成的表现。

说到疏密，认为疏处可走马，密处不使透风。
这就是中国人阴阳学中的审美基本观。

The concept of Yin and Yang is central to ancient Chinese astrology, traditional Chinese medicine, and ancient Chinese philosophy. Its influence permeates almost everywhere in the oriental culture.
Ancient Chinese believe that the nether world of ghosts and souls exists along with the secular world of human beings. The former is referred to as the yin world, while the latter is referred to as the yang world. From the concept of the two worlds, it is easy to understand why the yin is often associated with evil and darkness and the yang always represents justice and brightness.
The most known Daoist philosopher of China, Laozi, said once regarding unity and inseparability of Yin and Yang:
"When everyone sees beauty as being beautiful, there is already ugliness. When everyone thinks of the good as being good, there is already evil. Being and not being created themselves mutually. The heavy and the light realize themselves mutually. Before and afterwards precede each other mutually”.

The notion of dynamic balance lies at the core of the aesthetics of Chinese calligraphy, holding the key to a genuine appreciation of this art. The dynamic balance and harmony of brushwork can be understood in terms of the relationship between yin and yang, or between their conceptual derivatives of “empty” (xu 虚) and “full’ (shi 实).

For example, the dynamic balance between the brushwork and empty space within or between individual characters in a text can be interpreted as embodying the complementary, harmonious relationship between emptiness and fullness, or, non-being and being. Therefore the black-white (黑白) contrast of the calligraphic line with its dynamic movement is considered to have more aesthetic appeal than colours, which are not only considered static but also carried somewhat of a unrefined (su 俗) connotation.

子曰：吾十有五而志于学 Confucius: At Fifteen I set my Heart on Learning

孔子这句话中的‘有’字，音义皆同‘又’字。古文句法，十有五，就是十又五，就是十五。孔子自称“十有五而有志于学”，为什么是十有五呢？

《白虎通-辟雍篇》说“古者所以年十五而入大学何？以为八岁毁齿，始有识知，入学学书计，七八十五阴阳备，故十五成童志明，入大学，学经术”。就是说，十五是成童之岁，心志坚明，正是入大学学经术之时。

问题在于《白虎通》是汉代成书，其说法未必可靠，而古代关于入大学的时间，各书讲法迥异。有认为是二十的，有认为是十六的。《内则》曰：“十年，出就外传，学书计。”《大戴礼记》则曰：“八岁出就外传。”《白虎通义》也说：“八岁学书计。”《尚书大传》中说：“二十入大学。”

再谈‘志’。《毛诗传》说：“诗者，志之所之，在心为志，发言为诗。”依此解释，‘志’就是心之所之，也就是一心趣向之意。
那么学的是什么呢？应该是学礼节，寻找为人的真理。《正义》引《尚书大传》“入大学，知君臣之仪，上下之位”之句，认为是大节大义。《论语》是记录孔子言行的，其大部分的内容都在讲应该怎样为人，因此这里的“学”应该指的是做人的道理。

冯友兰认为学的是道。所谓“朝闻道，夕死可矣”（论语-里仁）。现在我们所说的学，是指增长知识，而道则指悟性的提高。
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Confucius said: "At fifteen I set my heart on learning." By the time he was fifteen, Confucius had resolved to devote his energy to the pursuit of learning, and perhaps already in his heart of hearts; strived the noble spirit of reform and justice for all, the ideals which he was to champion throughout a lifetime of disillusionment.
Fung Yu Lan: The 'learning' which Confucius here refers to is not what we now would call learning. In the Analects, Confucius said: 'Set you heart on the Tao (Dao)'. (VII, 6) And again: 'To hear the Tao in the morning and then die at night, that would be all right.' (IV, 9) Here, Tao means the Way or Truth. It was this Tao which Confucius at fifteen set his heart upon learning. What we now call learning means the increase in our knowledge, but the Tao is that whereby we can elevate our mind.

