The World of Confucian Chivalry

The world of Confucian Chivalry was created a triumvirate writers composed of Louis Cha (Jing Yong), Gu Long and Liang Yusheng. The three magnates formed the framework and contributed the main contents of this tremendous Oriental magic land which is beyond the understanding and grasp of English-only readers. Taken for instance, one of the title translations, The Book and the Sword, translated by a western scholar and published by Oxford University Press, is nonetheless a toning-down and simplification of the original Chinese title.

It’s really hard for the western readers to get a hand on the so-called Chinese WuXia genre, or let me use an analogy, the genre of Oriental Chivalry or Confucian Chivalry. It’s a contemporary Chinese literature genre which enamored almost the whole Chinese community, domestic and worldwide. Basically, the fictions of Confucian Chivalry tell the story of the so-called Chinese knights and the oriental chivalry associated with them.

The Chinese knights lived in the Chinese dynastic eras and needed not to be conferred by the royal house. No patent was needed to create a Chinese knight. The knighthood was in the heart of those destined. Also, they were born of Confucian spirits and were meant for some great journeys which always would produce empathy among the readers who are also deep-rooted in the Confucian heritage.

Most of all, the heroes depicted by the writers were often of humble births and worked all their way up the social ladder by series of lucky encounters. Much like a modern computer game, the good fortune is always the mechanism for the upbringing of an apprentice. The apprentice would manage to build the strongest mental and physical power, and excel the rest. The Chosen One, just as Harry Porter, figuratively speaking.

The Gongfu movie which later swung and changed the Hongkong film industry as well as the major Chinese movie genre ever landed in Hollywood, was spawned by the fictions of the WuXia genre. As portrayed by the Gongfu movies, the heroes always could perform stunts beyond the capacity of a normal man. Such as flying above the roofs, controlling stuff through the manipulation of field conjured by mental power, and even the magic touch of a finger could destroy a subject. However, more astounding stunts described in the books are off the limits to the modern cinematography.

Meditation is one of the main methods of training a Confucian knight. The mental power is far stronger than the physical strength that could be acquired through earthly exercise. The mental power is infinite and beyond imagination. Actually, no one can achieve the ultimate level, or the ultimate level is beyond any secular experience that has ever happened. It’s like a pilgrimage to the holy temple, and only to find an unfathomable, extraterrestrial being. It’s called GOD in the western hemisphere and known as DAO in oriental world.

The guidance is the teachings of Confucius. By following Confucius’ practices, an apprentice could pursue the right road leading to the holy place. However, the achievements of a Confucian knight apprentice would not be only judged by the power he accumulated but also by the merits he culminated. A chivalrous heart could always achieve higher level of Gongfu and put his strengths to the use of the poor and oppressed.

The final judge of a Confucian knight is the transcendence of the smallness of oneself and the reaching of the highest level of humanity. That’s also the purpose of Confucian. Ultimate sacrifice would always be the final call to the culmination of a Confucian knight. For nation, for family and for friendship, a broad spectrum of love is always the theme. And for most of the time, the hero is the center of a great tragedy, personal sacrifice leading to the prevalence of collective purpose. However, most of the finales would always provide a satisfactory ending and revealing the eagerness of the writers to please their readers. That’s another reason for the popularity of this kind of fictions. Always the feelings of the readers are assuaged and pacified by a happy ending no matter how the rescue had gone off human logic. And maybe that’s one of the reasons this genre is less recognized by the scholar world.

The financial situations are seldom mentioned in these fictions. It looks like the heroes were born into good financial status. Or a growing social standing was the byproduct of the development of a Confucian knight. Sometimes, the protagonist was granted property and wealth by the then royal house, or local magistrate. Sometimes, the protagonist developed connection with nobles, and therefore gained fortune through trading services. Or, sometimes, the protagonist was in the hands of kindhearted local landowners and marriage was always the solution. Anyway, most of the protagonists could make use of their talents in exchange for personal wealth. Or they could choose to stay poor which is one of the teachings by Confucius.

Well, at the last, let’s touch upon the three giants in the realm of Confucius Chivalry. Liang Yusheng could be the most traditional writer of the three. Even he wrote the chapter titles of his fictions in the form of traditional Chinese poems. Most of his works took the style of traditional Chinese literature and fabricated with significant amount of Chinese traditional poems and conversation style. Also Chinese history lays the foundation of his works. He altogether accomplished a total of 33 fictions.

