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A people living in harmony with nature will not go under
By Tan Chung |
December 10, 2010, Friday
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Print Edition
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JUST as India is a "civilization state" born of geography, ie, the Indian sub-continent, the great "civilization state" of China never conceived a scheme of monopolizing the two of the 10 great rivers on earth.
It was these two great rivers, the Yellow and the Yangtze, that have created the Chinese "civilization state." In other words, the Chinese "civilization state" has been a commonwealth jointly created by innumerable communities of various ethnic, linguistic and cultural origins.
It was the common wish of these communities to develop the extended valleys of these two great rivers into a gigantic leyuan (paradise).
I have conceived of China as a great "civilization state" because I see a "massive coagulating model" that has sustained the Chinese development for 22 centuries. People may argue that during this millennial course there was stagnation in China, and in the last two centuries there was "underdevelopment."
Neo-Marxist scholars think "underdevelopment" (by the same token, "stagnation") is also a form of development. Like the evolution of the solar system, development never stops. There cannot be no development or lack of development, only good or bad development.
From a holistic perspective, the great "civilization state" of China has created the safety valve against implosion and dismemberment in the "massive coagulating model" which is a marvelously good development.
Five elements
Just as the ancients analyzed our universe into Five Elements (jin/metal, mu/wood, shui/water, huo/fire and tu/earth), we dissect this "massive coagulating model" into Five Energies, that is, the energy of sheng/creation, jia/family/home, xi/happiness, ren/love, and wang/king ruling system.
On the first day of the Shanghai Forum, I briefly explained the wang energy, while on the second day I briefly presented the xi energy. I think China can develop vibrantly by carrying forward these Five Energies and continuously improving them with the modern advancement of time.
The visual symbol/character xi is comprised of an element of tu/ earth on the top, with two kou/mouth and shou/hand below - suggesting a well-settled lifestyle in the homeland, enjoying living and work.
The Indian civilization contributed to this Chinese energy of xi by gifting China the magnum opus of Buddhist literature, yielding a new "laughing Buddha" - Maiterya - an icon of Bright Future. Tagore was very impressed by this Chinese energy of xi and said such a people would never go under. China can do well to carry this spirit that is conducive to the thick-and-thin comradeship uniting 1.4 billion into one man.
The visual symbol of wang features three horizontal lines representing tianshi/heavenly seasons, dili/earthly resources and renhe/human harmony, respectively with a vertical stroke (symbolizing the ruling system) interconnecting them - suggesting the grand harmony between Nature and humans.
Middle line
Today, we can conceive of the three lines as representing "state/government" (on top), "society" (in the middle), and "people" (at the bottom).
The task of China now is to thicken the vertical line, making it a freeway and rapid transit between the top-down and bottom-up dynamics.
Strengthening the middle line that represents the "society" is vitally important. The tremendous success of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo shows that a three-in-one endeavor (with the state, the society, and the people taking active part in it) can work wonders in China.
All this makes me realize the importance of carrying forward China's millennial civilizational sagacity and the Five Energies of the "massive coagulating model" of the great "civilization state" of China.
(The author is a Sino-Indian historian who now lives in Chicago. This is the second and last part of an article he wrote after the Fourth Forum on China Studies in Shanghai in November. Shanghai Daily condensed the article.)
It was these two great rivers, the Yellow and the Yangtze, that have created the Chinese "civilization state." In other words, the Chinese "civilization state" has been a commonwealth jointly created by innumerable communities of various ethnic, linguistic and cultural origins.
It was the common wish of these communities to develop the extended valleys of these two great rivers into a gigantic leyuan (paradise).
I have conceived of China as a great "civilization state" because I see a "massive coagulating model" that has sustained the Chinese development for 22 centuries. People may argue that during this millennial course there was stagnation in China, and in the last two centuries there was "underdevelopment."
Neo-Marxist scholars think "underdevelopment" (by the same token, "stagnation") is also a form of development. Like the evolution of the solar system, development never stops. There cannot be no development or lack of development, only good or bad development.
From a holistic perspective, the great "civilization state" of China has created the safety valve against implosion and dismemberment in the "massive coagulating model" which is a marvelously good development.
Five elements
Just as the ancients analyzed our universe into Five Elements (jin/metal, mu/wood, shui/water, huo/fire and tu/earth), we dissect this "massive coagulating model" into Five Energies, that is, the energy of sheng/creation, jia/family/home, xi/happiness, ren/love, and wang/king ruling system.
On the first day of the Shanghai Forum, I briefly explained the wang energy, while on the second day I briefly presented the xi energy. I think China can develop vibrantly by carrying forward these Five Energies and continuously improving them with the modern advancement of time.
The visual symbol/character xi is comprised of an element of tu/ earth on the top, with two kou/mouth and shou/hand below - suggesting a well-settled lifestyle in the homeland, enjoying living and work.
The Indian civilization contributed to this Chinese energy of xi by gifting China the magnum opus of Buddhist literature, yielding a new "laughing Buddha" - Maiterya - an icon of Bright Future. Tagore was very impressed by this Chinese energy of xi and said such a people would never go under. China can do well to carry this spirit that is conducive to the thick-and-thin comradeship uniting 1.4 billion into one man.
The visual symbol of wang features three horizontal lines representing tianshi/heavenly seasons, dili/earthly resources and renhe/human harmony, respectively with a vertical stroke (symbolizing the ruling system) interconnecting them - suggesting the grand harmony between Nature and humans.
Middle line
Today, we can conceive of the three lines as representing "state/government" (on top), "society" (in the middle), and "people" (at the bottom).
The task of China now is to thicken the vertical line, making it a freeway and rapid transit between the top-down and bottom-up dynamics.
Strengthening the middle line that represents the "society" is vitally important. The tremendous success of the 2010 Shanghai World Expo shows that a three-in-one endeavor (with the state, the society, and the people taking active part in it) can work wonders in China.
All this makes me realize the importance of carrying forward China's millennial civilizational sagacity and the Five Energies of the "massive coagulating model" of the great "civilization state" of China.
(The author is a Sino-Indian historian who now lives in Chicago. This is the second and last part of an article he wrote after the Fourth Forum on China Studies in Shanghai in November. Shanghai Daily condensed the article.)
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