小红点 Little Red Dot

印尼前总统哈比比（1936年出生，任期1998-1999）于1998年八月的一篇报道的言论使‘小红点’成为流行语。他说，他对新加坡作为一个朋友没有感情，并指着一幅地图说：‘我没什么，可是印尼有2亿一千一百万人口。所有绿色的范围都是印尼。而那小红点就是新加坡。’

这个话语被当作是对新加坡的一种打发，引起一片噪声。2003年五月3日，当时的新加坡副总理李显龙（现任总理）反映哈比比的话语时说：‘这个话语很生动及可贵地提醒了我们的确实是很小和很脆弱。小红点已经进入了新加坡人的心理中，成为我们常用词汇的一部分。我们为此而感激。’

2006年9月19日，哈比比向记者解释，他在1998年完全没有打发新加坡之意，他所要说的是虽然新加坡很小，可是成就却很大。他是当着印尼的一个青年团体前面，顺口来给他们精神鼓励。他说他告诉他们，‘如果你看一看东南亚的地图，印尼那么大，而新加坡只是个小点。可是，来到新加坡，你看到的却是有远见的人民。’他断言，‘我已经多次纠正，可是他们就是不听入耳。我没有记录证明因为我当时畅所欲言。’

其实，新加坡政治家与一般市民都以‘小红点’为荣，被看成是国家在国土限制下成功的象征。

对‘小红点’这个词语的积极态度并不令人惊奇，因为新加坡基本上是个华人社会，而华人对‘点’，尤其是红色的小点其实还算蛮有好感。中文的许多常用词语都反映出了这种情怀。这里有两个例子：

画龙点晴。这句成语有最后润色的意思。这一点可以把艺术品带来生命，或表示最后的一两字句赢得论点。

万绿丛中一点红。特出耀眼的意思。

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The term "little red dot" gained currency after the former Indonesian President Habibie (born 1936; held office 1998–1999) was reported as having remarked in August 1998 that he did not have the feeling that Singapore was a friend, and had pointed to a map, saying: ‘It's O.K. with me, but there are 211 million people in Indonesia. All the green area is Indonesia. And that red dot is Singapore.’

The remark caused an outcry as it was seen as a dismissal of Singapore. Reflecting on Habibie's remarks at a conference on 3 May 2003, the then Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister (and present Prime Minister), Lee Hsien Loong, said: ‘This (Habibie's remark) was a vivid and valuable reminder that we are indeed very small and very vulnerable. The little red dot has entered the psyche of every Singaporean, and become a permanent part of our vocabulary, for which we are grateful.’

On 19 September 2006, Habibie explained to reporters that far from dismissing Singapore in 1998, he had meant to highlight Singapore's achievements despite its small size. He said that he had made the remark while speaking off-the-cuff with members of an Indonesian youth group and trying to "give them spirit". He said that he had told them: "If you look at the map of South-east Asia, you (Indonesia) are so big, and Singapore is just a dot. But if you come to Singapore, you see people with vision." He also claimed that "I have corrected (myself) many times, but they have never put it (sic). And I could not prove it in writing because I was talking freely."

However, the term ‘little red dot’ has since come to be used by both Singaporean politicians and ordinary citizens with pride and with a sense of the nation's success despite its physical limitations.

The positive attitude towards the term ‘red spot’ is not surprising, as Singapore is basically a Chinese society and for the Chinese, a little dot, especially a red one can actually be viewed as something precious. There are in fact many popular Chinese sayings reflect this sentiment. Here are two examples:

Hualong Dianjing, which means ‘finshing touch’, or literally means ‘bringing the pained dragon to life by putting on dots (pupils) of its eyes’. The dot is to add the finishing touch that brings a work of art to life, or add a word or two to clinch the point.

Wanlu congzhong yidianhong, which means very outstanding or eye-catching, or literally a single red in the midst of thick foliage.

软硬兼施：美国巧实力 Carrot-and-Stick: The U.S.’ Smart Power

曾经是‘硬实力’和‘软实力’ ，现在是‘巧实力’。

总统奥巴马带着‘我们相信变革’的口号进入白宫，无可避免地美国外交政策的‘伟大改造戏剧’的帷幕必须拉起。这个戏剧的导演就落在国务卿希拉里的肩膀上。

新的剧目叫什么呢？就叫‘巧实力’吧。据说这个设计是冲着前布什总统的盛气凌人的单边主义而来的。这个单边主义一味强调‘硬实力’。‘巧实力’就是要结合硬与软实力。软实力是以吸引力而不是强迫来得到你所要的东西的能力。

引用希拉里的话：‘我们因该运用我所谓的巧实力，运用在外交、经济、军事、法律与文化各方面所拥有的各种工具，并选择其中最适合各别情况的工具或结合工具’来恢复美国在环球的领导地位。