Jing Yong is a contemporary of Liang Yusheng. And the two worked in suit with each other to kick off the Wu Xia fiction age. Although Jing Yong finished only 14 fictions altogether, but his achievement transcended Liang’s in a great leap. Jing Yong perhaps is the most influential contemporary Chinese writer and all his works have been adapted to movies or TV sitcoms. Jing Yong is a household name among Chinese community and even the characters of his books have entered the daily language vocabulary.

Gu Long is the youngest of the three and writes in the most modern style. He tends to write little of the scene of a fight which is the climax of a Wu Xia fiction but dedicate most of the volume to the development of the plot which carries only one topic, LOVE. He is the most radical of the three and rid of the vestige of traditional Chinese literature. He broke off with the old legacy and leaned more towards English classics such as Ernest Hemingway.

Christendom vs. Confucian Empire

The history of Christendom is in fundamental difference to that of Confucian Empire. Though many have tried to put the two great philosophy systems in juxtaposition, actually it’s hard to do so. The Words of God and the Words of Confucius are two sets of collections bearing essentially distinctions. One is from someone spiritual while the other is from someone totally secular. One is to decree the human beings the laws of the almighty one. One is to teach ordinary people the rules of life in order to breed the spirit of gentlemanship. However, when one tried to look retrospectively, the unification of a uniform and prevailing philosophy is the basis of a stable and prosperous society, while the breakdown produces exactly the opposite outcome.

The history of Christendom is full of bloody massacres and wars. Dark Age is a piece of long-term misery in the history of Europe. The split of West Rome Catholic Church and the setup of East Constantinople Orthodox Church swept the whole continent of Europe while the stabilizing of both gave certain period of tranquility to the people as the subjects of both. Then you can see the invasions of Crusaders for hundreds of years. Also the split of England from the Rome Church and established the Kings of England as the heads of English Church brought another war fire into the field of Europe. The conflicts between different sects of Christian would drag the Kings and Kingdoms into endless dark times. The idea of prevalence and dominance always obsessed the heads of Church and then implicated the Kings of States to follow.

The history of Confucian is a different story. First of all, Confucius himself is a humble man who sought the hands of royal family for support. Unlike the God who is an omnipotent mystical character possessing supernatural powers above the understanding of human beings, Confucius is just one of the people and his teaching is all about life and the training of a gentleman. Though some of Confucius words touched the topic of a supernatural power that dominates the fate of earthling, he never put an idol in place. He didn’t create some figure for people to worship. He mainly tried to set up a model of perfect gentleman that is in the reach of everyone’s endeavor. He said, “I am not one who was born in the possession of knowledge; I am one who is fond of antiquity, and earnest in seeking it there.”

Second, it’s until the Han Dynasty, which is several hundred years after the death of Confucius, that the teaching of Confucian begun to step into the political stage of China history. When Confucius preached his thinking during the ZhanGuo period which is sometime before the formation of Qing Dynasty, the first empire to unify the territory of China, Confucius was facing competitions from other intellectuals of his time. Several doctrines championed by other intellectuals gained supports from different heads of states. Though Confucius himself never picked up big favor during his life, his students did follow up his teaching and manage to penetrate to the Emperor’s side during Han Dynasty. It’s until the Emperor of Wu that the influence of Confucian prevailed. Four emperors of Han Dynasty died, and Emperor of Wu decided to adopt the Confucian as the instrument to manage his empire. And ever since then the dominance of Confucian in Chinese culture had been established. So, Confucian is under the Emperor, not vice versa, on the contrary to the relation between Church and State.

Third, the two trains of teaching bear fundamentally different basis. The Bible, the Words of God, starts off from the beginning chapter to assert that man is born with sin. The original sin is the main pillar of Bible. When Adam ate the fruit from the tree of wisdom, he brought his fellows the original sin and from then the mankind has to bear the mark of sin. In believing so, there is a book of law in the Bible that dedicates to explain the laws given by God and for the government of mankind for their sins. However, Confucius thought differently. Another book written by one of Confucian scholar in Song Dynasty, San Zi Jing, which is the collection of a children’s song preaching the Confucian, taught from the beginning paragraph that man is born with innocence. So there is no original sin in the Confucian, then there is no law book in the teaching of Confucius.

