The Use of the Useless — Zhuangzi

The Tower of Reading 無用之用 This is the eighth selection from Zhuangzi in Studying Short Classical Chinese Texts by Zhong Shuhe 鐘叔河，念樓學短·莊子十篇之八》。Here we focus on the expression 無用 wú yòng, ‘useless, impractical, futile’ and the phrase 無用之用 wú yòng zhī yòng, ‘the use of the useless’.… Read

‘That which cannot be taken away’ — Analects

The Tower of Reading 不可奪志 This is the third selection from the Analects of Confucius in The Tower of Reading, or Studying Short Classical Chinese Texts, by Zhong Shuhe 鐘叔河，念樓學短·論語十篇之三. Here the focus is on the term 志 zhì, which Simon Leys translates as ‘free will’.… Read

‘I’ll drag my tail in the mud’ — Zhuangzi

The Tower of Reading 曳尾塗中 This chapter in The Tower of Reading focuses on a text in Zhuangzi selected by Zhong Shuhe 鐘叔河 for Studying Short Classical Chinese Texts 《念樓學短·莊子十篇之三》。The title of Zhong’s selection of ten excerpts from the Zhuangzi is 曳尾塗中 yè wěi tú zhōng, ‘drag one’s tail in the mud’, which is also the name of this chapter.… Read

‘Everything flows like this’ — Analects

The Tower of Reading 逝者如斯   This is the second chapter in Studying Short Classical Chinese Texts by Zhong Shuhe 鐘叔河，《念樓學短·論語十篇之二》。The title of Zhong’s selection of ten excerpts from the Analects of Confucius is ‘Everything Flows Like This’ 逝者如斯夫, a line from the Analects that is also the Chinese title of this chapter, sans the emphatic particle 夫 fū.… Read

A Day for Humanity — Ai Song the artist & the poet Xu Zhangrun

Xi Jinping’s Empire of Tedium 人日節   The 16th February 2024 marks the Seventh Day of the First Lunar Month of the jiachen Year of the Dragon. In China, ‘The Seventh of the First’ 正月初七 is celebrated as ‘The Festival of Humanity’ 人日節 rén rì jié, also known as 人慶節 rén qìng jié.… Read