农夫与商人 Farmer and Merchant

从历史上看，中国人是农夫，而西方人是商人。就是说自古以来，中国人与西方人不但生活在不同的地理环境，而且经济环境也不同。现在的情况可能有所改变，可是不同的历史背景很大的影响了他们的文化与哲学思想，直到今日。

中国是个大陆国家，很自然的中国人主要以农为生。在中国的哲学思想里，有所谓的‘本末’之分。本就是指农业，末为商业。这是因为农业有关生产，而商业却只管交易。必须有了生产才能有交易。

所以在中国历史中，社会与经济的学说及政策倾向‘重农轻商’，那就不足为奇了。

另一方面，希腊人居住于海洋国家，主要通过商业来维持国家的繁荣。就是说，他们基本上是商人。商人应用数字，也居住在城镇。所以他们的社会组织并不是基于家庭的共同利益，而主要是基于城镇利益。他们也有很好的机会会见具有不同风俗的人与不同的语言。所以，他们习惯变动，不畏惧新奇的东西。

所以海洋经济有助于防止狭隘的地方主义。相反地，中国的农业社区给予人们的世界观是较偏狭的。此外，贸易产生了一群有能力提供他们孩子教育的商人，因而为专业教育制造了需求。

据说农夫倾向于单纯与率直，所以他们的思考依赖他们目光所见，因此中国哲学是‘提示性的而不是明述性’，缺少指出我们所见到的桌子是否真实或只是我们脑里的理念这类的抽象思维。另一方面，商人在商业账目依赖抽象数字，所以他们具有很好的抽象推理与演绎逻辑的应用。

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Historically speaking, Chinese are farmers and Westerners are merchants. This is to say that since ancient time, the Chinese and Westerners not only live under different geographic conditions, but economic as well. Things might have changed nowadays, but the different historical backgrounds have greatly influenced their culture philosophical thinking till today.

As China is a continental country, it is natural that the Chinese people make their living mainly by agriculture. The Chinese philosophical thinking has made a distinction between what the philosophers called ‘The Root’ and ‘The Branch’. The Root refers to the agriculture and the Branch to commerce. This is because agriculture is concerned with production, while commerce is mainly concerned with exchange. One must have production before one can exchange.

It is not surprising that throughout Chinese history, social and economic theories and policies have attempted to ‘emphasise the root and slight the branch’.

On their hand, the Greeks lived in a maritime country and maintained their prosperity mainly through commerce. In other words, they were primarily merchants. While merchants deal with numbers, they also live together in towns. Hence they have a form of social organisation not based on the common interest of the family but so much on that of a town. They also have great opportunity to see different people with different customs and different languages. Therefore, they are accustomed to change and are not afraid of novelty.

A maritime economy therefore helps to prevent parochialism. In contrast, the farming community in China gave the people a more insular view of the world. In addition the trade produced a merchant class that could afford to educate their children, creating the need for a teaching profession.

It is said that farmers tend to be simple and straightforward, hence their thinking often relies on what they could see, and Chinese philosophy is therefore ‘suggestive but not articulate’ with no room for such abstract reasoning such as whether a table one sees is real or just an idea in one's mind. On the contrary, merchants rely on abstract numbers in their commercial accounts, hence their abstract reasoning and extensive use of deduction.

中国不高兴 China Is Unhappy

这些天，如果你认为中国人很快乐，没有人会怪你。毕竟，他们已经超越德国成为美国与日本后的世界第三大经济体；2008年，他们成功的主办了奥运会，同时即将举办上海世博2010；2008年他们也第一次完成太空漫步。就算是2008年五月发生的巨大破坏性的四川地震也具有正面的一面 – 中国人一致全面自愿援助他们的同胞。

