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.’

老子：有生于无 Lao Zi: Being is Born of Nothing

道家认为以宇宙的演化是根据本身的法则，而不是由神灵来创造的。反而，宇宙是在‘道’控制下，自然演化的产物。老子在《道德经》中形容道是一种宇宙的力量，这种力量创造与持续宇宙。他在第四十章中说：‘天下万物生于有，有生于无。’无就是‘无名’，指道。

老子认为天与地不是无限存在。道先于天与地。道以下面的方式产生天与地：‘道生一，一生二，二生三，三生万物。’（《道德经》第四十二章）

换句话说，道产生或演变最初的统一体，这统一体分裂为二种力量，相交而产生万物。这两种力量就是老子所说的‘二’，也就是一般所指的天与地。

什么是道？‘有物混成，先天地生。寂兮寥兮，独立而不改，周行而不殆，可以为天地母。吾不知其名，强字之曰：道，强为之名曰：大。’（《道德经》第二十五章）

《道德经》第十一章所说的‘无’是有关道与空间：‘三十辐，共一毂，当其无，有车之用。埏埴以为器，当其无，有器之用。凿户牖以为室，当其无，有室之用。故有之以为利，无之以为用。’

但是老子并没有告诉我们道如何产生统一的世界。对道家而言，宇宙之开始不可知，也没有可识之终结。他们并不尝试去书写不可能书写的宇宙之创造，或‘世界之终结’的意义。道家所关心的是在这个永远变动周期中寻找方向，还有，在我们一生中，如何在没有一套固定法则可应用于所有情况之下做出正确的行动。

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Daoism considers that universal evolution follows its own laws and is not the product of divine creation. Rather, it is the product of spontaneous evolution under the control of the Dao. Lao Zi in Daodejing describes the Dao is as a cosmological force involved in creating and sustaining the universe. He says in Chapter 40, ‘The things of the world are born from being, and being is born of nothing.’ The term ‘wu’ (nothing or nothingness) in Chinese refers to ‘wuming’ (unnameable), which represents Dao.

Laozi considers that Heaven and Earth have not existed indefinitely. Dao preceded the formation of Heaven and Earth. The process of the generation of Heaven and Earth by Dao is resumed in the following formula, ‘Dao generates One, One generates Two, Two generates Three, Three generates the Myriad Beings. (Chapter 42).

In other words, Dao generated or evolved the primeval unified whole, which divided into two opposing forces, whose interpenetration generated all beings. The two forces referred to by Laozi as the 'Two' are commonly considered to be designate Heaven and Earth.

But what is Dao then? ‘There is a thing formed from confusion and born before heaven and earth. It is silent, solitary, independent and unchanging. It revolves everywhere and is never in danger. It can be the mother of all under heaven. I do not know its name, but I style it the Dao. If forced to give it a name, I call it the Great.’ (Chapter 25)

Dao is related to space (nothingness) in chapter 11:

'Thirty spokes share a single hub; grasp the nothingness at its centre to get the use of the wheel. Clay is fashioned to make a vessel; grasp the nothingness at the centre to get the use of the vessel. Bore windows and doors to create a room; grasp the nothingness of the interior to get the use of the room. That which is constitutes what is valuable, but that which is not constitutes what is of use. '

But Loazi does not tell us how Dao generates the unified world. For the Daoist, the beginning of the universe is unknowable and there is no discernable end. There is no attempt to write a record of a creation that cannot be recorded. There is no attempt to log a prediction of what ‘the end of the world’ would be like, or even what ‘the end of the world’ might mean. The Daoist is concerned about finding his bearings in a world of constantly changing cycles and about doing the right thing in a life where no static set of rules applies in every situation.

