杜甫：月兔捣药 Du Fu: The Moon Rabbit Pounds the Bitter Herbs

根据华人的生肖，2011年是兔年。听说把兔子和月亮联系起来带到中国，那时受到了印度佛教的影响。中国把月里的兔子与其它源于佛教的有关观念引进，叫它做‘玉兔’。据说它在神奇的桂树下制作长生不老之药。

实际上，月亮，酒与美女一向是中国诗人的热门题材。由于唐宋时代拜月之风很盛，千年之前的唐宋诗词不少就与这些题材有关。八世纪时的传奇诗人李白据说就是为了捞水里月亮的影子而死的。
另一个唐代诗人杜甫则以写传记式、历史性与记录战乱任何影响他的生活的诗而著名。就算是他不常见的提到玉兔的诗里，他也不忘记在西部沙漠里保卫国家的战士。

月(杜甫)

天上秋期近，人间月影清。
入河蟾不没，捣药兔长生。
只益丹心苦，能添白发明。
干戈知满地，休照国西营。
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According to the Chinese Zodiac, the year of 2011 is the Year of the Rabbit. The rabbit's association with the moon is said to have been introduced to China with Indian Buddhist influence. Chinese adopted the rabbit in the moon along with many other concepts that originated in Buddhism: they called it the Jade Rabbit. It is said to stand under a magical cassia tree on the moon making pills of immortality.

As a matter of fact, the moon, along with fine wine and beautiful women, is a favourite topic for the Chinese poets. Since the worship of the moon was very prevalent in the Tang Dynasty, you‘ll find quite a few of the poems are from the Tang and Song Dynasties, which date back more than one thousand years. In fact, a legendary Chinese poet from the 8th century, Li Bai is said to have died while trying to catch the image of the moon reflected in the waters of a lake.

Du Fu, another poet who lived during the Tang Dynasty, was famous for poems that are autobiographical and historical, recording the effects of war on his own life. Even in the rare occasion that jade rabbit was mentioned in his poem, he just could not forget the soldiers who fought for the countries in the western deserts.

Du Fu: The Autumn Moon

The Autumn constellations begin to rise.

The brilliant Moonlight shines on the crowds.

The moon toad swims in the river and does not drown.

The moon rabbit pounds the bitter herbs and has an eternal life.

His drug only makes my heart more bitter.

The silver brilliance only makes my hair more white.

I know that the country is overrun with war.

The moonlight means nothing to the soldiers camped in the western deserts.

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字如其人 Writing is Like the Person

从古到今，华人把自然与人类当作个由众多形式多样相互连接的部件所形成的有机体。当其中的一个部件错位或者机能受到干扰，整体的和谐就被破坏。传统中国哲学特别注重社会和谐，艺术本意就是要反映这一点。

华人美学关注调整自己成为一个自我调整的人，这个情况就在吸取丰富的传统并寻找应用之法的同时，平衡个体与全体。

所以，在华人美学里自我修养就是艺术的首要任务；而在儒学中，自我修养传统在中华艺术有很深的人文根底。它把身体礼仪化，以有节奏的身体动作与呼吸技巧来制作艺术，当成是恢复精神与身体活力的一种形式。

就书法而言，由于毛笔与墨汁容易受到力度、速度与气息的变化的影响，笔画本身就会透露了书写的举止。所以，在书写文字的活跃过程中，某个姿态就会转化成为一个形式，就如一个形式相同的也会转化成为一个姿态。这个过程有视于并反映了身体的操作，而身体的操作有被心所‘控制’。

汉朝（公元前206年 – 公元220年）的赵壹在《非草书》中就说得很清楚：

凡人个殊气血，异筋骨，心有疏密，手有巧拙，书之好丑，在心与手。可强为哉？

这就是所谓的‘字如其人’。
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毛泽东：字如其人 Mao Zedong's Calligraphy

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The traditional Chinese of all ages view the nature and human as an organism made up of multitudinous interconnected parts. When one of the parts falls its place or is disrupted in its functioning, the harmony of the whole is impaired. A premium in traditional Chinese philosophy is placed on social harmony, and art is meant to reflect that.

Chinese aesthetics is concerned with tuning the self to become self-balancing human being, and in this a case of striking a balance between part and whole by simultaneously drawing upon the richness of tradition and finding a way to appropriate it.

Self-cultivation is therefore the main role of art in Chinese aesthetics and the Confucian self-cultivation tradition in Chinese art has deep humanistic roots. They ritualise the human body, using rhythmic bodily movements and breathing techniques in doing art, as a form of mental and physical rejuvenation of the person.

In the case of calligraphy, since the brush and ink are readily influenced by variations in force, speed, and breath, the strokes themselves reveal much about the physical act of writing. Therefore, in the dynamic process of writing a character, a particular gesture is converted into a form, just as a particular form is equally converted into gesture. This process is contingent upon and reflects the work of the body which is ‘controlled’ by the mind, or a cultivated mind.

A text from the Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) makes this clear:

All men differ in their energy and blood, and vary in their sinew and bones; the heart-mind may be dispersed or dense; the hand may be skilled or clumsy. The beauty or ugliness of calligraphy is in the heart-mind and hand.

This culminates in the popular saying: ‘Writing is like the person.’

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.

