Other People’s Thoughts is a section in the Journal of the China Heritage site. It is inspired by a compilation of quotations put together by Simon Leys (Pierre Ryckmans), one of our Ancestors, during his reading life.

Pierre remarked that the resulting modest volume of quotations was ‘idiosyncratically compiled for the amusement of idle readers’ (see Simon Leys, Other People’s Thoughts, 2007). Our aim is similar: to amuse our readers (idle or otherwise); as is our modus operandi: to build up an idiosyncratic compilation, one that reflects the interests of The Wairarapa Academy for New Sinology and its coterie.

In collecting this material, and by adding to it over time, we accord also with a Chinese literary practice in which quotations — sometimes called yǔlù 語錄, literally ‘recorded sayings’ — have a particular history, and a powerful resonance.

The most famous collection of recorded sayings is The Analects 論語, compiled by disciples of Confucius. Then there is the timeless 5000-words of Laozi’s The Tao and the Power 道德經, as well as the Chan/Zen 禪宗 tradition of what in English are known by the Japanese term kōan 公案, dating from the Tang dynasty. Modern imitations range from the political bon mots of Mao Zedong to excerpts from the prolix prose of Xi Jinping’s tireless speech writers, and published snippets from arm-chair philosophers and motivational speakers.

Other People’s Thoughts also finds inspiration in the ‘poetry talks’ 詩話, ‘casual jottings’ 筆記 and ‘marginalia’ 眉批 of China’s literary tradition.

— Geremie R. Barmé,
Editor, China Heritage
28 August 2024

***

Other People’s Thoughts I-XLVII:

• Other People’s Thoughts, China Heritage 

Other People’s Thoughts, XLVIII

It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.

— Gore Vidal

Here Be Dragons

Freaks are called freaks and are treated as they are treated — in the main, abominably — because they are human beings who cause to echo, deep within us, our most profound terrors and desires.

Most of us, however, do not appear to be freaks — though we are rarely what we appear to be. We are, for the most part, visibly male or female, our social roles defined by our sexual equipment.

But we are all androgynous, not only because we are all born of a woman impregnated by the seed of a man but because each of us, helplessly and forever, contains the other male in female, female in male, white in black and black in white. We are a part of each other. Many of my countrymen appear to find this fact exceedingly inconvenient and even unfair, and so, very often, do I. But none of us can do anything about it.

— James Baldwin, Playboy, 1985

丈夫未可輕年少

大鵬一日同風起，摶搖直上九萬里。
假令風歇時下來，猶能簸卻滄溟水。
世人見我恆殊調，聞余大言皆冷笑。
宣父猶能畏後生，丈夫未可輕年少。

— 李白，上李邕

The Madness of Musk

Musk, who controls a highly influential media platform, has a much documented history of promoting anti-trans views. He also loves sharing parenting advice with the world. One of the billionaire’s favourite talking points is that there is a fertility crisis and everyone needs to be popping out more children. He’s a little fuzzier on how people who don’t have billions in the bank are going to afford to look after all these children – perhaps because he doesn’t actually care about the kids themselves, he’s just interested in producing more cannon fodder for capitalism.

This obsession with making babies and apparent disdain for looking after children is one that’s widespread on the right. Republicans want to force women to give birth but they seem to have absolutely no interest in the welfare of these children after they exit the womb. There are a wealth of studies that show states with the toughest abortion laws have the weakest maternal support.

— Elon Musk’s 20-year-old estranged daughter responded to his rant about her, The Guardian, 27 July 2024

五狗干部

對待上級像“哈巴狗”。
對待下級像“狼狗”。
對待利益像“餓狗”。
對待群眾像“瘋狗”。
對待女性像“公狗”。

—— 網上流傳一個說法

Venn Diagrams

After a coup seized control of Argentina in 1976, they were banned from schools and textbooks, perceived by the ruling military junta as conducive to seditious ideas.  Suddenly, when we’re given this context, the seemingly innocuous Venn diagram sculptures of Amalia Pica resonate with subversive, historical significance.

— Illegal Venn Diagrams

When this underworld emerges …

There exists a subterranean world where pathological fantasies disguised as ideas are churned out by crooks and half-educated fanatics [notably the lower clergy] for the benefit of the ignorant and superstitious. There are times when this underworld emerges from the depths and suddenly fascinates, captures and dominates multitudes of usually sane and responsible people, who thereupon take leave of sanity and responsibility. And it occasionally happens that this underworld becomes a political power and changes the course of history.

— Norman Cohn, Warrant for Genocide: The Myth of the Jewish World-Conspiracy and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, 1966

Felix Diu Chun-hei at the Paris Olympics

When fencer Edgar Cheung Ka-long (張家朗) beat his Italian opponent to clinch gold, Italy launched a formal complaint alleging that the Taiwanese and Korean refs adjudicating the match were biased, simply by dint of also being Asian. Local branches of Pizza Hut responded with a special promotion on pineapple pizzas — a bid, if we may borrow the language of PRC state media, to hurt the feelings of the Italian people.

But you don’t have to win gold to win the internet. For another Hong Kong Olympian, sprinter Felix Diu Chun-hei (刁俊稀), it only took one appearance in the preliminary round of the men’s 100m dash. To understand why, you need to know a little about Cantonese swear words, amongst which “díu” (屌/) — a homonym for the athlete’s surname — reigns supreme. Like the F-word in the English language, “díu” can be used in nearly every context, and profanity-happy Hongkongers are often willing to give full play to its impressive versatility.

