Category Archives: Chinese Philosophy

BOOK REVIEW: “New Story of the Stone” by Jianren Wu [Trans. by Liz Evans Weber]

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New Story of the Stone: An Early Chinese Science Fiction NovelNew Story of the Stone: An Early Chinese Science Fiction Novel by Jianren Wu
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – Columbia University Press

This book is presented as a sequel to the Chinese literary classic (alternatively) known as Dream of the Red Chamber or Story of the Stone. The central character is a scholarly traveler by the name of Baoyu. The first part of the book is set in China around the time of the Boxer Rebellion, an event that features in the story. Throughout this portion, the book reads like historical fiction. However, Baoyu’s travels eventually bring him to a hidden realm, a technologically advanced utopia within China. It is here where Baoyu’s adventures get fantastical and otherworldly, and the book ventures into the domain of Science Fiction.

The setting of the book reminds me a little of Marvel’s Wakanda from Black Panther. Perhaps both instances of worldbuilding were motivated by the humiliated colonists’ fantasy of being more advanced than those who pull the strings for once, or of showing their (respective) lands to be places of “crouching tigers and hidden dragons” (i.e. where great talents exist but remain unseen.) (Note: While China wasn’t on-the-whole colonized by a Western country, its interaction with England and other Western nations left it forced to accept terms unfavorable and undesirable to China (not to mention the outright colonized enclaves such as Hong Kong and Macau.) While the publisher has emphasized the science fiction aspect of this work, it is an anticolonial work through and through. The book can come across as xenophobic and nationalistic in places, but this only reminds the reader of how such positions might be arrived at under the boot of foreign influence.

The book is readable though philosophical and is well worth reading for those interested in developing a deeper insight into Chinese perspectives.

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BOOKS: 千字文 [Thousand Character Essay] by 周兴嗣 [Zhou Xingsi]

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千字文千字文 by 周兴嗣
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A version with English commentary can be found at the IFA Gallery

This short work, consisting of just one-thousand characters, is first and foremost a teaching tool for children. While it presents a thousand of the most important Chinese characters, it also delivers lessons on history, ethics, philosophy, and culture by way of short sayings.

It’s arranged into 250 4-character phrases (125 sentences) and reads as a lyric poem, though because it dates to the Sixth Century, the degree to which the rhyme scheme holds varies depending upon the which spoken language one speaks (e.g. Mandarin, Cantonese, or Hakka.)

There have been different versions of this work over the centuries.

This is a much beloved work of literature among Chinese, though its sayings do not necessarily hold up as well as works like Sunzi’s Art of War or Laozi’s Daodejing. Some do, but most are much less relevant than when written.

As someone learning Chinese, I’d highly recommend this work as a way to expose oneself to language while gaining insight into Chinese culture.

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BOOKS: “Wen-Tzu” Trans. by Thomas Cleary

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Wen-TzuWen-Tzu by Lao-Tzu
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Publisher Site – Shambhala

This work is presented as “further thoughts of Laozi [老子].” Readers of the Dàodé jīng [道德经] will recognize many a familiar statement of that work, but this book is much more extensive and detailed. I say “presented as” because scholars no longer believe this was a product of Laozi and his lifetime (if such an individual ever existed.) For one thing, the book seems more syncretic than the Dàodé jīng, that is to say there are points at which it sounds strikingly Confucian — rather than purely Taoist.

As with the Dàodé jīng the Wénzǐ [文子] covers a lot of ground from metaphysics to individual ethics to political philosophy, but this book has more room to sprawl on each subject.

As with other Cleary translations, it’s a pretty readable translation.

I’d recommend it for readers interested in Chinese Philosophy.

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