God teaches people to pray to God during time of suffering; while Confucius teaches people to stand up and fight for oneself during such a bad time. God teaches people there is only one teacher, who is God himself; while Confucius teaches that among the companion of three there must be one qualified to be a teacher. God performs magical stunts to demonstrate His superiority; while Confucius instills every bit of his thought into the hearts of his followers and waits for the natural growth out of the seed.

One thing can be certain, that both philosophies have been used to govern and manipulate the subjects of the kings or emperors. However, Confucian provides the infrastructure and pull of unification under one great empire while Christian produces more conflicts and smaller-sized separate kingdoms. An interesting finding would be that none of the great empires once appeared on the lands of Europe survived to today.

Given more study to Christendom and Confucian Empire would yield more interesting and inspiring discoveries.

Cromwell versus Shangyang

The idea to put Thomas Cromwell and Shangyang in juxtaposition is inspired by their paths of life. Thomas Cromwell, the Chief Minister under King Henry VIII of English, lived from 1485-1540 AD; Shangyang, one of the Chief Ministers under Emperor Xiao of China Qin Dynasty, lived from 390-338 BC. The two tried to enforce reformation which would change the landscape of European history and ancient China history. Both had origins of plebian. Both with the full support of kings uprooted the then existing societal system. With the upheavals in minds, both were executed later by king for their reformation interfered and vitiated the powers and benefits of imperialists and nobilities.

Thomas Cromwell, an English statesman also the son of a clothworker/smith/house keeper(different accounts), rose to power for offering advocacy to King Henry VIII’s religious reformation which broke English from the control of Rome Papacy. Though King Henry VIII’s purpose was to denounce the marriage to Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne Boleyn, the mother of famous Elizabeth I. King Henry VIII was a devoted Catholic to the Pope of Rome. But under the old Rome Catholic church system, the Pope of Rome would deny Henry VIII’s request of the announcement of a null marriage to Queen Catherine of Aragon.

Catherine of Aragon was also the aunt of the then King of Spain, Emperor Charles V, who put the then Pope of Rome in prison. After King Henry VIII was bewitched by Anne Boleyn, whose action was under the maneuver of her father, Sir Thomas Boleyn. Being an ambitious statesman, Thomas Boleyn first sent his elder daughter, Mary Boleyn, to be the mistress of King Henry VIII. After Mary lost Henry VIII’s favor, Anne Boleyn was arranged to flirt with Henry VIII. And the king fell into the trap. Under Anne’s insistence, Henry VIII resolved to divorce Queen Catherine and establish Anne as the Queen of England. That’s where Cromwell seized the opportunity to rise to power.

Cromwell first served under the Cardinal Wolsey who tried to mediate between the King Henry VIII and Pope of Rome to achieve the goal of divorce but failed. And Cromwell rode the waves and became the strongest advocate of His Majesty. In order to break away from Rome Church, Cromwell pushed the religious reformation, which made the King Henry VIII the head of England Church. Also, Cromwell put force a radical eradication of Catholic churches and their influences in England. A great societal upheaval was detonated, and not only some court members and royal family members were dissatisfied with the reformation, even a plebian rebellion was sparked which for once frightened His Majesty, King Henry VIII. However, the breakaway gave England the opportunity to enjoy autonomy and later developed different social and law system which, under the Elizabeth I, created the era of Great Britain Empire.

Yang, also a son of plebian, was raised to learn the law and jurisdiction system. By then, the ancient China Kingdom was broke into numerous small states, and the power of the ancient East Zhou Empire was eclipsing. Those ambitious Dukes were actively recruiting intellectuals and smart statesman to beef up their own strength. Before Yang, there were a few jurisprudents such as Wu Qi began to spread the importance of law and its supremacy. One background tip, during the Zhou Dynasty, the very beginning of China civilization, law and jurisprudence was under their very earliest age of development.

Enamored by the theories advocated by legists, Yang spent great amount of time studying law books and their applications. Yang was noticed by the chancellor of Duke of Wei. He was recommended to the Duke of Wei upon the chancellor’s death. The chancellor said to the Duke to use Yang as the future chief minister, or deprive his right of life in case of no interest. The chancellor warned the loss of Yang to other states would be a disaster to Wei. However, after the passing away of the chancellor, Wei ignored either his recommendation or the warning. Yang left State of Wei and went to State of Qin. The duke of Qin, Xiao, was experiencing great military failure and invested heavily to recruit the most talented person nationwide.

