Culture
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Arhats in a Dream
2003-08-16
During this time, he created portraits of sixteen Arhats, a portrait of a Buddha, and two portraits of Bodhisattvas in the Chinese style of painting using ink and water. In his paintings, boulders were enveloped by clouds and mist, while pines were knotted, serpentine, and dark green with ancient vines warped around them. The countenances of the Buddha, Bodhisattvas, and the sixteen Arhats looked ancient and rustic, yet superb and prominent, making them very different from similar portraits produced by other artists. -
Stories From Ancient China: Gou Jubo’s Courageous Righteousness Saves a Town
2003-08-15The invaders stood in awe of Gou Jubo and started to discuss this unusual turn of events among themselves. One of them said, “It appears that we depraved people have entered a town of morality and justice.” They all agreed. Thereupon they withdrew their forces and left the whole town untouched. -
Photograph: Plum Blossom
2003-08-13
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Stories From Ancient China: Besides the Gods’ Arrangements, Man’s Own Choices Also Affects One’s Life
2003-08-13Zheng Xiangru thereupon asked Zheng Qian, “Uncle, don’t you know that I will succeed in my examinations? Confucius said, ‘He who is capable of inheriting the Zhou Dynasty can be foreseen even a hundred generations in advance.’ I am only an ordinary person, but if Confucius were still alive, I would be at the same level as his second best students, such as Yan and Zi Xia, if not at the level as his best student Yan Hui.” Zheng Qian was quite astonished by his audacious comment on being able to foresee the future, so he tested Zheng Xiangru with several questions, which Zheng Xiangru answered with ease. -
Stories from Ancient China: Wei Zhao, A Master of the Book of Changes
2003-08-12The true masters of the Book of Changes in ancient Chinese times worked miracles in divination. They were capable of giving the finest details as if they had seen the future through the eyes of a god. Despite their incandescent capability in divination, the true masters of the Book of Change would never use it for personal fame or profit. They usually consciously avoided showing off their skills and remained unknown, which manifested all the more their noble moral standing. -
Did the Chinese Beat Columbus to America?
2003-08-11According to a book that was released in the United States, 1421: The Year China Discovered America, by Gavin Menzies, Columbus was about 70 years behind the Chinese. The author, a retired Royal Navy submarine commander and historian became fascinated with the Great Wall and the Forbidden City during a trip to China with his wife. This led to years of research on the Chinese Emperor Zhu Di. In the course of this, he learned about a Portuguese map from 1424 that depicted Caribbean islands. Subsequently he found other pre-Columbian charts of this and other regions that had come from the Chinese. -
The Lessons from Confucius and Past Emperors Ring True
2003-08-09The Analects of Confucius is widely considered to be the most influential text in the history of China and East Asia. The Prime Minister during the Northern Song Dynasty, Zhao Pu, claimed that half of the book, The Analects of Confucius, was written as a guide for governance. Zhao’s statement is valid. From the beginning of the Han Dynasty, all the Chinese dynasties for the next two thousand years have basically tried to govern the country according to the teachings of Confucius. -
Wei Zheng Comes to Believe in Heavenly Will
2003-08-07How do the gods determine our lives? One thing is for sure. It is guided by a very strict standard. Gods will reward a man based on the amount of virtue he carries from his previous lives. One’s virtue determines everything. This is why the Chinese people always remind each other to accumulate virtue by doing good deeds, and not to do bad deeds. -
Some Thoughts on Architecture
2003-08-05Architecture is humanity’s most spiritual embodiment of culture. Every stage of human civilisation has developed its own unique building styles, by either borrowing from past cultures or inventing original forms. Today, architectural relics from many distant ages remain, including little known works in the deep seas and deserts. Some of these appear remarkably modern. -
The Righteous Empress Yin and Her Brothers Embody Tolerance and Generosity
2003-08-04“Relatives of the wives of emperors are always greedy. They want all of their daughters to marry dukes and all of their sons to marry princesses. This disturbs me. One should be content with one’s lot in life. People who boast of their riches are often ridiculed.” Yin could not agree more. From then on she was even stricter with herself, never asking for positions or privileges for her family members. -
Photography: To Greet the Dawn With a Smile
2003-08-02
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A Story about Li Qiao
2003-08-01In ancient times, Chinese people believed that human society and the universe corresponded to one another. Changes in the human world were the result of changes in celestial phenomena, which could bring either good fortune or disasters to human society. One’s future was predestined and governed by cosmic laws, be it birth, ageing, sickness, or death. As to whether one can escape these cosmic laws or not, readers can draw their own conclusions from reading this ancient story. -
Complex Composition in Frescoes by Prehistoric Human Beings
2003-07-28Through a careful examination by experts, an image of a knight is found among the many animals. His sleeves are rolled up. He wears a vest, a broad belt, and a pair of boots. A dagger is inserted in the scabbard that is located at his left boot. The left hand of the knight is in the left pocket of his trousers. His long hair appears to be flying in the wind, which exactly looks like the image of an animal. How can primitive people at the late stage of the Paleolithic Age draw such a complex picture? Also how could they have know how to wear boots? -
Emperor Tai Zong of the Tang Dynasty, A Monarch of Great Virtue (Part II)
2003-07-27Emperor Tai Zong said, “An emperor is the source of a giant river and his officials constitute the giant river. If the source is contaminated, the river will be too. If I cheat my officials, how can I ask them to be honest? I wish to govern this land with the utmost sincerity; therefore, I often feel ashamed for those emperors who dealt with officials by using power and underhanded schemes." -
Stories from Ancient China: Emperor Tai Zong of the Tang Dynasty, a Monarch of Great Virtue
2003-07-22One day Emperor Tai Zong saw locusts in the imperial garden. He then picked up several locusts and said, “My people’s lives depend on crops, but you ate their crops. I’d rather you ate my internal organs than my people’s crops.” Then he started to swallow the locusts. The subjects gathered around Emperor Tai Zong exclaimed, “Pests like locusts will ruin your stomach!” Emperor Tai Zong replied, “I am willing to bear any plagues, I fear no diseases.” Then he continued to swallow the remaining locusts. It is said that the locusts did not do much damage that year.
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