WHAT A COINCIDENCE!

I was randomly browsing the Youtube today, and I found this great series. It's supported by a China-based global company Haier. The video is about traveling in China, from Qingdao to Beijing, Lhasa, and finally to the foot of Everest.

When I was watching the 4th episode above, which is about Beijing Olympics, I found 2 Canadian in the interview look very familiar ---- Wait a minute, I know these guys!

These 2 people from 5:32 are graduated from UVic. See the snapshot below.

To prove I actually met them, I have to show another picture too.

The Caucasian holding the "Welcome" is the right hand guy in the video. The Asian with shirt and tie is the left guy in the video. For those of you do not know me too much, the younger Asian male is me.

Isn't that a surprise I mean?

Taoism

The Yin and Yang is a concept originated from China. So far as I know, westerners know Yin and Yang too. My friend Dan has a picture of Yin and Yang in his bedroom.

Yin and Yang

Yin and Yang originally denoted different terrain in sunshine and in shadow respectively. Then this concept extended to everything. Yin and Yang describes two opposing and, at the same time, complementary aspects of any one phenomenon or comparison of any two phenomena. They are universal standards of quality at the basis of the systems of correspondence seen in most branches of classical Chinese science and philosophy.[1]

Taoism, the systematic view of the Yin & Yang, is an objective philosophy, kinda like a preliminary version of Dialectical Materialism. It believes that everything is in constantly motioning and transforming, so, nothing lasts for ever. It provides a holism that we all belong to some thing bigger than us, namely the Tao. According to this theroy, nothing happens alone. Everything in this world is correlated.

This philosophy is still pretty active in Chinese thinking nowadays. You can constantly see some people refer something as Yin or Yang, or their derivative. Also hereby Chinese believe in collective responsibility, like: Every Chinese is responsible to the rise and fall of China (天下兴亡, 匹夫有责).

Taosim contributed materialism, holism and objectivism to Chinese philosophy.

Confucianism

Another important original philosophy of China is the Confucianism. Confucianism was concieved by an educator lived in 5th BC, the Confucius. When he was alive, he was just an one-among-many not-so-important philosopher in China. However, after his death, as the First Emperor of China established Confucianism as the offcial theory of the Empire, Confucius and his theory started to become immortal.

The importance of Confucius to China is no less than Jesus Christ to the West. The book, Analects of Confucius (论语), summarized the dialogues and stories of Confucius and his students, was the most influential one in ancient China. We have a saying that "One can rule the world by half book of Analects of Confucius" (半部论语治天下). This book exists in every aspect of Chinese lives, even though most of Chinese haven't read it.

For example: Knives and forks as transformations of weapons of hunting, seems to be a straightforward way for eating utensils. Some scholars report that Sino-Countries use chopsticks instead of knives and forks is instructed by Confucianism. It's from where Confucius says "Righteous men should be away from kitchen" (君子远庖厨). So Chinese chop food to bitesize before serving to table. 
Chinese-world map. Dark green: Chinese world (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, Singapore, Taiwan). Light green: Areas with strong Chinese cultural influence (Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Vietnam).

This is just an example of how significant Confucianism to China. Several specific things brought by Confucianism:

Hierachical Society. Under the influence of Confucianism, all Sino-countries have hierachical social structure. People are tightly linked by parental, supervisory and teaching relationships. Everyone knows one's own position in the big picture. There is strict order of the whole society, and competition, a kind of waste, must be minimized.

In a hierachical society, people are not equal. Here, they are classified by age/experience, gender, education and occupation.

Age/Experience: In Canada, it is impolite to refer somebody as "old". Another word "aged" should be used. Well, in Chinese, the word "old" is positive. Like, if you are younger than me then you can call me as "Old Zhang", which is a title of respect. Further more, if you call me "Zhang old", it not only means I'm old, but also I'm somebody very important. Another example is in Sino-countries, senior students have power over junior students. When I ran the association in Chinese University, kids called me "elder brother in study" (师兄), which sounds very weird in English but normal in Sino-countries.

Gender: Like other ancient cultures, traditionally males has power over females.

Education: Since Confucius himself was an educator, he took the education as a standard to judge people. I think this exist in all successful cultures, because education is really important for development. Western culture too are crazy about the title "Dr.".