西方的中庸之道 The Western Idea of the Golden Mean

在西方哲学里，尤其是亚里士多德的哲学，中庸是在两个极端，即过度与不足之间的适中点。

最早代表文化中这种思维的可能是克里特中有关代达罗斯与伊卡洛斯的神话。代达罗斯是当时有名的艺术家，他用蜡为自己与儿子伊卡洛斯制造了翼翅，以便逃出国王米诺斯的魔手。代达罗斯警告他的儿子飞行时应取中道，即在海水沫与太阳热之间。伊卡洛斯不理睬他的父亲，越飞越高，因此太过靠近太阳，以致他的蜡翼受热后溶化，坠海而死。

在希腊的心理中，中庸是美的属性，他们相信它是美的三个元素：对称、协调与和谐。这三原理灌输入了他们的生活中。他们十分习惯于把美当作是爱的对象，一种被看成是十分亲密，能够在他们的生活、建筑、理想教育、政治中可以再现的东西。他们就是这样看待生命。

据说，苏格拉底教导人们应知道如何选择中道，尽量避免走任何一边的极端。

亚里士多德的中庸之道是他道德学说中最有名的。简言之，亚里士多德认为道德就是两个恶习之间的适中点。例如，勇气就介于胆怯与鲁莽之间。鲁莽是自信过度而忧虑不足，胆怯却是忧虑过度而信心不足。勇气就是含有这两者的适当成分。

这种中庸之道的准则导致他认为民主国家应由中等阶级来治理，不同于柏拉图认为应由仁者哲学家来治理的看法。

这个中庸之道的观点的后来演变为黄金比例与黄金分割的观念，并应用到道德价值以外。在艺术与视觉传媒，黄金比例被当成辨别线条、形状、视觉的最理想比例。它高度影响了古代希腊的雕刻与激励了达文西对比例的学习。

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In western philosophy, especially that of Aristotle, the golden mean is the desirable middle between two extremes, one of excess and the other of deficiency.

The earliest representation of this idea in culture is probably in the mythological Cretan tale of Daedalus and Icarus. Daedalus, a famous artist of his time, built feathered wings for himself and his son so that they might escape the clutches of King Minos. Daedalus warns his son to ‘fly the middle course’, between the sea spray and the sun's heat. Icarus did not heed his father; he flew up and up until the sun melted the wax off his wings, and he fell into the sea and died.

To the Greek mentality, golden mean was an attribute of beauty and they believed there were three 'ingredients' to beauty: symmetry, proportion, and harmony. This triad of principles infused their life. They were very much attuned to beauty as an object of love and something that was to be imitated and reproduced in their lives, architecture, Paideia and politics. They judged life by this mentality.

Socrates is said to teach that a man must know how to choose the mean and avoid the extremes on either side, as far as possible.

The theory of the mean is one of Aristotle's best-known pieces of ethical thinking. In a nutshell, Aristotle said that virtues are a point of moderation between two opposite vices. For instance, the virtue courage lies between the two vices of cowardice and recklessness. Recklessness is too much confidence and not enough fear, cowardice is too much fear and not enough confidence, courage is just the right amount of both.

The ‘golden mean’ test also led to his belief that the middle class should rule democracy, unlike Plato's view that stated that democracy should be ruled by elite philosophers.

In the later development, through the idea of the Golden Mean comes the concept of the Golden Ratio and Golden Section and the application of the concepts has been extended beyond moral values. In art and visual communications, the Golden Ratio has been used as an ideal proportion on which to base lines, shapes and visual elements. It highly influenced classical Greek sculpture and inspired Leonardo Da Vinci in his studies of proportion.

中国：中庸之国 Middle Kingdom: The Middle Way Kingdom

在中国，中庸之道为儒家与道家的中心思想。它的意思很简单。每一种事物皆有两个极端。中庸就是两个极端之间的自然平衡、均衡与和谐。在这个和谐点达成善与美。儒家在《中庸》这部经典中阐述了这个观点。道家则言，‘反者，道之动也。’就是说，当事物达到极端时，它就开始返回另一个极端。

中庸传达了和谐地整合对立事物的动态观点，而不是通常西方所理解的妥协对立。我们可以说，‘中国’这个传统用词其实是指一个以平衡极端来维护完整生活方式的国家，而不是理解为一个把自己当成是居于世界中心的国家的这种含有霸道的潜在意识。

华人相信世界里的事物皆有竞争倾向，应该加以平衡。这些对立的元素形成一个完整个体。这种哲学包含两个既对立而又相互依赖的观念：整体主义与悖论。

整体主义是指所有的事物都是相互联系相互依赖的，把东西当成是孤立的事件是没有意义的，而我们并不能在孤立中了解事物现象。所以，‘我’与‘他人’的相互依赖，在华人的哲学中是很自然的‘自我’观念。就是说，华人倾向于把他们看成是团体中的一分子。

阴阳学说的中庸哲学接纳悖论，并使它成为这个哲学中的不可分隔的元素。华人把对立的种子包含在事物中，使对立的双方面融合为一个有活力的整体。这个世界观反映了华人把两个互依单位当成整体的这种悖论的观点。道家认为互相对立的个体如果没有对方就不能生存。‘阳极阴生，阴极阳生。’阴与阳的结合是自然的规律与事物变动的因素。这也反映了华人哲学避免把两个对立简单地偏极化。每一个事物内都包含它的对立的种子，两者一起形成一个完整个体。华人采取辩证方式把对立的元素保留起来，而不是西方那种把矛盾偏极化的思维。

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In China, the idea of the Middle Way or Golden Mean is central to both the Confucianists and Daoists. The idea is simple. Everything has extremes at both ends. The Golden Mean is the natural balance, equilibrium and harmony between these extremes. At this harmonious point goodness and beauty are achieved. The Confucianists elaborated the idea in one of their classics The Doctrine of Mean. For the Doaists, the saying that ‘reversal is the movement of Dao’ means when anything comes to its extreme, a reversal to the other extreme takes place.

Middle way conveys a dynamic concept of harmonious integration of opposites rather than a compromise between them as often understood in the West. One may therefore say that the Middle Kingdom, the traditional term for China, actually calls for a country maintaining an integrated lifestyle by balancing the extremes, rather than, as is often understood, a hegemonic undertone of a country that considers itself to be at the centre of the world.

The Chinese believe that all things in the universe contain competing tendencies that must be balanced, opposite elements constitute an integrated whole. The philosophy embraces two opposing but interdependent ideas: holism and paradox.

Holism means that all things are interconnected and interdependent so that looking at things in isolation does not make sense and that one cannot understand a phenomenon in isolation. Therefore, the idea of the self versus the other as interdependent is natural in traditional Chinese self-perception, meaning that the Chinese tend to see themselves as part of a group.