可是，公开来谈‘巧实力’是否是明智之举呢？

很明显的，‘巧实力’与实力无关。它是一种策略。中国人有一句话形容它，那就是‘软硬兼施’。所以，现在的问题就是：公开来谈‘巧策略’是否是明智之举呢？

同样相当明显的是，不是每一个人都喜欢和灵巧的东西联系在一起。在西方，‘巧’可能传达正面的意思，可是华人可能不这样认为。华文比较倾向于把这个字同投机取巧或操纵技巧相联在一起。有一件事是肯定的，在两千五百年前，孔子曾说：‘巧言令色，鲜矣仁。’

现在，中国人已经对‘巧实力’起了疑心。他们已经问：美国对中国的政策如何地涵盖在‘巧实力’里？美国的新班子的行政策略和前布什政府有何不同？

看来，美国的决策者可以从耐克的广告套语中学到一两样东西：只管干吧。

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There was strong power, and the soft power. Now, it is ‘smart power’.

President Barack Obama entered the White House with the slogan ‘change we can believe in’ and it is inevitable that the curtain of the "great reform drama" in U.S. foreign policy has to be raised. The role of directing the drama falls on the shoulders of Hillary Rodham Clinton, the U.S. secretary of state.

And, what is the name of the new drama? Call it Smart Power. It is said to have been designed to direct at the foreign policies of former President George W. Bush's aggressive unilateral strategy, which one-sidedly stresses the "hard power". Smart power is the combination of hard and soft power. Soft power is the ability to get what you want through attraction rather than coercion.

Hillary was quoted as saying that "we must use what has been called smart power, the full range of tools at our disposal – diplomatic, economic, military, political, legal and cultural – picking the right tool or combination of tools for each situation", so as to resume the U.S.' global leading position.

However, is it a smart move to talk about ‘smart power’ openly?

It is obvious that ‘smart power’ is not about ‘power’. It is about strategy. There is a Chinese saying to describe such strategy, i.e. the carrot-and-stick strategy. Therefore, the question now is, is it a smart move to talk about ‘smart strategy’ openly?

It is also quite obvious that not everybody likes to be associated with things smart. In the west, the word ‘smart’ may have conveyed something positive – but this may not be the case for the Chinese. In Chinese, the word seems to associate more with ‘speculative’ and ‘manipulative’ rather than ‘clever’. One thing for sure, two thousand five hundred years ago, Confucius had said, ‘Smart (fine) words and an insinuating appearance are seldom associated with virtue.’

And the Chinese are already sceptical about smart power. They have already asked openly: What kind of the U.S.' China policy is contained in the "smart power"? Or how the new administration's policy towards China would differ from the preceding Bush government?

Probably the U.S. policy makers could learn one or two things from Nike’s tagline: Just do it.

李白：静夜思 Li Bai: Night Thoughts

李白 (701 – 762) 提倡恢复传统作为复兴诗词的依据。他的诗清新而风格独特，世世代代为人们所传颂。

让我们读以下这首诗：

床前明月光，

疑似地下霜；

举头望明月，

低头思故乡。

诗人李白远离家乡，一个月圆之夜，在奇异的旅馆里，他躺在床上，月亮从窗口照到地上，令他想起了他的故乡，因而写了这首著名的诗。它简短、易读、易记。它也轻易地使读者和他一样进入相同的思乡之情。

这首名为‘夜静思’的诗用简单的语言来表达思乡之情。李白就提倡这类的诗。他反对用华丽的词藻，和提倡恢复传统诗词的陈子昂的想法是一致的。

‘夜静思’画出一个想家而半夜起床的人。所用的语言简单，而思乡之情深刻。李白能够写出这样的诗，固然是因为他有写诗的天才，加上他能从民间文学，尤其是民间歌曲的语言中索取材料。
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Li Bai (701 – 762) advocated the revival of tradition in poetry as the basis of reforming poetry. His poems are refreshing and unique in style. They've been read by generations of people.

Let’s read the following poem:

The white moonlight in front of my bed;

I wonder if that can be frost on the ground.

I look up to see the moon.

I lower my head to think of my hometown.
Poet, Li Bai left his home far away to a strange hotel during a full moon night; he lay on the bed, the moon light flooded down on the floor through the window, that rose his thinking about his own home town village, so he wrote this famous poem. It is very short, easy to be read and remembered. It is so easy to bring reader to fall into the same thought about him village.

This poem, entitled "Night Thoughts," uses very simple language to describe homesickness. It's exactly this kind of poem Li Po advocated. He was opposed to using elaborate language when writing poems, and was in favour of the views of another poet, Chen Zi Ang, who advocated the revival of tradition in poetry.

‘Night Thoughts’ pictures a man thinking of his home town and waking up at night. The language is simple yet the feeling of homesickness is profound. Li Po was able to come up with poems like this because he not only had a gift for poetry but also borrowed ideas from folk literature, especially a language used in folk songs.