Occupation: Generally speaking, headworkers are considered prior. Today, you can still observe people behave meanly to waiters or cleaners, whom are seen as lower class. People rarely talk to others in lower classes. Most Chinese even unware this themselves, but it does exist.

Atheism & Pragmatism. I am very happy to see that Confucius wasn't a religious, so we can be spared from those God crap. Everything he discussed was focused on people, kinda like the ancient version of "for the people, by the people, of the people". Comparing to illusive God, ghost and afterlife, he cared more about living people.

Influenced by him, we Chinese are atheists inside. All Chinese dynasties have historians specified for recording the history. In those history record, all Chinese emperors who are religious are scoffed as clowns. On the other hand, those who banned religions are described as wise men.

Asceticism. This part of Confucianism believes in self-control and self-questioning. One should quit all enjoyments and fight tempters before greatness is achieved. There is no easy way to success. I guess the diligency of Chinese nation is from this point.

Confusionism has more and stronger other influences on politics since it was applied as the official theory in the first time. But to the nationality, hierarchy, atheism, pragmatism and asceticism, those are all I can get.

Buddhism

Although the Buddhism to China is considered as one of three most important traditional ideology along Confucianism and Taoism (儒道释三家) , I don't think it's as influential as previous two.

The reason is, when Buddhism came to China, it's too late. Confucianism and Taoism had deeply rooted in Chinese culture already. So it had to change itself to be accepted. Actually, that happened all over the world. There are differences between Buddhisms in different culture backgrounds. Let's see it by comparison.

Japanese monks can get married, while Chinese Buddhism cannot even have sex. On the other hand, Tibetan Buddhism, incorporated with local Shamanism, is the most primitive one of all.[3] Actually, it is too brutal so that some Buddhists refuse to call it Buddhism, intead, they use the word Lamaism. Lamaists not only can have sex, but also include sex as part of their ritual. By the way, those rituals too include sacrifice people alive.

A statuary of Buddha having sex

Unlike Lamaism, Zen (禅) the Chinese Buddhism, mixed by Confucianism and Taoism, is a very peaceful branch. Zen cares more about inside peace. It's definitely not political. While Lamaism, is theocracy. Zen monks have to work. They say "no working, no eating." (一日不做,一日不食). Conversely, Lamaism monks make their living by praying. (and of course, enslaving serfs.) Zen also provides pragmatic and holistic world view. Asceticism is also another characteristic of Zen. Zen has the most strict commandment that Zen monks cannot have sex, cannot drink, eat meat or even spicy food like onion and ginger. For Lamaism, even Dalai Lama himself is not a vegetarian. All these are believed form Confucianism and Taoism.

 
A token of Zen. Kinda like Yin & Yang?

The only new concept I know Buddhism brought to China is karma. Nonetheless, Buddhism still has its impact on China. Today, most Chinese consider sutra as wisdom words instinctively. But for Christian Bible, it's just some superstitious madness.

To sum up, Taoism, Confucianism and Buddhism are three major ideologies in ancient China. But now, it has been changed so much, due to the upheaval in the past 50 years. And this will be my next article of this series.

Coming soon: Chinese Culture (3) Democracy and Communism

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yin_yang
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greater_China
[3] http://energygrid.com/spirit/free-tibet.html

Last week, I wrote my first cheque in my life. I was extending VISA, and I needed a certification from Uvic. The secretary of department checked my files, and unfortunately, found I had been mistakenly given 606$.

Then I had to write a cheque to return.

I never noticed that. I don't know how much money I get. I know the approximation, but I don't know the exact number. Some people can even trace the cheques' day every month. I still can't. Why bother? I mean, I don't have any big plan of spending. So as I can make ends meet, I don't care. Making money is important, but it's not the time yet.

The bottem line is: Counting money doesn't make you any richer.

A western scholar wrote: "All nations claim they are the best in the world, but only Chinese really believe that." It makes sense.

Chinese culture, by all means, is arrogant. It's straightforward. Chinese civilization, in most of its long history, is the sole superpower in its own world, and far more advanced than surroundings. Once being strong, arrogance comes along. Let's take a look at American for better understanding. US has been leading the world, like, only 100 years? They are arrogant this much already. So how about leading the world over thousands of years? It must have some influence in the culture.