西方的创世纪理念 The Western idea of World Creation

把西方思想定型的古希腊哲学，一开始就注重理性与探索的任务。他们对宇宙的本质提出了很多问题。它是如何来的？它是被创造的吗？还是一直就已经存在？他们相信我们所看到的之所以会成为这样，一定是经过一些流程。如果我们能够知道这些流程，那我们就可以了解世界本质。

古代的人对事物的来源与本质有很多的学说。其中的一个学说就在《圣经》的第一章《创世纪》中。这个说法是说上帝以六天的时间把这个世界从无到有创造了出来。

事实上是大哲学家柏拉图引进创造代理人的这个概念的。对柏拉图而言，我们以感官所看到、接触到与经验到的世界并不是真实的，而是世界的复制。在我们能找到真正与真实的东西的世界，他称作‘理念’或‘形式’世界。这些‘理念’或‘形式’并不是被创造出来的，它们在开始时就完美地在哪里，它们会以这种状态一直存在着。

这个复制的感性世界是如何被创造的？柏拉图说原本有一个‘建筑师’，也就是那个‘造物主’把理念世界与物质放在一起，就好像雕刻家把他的理念与大理石放在一起来雕出一个塑像一样。这个‘造物主’拥有所有东西的完美理念，它也有大量的物质。可是，柏拉图并没有告诉我们这个‘造物主’与物质是如何产生的。它们原本就在哪里。

此后，很多宗教思想家尝试把宗教信仰与希腊哲学融合起来。那些把基督教义与希腊哲学融合的人就被称为‘护教论者’。对他们而言，柏拉图的‘理念’就成为上帝。上帝本身就是永恒与应遵法则，永不变的永恒的模型。他是所有理念的统一。他从无中创造了物质并用来铸造这个世界。这个世界的模型在他的理念中。

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The ancient Greek philosophy that shaped the entire Western thought since its inception focused on the role of reason and inquiry. They asked many question on the nature of the universe. How did it come about? Was it created, or has it existed forever? They believed that all that we see around us must have become what it is by some process. If we know of this process, we would understand the nature of the universe.

The ancient people have had many theories of the beginning and nature of things. In the first book of the Bible, Genesis, is one of these theories. Here we are told that God created the world out of nothing in six days.

In fact, it was Plato, the great philosopher who planted the idea of agent of creation of the world. For Plato, the world which we see, touch, and experience through our senses is not real, but a copy of the world. The real world in which we find true and real things is known by him as the world of ‘ideas’ or ‘forms’. These ‘ideas’ of ‘forms’ were never created, but have existed from the very beginning in just the perfect state in which they will always exist.

How was the world of our senses created? Plato said that there was an ‘architect’, the ‘Demiurge’, who brought the ideal world and matter together just as a sculptor might bring his idea and marble together to produce a statute. This ‘Demiurge’ had perfect ideas of everything, and had a great mass of matter. However, Plato did not tell us where either ‘Demiurge’ or matter came from originally. They were just there when things began.

Since then, there were many religious-minded thinkers attempted to reconcile the religious beliefs with Greek philosophy. Those men who sought to reconcile Christianity with Greek philosophy were known as Apologists. For them the ‘ideas’ of Plato became God. God is the eternal and abiding principle in all change, the eternal pattern that never changes. He is the unity of all ideas and forms. He fashioned the world from matter which He created out of nothing. The pattern of the world is in His mind.

华人：宇宙天人合一而生 The Chinese Anthropocosmic Vision on Creativity

天人合一的观点是有关人类与环境的关系的观点。这句话包含了‘天’与‘人’。华人的传统观念中，天地之大德曰生，而生态观念就是天地人互动的天人合一的观念。生在英语就是创造。在这个观念下，超越的神灵理则与人间世界的区别是不大的。人类被理解为包含于自然，而不是在自然之上。自然界里的每一件东西都是互相依赖、互相联系、又动力与在转变中的。

一方面，由于人类概念化、解释与想象的结果，而认识到上天不可避免地是人类的。可是，另一方面，生成动力创造了存在的各种模态，上天不可能是只限于人类为中心的宇宙。

在华人的传统观念里，上天与土地关系密切，所谓天地。土地是所有生物的栖息地，土地就是它们适当的家。充足丰富的土地就是上天创造（生）的最伟大表明。在永不停息的演变中，所有存在者的各种模态都是相互联系的。