子曰：乐节礼乐 Confucius Said: Find Enjoyment in Ceremonies and Music

孔子最终的目的是要达到一个以周朝社会为模范的和谐社会。所以孔子把自己看作是衰退中的周朝礼乐文化的保存者与恢复者，那时不令人惊奇的。所有其它的一切都是为了要达到这个目标的手段。

之前，礼乐是用来服务神鬼，而神鬼又被认为是服务社会的重要手段。孔子把礼节并入世俗关系来制造一个理想的和谐社会。

周礼应受尊敬因为它为安稳与文雅社会提供了基础。它们界定了各类职责的任务与为行动提供了准则。依次，它们又为自我约束提供了社会框架。

乐被认为是关键的手段，因为它是礼节中重要的部分。所以，乐需要来实现和谐社会中的两个互相关联的目标：自我修养与社会和谐。

所以，早期儒学者认为道德与艺术是交错于中的，因为实践它们可以自我修身并最成为完美的人。这个过程对形成与维持一个和谐社会很重要。

《论语》里说：‘礼之用，和为贵。先王之道，斯为美。小大由之，有所不行，知和而和，不以礼节之，亦不可行也。’

孔子的劝告是：乐节礼乐。
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The ultimate goal of Confucius was to achieve a harmonious society which was exemplified by the Zhou dynasty. It is therefore not surprising that Confucius saw himself as the preserver and restorer of the declining Zhou culture. All others things were to be considered as means to achieve this goal.

The rituals and arts that previously had been used to serve the spiritual things were seen as instrumental in serving mankind. Confucius incorporated the rites into secular relationships in order to make the ideal of social harmony.

The Zhou Ritual (li) was to be respected as it provided the foundation for a stable and culturally refined society. They defined various roles and provided normative guidelines for action. In turn, they also provide social framework necessary for self-mastery.

Arts were considered as instrumental as they were seen as an important component of ritual. Therefore, arts were needed in actualising two interrelated goals of a harmonious society: self-cultivation and social harmony.

Hence, the early Confucians viewed moral and good arts as intertwined, for practising them allowed one to cultivate the self and to ultimately become a good person. This process was essential for establishing and maintaining a harmonious society.

The Analects says, ‘In the application of the rituals, harmony is most valuable. In the ways of the former Kings, the achievement of harmony made them elegant. While harmony is a guiding standard in all things large and small, if you keep pursuing it just because you know it, and do not use the rituals to regulate it, it will not work.’

And Confucius’ advice is ‘to find enjoyment in the discriminating study of ceremonies and music’.

易经：圣人以神道设教 Yijing: The Spirit-like Way

如果康德与孔子能够见面，交流一下对事物的看法，他们可能会发现，他们对精神世界方面的看法，可能有不少是相同的。
康德相信我们只能认识经验的东西，所以我们不能够以推理来知道上帝的存在。可是，我们需要上帝这个理念来作为我们道德生活的基础。所以，上帝是一个必要的理念，为了过个好日子的必要，为了道德的必要。
可以说，孔子很可能并不相信神灵这些东西。他就被引述说他没有兴趣谈怪力乱神。所以，“季路問事鬼神，子曰：‘未能事人，焉能事鬼。’問死，曰： ‘未知生，焉知死。’”
可是，孔子并没有明确地说他反对神灵的事，因为他相信为了教化道德，那是一个必要的理念。所以《易经》说：‘观天之神道，而四时不惑，圣人以神道设教，而天下服矣。’
一个人不可能精确地知道什么是神道。可是，接受圣人的教化才是重要的。所以，为了有效地教导道德，可以神道设教。
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If Kant and Confucius had a chance to meet and exchange their views on various topics, probably they would find out that they actually shared some common views on the subject of spiritual world.
Kant believed that we can know only our experiences and as such we cannot know by our reason that God exists. However, we need the idea of God to serve as a foundation of our moral life. Therefore, God is a necessary idea, necessary for the living of good life, for morality.
Confucius, it is said, probably did not believe in spiritual things. He was quoted as saying that he was not interested in talking about devil, violence, disorder, or deities (gods and goddesses). So when Ji Lu asked about serving the spirits of the dead, Confucius said, 'While you are not able to serve men, how can you serve their spirits?' Ji Lu added, 'I venture to ask about death?' He answered, 'While you do not know life, how can you know about death?'
However, Confucius did not say explicitly he objected to spiritual things, probably because he thought it was a necessary idea for the sake of teaching morality. That is why Yijing says: ‘When we contemplate the spirit-like way of Heaven, we see how the four seasons proceed without error. The sages, in accordance with this spirit-like way, laid down their instructions, and all under heaven yield submission to them.’
It is impossible for anyone to know what exactly the spirit-like way is. However, the focus point is on conveying the sage’s instructions. Therefore, in order to effectively teach morality, we can lay down instructions in accordance with the spirit-like way.