The embrace of paradoxes is an integral component of the middle way philosophy of yingyang. The Chinese see opposites containing within themselves the seed of the other, yet forming a dynamic unity. This world view captures the Chinese view of a paradox as an interdependent unity constituting a whole. In Daoism neither opposite can exist without the other. ‘The extreme of yin is yang and the extreme of yang is yin’. The combination of yin and yang is the way of nature and the seed of change. It signifies how Chinese philosophy seeks to avoid simple polarizing of contradictions. Each force contains the seed of its opposition and together they form an integrated whole. The Chinese take a dialectical approach that retains basic elements of opposing perspectives rather than polarizing contradictions as in Western thought.

子曰：中庸之为德也，其至矣乎！ Confucius Said: The Doctrine of the Mean is of the Highest Order

‘中庸’是新儒家所采用的概念与儒家经典书名。《中庸》这本经典据说是孔子的唯一曾孙子思（孔汲）所写的。而这个词则在《论语》只出现过一次:

子曰：‘中庸之为德也，其至矣乎！民鲜久矣。’

英语把它翻译为‘平均法则’，对英语读者可能有误导性。

‘中’至少有三个意义。

‘中’的第一个意思指‘执两用中’的‘中’。真正的意思是既不要“过”也不要“不及”。如描绘美人，‘增之一分则太长，减之一分则太短；著粉则太白，施朱则太赤’。身体与容貌都恰到好处。这就是‘中’。

第二个意思指‘适宜、合适、合乎一定的标准’，含有‘从容中道’的意思。也即表现于外部行为上的“中道”，合于礼。

引导‘中道’的深入内心世界，就是‘中’的第三个意思，所谓‘喜怒哀乐之未发谓之中’。这是说明礼是道德准则，是根源于人的含而未发的内心的。

‘庸’ 指平常，一般，‘庸’亦指‘用’。‘中庸’就是‘尚中，并为一般之用’。要了解‘中’的意思，才能比较好地掌握‘中庸’的道德意义。
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‘Zhong Yong’ is both a concept and the name of a Neo-Confucian text. The composition of the text is attributed to Zisi (or Kong Ji) the only grandson of Confucius. The term only appears once in the Analects:

Confucius said, ‘The virtue embodied in the Doctrine of the Mean is of the highest order. But it has long been rare among people.’ (Analects: 6:29)

To translate ‘Zhong Yong’ as the Doctrine of the Mean may not have conveyed its full meaning to English readers. The Chinese term ‘zhong yong’ consists of two Chinese words, zhong and yong.

The word Zhong has at least three meanings.

The first meaning refers to the situation where one needs to listen to both sides and choose the middle course, i.e. to be impartial and just right. The real meaning is neither too much nor too little, that is, just right. In the case of a beautiful lady, she can be described as, ‘If she were one inch taller, she would be too tall. If she were one inch shorter, she would be too short. If she used powder, her face would be too white. If she used rouge, her face would be too red.’ The description means that her figure and complexion were just right. This is zhong.

The second meaning is used to describe customary norms that must be suitable, appropriate, and that should be conformed to, as expressed in the Chinese saying, ‘calmly follow the suitable Way’. The word ‘Way’ with capital letter W refers to Dao, or in Confucian term li, the external rituals.

It is the inner mind and the concept of equilibrium that lead us to follow the ‘suitable Way’. This is how the third meaning of equilibrium is derived. It is said that ‘before the feelings of pleasure, anger, sorrow, and joy are established, there is equilibrium’. In other words, understanding of rituals refers to moral standards which originated from the need to have equilibrium before various feelings are established.

The word ‘yong’ means common, ordinary, or utilise. Combine ‘zhong’ with ‘yong’, it means ‘the common and ordinary use of the principle of zhong’. It is therefore important to understand the meaning of zhong before we can fully appreciate the virtue embodied in the principles of Zhong Yong.

中庸：致中和 The Doctrine of the Mean: Full Attainment of Equilibrium

对华人而言，学习一门艺术最重要的就是要参与传统，艺术家要在吸取丰厚的传统养分与同时真实地据为己有之间找到适当的平衡点。如果一个人走极端，就是说极端个人主义或者极端遵照传统，那就会影响到获取艺术情感、做人与增强技术中的好料。

从在不断临摹大师作品就是一个例子。

从一方面来看，单是模仿古代大师其实可能把我们拒绝在传统生活之外，而不能获取传统所能给予我们的养分。如果所学到的技巧只限于模仿，我们就不能探索到审美表情里的欢愉与失意感。

另一方面，极端个人主义忽略了艺术与继承传统的紧密关系。和过分的遵照传统一样，过分的个人主义限制了一个人对培养内心修养的成功。

所以，艺术家如果能避免极端，他的能力与修养就能得到无限增强。儒家经典《中庸》就有说，‘喜、怒、哀、乐之未发，谓之中。发而皆中节，谓之和。中也者，天下之大本也。和也者，天下之达道也。致中和，天地位焉，万物育焉。’

意思就是说，个人与传统之间的平衡对艺术家的成就很重要，它也提醒我们，艺术的本来就是人道主义的。

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For Chinese, one of the most important aspects of taking up art is participating in a tradition, and artist must strike an appropriate balance between simultaneously drawing upon the richness of the tradition and finding a way to appropriate it authentically. If one leans towards an extreme, whether extreme individualism or extreme conformity, then the goods of artistic expression, person-making, and increase of skill will be affected.

A case in point is the practice of repetitiously copy the work of past masters.

On the one hand, merely imitating the past master could mean actually keep one from living the tradition and actualising the goods that it offers. One will not discover the joys and frustrations of aesthetic expression if the skill involved is limited to that of mimicry.

On the other hand, extreme individualism ignores the relationships that are integral to the continuation of the tradition. As with excessive conformity, excessive individualism limits one’s success to a practice’s internal goods.

Hence, artistic ability and personal refinement are maximised by avoiding these extremes. The classical Confucian text ‘The Doctrine of the Mean’ states, ‘Before the feelings of pleasure, anger, sorrow, and joy are established, there is equilibrium (zhong: the mean, the centre). The establishment of these feelings in proper measure of each and proper rhythm for all is called harmony (he). This equilibrium is the greatest source of the world; this harmony is the world's universal Way (Dao). With the full attainment of equilibrium and harmony comes the proper ordering of heaven and earth and the nourishment of all things.’