上天是属于所有物体的。它看来并没有为人类提供特别设计。严格来说，没有迹象显示上天有什么特别目的。

人的出现就有所异了。‘天人合一’思维处理上天创造（表现于宇宙流程）与人类创造（包含于上天的生命生成的转变）之间的相互作用。人类并不单单是一种生物，他们是宇宙的共同创造者。作为共同的创造者，人类以相连关系与天地一起创造和谐社会。

用《易经》的说法，宇宙从来就不是静止的，而是生生不息的过程。在不停的展开中，创造性地秩序当前的秩序，产生新的现实，并于充满不一致之中进入不断创新和谐的过程。

其含义就是，精神修行的修身养性就是模仿上天的创造。

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An anthropocosmic vision is a vision of human relationship to the environment. The term anthropocosmic is a combination of ‘anthropological’ and ‘cosmic.’ The Chinese tradition emphasis the supreme virtue of heaven and earth is creativity and their idea of ecology is a kind of anthropocosmic vision of the dynamic interaction of heaven, earth and human. In this view, there is no radical split between the transcendent divine principle and the world of human. Human being is understood to be embedded in nature not dominant over nature. Everything in nature is interdependent, interrelated, dynamic and transformational.

It is, on one hand, recognition that heaven, as the result of human conceptualisation, interpretation, and imagination, is inescapably anthropological. Yet, on the other hand, as the generative force that has created all modalities of being, heaven cannot be confined to an anthropocentric picture of the universe.

In the Chinese tradition, heaven is intimately related to the story of earth. The earth, as the habitat of all known creatures, is the proper home for them. A great manifestation of heaven’s creativity is the plenitude of the earth. The sky, earth, mountains, and rivers are vital energies displaying the stupendous power of heaven’s life-generating process. All modalities of being are interconnected in this ceaseless evolution.

Heaven is for all beings. It does not seem to have a particular design for the human. Strictly speaking, there is no indication that heaven has a particular purpose in mind.

The advent of human being does make a difference. The anthropocosmic idea addresses the interplay between heaven’s creativity as expressed in the cosmological process and human’s creativity as embodied in heaven’s life-generating transformation. Human beings are not merely creatures, but co-creators of the cosmic process. As co-creators, human beings work with heaven and earth in correlative relationship to create harmonious societies.

In the language of the Book of Changes, the cosmos is never a static structure but rather a dynamic process. In its constant unfolding, it always generates new realities by creatively transforming the existing order, laden with inconsistencies, into an ever-innovating congruent process.

By implication, self-cultivation, a form of spiritual exercise, emulates heaven’s creativity.

创造神话:中西不同 Ancient West Did Not Meet East: Creation Myths

神话是人类对其所处的世界的关系所持有的最初的看法。大多的神话讲述的是人格神与女神控制人类与自然界。

对古代希腊人来说，大地母亲生产了神灵与人类。而神灵转过来控制人类与所有自然事务，包括水灾与饥荒。有了更高力量的控制，西方的世界观明显的把神灵界与人类世界分开，并产生了心灵二元的思维。

古代希腊哲学家亚里士多德把心物二元的观念深根蒂固地注入西方的思维内。他强调在学习自然世界时把个别物理元素分开来，而这个强调就把人类放在我们所处的环境的观察者的地位上，而不是世界的一部分。

但是，华人没有创造神话 - 中文里本来也没有这个词语。中国人的世界是造化，造而化之；造与化是一枚硬币的两面。

古代中国人认为人与世界不是被创造出来的，在以它们为主要构成特征的自发的、持续自我造化的宇宙并没有创造者、上帝、最终原因、或外在意志。其最高力量并不是分开的或高高在上的天上的统治者，而一切都包含在众生与万物之中。

对华人来说，并没有一个最高存在者在改变世界，改变本身是‘存在’的自然的、给定的条件，是创造的运作。神灵与人类或人类与自然界之间没有分别。它们是不可分辨的一个整体。

就是这些基本概念使到东亚人的世界观不同于西方。

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Creation myths are the first real glimpses into how humanity first viewed itself in relation to the world around us. Most of these myths tell of an anthropomorphic god, goddess, or gods and goddesses that ruled over humanity and all of nature.