Yang managed to talk to Xiao, Duke of Qin, and had the duke prevailed. Eager and thirsty for new policy to strengthen his power, Xiao gave Yang the full power and support. Named one of his chief ministers, the only one non-royal family member of the four chief ministers, Yang was granted the full control of the reformation. And he began to press his way. By then, royal family members were above laws, and in order to demonstrate the supremacy of laws, Yang even punished the tutors of princes and received the oppressed acquiescence from royal family members and nobilities. Also, in order to enrich the Qin state treasury, Yang enforced laws to confiscate the lands once owned by nobilities. The nobilities championed the old instituted political system of Empire Xia, Shang, and Zhou, whereas Yang debated the once successful political system couldn’t adapt to new situations. Not to mention, the reformation pushed by Yang striped the inherited benefits away from nobilities.

Under Yang’s reformation, Qin sailed into prosperity and finally was able to defeat all the states and unite the whole nation. Empire Qin was born with the blessing of Yang’s reformation. Yang once was awarded with the state of Shang, and he was later remembered as Shangyang. However, the next Emperor was so dissatisfied with Yang, bearing in mind whose tutor was punished by Yang, also with the encouragements of those nobilities who hated Yang so much, that the Emperor sealed Yang’s miserable ending. Shangyang was executed alive by four chariots, which torn his body apart. And Yang’s family was destroyed entirely.

Cromwell suffered the same fate. His head was cut off and boiled and spiked on a rod for public display. That’s the fate of reformers, doomed from the beginning. People would wonder if there is any way for a successful reformer to maintain a blessed ending. However, no mater whatever the personal consequences, Cromwell and Yang were able to change the land of Europe and the land of China forever.

Octavian vs. K’ang-hsi

Recently when I am half way through the book, the Penguin History of Europe, I suddenly came to an involuntary comparison of Octavian, the great “Augustus” in ancient Roman time, and K’ang-hsi (Kangxi), the great emperor of China Qing dynasty.

Though the idea is quaint, the possibility is highly recommendable. Some similar characteristics of the two great ancient leaders, one in the Occidental from 63 BC to 19 Ad, one in the Oriental from 1654-1722, can be found easily. 

First, the longevity of the two emperors. Octavian outlived many of his contemporaries, even some among his next generation died before him. The longevity of Octavian is an odd phenomenon in Roman time, since most of the population couldn’t make even their thirties. In an era of turbulence, watermarked by “Dark Age”, endless wars and domestic violence gulped lives like those lives were not in existence at all. On the other hand, Kang-hsi was lauded one of the longest lived emperors in China ancient history. Though he short lived Octavian several years, the comparability is still reasonable. The longevity of both guaranteed a certain length of peace time for both peoples. The Romans acquired a respite of rest under Octavian’s reign, and several civilization achievements were able to come into being. The same applies to Kang-hsi, the years under Kang-hsi’s reign was accredited “Prosperous Era of Kang-hsi” and he laid the foundation for his successor, “Prosperous Era of Qianlong”.

Second, both suffered the agonized period of young ages under another ambitious regent. Octavian has to fight Antony, who has an affair with Octavian’s mother, Atia, the sister of Caesar, the dictator of Roman Republic. And Kang-hsi has to manage to survive under the regentship of Oboi, since he came into throne only at age of seven. However, Octavian had already grown up to 19 when he was adopted by Caesar when the famous assassination occurred. Under the maneuver of a smart mother, Atia, Octavian along with his own achieved intellectual mentality managed to live and survive and crashed Antony finally in the later Rome-Egypt War. But Kang-hsi is not that lucky. At the age of 15, under the support of the Grand Dowager Empress, Xiaozhuang, he arrested Oboi and claimed the full throne without an army. Xiaozhuang, the legendary empress of Qing Dynasty, a smart, decent and long-lived lady, was behind the looming prosperity of later emperors. The comparison of Xiaozhuang and Atia, both the ladies behind a thriving ancient empire, could generate interesting findings for the women’s influence in the occidental and oriental history.