但是，你可能没想到，根据一本新的畅销书，中国不高兴。其理由包括：

1。拉萨“3•14”事件背后鬼影憧憧，西方世界对中国的战略围堵越来越具体化和明目张胆。

2。三鹿奶粉事件对中国国民心理的‘精神撕裂’，使一个大国理应秉持的多项核心价值受到威胁甚至动摇。

3。萨科齐（法国总统）之类对中国的屡屡侵犯，是卑鄙下流的机会主义作祟。

4。一些‘知识精英’或所谓‘优秀的中国人’正在戕害中国国家的精神品质。

中国需要厘清的若干个“为什么”,包括：

1。为什么中国人‘现在挺爽’是巨大假象，西方阵营的‘拖垮’战略乃中华弥久大患？

2。为什么同西方‘有条件决裂’是必须筹划的未来选项之一？

3。为什么新儒家的‘感化论’，‘拯救世界说’是白日梦呓？

4。为什么行‘失败主义’之实的‘王小波神话’是当代最丑陋的文化蛊惑？（王小波，1952-1997，作家）

中国应持何种新主张？

1。中国应该成为抱负远大的英雄国家。

2。持剑经商，崛起大国的制胜之道。

3。解放军要跟着中国核心利益走。

4。不能听‘金融战士’忽悠，产业升级才是国之根本。

5。认清西方‘轮盘赌’式的外交玄机，把中法关系实质性降低。

6。应勇于在国际社会上除暴安良，在强国道路上扫清颓风。

7。在当代社会的各个层面，都需要‘去文艺腔’。不惟此，我们就无法准确指称政治及经济现实，无法实现大目标。　

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These days, no one will blame you if you think that the Chinese are happy. After all, they have surpassed Germany to become the world's third-largest economy behind the U.S. and Japan, they have hosted a successful Olympic Games in 2008 and are going to host another major event, World Expo Shanghai 2010, they have conducted their first space walk in 2008. And even the devastating Sichuan earthquake in May 2008 had positive aspects—Chinese volunteered en masse to help their stricken countrymen.

Yet, for all you know, according to a new bestseller, China is unhappy. And here are some of the reasons:

1. There are ghosts behind the Lhasa 3.14 incident; the strategic encirclement of Western World towards China has become more concrete and obvious.

2. Sanlu milk power incident has result in a ‘psychological tear’ among Chinese people. It threatens a strong nation's core values.

3. People like Nicolas Sarkozy (the French President) have been offensive to China out of nasty opportunism.

4. The so-called ‘knowledge elites’ or ‘excellent Chinese people’ are harmful to China’s national spirit.

The book further clarifies a number of issues, including the followings:

1. Why the ‘feeling great’ among Chinese people are just fake phenomena. And Western strategy in dragging China down has been a hidden illness to China.

2. Why China should consider it an option to break up with the West under a certain conditions.

3. Why the ‘reform theory’ and ‘world salvation theory’ of neo-Confucianism has become day dream talk.

4. Why ‘Wang Xiao Bo's myth’, which embraces ‘defeatism’, is the most ugly culture lie. (Wang Xiao Bo, 1952-1997, writer.)

Finally, what should China advocate?

1. China should become a country with heroic mission.

2. China should hold sword to protect its business, this is a way to build a strong nation.

3. The National Liberation Army should protect China's core value.

4. China should not listen to the sweet talk of ‘finance warriors’ and industrial upgrade is the fundamentals.

5. Get to know the ‘Russian Roulette’ nature of western diplomatic strategy, lower the concrete diplomatic relation with France.

6. China should be brave in protecting international security and clear its path towards a strong country.

7. Avoid high-art's culture for affecting Chinese social life or else China’s political and economic goals cannot be realised.

百分之一主义 The One Percent Doctrine

据说，美国前副总统切尼的的国安政策很简单：‘宁可杀错，不可放过；宁可信其有，不可信其无’。其背后的思维是： ‘不怕一万，只怕万一。’
对其采取强硬手段对付恐怖分子，切尼的解释是，只要恐怖事件有百分之一的机会发生，‘我们的反应就应该是坚定无疑的。’
这就提醒我们‘百分之一主义’，一本由记者萨斯金德所写并获得普利策奖的有关美国在911事件后追捕恐怖分子的非小说类的书。在2006年7月24日，这本书在纽约时报最畅销排名榜上排名第三。
‘百分之一主义’ （又称切尼主义）其实是源于2001年11月（日期不详）的一个会议中。当时中央情报局长向切尼及当时的国家安全顾问赖斯汇报时，对担心巴基斯坦科学家在911后为奥萨马的基地组织提供发展核武器援助的反应。
根据哪本书的说法，切尼这样形容布什政府对付恐怖主义的策略：
‘巴基斯坦科学家援助基地组织发展核武器之事，即使只有1％的可能性，我们也应把它当作确有其事来给予反击。这与我们的分析无关……这是我们的反击。’
这就令我们想到曹操在190误杀人后的名言：‘宁我负人，毋人负我！’
注：曹操 (155-220)为东汉末年掌握实权的丞相。死后追缢为魏武帝。
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It is said that the former Vice President Dick Cheney’s national security strategy is simple: ‘Better to be sure than sorry. Prepare for the worst, and hope for the best.’ And the thinking behind it is that ‘we don’t fear hard work, we just fear failure.’
The justification for taking a hawkish approach to terrorism was explained by Cheney that if a terrorist event had even a one percent chance of happening, ‘we have to treat it as a certainty in terms of our response.’
That brings us to the One Percent Doctrine, which is a nonfiction book by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Ron Suskind about America's hunt for terrorists since September 11th. On July 24th, 2006, it reached number 3 on the New York Times Best Seller list.
The One Percent Doctrine (also called the Cheney doctrine) was actually created in November 2001 (no exact date is given) during a briefing given by then-CIA Director George Tenet to then-U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice in response to worries that a Pakistani scientist was offering nuclear weapons expertise to Al Qaeda after the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attack.
Accordingly to the book, this was how Vice President Dick Cheney described the Bush administration's doctrine on dealing with terrorism:
‘If there's a 1% chance that Pakistani scientists are helping al-Qaeda build or develop a nuclear weapon, we have to treat it as a certainty in terms of our response. It's not about our analysis ... It's about our response.’
This reminds us of the famous or infamous statement made by Cao Cao in 190, after he wrongly killed someone, ‘I'd rather betray others, than have others betray me.’
Note: Cao Cao (155-220) was a Prime Minister of the Eastern Han Dynasty who rose to great power during its final years in ancient China. He was posthumously titled Emperor Wu of Wei.

