标签：ritual

A Discussion of Aliens as a Modern Superstition

History of Science & Scholarship2013.03.31
A Discussion of Aliens as a Modern Superstition
Recently, some netizens have been leaving comments on the blog discussing the issue of aliens (there were some earlier discussions under Jiang Xiaoyuan’s lecture commentary). Since his comment was placed under the introduction page Who Is Gu Bo?, it felt a bit out of place (in general, casual comments and questions may as well be posted under the message board), so I decided to open a new post and transplant the comments over directly~ Although I have already discussed this here and there in bits and pieces, I have always wanted to write a dedicated essay on the issue of aliens; it could be an essay on “science and…
science blog religion discussion
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2013年3月31日
The Shameful Greek Spirit

Culture & Public Commentary2012.08.14
The Shameful Greek Spirit
The London Olympics are over, and I should also turn my jet lag back to the timezone of my graduation thesis. This essay can count as a bridge between what came before and what comes after~ Let me give a heads-up first: this should be a fairly loose, freewheeling conversation, not entirely centered on the title. During the Olympics there were obviously two kinds of people on Weibo: those watching the Olympics, and those not watching the Olympics. Among the latter were a considerable number of people who were either cursing the Olympics or using the Olympics as a pretext to curse the system. Basically speaking, the left in China…
China freedom autobiography pursuit
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2012年8月14日
Disasters and Despotism

Culture & Public Commentary2012.07.26
Disasters and Despotism
A few days ago Beijing was hit by torrential rain. Unfortunately, I had just returned to Shanghai and missed this rare spectacle. Once a rainstorm turns into a disaster, there is inevitably all sorts of praise for skillful command and unity of purpose, and then a call for donations appears, something we have long since grown accustomed to. Calls for donations are of course met with a flood of abuse online, but the reality is that they will still work. Setting aside the many uninformed people who are only too happy to donate, just think of how much can be wrung out by those “progressive” Party-state organs, enterprises, and schools…
culture China politics democracy
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2012年7月26日
[Weibo] Earth Hour

Life & Notes2012.03.31
[Weibo] Earth Hour
I think the significance of “Earth Hour” lies not at all in whether the event itself can actually save energy or electricity. It is a ritual of awe and reverence toward nature. To question whether a “ritual” has any practical use is meaningless.
everyday life environment ritual life
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2012年3月31日
Where Is the Journal Conservative? — A Brief Note on Submitting a Manuscript

Life & Notes2012.03.13
Where Is the Journal Conservative? — A Brief Note on Submitting a Manuscript
A few days ago, from the end of February into the beginning of March, I fired off 12 articles to 9 core journals in one go, including a few book reviews and some papers written during my undergraduate years. At first I submitted a few newer, more important papers, but I didn’t bother to revise the format properly. Later I gradually sent out some older papers; those I did properly reformat, though I didn’t make many textual revisions. In that sense, my sincerity in submitting was still not quite sufficient, after all, at heart I remain rather reluctant about the whole business of submitting articles. But if I want to…
everyday life scholarship tradition value
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2012年3月13日
The Qufu Church and the Time and Space of Chinese Tradition

Culture & Public Commentary2011.01.13
The Qufu Church and the Time and Space of Chinese Tradition
Today (yesterday), I was dragged by Classmate Slim to take part in a salon event, where we discussed the question of Confucianism and Christianity, East and West, using the incident of building a church in Qufu as our thread. Although I’ve lately been rather lazy and reluctant to move, I still went, after all, academic salons are activities I’ve always highly esteemed, and since a classmate was organizing it and had actively come to invite me, there was no reason to demur. I had originally planned merely to go along and make up the numbers, but when I arrived I discovered that there were in fact fewer participants than expected,…
culture China history religion
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2011年1月13日
Reexamining Medicine, Reexamining Human Nature—Reflections on Wang Yifang’s Lecture

History of Science & Scholarship2010.11.05
Reexamining Medicine, Reexamining Human Nature—Reflections on Wang Yifang’s Lecture
Today, Teacher Wang spoke about many aspects centered on the question “What is medicine?”, with the emphasis on reflecting on the contemporary situation of medicine under the influence of modern science and technology. How medicine is defined is bound up with what role it plays in contemporary society. Is medicine a science? Or is it a technology? Or should one say that medicine is a combination of science and technology? These definitions are probably all inadequate. Medicine is not something that can be defined simply by the concepts of science, or science + technology—especially since science and technology in the modern sense of “big science” and “high technology” are very…
science tradition value human nature
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2010年11月5日
Two earthquake orphans on stage? What are you thinking?!

Life & Notes2010.04.30
Two earthquake orphans on stage? What are you thinking?!
SB will be opening, and of course that’s not bad. I’ve always been in favor of this sort of large-scale celebratory event—in my view, throwing money at song, dance, and fireworks is better than throwing money at the Three Gorges Dam. And yet I can’t help it, I can’t help but vent a little. This opening ceremony is fine in every other respect, but the appearance of these two orphans really set me off. What on earth were they doing? It reminds me of the Olympic opening ceremony two years ago, when there was likewise a huge earthquake, and likewise children from the disaster area took the stage. At the…
everyday life China faith tradition
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2010年4月30日
09-12-24 Walking on the Ice of Weiming Lake

Life & Notes2009.12.25
09-12-24 Walking on the Ice of Weiming Lake
Back when I was an undergraduate, I used to wander around Weiming Lake every few days. Over the past two years I’ve clearly become lax about it—not because I’ve gotten lazy (laziness has always been my constant), but because of changes in my surroundings and in my state of mind, I suppose. Of course, the change of residence is the main reason. I had long planned to return to Weiming Lake. By “return,” I mean not only finding time to come back and circle it, but also, crucially, circling it in a particular frame of mind. Though I haven’t exactly never gone around it during ordinary times, I also haven’t…
everyday life blog ritual
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2009年12月25日
Miscellaneous Thoughts on Marching in Step

Culture & Public Commentary2009.08.11
Miscellaneous Thoughts on Marching in Step
Let me begin with a story. Here’s how it went: this morning I went to campus to watch the formation training, and stood outside the fence around the gymnasium watching. Beside me was a middle-aged man who seemed to be visiting Peking University; he picked up his camera and took two photos, and immediately a thug-looking fellow came running from far away, yelling for him to delete the pictures. The man obediently complied and left. Seeing this, I then took out my own camera to shoot as well, and sure enough that fellow immediately charged over again, shouting for me to take out my camera and delete the photos. Of…
China freedom commentary education
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2009年8月11日