For the ancient Greeks, Mother Earth was the primal force giving birth to deities and human alike. These deities, in turn, ruled over the realm of humanity controlling all natural events from flood to famine. With higher powers in charge, the Western view of the world was distinctly split between the realm of the divine and the realm of humanity, with created a dualism of thoughts as well.

It was the ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle who firmly entrenched this dualism of mind and matter into Western thought. He emphasised the study of the natural world into its individual physical components, and this emphasis placed humanity in the role of observer of the world around it and not necessarily as a participant of that world.

However, Chinese do not have creation myths – and there is no Chinese term for it. The Chinese world is known as Zaohua, i.e. create (zao) it and change (hua) it, creation and change are two sides of a coin.

The ancient Chinese have regarded the world and man as uncreated, as constituting the central features a spontaneously self-generating cosmos having no creator, god, ultimate cause, or will external to it. Thus, the natural world and humans are one and only part of a larger, ever-flowing continuum of creation. The supreme force was not separate and above them, as a ruling deity in heaven, but was within and without them, all encompassing and all-inclusive.

For Chinese, there was not ultimate Being bringing about change in the world, it was simply a given and natural condition of existence, the workings of creation. There was also not clear distinction between the divine and humanity or humanity and nature. They were the inseparable part of a whole.

It is this fundamental conception that sets the Chinese world view apart from that of the West.

三喜临门 Triple Blessings

新加坡的第一个赌场于这个星期天（2月14日）农历最吉祥的新年当天开幕。这是新加坡为了增加旅游收入、讨好富有旅客的重要努力。圣淘沙名胜世界在农历新年第一天吉时12时18分迎接了第一个中年妇女赌客。

以广东话来念1218，有‘易发’之意，会带来好运。第一个赌徒之后有两百多人，开幕几小时之后，有好几百人已经在外排队。开幕的第二天，在几个小时后，12时30分的时候，人潮多到当局还不得不关闭进口二个半小时。

据报道，那些已进入赌场的人，也难找到下赌注的机会，或找不到赌桌边空座，或没老虎机可玩。外面的排队人被告知要耐心等待进场，而有些在赌场内的人却不急着出去。

估计有三万五千人在开幕的头两天的乘农历新年周末假期到赌场去试他们的运气。访客中，以外国游客占大多数；新加坡公民与永久居民进场有诸多限制，包括要缴交一百新元的入场日票，或两千新元的一年通行证。

新加坡当局透露，开幕第一天到傍晚7时30分为止，已有3，248名新加坡公民与永久居民付出入场日票与122人购买了一年的通行证。就是说，在七个小时内，所得到的税收已达新币$572,000。

这个赌场的开幕是新加坡计划到2017年能吸引一千七百万旅客到访的另一个重要步骤。我们希望在农历新年与情人节的开幕是新加坡三喜临门的好预兆，并希望以后会有更多的好年头。

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Singapore’s first casino, a key part of a drive to boost tourism revenue and please wealthy visitors, opened its doors on Sunday, Lunar New Year (14 Feb) - the most auspicious day of the Chinese calendar. The casino at Resorts World Sentosa welcomed its first punter - a middle aged Singaporean woman - at the auspicious time of 12:18 pm on the first day of the Lunar New Year.

When pronounced in the Cantonese dialect, 12:18 sounds like ‘striking prosperity’, which would bring good luck. The first bettor was followed by an initial crowd of about 200 enthusiastic gamblers and within hours of the opening, hundreds more were queuing up outside. On the second day of its opening, it was so packed within hours of opening that it had to shut its doors for 2.5 hours at 13.30 am.

It was reported that those already inside were having trouble placing a bit or just finding a seat at the gambling tables and slot machines. While people outside were asked to wait, some of those who were inside were in no hurry to leave.