Third, both are warmongers. During Octavian and Kang-hsi’s whole life, both fought against external foreign nations as well as domestic rebellions. And under warfare, that the two great emperors were able to stabilize internal societal status as well as expand into larger territories never being forgotten by history. Octavian suppressed the other triumvirs during the first and second triumvirate periods. And his coldness and iron hand murdered as many senators as possible. Also, he sought opportunities to initiate wars against his enemies inside and outside. Finally he claimed the title of Roman Emperor, and under his series military campaigns, the Roman Empire was able to expand and realize its “sovereignty without limit”. One of Kang-hsi’s achievements was to stall the invasion of Mongol and Russian Empires. At the time around 1700, Russian Empire thrived under the reign of Peter the Great, and kept a strong nation well into 19 centuries. Also, Mongol clans were eyeing at China territory for long. The conflicts led to wars and Kang-hsi himself as commander in chief fought with Mongols. Finally Qing signed a treaty and fixed a border with Russia. And though the harassing of Mongols lasted longer Qing finally defeated the efforts of invasion. Also, Kang-hsi initiated the wars against the three Feudatories. Among them, the wars with Wu Sangui, the most powerful feudatory, was the most legendary. It took several years to overthrow the internal rebellions. And finally, Kang-hsi rejoiced in his empire without limit, though confined to oriental boundary.

Interesting similarities can be found if you delve into mountainous historical materials. However, the societal settings are in sharp difference. The ancient Rome had established the idea of Republic and built up the rudimentary Senate system. Democracy was a prevalent ideology even Octavian had to bend his head, though he stole the dictatorship in a stealthy way. And Europeans never get used the idea of one uniform and culturally homogenous kingdom for thousands of years. The existence of many nations on the land of Europe gave the birth to the quintessential modern democracy system, United States. On the contrary, Chinese for thousands of years are under the mentality of one nation one people. Since the prevalence of Confucius Doctrine, Chinese always seek to unite under one nation. Against the rebels of feudatories, China stays one nation.

China’s Leading Stem Cell Research?

Only a glimpse of TV screen led me to the heated issue of Stem Cell Research and a website named China Stem Cell News. Basically, I was sitting in a restaurant and enjoying my yummy Thai food while waiting a friend to come back, and then I caught a screen shot from the TV plasma right in front of me. Sensitive to any subtitle embed the word of “China” or “Chinese”, I managed to register this website, http://www.stemcellschina.com/, into my mind before it flicked off.

 The next day, I recalled this website and was curious of its content and hit the address box of IE and punch the right button of my mouse. Bang, I was shocked as the landing page rolling itself over my screen. It’s a pure English website and I could identify the language skills being employed are fairly good. And further more, it offers 10 other language versions. Basically, the website is blog style, offering personal witness to Stem Cell treatment and in-person experience accounts. Most of the time, the story carries a success and happy ending.

 While Stem Cell Research is in hot debate here in U.S., and not until recently the Obama administrate lifted the ban on Stem Cell Research which reversed Bush’s verdict, the fight over Stem Cell Research is still one of the hottest potatoes. According to Wiki-pedia, Stem Cell is believed to be capable of self-healing, and can morph into any kinds of cells that are critical to certain kind of diseases such as Parkinson. Two broad types of Stem Cell are Embryonic Stem Cell and Adult Stem Cell. Embryonic Stem Cell can be retrieved from blastocyst which is the senior stage in the development of a fertilized egg. Adult Stem Cell can be retrieved from any certain kind of adult tissue, such as umbilical cord or spine bone marrow.

 The reason why Stem Cell Research could stir such a national agitation in US is because the retrieval of embryonic stem cell is the destroying of a fertilized egg, which means a patient’s cure is another life’s curse. Such treatment is the deprival of human life and the consequence is commensurate to abortion. In most states of US, Abortion is an illegal practice and forbidden by laws. Especially the Christian organizations are against abortion and therefore the active opponents of Stem Cell Research. The advocates are chanting the sanctity of God’s right. Human being should not interfere with the issue of life or death which violates God’s commandment.

 However, although the Stem Cell Research was balked in the west part of mother earth, in the east part where lies an ancient country the research has achieved significant progress. From the personal blogs listed on China Stem Cell News, patients suffering from a diversified range of rare disease are flocking to China for stem cell treatment. And apparently, the results are satisfied. Although there are cases where stem cell treatment failed to serve its intention, the elongation of patient’s life is credited to stem cell injection. In China, the stem cell in use is adult stem cell which has been taken from adult tissue such as umbilical cord.

 What amazed me is not only the achievement of Stem Cell Research in China, but also the China Stem Cell News website. This website does not only offer a collection of patients’ blogs, but also feature short video clips which provide vivid demonstration of the powerful and positive effect of Stem Cell treatments. I am wondering the crew behind the stage. Apparently, there are some native English speakers helping out. Also, the nurses or doctors involved are also capable of English communication which tremendously let the words spread out worldwide. That’s why I can catch a glimpse of the landing page of China Stem Cell News on a Chicago local TV news channel.

