Latest Posts
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Egypt is not China
Let me put on my contemporary Chinese politics cap for a moment to comment on the horrible events unfolding in Cairo. I notice, on Twitter, that comparisons are already being drawn between the violent crackdown on Egypt and the Beijing… Continue reading
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Daoism as the Core of Chinese Culture
"Confucianism" is often taken as a metonym for "Chinese culture." It's easy to see why: the educated elite in imperial China, who themselves had to master the Confucian classics, had a material interest in asserting the cultural preeminence of those… Continue reading
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East Asia is not a Confucian Region: The Survey Research Evidence
I am closely reading Doh Chull Shin's book, Confucianism and Democratization in East Asia, for a review that will emerge later this year (or early next). It's quite good: deeply researched with a complex argument. I wanted to note here,… Continue reading
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Daoism and the Diffusion of Trauma
The title of this piece in yesterday's NYT Sunday Review caught my eye: "The Trauma of Being Alive." After wondering if it was a riff on the first of the four noble truths of Buddhism (it wasn't), I myself slipping… Continue reading
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“An Era of Lost Faith”?
A piece in Caixin about a questionable qigong "master," brings up a larger point, one that provides some insight into China's current cultural climate. In considering why successful business people and government cadres seek out spiritual guidance from questionable sources,… Continue reading
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Speaking of Chinese Philosophy
In the course of my recent trip to China, I gave several talks on Chinese philosophy. On three different occasions, with three different groups of Williams College alumni and students, I discussed pre-Qin texts and how we might think about… Continue reading
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Chinese Middle Class Aspirations
Just returned to the US after a three week China trip. The jet lag is starting to clear, and I can finally return to the blog. I wasn't able to write as I traveled because, at first, the pace of… Continue reading
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Walter Benjamin and the Task of Translating Confucianism
It's been a while since I posted, and that is due to my impending China trip (leaving early tomorrow AM!). Although the first portion of the journey is largely fun, escorting a group of alumni from my college to various… Continue reading
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It’s Hard Out Here For A Daoist
A disheartening, if not completely unexpected, story in China Daily today (h/t Sinocism) on the ways in which the growing materialism of Chinese society is undermining the practice of Daoist religion: Taoist abbot Yuan Zhihong has a complicated attitude toward… Continue reading
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Confucius on Why a Reversal of the Verdict is Necessary for June 4th
It's a sad day, a day of remembrance of the hundreds and hundreds of people (we still do not have a definitive count) killed by the PRC military in Beijing. I was in Nanjing back on that black day twenty… Continue reading
The Useless Tree 