音乐：古代中国美学之灵魂 Music: The Soul of Ancient Chinese Aesthetics

如果说数学是古代希腊美学的灵魂，那么音乐就是古代中国美学之灵魂。这可能是居于孔子本身就狂爱音乐的这个事实吧。比如，当他与人相遇，如果对那人的歌唱很喜欢，他会要求他重唱，然后他自己加入同唱。他也精通乐器，在卫国玩罄（古代乐器），边唱边玩古筝，跟襄子学鼓。据《论语》所载，孔子在齐国听到了韶乐，他陶醉到三个月之内吃肉不觉得有肉的味道。还说：‘不图为乐之至于斯也。’想不到这乐曲竟达到了如此的境地。
《乐记》详细说明了孔子的音乐学说。《乐记》可说是最有系统的陈述儒家美学。它一开始就讲解了音乐的起源与功能。
‘凡音之起，由人心生也。人心之动物使之然也。
感于物而动，故形于声，声相应，故生变，变成方谓之音。比音而乐之，及干戚羽旄，谓之乐。乐者，音之所由生也；其本在人心之感于物也。
是故其哀心感者，其声焦以杀；其乐心感者，其声啴以缓；其喜心感者．其声发以散；其怒心感者，其声粗以厉；其敬心感者，其声直以廉；其爱心感者，其声和以柔。六者非性也，感于物而后动。是故先王慎所以感之者。
故礼以道其志，乐以和其声，政以一其行，刑以防其奸。礼乐刑政，其极一也。所以同民心而出治道也。’
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If mathematics is the soul of ancient Greek aesthetics, then music is the soul of ancient Chinese aesthetics. This could due to the fact that Confucius himself was almost crazy about music. When he was pleased with the singing of someone he was with, for instance, he would always ask to have the song repeated and would join in himself. He was also good at playing musical instruments: playing qing at Wei, singing while playing zither, learning drumming from Xiangzi. And as is recorded in the Analects, when Confucius was in the State of Qi, he heard the music of Shao; he was so intoxicated with the sweetness of its tone that he for three months did not know the taste of flesh. ‘I did not think that music could have been made as excellent as this.’ he said. (7:13)
This Confucian doctrine of aesthetics is elaborated in Yue ji or Record of Music which is perhaps the most systematic literature on aesthetics in the tradition of Confucianism.
From the very beginning, Yue ji gives an explanation to the origination and function of music:
‘All the modulations of the voice arise from the mind, and the various affections of the mind are produced by things (external to it).
The affections thus produced are manifested in the sounds that are uttered. Changes are produced by the way in which those sounds respond to one another; and those changes constitute what we call the modulations of the voice. The combination of those modulated sounds, so as to give pleasure, and the (direction in harmony with them of the) shields and axes, and of the plumes and ox-tails, constitutes what we call music. Music is (thus) the production of the modulations of the voice, and its source is in the affections of the mind as it is influenced by (external) things.
When the mind is moved to sorrow, the sound is sharp and fading away; when it is moved to pleasure, the sound is slow and gentle; when it is moved to joy, the sound is exclamatory and soon disappears; when it is moved to reverence, the sound is straightforward, with an indication of humility; when it is moved to love, the sound is harmonious and soft. These six peculiarities of sound are not natural; they indicate the impressions produced by (external) things. On this account the ancient kings were watchful in regard to the things by which the mind was affected.
And so (they instituted) ceremonies to direct men’s aims aright; music to give harmony to their voices; laws to unify their conduct; and punishments to guard against their tendencies to evil. The end to which ceremonies, music, punishments, and laws conduct is one; they are the instruments by which the minds of the people are assimilated, and good order in government is made to appear.’