It was estimated that more than 35,000 punters took advantage of the Chinese New Year holiday weekend to try their luck on the first two days at the casino. There were far more foreign visitors than Singaporeans and Permanent Residents (PRs), who were subject to a number of restrictions, including having to pay a one-day entry levy of $100, or $2,000 for annual pass.

The Singapore authority disclosed that as of 7.30 on the first day of its opening, 3,248 Singaporeans and PRs had forked out for the entry levy, and another 122 had purchased the annual pass. The means in seven hours, the revenue collected had reached $572,000.

The opening of the casino is another major step to realise Singapore’s grant plan to bring in 17 million tourists by 2015. We hope the opening on the Lunar New Year and valentine time day is indeed a good sign of triple blessings for Singapore and all of us have many good years ahead.

马丁•雅克：不要以西方标准来判断中国Martin Jacques: Don't Judge China by Western Standards

伦敦卫报专栏作者学者马丁•雅克在其名为《当中国统治世界时》的书中说，‘我们正处于一个不同的世界的边沿。’他对‘中国会越来越像西方’的这种西方普遍接受的预设提出了挑战。他可能是第一个从文化的角度分析‘中国威胁论’的西方学者。

他于2009年11月29日在洛杉矶时报撰文如何理解中国。以下是摘录：

西方对中国的不了解导致重复地削弱了西方对中国行为预测的能力。一次又一次的，我们对中国的预测与想法都被证明是错误的：中国共产党会会在1989年垮台，中国会分裂，它的经济成长不会持久，它的经济数字大大地被夸大，中国对他从英国收回香港时所提出的‘一国两制’没有诚意，当然还有它会稳健地西方化。我们对中国估计错误有很长的纪录。

我们不能准确地预测中国的未来是因为我们不了解它的过去。虽然中国在上个世纪形容自己是个国家，它其实基本上是个文明个体。它是世界上最长久的现存政治个体，可以追溯到公元前221年时秦国的胜利。不同于西方的国家，中国的认同感来自它作为文明个体的长久历史。

当然，世上有很多文明流派，西方文明就是其中之一，但是只有中国是个文明个体。它以特别长久的历史为界定，再加上它的辽阔地理与人口的规模与多元化。这个涵义深远：以一统为优先，以多元为生存条件。（这就是为什么中国提供香港‘一国两制’，在一个国家中这是奇异的方式。）

与西方国家相比，中国与其社会的关系是不一样的。虽然其政府连人民的一票也没有得到，但是它却获得更大的自然的权威、合法性与尊重。理由是，中国人把政府看成是他们文明的监护人、监督人与具体象征。政府的合法性深深依附于中国历史。这与西方人如何看待他们的历史是完全不同的。

如果我们要了解中国，我们就要超越西方所习惯的现实、经验与所有概念的尺度来理解中国的历史。两百年来，西方由欧洲开始到美国垄断世界，并不需要了解‘他人’。有必要时他们惯常以欺压来使对方屈服。

中国作为世界势力的出现标志着哪个时代的结束。我们日渐必须以对等的条件来与‘他人’（以中国为代表）周旋。

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Martin Jacques, a columnist for The Guardian of London, argues in his book ‘When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order’ that ‘we stand on the eve of a different kind of world’. He challenges the common assumptions in the West that China will become increasingly like them. He is probably the first in the West to elaborate the China’s Minatory Theory from cultural angle.

He wrote in the Los Angeles Times on 29 Nov 2009 on how to understand China and I quote:

The West's failure to understand the Chinese has repeatedly undermined its ability to anticipate their behaviour. Again and again, our predictions and beliefs about China have proved wrong: that the Chinese Communist Party would fall after 1989, that the country would divide, that its economic growth could not be sustained, that its growth figures were greatly exaggerated, that China was not sincere about its offer of ‘one country two systems’ at the time of the hand-over of Hong Kong from Britain -- and, of course, that it would steadily Westernize. We have a long track record of getting China wrong.

