标签：China

A Fourth Talk on the Olympics—Assorted Remarks and Miscellaneous Commentary

Culture & Public Commentary2008.08.26
A Fourth Talk on the Olympics—Assorted Remarks and Miscellaneous Commentary
l In the previous few installments I kept rambling farther and farther afield, so in the end I might as well just say a few odds and ends. l What was I doing during the Olympics? Apart from the daily new anime episodes, I basically had the TV on all day watching the Olympics. In the first half, I watched the Olympics while paging through books, mainly getting through 《大问题》 once. In the second half, I watched the Olympics while pedaling a stationary bike, with pretty good results; in the last few days I exercised nearly three hours a day on average. Unfortunately the Olympics ended, and in these past…
China culture history sociology
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2008年8月26日
A Third Discussion of the Olympics: Gold Medals and Patriotism

Culture & Public Commentary2008.08.25
A Third Discussion of the Olympics: Gold Medals and Patriotism
This “third essay” was begun not long after the “second essay” was finished, and then written fitfully until today, taking well over ten days in all. So there is no need to be surprised at the confusion of thought in this piece. Generally speaking, the faster I write an article, the more coherent and fluent its line of thought is — on the one hand, precisely because the thought is flowing smoothly, it becomes possible for it to pour out in a torrent; on the other hand, too many interruptions make a line of thought that was already not entirely smooth become even more fragmented. But in any case, since…
China human nature love Olympics
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2008年8月25日
A “Systematic Study” Plan for Philosophy of Science

History of Science & Scholarship2008.08.05
A “Systematic Study” Plan for Philosophy of Science
Recently, a number of friends have gradually found me through KKBBS and blogs and the like, hoping to consult me about the graduate entrance examination and about systematic methods for studying philosophy of science and technology. I’m sorry to say that, as a lazy student admitted by recommendation, I know virtually nothing about the graduate entrance examination; as for studying philosophy of science and technology, while I can hardly claim to have no experience at all, I am still, after all, only at the beginner stage—at most I can offer and share some beginner’s-beginner experience. But most of the people who come seeking help need guidance at the beginner level…
China science scholarship philosophy of science
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2008年8月5日
Human Flesh Search Is Terrifying

Life & Notes2008.07.23
Human Flesh Search Is Terrifying
Today I saw CCTV’s program “The Roundup of Human Flesh Search” on Everybody Talks Law, and it was truly astonishing. Too terrifying. Before, I had only witnessed the “power of Chinese netizens” in the Zhou Laohu affair; that power was indeed formidable, and its effects seemed positive as well, but even then my comments were anything but optimistic. Looking again at these “human flesh search” cases, they also serve to confirm my longstanding judgment: the Cultural Revolution is still continuing. The essence of the Cultural Revolution is not dictatorship or autocracy, but mob violence, the uproar of “justice.” When we see Chinese netizens, so “full of a sense…
everyday life China internet sociology
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2008年7月23日
Following the Grain and Finding Order: “Li means to work jade.”

Philosophy & Thought2008.07.22
Following the Grain and Finding Order: “Li means to work jade.”
“Wen” and “li” have undergone thousands of years of evolution in China, and then, further reshaped by modern Western languages and influenced by modern science, they long ago became unrecognizable. Hence the talk of choosing between the humanities and the sciences, of emphasizing li over wen, of the integration of wen and li, and so on. But what exactly is wen, and what exactly is li? These notions have long since become ambiguous and obscure, seeming to be something and yet not quite. In people’s minds, “li” probably means mathematics and physics, or more generally those activities that resemble “calculation”; while “wen” seems to mean handling brush and ink, or…
philosophy China Heidegger tradition
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2008年7月22日
A Brief Note on “Wandering in the Clouds” (1)

Life & Notes2008.07.16
A Brief Note on “Wandering in the Clouds” (1)
From July 8 to 15 I went to Yunnan with my parents for a trip—“cloud roaming,” for short. Of course, this sort of traveling can’t compare with the real “cloud roaming” I yearn for. I’m using this title for the post just to indulge my own yy~ We went with a Spring and Autumn Travel Agency group. Spring and Autumn is one of Shanghai’s old-established travel agencies; back when my parents went on their honeymoon by travel package, it was also Spring and Autumn, so it was certainly more正规 and reliable than those small, fly-by-night agencies. Still, no matter what travel agency it is, it can’t be compared with independent…
everyday life China economy locality
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2008年7月16日
On the Fan Paopao Incident

Culture & Public Commentary2008.06.07
On the Fan Paopao Incident
This was something I wrote two weeks ago when Ceiling initiated a group email discussion. Today I saw Fan’s new interview, so it counts as a hot topic too. I’ll just post my text to the blog; discussion is welcome — my position is roughly this: if you want to defend Fan, then I can criticize you; if you want to denounce Fan, then I’ll criticize you too. As for Zhou Xiaozheng’s attitude in the interview, I rather agree with it, though I didn’t read it carefully. Some of Fan Meizhong’s remarks are in fact quite reasonable — at the very least, they are worth thinking about — and one…
philosophy China commentary Kant
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2008年6月7日
Text Is Principle

Philosophy & Thought2008.02.17
Text Is Principle
Earlier I mentioned the sciences, so here let me say a bit more about “wen” and “li.” The division between wen and li is a real situation. I do not want to erase the actual differences between theory and literature, but I do want to point out one thing: what is called “wen” — literature, writing, culture, the wen of the humanities — and what is called “li” — mathematics and the sciences, theory, ideals, principle — are in fact related at certain root levels, and were even originally one and the same. The present division of disciplines is: humanities versus science and engineering, as if the sciences and engineering…
philosophy China reason Chinese characters
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2008年2月17日
Wishing Everyone a Happy Spring Festival!

Life & Notes2008.02.01
Wishing Everyone a Happy Spring Festival!
Before the Spring Festival, I’m too lazy to update the blog any further, so let me first wish all the friends who follow or happen to pass by my blog a happy Spring Festival and a happy New Year! To the friends who still plan to keep following this blog in the coming year: in the midst of your busy schedules, please be sure to leave a few words here by the way. Thanks for your support. Comments and replies s 2008-04-04 12:45:20 Anonymous 221.230.20.16 [Reply] Since Brother Gu has said so, then I’ll go register right now! Gu Zhuo 2008-04-02 12:51:08 [Reply] By the way,…
everyday life China
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2008年2月1日
[Repost] The CCP’s First Time Writing “Ecological Civilization” into a Party Congress Political Report

Life & Notes2007.10.16
[Repost] The CCP’s First Time Writing “Ecological Civilization” into a Party Congress Political Report
http://news.qq.com/a/20071016/001869.htm Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, October 15 (Reporters Cheng Zhiliang, Gu Ruizhen, Wang Pan) — In the process of comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society, China has proposed building an “ecological civilization,” and for the first time has written this concept into a political report of the Party Congress. When Hu Jintao delivered his report to the Seventeenth Party Congress on behalf of the Sixteenth Central Committee on the 15th, he put forward new requirements for realizing the goal of comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society; among them was to “build an ecological civilization and basically form an industrial structure, growth pattern, and consumption model that conserve energy and resources…
everyday life China future stars
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2007年10月16日