民族文化可能是世界性的吗？Will there be a World Wide Culture?

联合早报昨日刊登的郑永年文章‘是什么阻碍了中国文化软力量的崛起’提到了文化的世界性，是一个值得进一步探讨的议题。
郑文指出：“文化艺术是世界性的，是时代性的，但更是民族性的。没有时代性的文化，就很难要普罗大众接受和吸收；没有民族性的文化，就不会成为世界性。民族性是世界性的基础。”

我一向以为，世界性文化是西方人的一厢情愿的理想，所以他们刻意追求还想把西方文化定位为世界文化。即使 Edward Said 那本具有争论性的书‘东方学’1978 年出版后，西方学者除了把他视为异端外，并不为所动。

我想东方人可能没有这个理想和目标。一切顺其自然，不必强求和刻意追求。

写到这里，想到秦始皇的‘书同文’。先秦没有书同文，学术界还不是一样百花齐放。

还好书法字体没来个‘字同体’，不然今日的书法遗产可能就没有那么多不同字体书体各展风姿，多姿多彩了。

Wikipedia on Orientalism: A central idea of Edward Said is that Western knowledge about the East is not generated from facts, but through imagined constructs that see all "Eastern" societies as fundamentally similar, all sharing crucial characteristics unlike those of "Western" societies, thus, this ‘a priori’ knowledge established the East as antithetical to the West. Such Eastern knowledge is constructed with literary texts and historical records that often are of limited understanding of the facts of life in the Middle East.
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Many scholars now use Said's work to attempt to overturn long-held, often taken-for-granted Western ideological biases regarding non-Westerners in scholarly thought. Some post-colonial scholars would even say that the West's idea of itself was constructed largely by saying what others were not. If "Europe" evolved out of "Christendom" as the "not-Byzantium," early modern Europe in the late 16th century certainly defined itself as the "not-Turkey."

文化软力量 Cultural Soft Power

联合早报今天刊登了郑永年题为‘是什么阻碍了中国文化软力量的崛起’的文章。题目本身就包含了好几个命题。传统文化是否是软力量是个命题。传统文化的崛起也是个命题。如何把这两个命题联系起来，也是值得探讨的。

美国教授 Joseph Nye 第一次使用‘软力量’这个名词时，显然是以探讨美国如何维持世界强国地位为背景。他发现由强劲经济衍变出来的流行文化，犹如牡丹加绿叶，互相补助而令美国的经济持续发展，同时加强美国在世界的领导地位。据我的了解，传统文化作为一种软文化，尚未有深入的探讨。

郑文的第二段写：“中国的新一代吃着麦当劳，读着哈利波特长大，不知道自己国家历史上还有李白、杜甫、花木兰，还有刘胡兰、高玉宝，甚至有大学生不知道《论语》《春秋》和《孙子兵法》。”

把西方目前流行文化（麦当劳，哈里波特）和中国的传统文化（论语，春秋）相提并论，是否适当？经济实力与流行文化的关联可能比与传统文化的关联来得紧密。以中国目前的经济实力，恐怕还未能发展出世界性的流行文化。美国的流行文化风靡世界，可是这能说明美国人保留，注重和深刻了解本身的传统文化吗？

当然，这并不否认文化崛起的重要性。到底民族文化为我们立身于世之本，不了解民族文化，我们岂不成为无魂之体，行尸走肉了吗？

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The term Soft Power was first coined by Harvard University Professor Joseph Nye, in a 1990 book, Bound to Lead: The Changing Nature of American Power. He further developed the concept in his 2004 book, Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics. Soft power is not exclusively cultural power, yet exporting cultural goods that hold attraction for other countries can communicate values and influence those societies.