The fundamental reason for our inability to accurately predict China's future is our failure to understand its past. Although China has described itself as a nation-state for the last century, it is in essence a civilization-state. The longest continually existing polity in the world, it dates to 221 BC and the victory of the Qin. Unlike Western nation-states, China's sense of identity comes from its long history as a civilization-state.

Of course, there are many civilizations -- Western civilization is one example -- but China is the only civilization-state. It is defined by its extraordinarily long history and also its huge geographic and demographic scale and diversity. The implications are profound: Unity is its first priority, plurality the condition of its existence (which is why China could offer Hong Kong "one country two systems," a formula alien to a nation-state).

The Chinese state enjoys a very different kind of relationship with society compared with the Western state. It enjoys much greater natural authority, legitimacy and respect, even though not a single vote is cast for the government. The reason is that the state is seen by the Chinese as the guardian, custodian and embodiment of their civilization. The duty of the state is to protect its unity. The legitimacy of the state therefore lies deep in Chinese history. This is utterly different from how the state is seen in Western societies.

If we are to understand China, we must move beyond the compass of Western reality and experience and the body of concepts that has grown up to explain that history. We find this extremely difficult. For 200 years the West, first in the shape of Europe and then the United States, has dominated the world and has not been required to understand others or The Other. If need be it could always bully the latter into submission.

The emergence of China as a global power marks the end of that era. We now have to deal with The Other -- in the form of China -- on increasingly equal terms.

新年诗：爆竹声中一岁除 New Year Poem: In the Booming Sound of the Firecrackers, One Year is Gone

在庆祝农历新年期间，把写在红纸上的对联贴在前门是一种习俗了。这在中国各地都实行。它源自一种把两块桃木板挂在门上的习俗。每块桃木板画上门神‘神荼’和‘郁垒’的像或名字。意图是驱走邪恶。这个习俗就叫‘桃符’。

这个习俗一直沿用了千多年。五代十国时，人们开始在桃木上写联句，而不是画像或写神鬼的名字。从宋朝开始，在门上贴上对联已经是相当普遍了，正如王安石诗《元日》中所反映。

王安石（1021-1086）是宋朝的一个大政治家、思想家、学者与伟大的宰相。1058年他上书宋仁宗，提倡改革，把软弱的国家振作起来，以建立一支强大军队与限制政府官员与大地主勾结来强盛国家。1070年，他被任命为宰相，开始实行新法。但是他受到保守分子强烈的反抗，终于在1076年退隐。

这首诗描述了新年的节日与愉快气氛。这时候，小孩最喜欢的就是爆竹了。

王安石《元日》

爆竹声中一岁除，

春风送暖入屠苏；

千门万户瞳瞳日，

总把新桃换旧符。

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During the lunar New Year, or the Spring Festival celebration, it is a custom to post couples written on red papers on front doors. This is practised in all parts of China. It originated from the custom of hanging up two peach wood plaques on the doors. On each peach wood was the portrait or the name of the door gods Shentu and Yulei. It was intended to drive away evil spirits. This custom was known as Taofu, or Peach-Wood Plaque.

This custom lasted for over a thousand years. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, people started to write couplet on peach woods instead of the names of door gods. Since Song Dynasty, the custom of displaying couplet on the doors had become quite common, as reflected by Wang Anshi’s famous poem ‘New Year’s Day’.

Wang Anshi (1021 - 1086) was a great politician, ideologist, litterateur and a great prime minister in Song Dynasty. He sent a proposal to Emperor Song Ren Zong in 1058 urging for a reform to change the feeble state to a strong country by building a powerful army and restraining government officials’ link to large landowners. In 1070, he became the prime minister and started implementing his reform plan. But he met with strong resistance from conservative elements and finally retired in 1076.

This poem depicts the festive and jolly atmosphere of the New Year. Fireworks are a favorite with the children on this occasion.

In the booming sound of the firecrackers, one year is gone

Spring wind is sending the warm to the Tusu wine

Tens of thousands of homes, doors, are in the shining sun

Always have to replace the old faded pictures onto new peach wood plaque