The claim is that striking a balance between individual and tradition is essential for flourishing artists and further reminds us that arts serve primarily humanitarian ends.

书法临摹：体现礼仪 Copying Calligraphy: It is About Observing Ritual Propriety

孔子推广礼乐文化。儒家传统看法把艺术当作实工具来现两个互相关联的社会目的：修身养性与社会和谐。他们相信当我们把自己投入礼与乐的节奏中并得到欢乐时，我们会因此而获益。

艺术实践中的一个重要德行是礼仪之适当应用。但是，一个人不能盲目地追随礼仪，因为应用礼仪就是要把它据为己有，使它们个性化 - 以特殊方式来呈现。我们应该知道如何产生归为己有的拥有感，这是修身养性过程的一个重要组成。

在发展艺术技术中，艺术家获得了美学应用的具体知识。好的书法家深知笔法，了解每一个字的空间安排逻辑，了解章法原理，也晓得各个书体的异同。这些都是适当应用的不同部分。

吸取书法礼仪的办法就是持续临摹古代大书法家的作品，把難写的字解剖为个别元素，然后以流畅与有节制的动作把它们结为整体。这个过程为书法家与传统建立了形体关系。通过临摹，学生可以对大书法家的形态有深入的了解；就是说，大书法家行动的姿态体现了每一个字的节奏与形式。学习者对他们所学习传统的领悟并不限于反省，通过具体与仪式化的临摹动作，学习者亲密地体验传统。他们的动作所得的是深沉的，因为这些动作是在传统的具体技巧中领悟与建立起来的。

但是，比如在临摹《千字文》时，我们不能盲临，而应该想个办法把它据为己有。很多时候，一帖法书被临摹久了，文字的内容本身会消失于书法之中，就是说，内容已经被当成理所当然，很少会成为关注点，只当成是呈现书法技巧的格式。

所以，学习艺术的一个重要方向是进入传统，吸取传统丰富的养料，然后找个方法把它真实地为己所用。就书法而言，进入传统就是忠实地临摹古代大书法家的法帖。

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Confucius promotes the culture of rites and music. The Confucian tradition views arts as instrumental in actualising two interrelated social ends: self-cultivation and social harmony. It is believed that one stands to be improved by the enjoyment found in attuning oneself to the rhythms of ritual propriety and music (arts).

A virtue essential to artistic practice is the appropriation of ritual propriety. However, one cannot follow the ritual propriety blindly, because to appropriate the ritual is to make them one’s own, to personalise them by developing a characteristic style of enacting them. One must learn how to produce a sense of authorship that is an essential component of the self-cultivation process. In developing techniques of arts, artists gain an embodied knowledge of aesthetic appropriateness. Good calligraphers master brushwork, understand the spatial logic of individual characters, understand the principles of composition, and are aware of stylistic variations. All these are a part of appropriate execution.

The way to absorb calligraphic ritual propriety is to repetitiously copy the work of past masters, to break down difficult characters into their constituent and to put them together again in fluid, controlled movements. This process establishes a somatic relationship between calligrapher and tradition. Through copying, a student gains growing insight into the master’s corporeality, that is, the manner in which the master’s movements inform each character’s rhythm and form. Students’ awareness of the tradition they work within is not limited to reflection; through embodiment and ritualised action, students appropriate the tradition in an intimate way. Their actions acquire significance since they are informed by and build upon a tradition of embodied technique.

Hence, in reproducing the ‘Thousand Character Essay’, one must avoid blind repetition and find a way to make it one’s own. Many a time, a model calligraphic work can be transcribed so often as a writing exercise that the text itself may be thought to have disappeared into the calligraphy, that is, the text is so well known that it is doubtful that anybody paid much attention to what it says, accepting it simply as a format for the display of calligraphic skill.

Therefore, one of the most important aspects of taking up an art is participating in a tradition, drawing upon the richness of the tradition and finding a way to appropriate it authentically. In the case of calligraphy, the only means to participate in tradition is by copying faithfully the master works of the great calligraphers in history.

尼采：美学最可能替代宗教 Nietzsche: Aesthetics, the Most Promising Alternative to Religion

尼采场被认为是后现代主义之父。作为十九世纪德国三个大哲学家的最后一位 – 其他两位是黑格尔与马克思，他为随后的思维作出了决定性的陈述。对于那些尝试把道德世俗化而从基督道德中分离出来，尼采鄙视他们，并宣称上帝已经死亡。初看是十分令人不快的。可是就如那在水里被慢慢加温的青蛙那样，他的思想却慢慢地爬进了我们。原来被认为不可思议与荒谬的，现在已经被普遍接受。

但是，他对于当每一个人对上帝之死的含义完全了解后会产生的后果感到恐惧。对尼采而言，上帝之死为人生旋开新章，这‘肯定人生’哲学的新章代替了‘否定生命’的基督道德。由此，他转向人类价值的这个中心问题。在他寻找价值的新基础，当上帝不再是人生目标与认可人类行为的那一天到来时，尼采相信美学最有可能替代宗教。

他说，唯有作为一种审美现象，人类的生存与世界永恒才能有正当的理由。他相信原本是希腊发现人类努力的意义。他从希腊阿波罗与狄俄尼索斯的概念中对人性得到了基本的领悟。他相信审美价值来自于这两个希腊神所代表的原理的融合。

酒神狄俄尼索斯象征有活力的生命溪流，没有约束与障碍，挑战所有限制。另一方面，太阳神阿波罗是秩序、约束与体制的象征。从另一个角度来看，酒神代表灵魂中负面与有破坏性的黑暗力量，如果不被抑制，会导致令人恶心的肉感与残忍的混合物，一种典型的未开化的动物的本性。相反的，太阳神代表的是一种能够处理高涨活力的力量，利用有破坏性的力量并把它们转换为有创造力的行动。

对尼采而言，人性的最高成就出现于希腊文化，在那里酒神与太阳神的元素互参，而不是只对太阳神的崇拜。事实上，人的生命无可避免包含了感情中的黑暗与激情两种力量。他相信宗教信仰之所以被冷落，就是因为基督道德里主要否认生命的消极性。

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Friedrich Nietzsche is often called the father of postmodernism. Being the last of the three great German philosophers of the nineteenth century - the other two being Hegel and Marx, he made the definitive statement that set the stage for what was to follow. Contemptuous of those who tried to secularize morality by divorcing it from Christianity, Nietzsche pronounced God dead. Perhaps offensive at first, his thinking, like the proverbial frog on the stove, has crept up on us. What was once thought of as incomprehensible and absurd has now become widely accepted.