Joseph Nye: Power is the ability to alter the behavior of others to get what you want. There are basically three ways to do that: coercion (sticks), payments (carrots), and attraction (soft power). British historian Niall Ferguson described soft power as “non-traditional forces such as cultural and commercial goods”—and then promptly dismissed it on the grounds that “it’s, well, soft.” Of course, the fact that a foreigner drinks Coca-Cola or wears a Michael Jordan T-shirt does not in itself mean that America has power over him. This view confuses resources with behavior. Whether power resources produce a favorable outcome depends upon the context. This reality is not unique to soft-power resources: Having a larger tank army may produce military victory if a battle is fought in the desert, but not if it is fought in swampy jungles such as Vietnam.
A country’s soft power can come from three resources: its culture (in places where it is attractive to others), its political values (when it lives up to them at home and abroad), and its foreign policies (when they are seen as legitimate and having moral authority). Consider Iran. Western music and videos are anathema to the ruling mullahs, but attractive to many of the younger generation to whom they transmit ideas of freedom and choice. American culture produces soft power among some Iranians, but not others.

庄子逍遥游 Zhuangzi's Xiaoyaoyou: Free and Easy Wandering" or "Going Rambling Without a Destination"?

昨日上苏新鋈教授的课，就讲到庄子的逍遥游。

什么是逍遥游？庄子当然没有明言。中国思想家从来就不喜欢下定义，因为下定义就是设置限定的边界。(To define is to set boundaries)。 这是西方理性思维的产物。

东方学者用的是联想思维 - 那就是求助值得仿效的典范和事例，而不是严格的定义，来唤起读者的理解能力。知识因此包含着意义丰盈，无限的模糊的要素。

《庄子·逍遥游》篇，关于“逍遥游”的含义问题，大鹏和小鸟谁自由、谁不自由的问题，圣人有待与无待的问题，无名、无功、无己的含义及其相互关系的问题等，学界众说纷纭，对于这些问题的不同解答，导致了对于《逍遥游》主旨的不同把握。

可以这么说，我们不必把世间之事都当万箭穿心，而把它们当作是百川归海，助我成长。所以万事美好。让我们当下就觉悟，随地可逍遥。

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Extracted from the website: The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy:

Steve Coutinho: The title of the first chapter of the Zhuangzi has also been translated as "Free and Easy Wandering" and "Going Rambling Without a Destination." Both of these reflect the sense of the Daoist who is in spontaneous accord with the natural world, and who has retreated from the anxieties and dangers of social life, in order to live a healthy and peaceful natural life. In modern Mandarin, the word xiaoyao has thus come to mean "free, at ease, leisurely, spontaneous." It conveys the impression of people who have given up the hustle and bustle of worldly existence and have retired to live a leisurely life outside the city, perhaps in the natural setting of the mountains.
But this everyday expression is lacking a deeper significance that is expressed in the classical Chinese phrase: the sense of distance, or going beyond. As with all Zhuangzi's images, this is to be understood metaphorically. The second word, 'yao,' means 'distance' or 'beyond,' and here implies going beyond the boundaries of familiarity. We ordinarily confine ourselves with our social roles, expectations, and values, and with our everyday understandings of things. But this, according to Zhuangzi, is inadequate for a deeper appreciation of the natures of things, and for a more successful mode of interacting with them. We need at the very least to undo preconceptions that prevent us from seeing things and events in new ways; we need to see how we can structure and restructure the boundaries of things. But we can only do so when we ourselves have 'wandered beyond' the boundaries of the familiar. It is only by freeing our imaginations to reconceive ourselves, and our worlds, and the things with which we interact, that we may begin to understand the deeper tendencies of the natural transformations by which we are all affected, and of which we are all constituted. By loosening the bonds of our fixed preconceptions, we bring ourselves closer to an attunement to the potent and productive natural way (dao) of things.

