Latest Posts
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Daoist “De” – 德
i've been trending in a more Confucian direction of late. So, to balance things off a bit I'm just going to throw this out there…. As I have mentioned before, I like to understand the Chinese term de – 德… Continue reading
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Daniel Bell: A Chinese Confucian Party?
Daniel Bell published a piece last week in the Toronto Globe and Mail, "The Chinese Confucian Party?" For those who know Daniel's work, the argument here is familiar. He points to political reformers within the CCP (which is still the… Continue reading
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Eight Rows of Dancers…and a Lamborghini
In Analects 3.1 we read: Speaking of the Chi family patriarch, Confucius said: "Eight rows of dancers at this ancestral temple, as if he were an Emperor: if this can be endured, what can't be?" The Sage is bemoaning the… Continue reading
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Zhuangzi on Nationalism
This is going to be a bit round about, but bear with me… Today in my East Asia Nationalism class we were discussing Benedict Anderson's classic text, Imagined Communities. At one point, in considering the origins and rise of nationalism,… Continue reading
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Here on Earth: Confucius v. Avatar
Not sure how this is going to work, but below is a link to a download of a one hour radio show that I just did. The program is called Here on Earth. There is an audio link at their… Continue reading
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Learning Nationalism
In my class on East Asian nationalism were are reading the introduction and afterword of Liah Greenfeld's book, Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity. It is quite different from the Gellner book I mentioned in posts below. She is much more… Continue reading
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Han Han piles on Confucius
Chinese l'enfant terrible, Han Han, is merciless in his continuing critique of the Confucius movie. Chinasmack has the goods: The failure of Confucius is triumphant news for Chinese cinema, and perhaps a turning point in Chinese film-making. Thank you, people… Continue reading
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Busy…
I'm getting ready for two talks tomorrow. Here at Williams, I will be giving an international studies colloquium on "Confucianism as Soft Power" (would the Chinese title be: 以儒学为软实力?). The local poster is below (yes, I will mention the dust… Continue reading
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More on Confucianism and Modernity
My last post elicited a couple of excellent responses and, instead of simply burying the exchange in the comments section, I will bring them up here for a new post. First up is Justsomeguy, who points out: Well, for starters,… Continue reading
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Why Modernity Challenges Confucianism
The new semester has started. I am now busy with class preparation (I read everything that I assign for classes right before class so that it' s fresh…and that steals the time I have to read other things). And I… Continue reading
The Useless Tree 