However, he was appalled at the consequences that would follow once everyone fully aware of the implication of the death of God. The death of God meant for Nietzsche the opening of a new day – a day when the life-denying ethics of Christianity could be replace with a life-affirmation philosophy and this turned him to central question of human values. In his search for a new foundation for values in a day when God no longer be the goal and sanction of human conduct, Nietzsche believed that aesthetics was the most promising alternative to religion.

Only as aesthetic phenomenon, he said, are human existence and the world eternally justified. The Greeks, he believed, originally discovered the true meaning of human effort. He drew his fundamental insights about human nature from the Greek conceptions of Apollo and Dionysus. He believed the aesthetic value results from a fusion between two principles, which are respectively represented by the two Greek gods.

Dionysus symbolised the dynamic stream of life, which knows no restraints or barriers and defies all limitations. Apollo, on the hand, was the symbol of order, restraint, and form. From another point of view, the Dionysian represents the negative and destructive dark power of the soul, which when unchecked, will culminate in that disgusting mixture of voluptuousness and cruelty typical of the most savage beasts of nature. The Apollonian, by contrast, represents the power to deal with the powerful surge of vital energy, to harness destructive powers, and to transmute these into creative act.

For Netzsche, the supreme achievement of human nature occurred in Greek culture where the Dionysian and Apollonian elements were brought together, rather than respecting only the Apollonian spirit. The fact is that human life inevitably includes the dark and surging forces of passion. What disqualified religious faith, he believed, was the essentially life-denying negativeness of the Christian ethics.

上海世博会展示中国的软实力 Shanghai World Expo 2010 Showcases China's Soft Power

中国的2101上海世博会于五月一日开放。这是一个继承了1851年大不列颠的‘大展览’的传统，结合了爱国宣言与环球抱负。它希望在六个月内会接待七千万的访客。

可是为什么中国要举办这样一个世界展览，它要发出怎样的讯号？

中国名作家韩寒显然对中国政府的促销方式不以为然。他说：‘我觉得不是世博会会给中国带来什么，而是中国会给世博会带来什么。因为本来世博会并不是一个规模如此大的展会，随着信息的流通越来越便捷，世博会正在渐渐式微，是中国将世博会升格了。如果一定要比喻的话，有点像某些在国内非常火的品牌，经过了宣传，你穿在身上觉得牛逼的不行，奢华的不行，出国一打听，原来是二线的。’

但西方的一些人明显有其它看法。

美国加州大学欧文分校历史系教授杰弗里．瓦萨斯特罗姆在赫芬顿邮报评论这个世博的规模，尝试解释为什么中国在2008年北京奥运会不久后就举办这次的世博：‘把2008年奥运与2010世博当作联合事件来看，一种想法是中国希望发出这样信号，中国在这百年内走了多远，与它已经把‘亚洲病夫’这个称号抛弃得多远。它的意图是要坚定地让世人知道，中国不只有一个城市，而是有二个城市有能力举办世界级的项目。’

美联社显然认为这是中国为了展示其软实力而做出的努力之一。它在四月二十五日的报道中指出：

‘正如在2008年北京奥运的几个星期中显示了中国与日俱增的经济与地区政治的影响力，这个世界上前所未有的大型世界游乐场让中国共产党领袖在六个月内展示它的设计、旅游、文化外交。

中国并不是第一个大国或潜在大国以博览会来宣告它们进入世界舞台。

1851年伦敦的‘大展览’标志着工业革命的到来。1964年东京奥运会接下来的1970年的大阪世博会显示日本提升成为工业大国。’

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China's Expo 2010 Shanghai opened on 1 May, is a world fair in the tradition of Britain's Great Exhibition of 1851, combining statements of patriotism and global ambition. It is expected to attract 70 million visitors in six months.

But why is China producing a world fair, and what messages is it trying to send?

Han Han, a famous writer in China obviously is not impressed with the way the Chinese government promote it. He says, ‘I think it is not how World Expo can bring benefits to China, rather, it is how China brings benefits to World Expo. With easy communication brought about by the information technology, the interest in World Expo is actually waning, and it is actually not necessary to hold the event in such a large scale. But China upgrades the World Expo. If you want me to give you an analogy, then it is like some of the brand names in China, they become red hot after good marketing. But when you use them on your body, you do not feel they are as good and as luxurious as they should be. Then, only when you are overseas, you discover that they are actually all second-rate brands.’

But some westerners obviously have other views.

University of California, Irvine history professor Jeffrey Wasserstrom, writing at The Huffington Post, comments on the sheer size of the event, and tries to explain why China is hosting it so soon after the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing: ‘One way to think of the 2008 Games and 2010 Expo is as a combination of events that China hopes will signal how far it has come in the course of a century or so, and how far behind it has left its former reputation as the "sick man of Asia." Its intention is to leave no doubt that it is now a place with not just one but two cities where great global events can be held.’

The Associated Press obviously think that it is part of China’s effort to showcase it soft power. It reported on 25 April:

‘Just as the Beijing Olympics showed China's growing economic and geopolitical influence for a few weeks in 2008, the biggest World's Fair ever will let China's communist leaders showcase design, tourism and cultural diplomacy over six months…

China is far from the first power or would-be power to use an Expo to announce its global arrival.

The Great Exhibition of 1851 in London marked the coming of the Industrial Revolution. The 1970 Expo in Osaka, following the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, showed Japan's rise as an industrial power.’