— Lingua Sinica Newsletter, 8 August 2024

毛主席不是封建皇帝的三十五個鐵證

一：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝於扯旗造反，奪得帝位之前，便不斷地搞大清洗、搞「整風」運動，洗腦自己的百姓，亂殺自己的同胞。
二：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝以「分田地」為許諾，鼓動農民起來造反，奪取帝位後，又將分給農民的土地奪回。
三：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝奪取帝位後不大赦天下，而是利用運動在全國進行大規模屠殺。洗腦百姓，讓幾億人天天喊自己萬歲。
四：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝以一個「引蛇出洞」的「陽謀」，一舉把全國50多萬知識分子打成「階級敵人」。
五：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝把「階級鬥爭」做為治國綱領，使盡陰謀陽謀，無休無止地挑動全國臣民鬥來鬥去，並且越鬥「階級敵人」越多。
六：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝相信糧食畝產10萬斤，諭令飢餓的百姓「糧食吃不了，一天可以吃五頓飯。」
七：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝對農民實行「共產」，把他們的財產掠歸集體，使其一無所有，如同奴隸；甚至將他們強行趕出家門，集中居住，名曰「軍事化管理」。
八：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝命全國農民吃大食堂，發現誰家有一點存糧，即強行收繳之。
九：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝，在本國人民啼飢號寒，無數人死於飢餓時，仍把大量食品物資白送給「兄弟國家」，無償支援他們「鬧**」。
十：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝詔令全國人民大煉鋼鐵，因為最昏聵的皇帝也知道鋼鐵不是靠土爐、礦石加木炭煉成的。
十一：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝讓人民一次「自然災害」就減少4000萬人口。
十二：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝讓沒文化的官僚群體管理全國各行各業，而把知識分子當作假想敵，認為他們「知識越多越反動」。
十三；中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝按自己的意圖划定框框，詔令全國文人按照他的指示寫作。
十四：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝煽動全國學生起來「造反」，慫恿他們抄家、搶劫、打人、殺人、砸爛文物古蹟、批鬥各級官員。
十五：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝為了達到某種政治目的，令全國學校「停課鬧革命」，又於目的達到後，把數百萬響應他的號召「鬧革命」、並無數次高喊「擁護」、「誓死捍衛」他的人發配到農村，強迫勞動，美其名曰「接受再教育」。
十六：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝為鞏固龍椅而發起十年運動，借助深受愚弄的百姓之手消滅政敵，除去開國功臣。
十七：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝讓全國臣民每天早晚朝拜、山呼萬歲、跳舞獻忠心。
十八：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝讓全國各地竪立他的雕像，讓全國家家戶戶掛他的畫像。
十九：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝每講一句話，就要讓全國人民敲鑼打鼓吹呼多少天，熱烈慶祝「最高指示」發表。
二十：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝讓大老婆（皇后）跳到前台，把持國家政治，操縱全國運動，而自己充當幕後指揮。
二十一：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝把數以千萬計的人民定為階級敵人，並將他們的上億親屬視為異類。
二十二：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝從登上龍椅開始就搞全國性整人、鬥人運動，一直搞到駕崩，駕崩之前還留下遺言，要「七八年再來上一次」。
二十三：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝把自己的文章編成書，把自己說過的話編成語錄，讓全國臣民學習、背誦，並把自己的語錄詩詞譜成歌曲，讓全國臣民傳唱。
二十四：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝把自己平時的講話稿、工作指示編成書，印上幾十億冊，拿取巨額稿費，同時剝奪全國文人拿稿費的權利。
二十五：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝把自己的思想強行灌輸給全國人民，只是借儒釋道加強思想統治。因此翻遍二十五史，也找不到「嬴政思想」、「劉邦思想」、「楊廣思想」、「李世民思想」、「趙匡胤思想」、「成吉思汗思想」、「朱元璋思想」、「愛新覺羅·玄燁思想」等詞彙。
二十六：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝敢說自己的思想是「世界**的燈塔」。
二十七：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝要當「世界**人民的領袖」，領導世界**。
二十八：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝敢誇海口，要「解放全人類」。
二十九：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝說自己是人民的「大救星」，因為只有佛祖釋迦牟尼、上帝耶和華那樣的神，才能稱為「救星」。
三十：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝敢不斷干涉別國內政，不是向別國輸送大批軍火物資，就是讓數萬、數十萬的子民到別國戰場上送死。
三十一：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝欺騙本國人民，「世界上還有三分之二的人民生活在水深火熱之中」，而自己是全世界最幸福的人。
三十二：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝能把人民愚弄得被窮死、餓死、整死還高呼萬歲，衷心祝他萬壽無疆，狂熱歌頌他英明偉大。
三十三：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝敢說自己「和尚打傘，無發（法）無天」。因為皇帝們可以不畏臣民，但不敢不敬畏上天，不敢不敬畏祖宗法度，即使是開國皇帝，也要尊崇堯舜。
三十四：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝死後不下葬，放在特意為他製作的房間里，裝在透明的棺材里，讓百姓隨意參觀他。
三十五：中國歷史上沒有一個皇帝從不刷牙洗澡的…

—白衬衫，《中國數字時代》，2012年12月7日

Beneath the Candelabra

In 1988, Thorson published “Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace,” a memoir about his time with Liberace. It included claims that the entertainer paid for Thorson to get plastic surgery, including a nose job and a chin implant, that made him look like a younger version of Liberace. During their six-year relationship, Thorson was part of Liberace’s Las Vegas act, appearing as his chauffeur — a gig that included driving the entertainer onto the stage, while outfitted in a rhinestone-encrusted uniform. Their relationship ended after Thorson got more heavily into drugs. He said Liberace bore some responsibility for his addiction, claiming that he began to abuse drugs after being prescribed quaaludes, amphetamine, cocaine and Demerol during recovery from the plastic surgery he underwent at the performer’s request.