 I am not a medical scientist, nor a political policy advocate, but a MBA major from a US state university. I do appreciate the people behind the website, and their continuous efforts in English content contribution greatly improved the publicity of a China brand. Considering a recently viewed episode of CNBC documentaries, one of my observations is the prominent difference between China and India which makes one a world manufacturing base and one a world R&D base. The difference is the English capability.

Dark Matter

First of all, I never thought that a visit to DVDPlay booth on a whim would bring the DARK MATTER to me. I never thought I would rent such a title without any fame. But after read the short pitch lines, I learnt that this movie is about how a Chinese student couldn’t fit into American culture and finally got his American dream somehow busted. Then I guess maybe it’s just an indie film that somehow weirdly appears on the screen of DVDPlay machine. So, without much thinking, or apparently there are not many choices since I’ve kinda of exhausted those titles, I rented it.

First shock, the male lead is Liu Ye. So creepy that actually I knew Liu Ye is more of a domestic actor, but he just popped out of screen! Dark Matter. What’s that mean? Or Liu Ye somehow managed to improve his English skills so as to escalate to international stage? But wait a minute, as the reel rolling forward, for the first several chapters Liu Ye just spoke rather awkward English. Does he play dumb here? Or just a trick?

Second shock, the female lead is Meryl Streep. Wait…..am I out of my mind? Liu Ye and Meryl Streep? The Meryl Streep in Lion for Lamb(2008), with Toms Hanks? The Meryl Streep in Doubt(2009)? The Meryl Streep showed up in the latest Oscar Award Ceremony? Yeah, that’s her! The award winning actress! What the hell is she doing here? Then she’s playing this American lady who kinda of falling love with Chinese culture or even some obsessions, and she’s trying to be the sheepherder to Chinese students on her premises.

Then, here is the story. A young Chinese student (starred by Liu Ye), whose parents are just rural workers working in mine and textile mills and living around poverty line, came to U.S. and continued his study in the field of cosmology. Apparently, he was the most brilliant student in the lab under the supervision of the renowned professor. At the beginning, everything looked bright and promising and an exciting future was waiting ahead. Liu Xing, the name of the protagonist, embraced the freedom of academic reach and the rich resources of equipments, facilities and pure academic environment, soon emerged himself totally into the world of Dark Matter(a emerging theory that could explain the origin of cosmos). And soon, he started to shine. He has the confidence to conquer a Nobel Prize. But as innocent and naïve as a devoted scholar would be, his academic ambition soon was confronted by his professor who would not allow any defiance against his established stature. Since the theory that Lin Xing was formulating would override his theory, he decided to compromise and even hamstring Lin Xing’s endeavors. Liu Xing couldn’t graduate and the ring over his head was deprived by a clandestine clan, a small group of professors on the academic board. Unable to figure out a way out, Liu Xing decided to resort to gun and bullet. He shot several guys including the professor in the front of a public speaking opportunity. And he shot himself dead at last.  

It’s a tragedy. And I like the film depicted several familiar and typical scenes of international student life here in U.S. But I don’t like the story. Although the film is based on real event, the whole film demeaned the community of Chinese international student. Also the whole film makes the American Dream a cheap joke. You can see the hallmark of racist everywhere in the film. The Chinese student who decided to follow the professor blindly just for academic awards or jobs from big corporation with the professor’s reference, loyalty in exchange for material benefits is a reality for international students. It’s not a story of thriving, but a story of surviving. Yeah, after so many years since 1976 Deng Xiaoping reformation, Chinese students in U.S. are still on the fringe of American dream and only find a way to survive. Most of Chinese students with engineering major basically are cheap labors for U.S. professors. The exploitation of Chinese talents render an invisible sweat shop on the campus of U.S. universities. All right, that’s the price to pay for the realization for American dream, from the perspective of Chinese international students, that’s fair. But, the film, Dark Matter, contorts the idea and shifted it in a different angle that makes the Chinese students some despicable guys. That’s not faire.

 Anyway, it’s your turn to watch it and let me know your opinion.

Boundary

In the “Legend of Seeker”, there was a boundary separated the world apart in the middle age. The boundary was composed of magic power and in the form of amorphous energy wall which could destroy any trespasser who dared even a look at the other side of the world. And the analogy is applied to this world as well. The boundary of culture.