海选: 中国特色的选举 Haixuan: Election, the Chinese Style

在西方，人们一直猜想中国会不会成为一个民主选举的国家，敌对的政党在投票箱上决胜负。中国的立场看来是，中国并不需要模仿西方的体系，或者引进多个政党轮流执政的做法。

中国自古并没有政党概念。统治者就是政党。如果需要一个选举系统的话，那个系统一定要反映中国的国情。

二十世纪八十年代初期，中国政府就已经静悄悄地通过组织村民委员会的直选来推行这个可能是世界最大的民间基层组织的民主教育工作。他们有一个特别的名词：海选。

这个方法是吉林省梨树村的农人所构思出来的，其方式有如初选，很快的流行起来。每一个选民都有权提议他心目中的候选人来担任公职。候选人有竞选发言与回答问题的机会。拿到最高票的两个或三个候选人进入最后选举。

‘海选’生动地反映了从人海中选出人选的意愿。它也表示没有固定的候选人，每个人都可以选他所中意的候选人。

这个方法在1998年《中华人民共和国村民委员会组织法》第14条规定选举村民委员会应由本村有选举权的村民直接提名候选人后，成为官方接受的正式选举法。

这就难怪‘海选’成为一个新的流行语，现在几乎什么都用海选，包括‘超女’海选，书法海选。

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In the West, people always wonder whether China will ever become an electoral democracy - with rival parties fighting for power at the ballot box. The Chinese leaders’ position seem to be that China would never simply copy the system of Western countries or introduce a system of multiple parties holding office in rotation.

China does not need the concept of a party system and so if they need an election system, the system should reflect the Chinese situations and circumstances.

Since the early 1980s, the Chinese government has been quietly promoting, through the establishment of directly elected villager committees, what may be the world's largest grassroots democratic education process. And they have a special term for it: Haixuan (literally sea election, or competitive election).

Conceived by farmers in Lishu County, Jilin Province, a method which operates like an open primary has gain widespread popularity. Every voter has the right to nominate candidates for all open offices, candidates are often permitted to make campaign speeches and answer questions from the villagers, and the top two to three vote-getters then go on to compete in the final election.

The Chinese term ‘Sea Election’ vividly reflect the intention of the election is a selection from a sea of candidates. It also means that there is no fixed candidate and anyone can vote for his or her favourite candidate.

The method of election was formalised on 4 Nov 1998 when the 1998 Organic Law on Villager Committees (VC Law) requires that villager committees (VCs) be elected directly by the qualified villages and Haixuan has become the official method of election.

It is no wonder that Haixuan has become the buzz word in China and it is now used in almost all types of competitions or contests, such as the Super Girl Contest - the Chinese version of the American Idol, and even the Chinese calligraphy competitions.

杜甫：《观公孙大娘弟子舞剑器行》 Du Fu: Watching Sword Dance Performance by Gongsun Daniang's Disciple

杜甫（712-770）是中国唐朝诗人。与李白齐名，普遍被认为是中国最伟大的诗人。它最大的愿望就是要做个成功的官僚，可是使非所愿。他的生活，就好像整个国家一样，为安禄山之乱所破坏了，而他生命的最后15年，一直在动乱中过着。

唐代玄宗时期，艺术成就与奢侈皆为典范。杜甫为据说为公孙大娘之弟子李十二娘的剑舞所惊叹，而写了《观公孙大娘弟子舞剑器行》诗并序。公孙大娘是玄宗宫中的一个女剑舞者，她的剑舞可说无敌。据说著名书法家张旭为其《剑器》舞而得灵感，并把其优美舞姿融入其书法中。她的有名的剑舞有：(1) 《西河剑器》 ，(2) 《浑脱剑器》 ，(3) 《裴将军满堂势》，(4) 《邻里曲》。
以下就是序文与诗：

大历二年十月十九日夔府别驾元持宅见临颍李十二 娘舞剑器，壮其蔚跂。问其所师，曰：余公孙大娘弟子也。
开元三载，余尚童稚，记于郾城观公孙氏 舞剑器浑脱。浏漓顿挫，独出冠时。自高头宜春梨园二伎坊内人，洎外供奉，晓是舞者，圣文神武皇帝初，公孙一人而已。玉貌锦衣，况余白首！今兹弟子亦匪盛颜。既辨其由来，知波澜莫二。抚事慷慨，聊为剑器行。
昔者吴人张旭善草书书帖，数尝 于邺县见公孙大娘舞西河剑器，自此草书长进，豪荡感激。即公孙可知矣！

昔有佳人公孙氏， 一舞剑器动四方。
观者如山色沮丧， 天地为之久低昂。
霍如羿射九日落， 矫如群帝骖龙翔，
来如雷霆收震怒， 罢如江海凝清光。
绛唇珠袖两寂寞， 晚有弟子传芬芳。
临颍美人在白帝， 妙舞此曲神扬扬。
与余问答既有以， 感时抚事增惋伤。
先帝侍女八千人， 公孙剑器初第一。
五十年间似反掌， 风尘澒洞昏王室。
梨园子弟散如烟， 女乐余姿映寒日。
金粟堆前木已拱， 瞿塘石城草萧瑟。
玳筵急管曲复终， 乐极哀来月东出。
老夫不知其所往？ 足茧荒山转愁疾。
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Du Fu (712–770) was a prominent Chinese poet of the Tang Dynsaty. Along with Li Bai, he is frequently called the greatest of the Chinese poets. His greatest ambition was to serve his country as a successful civil servant, but he proved unable to make the necessary accommodations. His life, like the whole country, was devastated by the An Lushan Rebellion of 755, and his last 15 years were a time of almost constant unrest.

The Tang Dynasty during Xuan Zong's reign was probably the epitome of artistic achievements as well as indulgence. Du Fu was awed by the performance of a sword dancer Twelfth Lady Li who claimed to have been the disciple of Gongsun Da Niang, and he wrote a poem after watching her sword dance. The term Da Niang can be translated to First Lady or an honorary term for a mistress (master). Gongsun Daniang was a female sword dancer in the court of Emperor Xuan Zong who was probably the greatest in her field. It is said that famous calligrapher Zhang Xu was so inspired by her sword dance that he incorporated the beautiful dance movements into his calligraphy. Her famous dance repertoire included, (1) West River Jianqi (sword dance), (2) Dashing Demeanours Jianqi (sword dance), (3) General Pei's Grand Performance, probably named after General Pei Min (裴旻), (4) Neighbourhood Symphony.