Chinese world view is simple. The world is divided into two part: what belong to China, and what do not. The word "foreign" or "foreigner" in ancient Chinese language, Yi (夷) , is the same word means barbarian or even contempt. On the other hand, the word China or Chinese, Hua (华) , also means prosperous or splendid.

The comforting part is, Chinese identity is not based on blood. To be a Chinese, you don't need genetically being one. Traditionally, you are a Chinese as long as you accept the culture. One can draw this conclusion from the origination of the China totem, the Chinese dragon. The Chinese dragon is an imaginary animal combining the resemblances of many others, include eagle, cows, camel, horse and others. Some scholars report that the first legendary Emperor of China Huang Di (黃帝,Yellow Emperor) used a snake for his coat of arms. Every time he conquered another tribe, he incorporated his defeated enemy's emblem into his own. That explains why the dragon appears to have features of various animals.[1] Chinese culture was tolerant and open. In the golden age, when the GDP of China was 70% of entire world, there were over 1,000 foreign families living in the capital of Tang Dynasty, Chang An. And many of ministers and generals by that time were not ethnic Chinese. It was the diversity made Chinese culture imperishable.

 
However, as it's being said, pride makes empires fall. It is literally what happened to Chinese Empire. Succeeding in certain way blocks other probabilities. China began to lock herself and be hostile to outside world. She thought she was almighty, thus refused to progress anymore. Also the intrusion of nomads, the Nazi or Communism (if you are a Westerner) to agricultural civilizations, weakened the China too. That's when China began to fall.

The half-colonized period is refered as humiliating history by us, which was the dark time of Chinese history. Chinese found China wasn't the "Heaven Kingdom" anymore. On the other hand, she was one of the poorest and most benighted countries in the world. The Chinese world view was changed. People started to doubt on their own culture. They start turning to the West and Japan. That's when foreign ideologies like the Democracy and Communism came to China.

Once fell, the "Chinese or Not" dualism conversely became a huge burden. In subconscious, most Chinese think there are only 2 countries in the world: one is China, and another is "foreign country". And apparently, people in "foreign country" live better lives. The inferiority complex spreaded. I even heard a kid asked me (exact translation) : "What's wrong with our country? Why foreigners have high quality? And whay foreign countries are so wealthy and fair." ---- Well, if you talked about the Western countries and the Westerners, I would say it's a controversial question and let's discuss it. But, "foreign countries"? I don't really think the life in Afghanistan is better.

That's all water under the bridge now. The pride of being Chinese was somewhat back. I am delighted to see China is rising again, with more realism. We have new words for foreigners with no contempt. "Wai guo ren" (外国人), is a exact translation from the English word foreigner. For example, I am a "wai guo ren" in Canada. Correct. Well, to some extent, I think the Sino-Centralized view didn't change too much. The word "wai guo ren" is too formal to say in real life, so when we mention foreigners, usually we use another word "lao wai" (老外) as colloquial expression. It is this word reveals the way of Chinese thinking. According to Chinese grammar, "lao wai" is just an abbreviation of "Wai guo ren". However, if you think about it, the meaning is not as the same. Instead of "foreigner", "lao wai" actually means "not a Chinese". For instance, in China I'm Chinese, but in Canada I'm still not "lao wai", Canadians are.

Since there is no counterpart for "lao wai" in English, many Chinese use the word foreigner instead, which makes jokes. I saw several times, when Chinese refered Canadian as foreigners, they opposed: "I think you are the foreigner here." Haha, sometimes I do that too, subconsciously. This word doesn't mean anything negative. It's just a certain way of thinking. Should I invent a new word like "non-Chinese" in English? It sounds nationalism though. But ... why do I try to use the word anyway? There is no "non-Canadian" or "non-American" in English, but my "lao wai" friends can handle it. ^_^ Anyway, it's bad. It means I do not think in English when I speak.

