Essays ⁽³⁴⁹⁾

Last Friday I invited my guqin teacher over for a lesson. As he tuned my strings he said, "You've kept these strings stretched too long; they've gone bad and need repairing. From now on, loosen the strings when you're not playing, to protect them." To…

Over these two weeks, I have taken spare moments to clear out everything in my WeChat Moments except the links to my own articles. I deleted all the impromptu writing that ought to be deleted, and saved what was valuable, planning to organize it into…

In the small hours of May 3, 2012, my mother departed this world. On April 5, 2019, Qingming Festival, I returned to my hometown to sweep my mother's grave. Seven years have passed. I, who cheekily call myself a disciple of Zhuangzi, have finally let…

The rain had passed and the sky had cleared, the blue sky washed spotless. That morning, standing at the bridgehead and gazing into the distance at the Western Hills, they seemed right before my eyes. The Western Hills reminded me of the place where my…

On the third day of the first lunar month in 2019, I left my hometown because of an urgent matter. My child and his mother were still in the hometown for the New Year, visiting relatives and friends and attending various gatherings. For the month…

Until the age of forty, my life had always sought rapid growth and rapid development. Now I feel that rapid growth and rapid development go against the laws of nature; in all things it is better for a person to go a bit slower. Human…

After today, my Spring Festival is over, and the new year's work must begin again. In 2019, I pray for only one word: harmony (hé). I was born in 1979, and in 2019 I turn exactly forty. Confucius said that at forty one is free…

Today is the first day of the Pig Year. We humans domesticate pigs and eat their meat, yet we show them precious little respect; when we hurl insults at someone, the worst thing to say is "you stupid pig." Everyone wishes to be a bit…

Many people interested in TCM hope I can point out the way for them, talk about my insights in studying TCM, and guide them to enter the field. I have politely declined, for two main reasons. First, I myself am a half-full bottle, still in…

I first came into contact with the internet in 1998, after I entered university, and in a flash it has been a full twenty years. Because I love writing, what I have left online over these twenty years is chiefly the various words I have…