Before writing the poem, Du Fu explained the background of his writing:

On the 19th of the tenth-month in the second year of Dali (15 Nov 767), I saw, in the house of the Kueifu official Yuanchi, a girl named Li from Lingying dancing with a sword. I admired her skill and asked who her teacher was. She replied, ‘I am a pupil of Gongsun.’
I remembered that in the third year of Kaiyuan (717) at Yancheng, when I was a little boy, I saw Lady Gongsun dance jianqi and huntuo. For purity of technique and self-confident attack she was unrivalled in her day. From the ‘royal command performers’ to the ‘insiders’ of the Spring Garden and Pear Garden schools in the palace down to the ‘official call’ dancers, there was no one during the early years of His Sagely Pacific and Divinely Martial Majesty who understood this dance as she did. Where now is that lovely figure in its gorgeous costume? Now even I am an old, white-haired man, and this pupil of hers is well passed the prime. Having found out about the pupil’s antecedents, I now realised that what I had been watching was a faithful reproduction of the great dancer’s interpretation. The train of reflections set off by this discovery so moved that I felt inspired to compose a ballad of the jianqi.
Some years ago, Zhang Xu, the great master of the cursive style of calligraphy, had several times seen Gongsun dance the West River Jianqi (sword dance) at Ye district. He discovered later, to his immense gratification, that his calligraphy had greatly improved. This gives one some idea of the sort of person Gongsun was.

There lived years ago the beautiful Gongsun,
Who, dancing with her dagger, drew from all four quarters,
An audience like mountains lost among themselves.
Heaven and earth moved back and forth, following her motions,
Which were bright as when the Archer shot the nine suns down the sky,
And rapid as angels before the wings of dragons.
She began like a thunderbolt, venting its anger,
And ended like the shining calm of rivers and the sea....
But vanished are those red lips and those pearly sleeves;
And none but this one pupil bears the perfume of her fame,
This beauty from Lingying, at the Town of the White God,
Dancing still and singing in the old blithe way.
And while we reply to each other's questions,
We sigh together, saddened by changes that have come.
There were eight thousand ladies in the late Emperor's court,
But none could dance the dagger-dance like Lady Gongsun.
...Fifty years have passed, like the turning of a palm;
Wind and dust, filling the world, obscure the Imperial House.
Instead of the Pear-Garden Players, who have blown by like a mist,
There are one or two girl-musicians now-trying to charm the cold Sun.
There are man-size trees by the Emperor's Golden Tomb
I seem to hear dead grasses rattling on the cliffs of Qutang.
...The song is done, the slow string and quick pipe have ceased.
At the height of joy, sorrow comes with the eastern moon rising.
And I, a poor old man, not knowing where to go,
Must harden my feet on the lone hills, toward sickness and despair.

书法是音乐与舞蹈 Chinese calligraphy: It is Music and Dance

好的书法要有节奏、情感、美感、优美、神韵，更重要的是要体现书家个性。书法作品以线条的不同形态与形式，通过运动与排列组合，来表现不同美的元素，平衡、均匀、多样、一致、对照、运动、变化与和谐。所以说，中国书法是‘无象之画、无声之乐、无演员之演出与无原料组合之建筑物’。

犹如音乐，书法的重要元素是节奏。那些浓淡的点划与方折形状明显的表现了节奏感，与无限变化及流动的音乐节奏一样，表现了书法家与音乐家起伏思潮与情感。

相同的，音乐也可以说是舞剑于纸上。

唐代（618-907）著名的书法家张旭以草书而闻名。草书与其它书体不同，看似容易，其实写起来很难。他的草书成就是他登上了‘草圣’的宝座。

张旭与著名剑舞家公孙大娘是同时代的人。公孙大娘舞剑时大胆跳跃、优美转换、精确冲刺，在张旭的眼中，就如文字点划的书写一样。他从公孙大娘的舞剑中得到灵感，把他所见到的紧张刺激的舞姿融入书法里。所以，我们看到他的书法时，还会感觉到毛笔在纸上移动时的势态与优美动作。

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Good calligraphy possesses rhythm, emotion, aesthetic, beauty, spirituality and, perhaps most importantly, the character of the calligrapher. Calligraphic works express various essential factors of beauty - balance, proportion, variety, continuity, contrast, movement, change and harmony - through the different shapes and forms of the lines, their combinations and ways of movement. Chinese calligraphy is therefore said to be the ‘painting without images, a piece of music without sounds, a stage without actors and actresses and a building without components and materials.’

Like music, calligraphy has rhythm as its main element. The dots and strokes in thick and light ink or in round or square shapes demonstrate obvious rhythms, like changing and moving musical rhythms, expressing the surging thoughts and emotions of the calligrapher and musician alike.

Similarly, one may say calligraphy is swordplay on paper.

Zhang Xu, a famous calligrapher of the Tang Dynasty (618-907) particularly excelled at the caoshu (cursive) style of calligraphy. Cursive script differs from other styles of calligraphy in appearing deceptively simple when it is actually very difficult to execute. His calligraphic artistry resulted in his epithet as ‘sage of cursive script.’

Zhang Xu and expert swordplay dancer Madame Gongsun were contemporaries. The attitudes struck by Madame Gongsun in her dance sequences of bold leaps, graceful swoops and deadly accurate lunges were, in Zhang Xu’s eyes, unusually defined outlines of Chinese characters. He drew inspiration from Madame Gongsun’s swordplay and incorporated everything he found thrilling about her performances into his distinctive style of calligraphy.

Hence, when reading his calligraphy work, one can feel the momentum and gracious movements of his brush moving on the paper.

