Thought Essays ⁽¹³⁷⁾

If a person speaks by first considering his stance, then that fellow is suited to be a politician, because he will be supported by many who share his stance. If a person speaks by first considering reason, then that fellow is suited to be a…

No achievement comes by luck. Human wisdom develops through day-by-day accumulation, like gathering fur to make a coat. To achieve anything in any field requires investing a great deal of time and energy. Therefore, a person who wants to achieve something in a professional field…

In 2007 I wrote on Tianya under the pen name "Chai Sheng." In those days my learning and personal cultivation were shallow, and I stirred up many disputes. One netizen, "00 Xiao Hu 00," of great learning and refinement, constantly protected me and guided my…

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — The United States Declaration of Independence (1776). Lovers of…

Have you ever tried to think from his standpoint? If he thinks that way, there must be his reasons. — Master Xuecheng In anthropology there is the concept of "the Other." The researcher and the researched belong to two different cultures, and each is the…

Many times, as I publish articles online, people will call on me to step forward and become a public intellectual. The title "public intellectual" leaves me bewildered. What is a public intellectual? Does "public" mean that I myself have acquired some representative authority? Representing whom?…

Qian Zhongshu, that "unruly genius," once mocked so-called symposiums, saying they are "actually just inviting a motley crew of people to eat some unhygienic food, spend some murkily sourced money, exchange some insipid remarks, and hold a thoroughly incongruous meeting." Those words strike a chord…