It’s really hard to say the boundary of culture could be of such atrocious power as to slay every creature trying to break through. But the soft side of the counter effect would almost exert such detrimental influence as to deter any further communication. So people on either side starts to surmise the life on the other side and often the judgments are based on the experience gained on the half world that the reckoning one inhabits.

And the boundary of culture most of the time takes the guise of different languages. People would imply depend on translation as the weapon to penetrate. Or at least to cast of crackle. Such innocent people knows no power of culture shocks. Since they have no knowledge of the other side, when confronting the challenge of translation, they usually resort to explaining phenomenon by making analogy to the common sense of the world they are living in. So the blindness makes them assume things on the other side should follow no exception other than their experience. If things go awry, the bigotry often would try to act as the Procruste, the notorious Greek pirate who cut legs of civilians according to the same table size.

Thus the boundary begins to resist the efforts of merging. First, the boundary will blur the far from uncovered the truth, wielding the power of misunderstanding. Like the hatreds to communism traditionally has been held by a typical western politician. During the Vietnam war, the excuse of balking communism was once widely exploited by the U.S. government to encourage American soldiers to frontline. Or let’s look at the 60s civil right movement in U.S. The denial of equal civilian rights to black people and the battle of societal equality took the form of bloody street fights, gun shots and deaths. Now there is an African American President of United States. The newly elected chieftain of different color of skin is tasting the victory of a century long grudge and rebel.

Such is the power of cultural boundary. One can not simple rely on translation to grip the essences of the other side of the world. One needs to trudge a long way and bears the extremity of suffering and lands the foot on the other side of the world. And most important of all, he can embrace the essences while absorb the energy of shocks. The he can understand the happenings and the underlying rationale, and also the causality between happenings. And most of all, he can refer back to the counterparts in his own country and let the people back home understand the difference by relating to their own experiences. Once broke through and settled a footing on the ground of the other side of the world, the boundary is about to shatter.

However, such feat is not an common achievement. That’s the purpose of taking down the Babel Tower, which God knows the power of unity and solidarity among human beings can accomplish. Thus God separates human beings by making them speak different languages and gradually evolves into isolated countries surrounded by boundaries of cultures. By the ways, God knows no human being can compete with the divine power.

YesTerday is B-Day!

YesTerday is B———-ig Day! But, yesterday is gone. So quick. You couldn’t feel it. But, however, unfortunately, it’s gone.

 

Maybe it’s a big day in you life, like yesterday in Barack Obama’s life. His inauguration and swearing-in as President of United States. “God bless you. God bless of United States of America!” He hailed. But, that’s yesterday’s blessing. Not Today’s.

 

I like this saying from somewhere, but I don’t know. It goes like this, “My life is not an apology, it’s a life.” I do like. No mater how apologized you feel for yesterday, how awful the mistake you made yesterday, how disastrous you life was ruined yesterday, it’s gone. There is nothing you can do to make yesterday right.

 

But today, you can do something, maybe not big but really tiny effort, like brushing your shoes. Like many other normal days that have past away, no significant increase at sight or sensible, just another day. But, keep going, keep rolling, keep pushing, somehow, you find a bit of something in the pit of your stomach is fermenting.

 

Life is a magic. You can’t see the chicken before it cracks the shell. And even before that, no one can tell how the elements can pull together and give birth to a life. Out of nowhere, a life is born. It’s a transformation in a split second. The previous changes within the microscopic level are no seen to eyes. It just happens.

 

No, it doesn’t just happen. It takes a long time to form a life. Drawing all the necessary components into one purpose, with a spirit in the core, all the time hard working, the cells take great pain and hurt to break through and merge with other cells to form different part of a life. And the final breakout takes the life-or-death exertion. Like the long-time scream let out from the mouth of a pregnant mother in labor. Sometimes, the mother dies in order to give birth.

 

So, when you work hard, for a long long long time, no blessing from God, no progress at sight, no payoff showing off. You don’t just give up. You don’t just go around. You don’t just mess yourself up. It can take years to the one night birth.

 

You just stick to it. Do you best today. Let God decide tomorrow. No matter bad or good the result, you are at peace.

Today is B-Day!

The inauguration of Barack Obama! The 44^th U.S. president! The first ever African American President!

2 millions spectaculars on spot! And millions more on-line/via TV watching the whole ceremony! Even when at work! Yeah, today is no public holiday. But, it’s the holiday for all the Americans! Especially African Americans, Hispanics, and Asian Americans!