中国艺术的表演性 The Performative Aspects of Chinese Arts

大多数的中国艺术是一门功夫。就是说，几乎毫无例外的，中国艺术是以持久与长时间的锻炼来达到高度完美的。著名的例子有武术，剑舞。可以说，中国的绘画与书法也包括在内。

以前在中国，据说在所谓的雅集时，常见的情景是，几杯酒入肚后，在众人的羡慕眼光下，知识丰富的学者拿出毛笔，以优美创新的书法形式书写诗词或名言。事实上，在雅集挥毫的习惯至今还是十分流行于华人社会。

中国艺术适合于表演，是有其原因的。以书法为例，它除了是一门功夫外，还有其他因素促成它的表演性质：

1． 书写书法时要注重笔顺，所以，它具有一种过程的性质，这就使它适合于表演。

2． 书法的书写是不允许修改的。如果书家对某些线条不满意，他通常会把整幅作品抛弃。所以，书写书法时，与表演艺术一样，需要全神贯注。

3． 书法所强调的线条也有关联于笔力、笔势等概念，因为这些因素决定了线条的节奏流畅与质量。无可否认，力与势都是表演艺术的中心元素。

4． 中国书法的最高素质就是气韵的追求，而气韵一向被认为与艺术家本身的个性有明确的关系。气韵可从艺术家的功力与精神现象中体验，尤其是在表演时更能体会。

在中国美学中，并不缺乏有关中国艺术表演性的书写。我们将在适当的时候谈谈他们。

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Most of the Chinese arts are a form of gongfu. That means almost without exception, the Chinese arts usually aim at high level of perfection through persistent and long period of training and practice. The famous examples are martial arts, sword dances. One may also say Chinese paintings and calligraphy are a form of gongfu.

In China, it is said in the past, during the so-called elegant gatherings of scholars and after a few cups of wing, it was quite common to have those among the guests who were highly literati often – under the admiring eyes of others – took up the brush, writing poems or famous sayings in beautiful and creative calligraphic forms. In fact, the practice of performing calligraphy at gatherings or even banquets has survived in the Chinese societies until today.

There are good reasons on why Chinese arts are suitable for performing in front of others. Using calligraphy as an example, in additional to its being a gongfu, there are other points that promote its performative qualities:

1. There is an order or sequential movement in calligraphy in which characters have to be written. It therefore has the character of being a process which makes it suitable for performance.

2. There are in touch ups in writing calligraphy. If an artist is not happy with certain strokes, he usually discards the whole piece. Thus, in writing calligraphy, a kind of concentration like in the performing arts is necessary.

3. In calligraphy, emphasis on the line also concerns such notions as strength and well as momentum and gesture of the brushstroke, because these are forces that determine the dynamic flow and the expressive quality of the line. Needless to say, gesture and momentum are also central elements in other performing arts.

4. The highest quality in Chinese calligraphy is ‘spiritual resonance’ which is said to have a definite relationship to the personality of the artist. This may come across as a certain spiritual presence or power of the artists which can be appreciated particularly when performing.

There is no lack of writings in Chinese aesthetic literature in which these performative aspects of Chinese art are highlighted. We shall talk about them at appropriate times.

儒家宇宙起源学：易有太极，是生两仪 The Confucian Cosmogony: Supreme Ultimate Produces Two Forms

宇宙起源学是指有关宇宙如何形成或来源，或现实的形成的学说。当代的看法趋向于认为宇宙有个开始，而这个开始是宇宙演化的一个阶段。在中国，两千年前道家与儒家对宇宙的看法都与当代的观点相似。

可是，从古典经书中，我们却没法看到孔子对这个课题的明确观点。孔子死后，不少儒学者从《易经》的学习而发展出一套儒家的宇宙起源学说。《易经》一直被认为是儒家经典之一。周敦颐（1017-1073）就是其中的一个儒家学者。

《易经》里说，‘易有太极，是生二仪。’周敦颐由此而画出《太极图》并阐述他的宇宙起源《太极图说》：

无极而太极。太极动而生阳，动极而静，静而生阴，静极复动。一动一静，互为其根；分阴分阳，两仪立焉。

阳变阴合，而生水、火、木、金、土，五行顺布，四时行焉。

五行一阴阳也，阴阳一太极也，太极本无极也。五行之生也，各一其性。

无极之真，二五之精，妙合而凝。乾道成男，坤道成女。二气交感，化生万物，万物生生而变化无穷焉。’

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Cosmogony refers to theory concerning the coming into existence or origin of the universe, or about how reality came to be. Contemporary opinion tends to consider that the universe had a beginning, and that this beginning was a stage in the evolution of the universe. Both Daoism and Confucianism in China seem to propose a similar view of the universe for the past two thousand years.

However, the Confucius position on this matter has never been not clearly articulated in any of the classical texts. It was only after the dearth of Confucius that a number of Confucian scholars studied and developed their cosmogonies based on the Book of Changes (Yijing), which is considered to be one of the classical texts of Confucianism. One of them was Zhou Dunyi (1017 – 1073).

In Yijing, it says, ‘In the Yi there is the Supreme Ultimate, which produces the Two Forms.’ Based on this, Zhou came out with a diagram called ‘Taiji Tu’, or the Diagram of the Supreme Ultimate and then he developed the Confucian theory of cosmogony (Taiji Tushuo):

‘The Ultimateless! And yet the Supreme Ultimate! The Supreme Ultimate through Movement produces the Yang. This Movement, having reached its limit, is followed by Quiescence, and by this Quiescence, it produces the Yin. When Quiescence has reached its limit, there is a return to Movement. Thus Movement and Quiescence, in alteration, become each the source of the other. The distinction between the Yin and Yang is determined and the Two Forms (ie Yin and Yang) stand revealed.

By the transformations of the Yang and the union therewith of the Yin, Water, Fire, Wood and Metal and Earth are produced. These Five Elements (wuxing) become diffused in harmonious order, and the four sessions produced in their course.

The Five Elements and the one Yin and Yang, the Yin and Yang are the one Supreme Ultimate, and the Supreme Ultimate is fundamentally the Ultuimateless. The Five Elements came into being each having its own particular nature.

The true substance of the Ultimateless and the essence of the Two (Forms) and Five (Elements), unite in mysterious union, so that that consolidation ensures. The principle of Qian (the trigram symbolising Yang) becomes the male element, and the principle of Kun (the trigram symbolising Yin) becomes female elements. The Two Forms (ethers, the Yin and Yang) by their interaction operate to produce all things, and these in their turn produce and reproduce, so that transformation and change continue without end.’