西方理想：全球通行的法则 The Idea of Universal Norms

联合早报今天报导, 李资政昨日 (七月十一日) 在新加坡金融管理局及新加坡经济学会联办颁奖礼中，指出西方国家想为世界各地拟定一套全球通行的法律。

李资政的观点，西方学者很早就察觉到了。德国学者 Karl-Heinz Pohl 就指出，西方由于在科技，自然科学及军事能力等等方面的领先优势，及这些科技应用的普遍性，使到西方学者假定西方人文的学说也同样是放诸四海而皆准的普遍准则。他也指出，所谓的人文学说的跨文化交流，一直以来都是单方向交通。欧美学说成为全球的普遍准则。西方学者对其他文化研而不用，最终束之高阁。

西方对人文学说应用的普遍性的热诚和热烈推行，和西方人血液里流着的理性思维有着密切的关系。有机会我们以后再谈谈西方人的理性思维。

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Extracted from "An Intercultural Perspective on Chinese Aesthetics"

Karl-Heinz Pohl：The imprint of western style modernity on the world can be observed in the remotest corners of the globe. Whether these developments are a blessing or a curse for the human enterprise on this planet will be left for later generations to decide. Whatever the ultimate judgement may be, there seems to be a globally accepted assumption among intellectuals that the theoretical approach and level of complexity in the Humanities, as they are studied in the West, are to be applied as universal norms.

This would appear to be inspired by perceptions of western superiority in so many other areas, particularly in technology, natural sciences and even military capability.......
We are still cooking in the juice of our western style scientific theories and take it for granted that people from other cultures will simply have to become well versed in western modes of thought – even in the Humanities, which are designed to explore the very essentials of human existence.
The so-called cross-cultural exchange in the Humanities has, then, in fact been taking place on a one-way-street: Euro-American theories, categories and models were adopted everywhere and have become the universal standard of discourse for intellectuals all over the world. Meanwhile, in the West, the preoccupation with other cultures was limited to a kind of cultural-anthropological positivism: the peculiarities of other cultures were researched, mapped out, and filed in the edifices of western academia.

李资政谈中国改革开放面对的挑战 MM Lee: The Obstacles to China's Success

李光耀资政是我所敬仰的一个当代伟人。新加坡能出现这样一个伟大的领导者，为我们的繁荣与进步，奉献了他的一生，真是新加坡人的福气。

李资政对世界局势的观察，高瞻远瞩，一针见血。资政日前接受亚洲新闻台专访，对中国改革开放，发表了精辟看法。这里节录今日联合早报有关资政对中国所面对的挑战谈话的报导。

联合早报：中国所面对的挑战，李资政认为主要在两方面。第一是提升民众的教育水平，尤其是大专教育，第二则是改变多数民众内向型、不关心外国事务的旧观念。
他解释，尽管中国沿岸的大城市及省会城市的教育水平已到了一定程度，但其他小城市和村落的教育水平却参差不齐。他估计中国要赶上美国的水平仍需两三代人的时间。

同样的，他指出除了上海和大连等有过同外国人互动的经验等少数城市之外，中国大多数民众的心态仍属于内向型，欠缺接受外国事务的国际观。此外，他们喜欢搞小集团的做事方式也不利于发展。

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Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew was interviewed by Channel NewsAsia recently. The interview was first broadcast on 9 Jul 08. Here is the extract of MM Lee's view on some of the obstacles to China's success, as reported by The Straits Times today.

MM Lee: Their biggest difficulty is educating the whole population. It will take them two to three generations to catch up with US standards al all levels, from primary to tertiary level. In the main cities along the coast and in the provincial capitals, the standards are good. But in the villages and the interior, standards are very patchy because, like everybody else, their best teachers don't want to go there.

Next is the mindset. There are very few Chinese cities like Shanghai or Dalian that are international settlements where people can learn to interact with foreigners and their corporations. So they are more inward-looking and they work in factions. Whether the politics or business, your progress depends on how fast your faction leaders rises. That is difficult habit to break.

