标签：China

The Spring and Autumn Annals Style or Scientific Research? — Is the Mission of the Media to Seek Truth?

Culture & Public Commentary2012.05.01
The Spring and Autumn Annals Style or Scientific Research? — Is the Mission of the Media to Seek Truth?
A few months ago Nagoya produced a mayor who, in the name of pursuing the truth, denied the Nanjing Massacre; Chinese people, unwilling to be outdone, produced Secretary Lin, who cast doubt on the Great Famine of Three Years. These two events are to some extent comparable, and the line of questioning is similar too: such huge numbers—how could that be? I’ve never heard of it… no one witnessed it… Yet compared with the injury done to public feeling, Secretary Lin’s case may be even more potent. After all, the Three-Year Disaster came just one generation after the Nanjing Massacre; many elderly people who personally experienced the Three-Year Disaster are…
culture China science media
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2012年5月1日
Recommended Chinese-Language Bibliography on Environmental Philosophy

History of Science & Scholarship2012.04.20
Recommended Chinese-Language Bibliography on Environmental Philosophy
In discussion class, Liu Ping asked me to recommend books related to environmental ethics or eco-socialist thought, so I整理了一下 and am posting it here. In 2005, when I was a freshman, a number of courses in environmental ethics and environmental philosophy happened to be offered at the same time. I took three or five of them in one go, and then put effort into the papers as a whole too (when I submitted them I explained the situation of “multiple submissions”). The end result was that I skimmed through dozens of books on environmental philosophy then available on the market, and along with other reference works, more than a hundred…
book reading China book review environment
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2012年4月20日
In Praise of “Rumors”

Culture & Public Commentary2012.04.15
In Praise of “Rumors”
Recently the word “rumor” has once again become a hot topic, and a full-scale “war” against “rumors” is plainly about to break out. At a time like this, it is all the more necessary to reflect on what “rumor” really means. On Weibo, I saw Sun Haifeng repost Deng Wenchu’s “Nine Theses on Rumor,” written several years ago, and applauded it enthusiastically (you can find it among some of the earliest posts on his blog, though it seems a few of the theses have been harmonized?). Later I read Kapferer’s Rumor: The World’s Oldest Media, and found it quite rewarding as well. So let me offer a few casual remarks…
book reading China tradition politics
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2012年4月15日
The Re-Creation of the World: How Modern Science Came Into Being

History of Science & Scholarship2012.04.08
The Re-Creation of the World: How Modern Science Came Into Being
[荷]H·弗洛里斯·科恩：《The Re-Creation of the World: How Modern Science Came into Being》，translated by Zhang Butian, Hunan Science and Technology Press, 2012 This is a slim booklet written for ordinary readers, and may be regarded as a popularized version of the author’s other weighty scholarly work, *How Modern Science Was Born: Four Civilizations, One Breakthrough in the Seventeenth Century*. The Needham Question has long been a topic of particular concern to Chinese historians of science and even to the general public. The Hong Kong scholar Chen Fangzheng recently published *Inheritance and Rebellion: Why Did Modern Science Appear in the West?* Teacher Zhou Cheng translated a book also called *Why Did Modern…
book reading China notes history of science
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2012年4月8日
Western Learning as Substance, Chinese Learning as Application

Culture & Public Commentary2012.03.28
Western Learning as Substance, Chinese Learning as Application
Previously I mentioned that I wanted to write about “why study the West,” and that made me think of the phrase “Western essence, Chinese utility” (西体中用). A quick search online showed that Mr. Li Zehou had already brought it up. He explained “food, clothing, housing, and transportation” as the “essence,” and what he meant by Western essence, Chinese utility was “the ‘Western essence’ of modernization put to use on Chinese soil.” Some of Mr. Li Zehou’s ideas are excellent, but my line of thought is different from his. Mr. Huang Yinong also seems to have mentioned “Western essence, Chinese utility,” but in a more general way. What I mean by…
culture China scholarship education
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2012年3月28日
Night Reading Mencius: The Traitor Faction

Chinese Civilization & the Way of Chinese2012.03.21
Night Reading Mencius: The Traitor Faction
This article arose from the explanation in the previous post. Of course, apart from taking issue with one particular junior classmate, my more important intention is to emphasize that interpretations of the Confucian classics are plural, and the Mao left can forget about monopolizing the right to interpret the Confucian classics. When I was a freshman, under Yang Zi’s influence, I read some chapters of the Mencius. Though I have little recollection of them now, I did come away with a rough impression: even though the Mencius is not as invigorating to read as the Analects, it still felt pretty good. The night before last I dug it out and…
philosophy culture China freedom
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2012年3月21日
Democracy Against the People-as-the-Basis: A Debate on Weibo

Culture & Public Commentary2012.03.21
Democracy Against the People-as-the-Basis: A Debate on Weibo
Some days ago, I had a rather spirited debate on Weibo with a left-leaning junior fellow. I’m not very fond of slapping labels like “right-wing” and “left-wing” on people, but this argument was indeed representative in a certain sense, so I need to note this junior fellow’s left-wing background. As for me, who sparked the argument, I was not aiming my dissatisfaction specifically at him; rather, I took the opportunity to express my long-standing opposition to the rhetoric of the so-called Mao left. I once stated my personal position in the essay “Liberty vs. Equality—I Am a Right-Wing Socialist,” but that was mainly constructive rather than refutational. Still, I’m willing…
culture China freedom tradition
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2012年3月21日
Black Bear and Virtue Ethics

Culture & Public Commentary2012.02.23
Black Bear and Virtue Ethics
The black bear issue has been blazing hot lately, so I’ll throw in my two cents as well~ Simply put, morally speaking, I oppose live bear bile extraction. As for whether Genuizhang should be allowed to go public, I think that’s another matter; I’m not familiar with the relevant legal framework. Why oppose live bear bile extraction? The usual arguments tend to focus on whether the bears are in pain, but I think that is actually a secondary issue. If the bears were injected with some kind of drug so that they not only felt no pain, but even became addicted to bile extraction, would that make everything okay? Utilitarianism,…
philosophy China freedom commentary
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2012年2月23日
Bottom-Up Reform

Culture & Public Commentary2012.02.02
Bottom-Up Reform
During the “onlookers biting Han” incident (see my previous two articles), I took the opportunity to skim through the legendary “Han Three Essays.” I have to say, Han Han really is better suited to snark than to building arguments… But on the basic attitude toward these three big concepts, I completely support Han Han: oppose revolution, be cautiously skeptical of democracy, and emphasize and fight for freedom. Why am I “anti-revolutionary”? In middle school, I did indeed hold some sort of “quality theory” position: the civic quality of the Chinese people was still far too low, there was a lack of self-discipline, and once things got chaotic they would be…
culture China freedom politics
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2012年2月2日
A Second Discussion of Fang Yaohan: Wild Animals and Freedom of Speech

Culture & Public Commentary2012.02.01
A Second Discussion of Fang Yaohan: Wild Animals and Freedom of Speech
Some people say the Han Han affair is yet another diversion of public attention: there are so many major matters concerning the national economy and people’s livelihoods worth following, yet internet users are gathered around such a boring little incident. In my view, although Fang Jiaozhu’s performance was boring, paying attention to this event is by no means unimportant. Because for our present environment, this question is no less secondary than any other: what exactly is freedom of speech? Many people will say that even if Fang Zhouzi said something wrong, he should not be punished by law, because to protect freedom of speech, one cannot punish someone for their…
culture China scholarship freedom
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2012年2月1日