Fifteen lectures on traditional Chinese culture

Description

Contents Preface About the Author Acknowledgments Lecture One The Body’s Qi: Its Impact on Everything 1. No Fetishization of the Body Shape 2. No Aestheticization of Human Body 3. No Binary Oppositions Between Mentality and Physicality 4. Perceptive Experience and Telepathy Through Qi Lecture Two Food: The Emergence of Li and Culture 1. The Nature of Ancient Civilization 2. A Civilization that Emphasizes Eating and Drinking 3. The Tradition of the “Eating and Drinking” Mindset 4. Life and Religion in the Civilization of Eating and Drinking 5. Politics and Rites in the Civilization of Eating and Drinking Lecture Three Men and Women: Establishment of Moral Relations 1. Envisioning the Relations between the Two Sexes 2. Surnames, Clan Names, and Ancestor Worship 3. Ancestor Gao Mei and God 4. Hallmarks of Gender Thinking Lecture Four The System of Enfeoffment: The Establishment of a Home State 1. Respecting Humans and Deities 2. Institutional Establishment 3. Emphasis on Ethical Relationship 4. Critical Thought of China and the West Lecture Five Dao and Shu: Internal Saint and External King 1. The Feudal Codes of Ethics 2. The Wide-ranging Ritual System 3. Rituals Originating from the Primordial Unity Lecture Six The Heaven and the Human Beings: Communicating with Gods 1. Special Relationships between Gods and Human Beings 2. Non-transcendent Ruler of Heaven 3. People Not Waiting to Be Redeemed by Commandments 4. The Natural and Comfortable Way of Heaven Lecture Seven Royal Officials: A Rational and Ritualistic Society 1. The Classical Schools of Chinese Philosophy Originating from Official Academic Learning 2. Royal Officials Grounded in a Patriarchal System 3. Rationalized Type of Domination 4. Official Academic Learning with Social Vicissitude Lecture Eight Historiography: Historiographers and Historical Consciousness 1. The History of “Traditional Laws” Handed Down through Generations 2. The “History” of Traditional Laws Handed Down through Generations 3. The History of Traditional Laws “Handed Down through Generations” 4. Historical Thought Lecture Nine On Thinking: Thinking Patterns and Methods 1. Patterns of Thinking 1.1. Fundamental–Incidental 1.2. The Beginning and the End 1.3. Yin and Yang 1.4. Mean and Harmony 1.5. Relating Things to Numbers 2. Methods of Thinking Lecture Ten Expressing Sentiments: A World of Qi and Pleasure 1. All Creations are Produced by Wind, Qi, Sounds, and Music 2. Junzi is Cultivated Through Music and Dancing 2.1. Jing and Shen 2.2. Sound and Religion 2.3. Poetry and Phonetic Exegetics 2.4. Education of Poetry 2.5. Teachers and Confucian Scholars 3. Junzi is Aroused by Poetry, Affected by Sentiments, and Perfected by Music 3.1. Aroused by Poetry 3.2. Affected by Sentiments 3.3. Perfected by Music Lecture Eleven Tribulations: Commitment to the Politics of Virtue and Achievements 1. World: Empires Commanded by Heaven 2. Revolutions: Government Following People’s Will 3. Country: States Intertwined with Families 4. National Governance: State Affairs Different from Family Affairs Lecture Twelve The Duke of Zhou: A Saint King ofCultural Practice 1. The Duke of Zhou in the History of Thought 2. Mystery of the “Axial Period” 3. Creator and Expounder 4. Definer of Middle Kingdom 5. Enlightener of Propriety, Music, Culture, and Virtue Lecture Thirteen A Distorted Sense of Facial Makeup: Montesquieu’s View of China 1. Imagine the “Other” Far Off 2. Derogate the Morality of the “Other” 3. On the Special National Conditions of China 4. On the Social Stagnation in Asia 5. A New Perception of China 6. Pedigree of the Development of Thoughts 7. Montesquieu in China 8. Discovering History in History Lecture Fourteen Western Understanding of Chinese Culture through Law 1. Western Notions of Chinese Law 2. Overall Review: The Nature of Chinese Law 2.1. The Significance of Law in Ancient China 2.2. The Nature of Chinese Law 2.3. A Comparison of Roman Law and Chinese Law 2.4. Relation between Law, Ritual, and Custom 3. Specific Discussion: The Status Quo of Law Enforcement 3.1. Chinese Respect for Law 3.2. The Cruelty of Punishments 3.2.1. Prison administration 3.2.2. Judicial torture 3.2.3. Decapitation and punishment by dismemberment and lingering death ( ling che) 3.2.4. Explication of punishment execution 3.3. Arbitrary Judgment 3.3.1. The will of the judge 3.3.2. The abuse of the lynch law 3.3.3. Collective severe punishment of criminals 4. Beyond Bias and Misunderstanding Lecture Fifteen Alienation and Rebirth of Chinese Civilization 1. Evolution, Change, and Alienation: The Transformation and Developmental Modes of Civilization 2. Culture in Change: The Cultural Condition of Modern China 3. Tradition in Flow and Civilization in Rebirth 4. Mainland, Taiwan, and Overseas: Globalization and New Trends in Chinese Civilization Postscript Index