说阴道阳 Let's Talk About Yin-Yang

从小就对‘阴阳’这两个字没有好感。可能是因为把它联想到道教的道士形象，再加上认为阴阳就是不男不女，阴阳怪气。因此，对中国阴阳家的学说，一向没有兴趣，认为是迷信的东西，最好避之大吉。
最近阅读了一些中国先秦哲学，才知道阴阳学思想早已融入华人的血液里，已经是华人DNA中挥之不去的一部分了。

华人老祖宗对宇宙的由来和结构，有两支不同的思想路线。其一是阴阳家的思想路线，其二是易经的译解。后来这两个思想路线融会，统称阴阳家了。

阳代表男性，主动，热，光明，坚硬，等等；阴代表女性，被动，冷，阴暗，柔软，等等。宇宙一切现象都是由阴阳两个原则，两种力量的相互作用而产生。

‘易经’是六经之首，影响华人思想行为最大，而庄子-天下篇在论六家要旨时说：‘易以道阴阳’，表明‘易经’是讲阴阳的。

由此看来，华人阴声阳气的传统与习俗，已有几千年的历史了，现在的华人是没法避开的。
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Fung Yu-Lan（冯友兰）: In ancient China, there are two lines of thought that thus tried to interpret the structure and origin of the universe. One is found in the writings of the Yin-Yang, while the other is found....in the text of the Book of Changes (Yi-Jing 易经). Later, these two lines of thought become intermingled, known as Yin-Yang School.

The word Yang originally meant sunshine or what pertains to sunshine and light; that of Yin meant the absence of sunshine, ie shadow or darkness. In later development, Yin and Yang came to be regarded as two cosmic opposite pricinples or forces and through the interaction of these two primary pricinples, all phenomena of the universe are produced.

跨文化译解困难重重

最近对东西思维(thinking)有兴趣，所以就读了些中西文化比较的书。文化思维的传递，以语文为主。我们的老祖宗很早就知道言不尽意，所以就有了“易经”来设象（现象，非文字也）以尽意。

译解不同文化的困难就更不用说了。佛教在汉末传来中国，当时就大量借用道家的词语来翻译佛经。这就叫做‘格义’。格义不但没有解决翻译的问题，反而把佛学融入了中华文化。古代交通不方便，国与国之间人们不相来往，用中国人的思维来译解佛学，印度人可没有机会来纠正。佛学融入中华文化，对他们来说，大概也无可奈何吧。

今日中西文化面对面，情况可就不同了。鸡同鸭讲，不加纠正，误会加深，文明冲突的机会大大增加，那可就不妙了。

我们可以维特根斯坦的鸭兔图来说明跨文化译解的困难。中国人画了个鸭，西方人却看见了只兔。

Wittgenstein discussed figures which can be seen and understood in two different ways. Often one can see something in a straightforward way — seeing that it is a rabbit, perhaps. But, at other times, one notices a particular aspect — seeing it as something.

An example Wittgenstein uses is the "duckrabbit", a picture that can be seen as either a duck or a rabbit. When one looks at the duck-rabbit and sees a rabbit, one is not interpreting the picture as a rabbit, but rather reporting what one sees. One just sees the picture as a rabbit. But what occurs when one sees it first as a duck, then as a rabbit? Wittgenstein isn't sure. However, he is sure that it could not be the case that the external world stays the same while an 'internal' cognitive change takes place.

语文是过滤器，把不同的思维方式变成过滤者本身耳熟能详的东西。

天就是Heaven吗？中文字典对天的解释是：天空，天然，自然，造化。读了一点中国哲学的人自然就想到天地人的天。天堂是西方人的思维。Heaven 在字典中是说：Home of God and saints; place, state, of supreme happiness. 华人可没有Heaven的观念。 中文也没有 God 的相应词。天主是天的主人；上帝为上尊老爷。这样就把华人家庭谱系的思维悄悄地引进来了。