“Today is a justice day!” One of colleagues yelled out from her cubicle, who is an African American girl. Aren’t you exited?! My office was holding a small luncheon celebration! Boss ordered in different kinds of foods, and turned the meeting room into a merry whirl! 

The swore-in of Barack Obama is of paramount significance to folks like you and me. It holds something you always dream of and fancy about. Don’t get loose, don’t get frightened, don’t slip away! Believe something! Something is good enough to happen only you can hang around long enough to make it happen!

Today is B-Day! Big big big day! 

No matter you believe it or not, it’s happening. The parade of celebration is paving forward. The advancing of Barack Obama is crunching over the white house! Millions of millions of ordinary people, deep grass-root, are witnessing this historical moment, with their own eyes. Something big can happen in real life, not only on the screen of Hollywood blockbuster. 

From the very beginning, not a single voter could foresee this day. Sarcasm, disbelieving, mocking, even humiliating are the core of the origin of this humble campaign. It’s a true story, a perfect movie material, an invigorating spirit. 

Let me be you hero! Somehow, I believed Obama would repeat it to himself all the way to the peak. Don’t let down, don’t give up, don’t fool around, get up, pick up, let’s do it! Let’s do it again! Let’s do it once again! Let’s do it a thousand times again! Let’s rock!

I am so awed by Michelle, the first ever African American first lady. She looks so grace on screen. The aura of first lady doesn’t make her haughty, presumptuous, or pride. She’s not Her Highness. She’s she. Mild, easy, nice and soothing. She’s the power of calm. Sufferings soaked her, sucked her, but strengthened her! 

You need a wonderful woman to brace you up! Man. 

What else to say? Speechless is the current reaction right now. Taciturn is not the result of cowering, but the roaring and rolling of a stronger inside power! When hurt can’t ruffle you any more, you are invincible!

Let’s hail the B-Day!

Man Flies

As of the first blog for year 2009, I particularly don’t feel such a strong desire to writing. The deeper I get closer to the local community and people, via meetup.com, thanks God invented this genius website and also craigslist.org, and I know the way is there and I’ve found it.

Today is Martin Luther King Day, my boss hasn’t particularly asked me to come in office, so I took today off. Wanna a refresh and rethink of the next few days left on Jan of 2009. I’ve devoured several books since entered Year 2009. And tomorrow, should witness the magic day of American history, the inauguration of Barack Obama. Hmm, the first African American President. My former roommate, Regina, told me with amazing enthusiasm how this poor origin guy managed his way up to the apex of his life, the life of any African American since the founding of U.S.

Man Flies.

Last Saturday, I went to Michigan avenue, and bought a watch from Cartier as one of my friend asked, and happened to read several pages of this book, Man Flies. It’s about the man invented balloon, who conquered air. The story of Alberto Santos-Dumont, Master of the Balloon, Conqueror of the Air. This man is rarely known, at least less than the famous Brother Wright. But somehow, a journalist strived all the way, jotting down all the details, and scavenging the old dusted documents in libraries to trace down this should get acclaimed man.

A man of free will and strong mind can fly.

Martin Luther King is a man of free will and strong mind and full of dedication. He knows something deep down his heart stirring him all the times. He won’t get at peace until he find his own place. Somewhere off the earth. Somewhere aloft in the air. Somewhere one can’t get without extraordinary efforts and sacrifice. It takes great pain to get away from mother earth and even deep hurt to fly. Cutting loose from ties and posts is not something usual. Free will, strong mind, solid dedication, and final release won’t come easy way. It’s like barefoot walking on top of bed of nails, each step forward taking great pain and blood shedding to receive its forwarding. That’s the price to pay.

And the endurance, for God sake, who knows will last how long. But, that’s the grind stone. You walk out the thorns a soldier. You walk out the darkness a commander. You are captain of your soul. That’s the final payoff. No matter how many times you get pissed off, you manage to pick yourself up and rise up the first thing next morning. And you learn patience, sticking to details, navigating across potholes, the art of slowing down and gearing up, forestalling potential dangers, maneuvering each step up your ladder…….The wisdom of life comes into your mind, your body, your heart and finally merges with you, making you a veteran.

It’s not the war time that can make a man a man, but the peace days. The longer you wrestle with your own mind, the longer you survive, and the longer you stick around, the better chance you can resurrect as a free mind and a flying man.

Man can fly.