太多的例子可举了，就说到这里吧。

功夫在书外

学书法的人都听过功夫在书外的看法。这句话，其实出自南宋的陆游，原诗是这样的：
“我初学诗日，但欲工藻绘，中年始少悟，渐若窥宏大。怪奇亦间出，如石漱湍濑。数仞李杜墙，常恨欠领会。元白才倚门，温李真自郐。正令笔扛鼎，亦未造三昧。诗为六艺一，岂用资狡狯？汝果欲学诗，功夫在诗外。”

书法界把‘功夫在诗外’改为‘功夫在书外’，是说学习书法，除了熟练碑帖，参观书法展品之外，还须学习多种知识，融会贯通，以提高技术水平，进行创作。

字外功主要是讲书法和学识的关系。书法与学识，原本是两回事。一般上，我们不会为了书法而求学识，或因有了学识而兼擅书法。可是，如果专攻书法，不求学识，总觉得艺虽精熟，终欠文质。猶人之具衣冠，开口便知雅俗。

学识乃学问与经验之总和也。学问可按计划而修读，经验则须经时间的洗礼。学问还可加深经验的领悟和归纳。

人有没有学识，可以表现于个人的言行举止之间，这就是人品的显现。这也就是为什么历来书法理论喜欢把书法与人品并提了。劉熙載著《藝概》云：「書如也，如其字、如其才、如其志，總之曰如其人而已。」

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Liu Shi-Zai in his “The Concept of Art” said, “Chinese calligraphy resembles one’s personality, talent, and will. It resembles oneself.” He also said, “The calligraphy of the sages look warm and pure; the calligraphy of the handsome and masculine people look calm and willful; the calligraphy of the skillful hermits look sharp and direct; the calligraphy of the talented look elegant and wise.” He further said, “The way to elevate one’s spirit starts from the holding the brush; the mind will be enlightened if the operation of the brush is correct. If one’s heart is upright, his calligraphy will inherit the personalities and spirits of the ancient masters and sages. If he practices calligraphy diligently, the spirits of ancient calligraphers will be in the core of the brush with beautiful writings flowing underneath. Then his calligraphy will be remembered.”

阅读古文困难重重

古文原文没有标点，今人对点校，断句历来存在争论。而华文章句，有时因标点，断句不同会使意思不同甚至完全相反。

中国大陆在‘文革’时期‘批林批孔’运动中，曾经大张旗鼓地批评‘论语’中孔子说的这句话：

民可使由之，不可使知之

理由是：孔子认为：对民众只可以叫他们去做，而不必让他们知道为什么要这么做，完全是愚民政策。几年后的‘拨乱反正’时期，又有学者指出，这句话的正确读法应当是：

民可，使由之；不可，使知之。

意思是：如果民众认为可以，就让他们去做；如果民众认为不可以，就要让他们知道为什么要这样做。

两种读法竟有截然不同的涵义，阅读古文之困难可见一斑。

迈向耳顺，期待随意

终于决定进入博客世界了。
在人生的道路上，已过知天命，还期待耳顺，这是一种怎么样的一种心境呢？
每个人进入这个世界，好像都随着孔子所走过的路程，十有五而志于学，三十而立，四十而不惑，五十而知天命，六十而耳顺，七十而从心所欲，不逾矩。
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Confucius: At fifteen I set my heart on learning. At thirty I could stand. At forty I had no doubts. At fifty I knew the Decree of Heaven. At sixty I was already obedient to this Decree. At seventy I could follow the desires of my mind without overstepping the boundaries of what is right.
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大慨知天命之前，我们的人生就是忙忙碌碌，为生活而奔波。这种生活，如果只能维持三餐温饱，可以以随缘来自我解脱，若要随意，难哉。
清代陈伯崖有一副对联：事能知足心常惬，人到无求品自高。年輕的朋友应早早了解这点，在知天命之前作好准备，这样才能开开心心的迈向耳顺之年，期待随意运开。
大家共勉之，共勉之。