Another interesting thing to observe is how Chinese use the word "lao wai" when talk in Chinese. The definition of the word actually varies according circumstances, which shows the flexibility of Chinese nation identification. Who have Chinese citizenship are definitely not "lao wai", plus people in Hongkong, Macao and Taiwan. For those ethnic Chinese from South Asian, they passed the Chinese culture as well as the language from generation to generation, they are too not "lao wai" to us. That's understandable. What surprise me is, some Chinese Canadian, they don't speak any of Chinese languages, they haven't been to China and they don't know things about China. To me, they are definitely more Canadian than Chinese. But still, they are unlikely to be called as "lao wai". Nonetheless, this is not based on ethnicity, at least not too much. Tibetan Chinese, Korean Chinese and Mongol Chinese are not "lao wai" neither. To sum up, the meaning of this word is really inexplicit.

As I said, Chinese world view is dualistic: Chinese, and non-Chinese. It doesn't mean we are nationalism enthusiasts. It may be annoying, like Jews claim they are the only chosen ones. Well, what can I say? You cannot make everyone happy. I believe all superpowers in the history of mankind have the same ideology, like today's United States. The only difference is their history is too short to has impact on the language.

To be continued ....

Coming soon: Chinese philosophy in the past and present.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_dragon

AWRU, The Academic Ranking of World Universities, is considered as one of the most credible ranking of higher learning, having been cided by the journal Economist. The methodology takes many aspects into account, which is believed to be unbiased. Other rankings have similar results. Since AWRU is one of the most famous ones, we use it as our reference.

In AWRU, Uvic is ranked 203-304 in the world, 99-138 in North America and 8-17 in Canada.

Seems fair to me.

However, I still cannot tell how good Uvic is from the ranking, because I don't have any instinctive sense about the relative ranking in the world. Well, I know Chinese universities a lot. So why don't I just compare Uvic to them?

There are 14 Mainland Chinese universites on the list out of top 500 in the world:

1 of them has higher ranking than Uvic, 151-202 in the world. It's Tsinghua University.

5 of them have the same ranking as Uvic, 203-304 in the world. They are Nanjing University, Peking University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, University of Science & Technology of China, Zhejiang University.

Other 8 have lower ranking. They are Fudan University, Jilin University, China Agriculture University, Lanzhou University, Nankai University, Shandong University, Tianjin University and Zhongshan University.

Still seems fair to me.

Notice that the effect of size is already under consideration, so large population of students and staff doesn't benifits in AWRU. Furthermore, if you ask, I want to say that Chinese universities are underestimated. By looking into the criterian, we can see that the accomplishment of alumnus weights much. For Chinese universities are newly rising power, they don't have gorgeous past but splendid future.

In this sense, European universties are falling.

I don't think Uvic is as good as the Chinese universities with the same ranking, say Peking University. One of my friend, Jason, is going to have courses in Peking Universty, due to some exchange project. He said he is a bit afraid, because he heard that students there are really smart. Yes, compared to those in Uvic, they really are. Sometimes the rumor is true.

It makes perfect sense. Suppose all races are equally intelligent. Assume Uvic is of top 13 universities in Canada, and Peking U is the top 5 out of 500 universities in China. Canada has population of 30 million? Maybe Uvic gets the top 20% students. On the other hand, China has 1.3 billion population. Peking U takes 1% the most qualified kids in China. Top 1% in 1.3 billion, which means geniuses.

This goes to a long controversial question that the factor makes people great is innate or postnatal. Frankly, I suggest both, 50 to 50. Uvic, comparing to my previous university in China, does have better management and courses. That helps for some extent but not for all. Speaking for the truth, some people are more talented than others in this world. If you are as tall as Yao Ming, you can be a good basketball player. It's not that obvious in intelligence, but it does exist. I'm tutoring students in Uvic. Sometimes I think, gosh, if these kids were in China, they would never make it to a university like Peking U.

If you believe that people are born differently intelligent, then it's no denying that Chinese universities have the best. And now the rising China has the economy can back them up. More and more scientists select to go back China not only because patriotism, but also profit. In the years to come, Chinese universities will be going up dramatically.

The last exam is over. There is one whole month before the next semester. I didn't know I would have such a long break. I should take the advantage for homecoming.

Well. First, I didn't plan for this trip, so I don't wanna hustle. Second, other things are coming, so China can wait. Anyway, I didn't expect I can actually rest during "break". My response is more like the 3rd year student below.

It's only one course left now, and it doesn't matter. "Take the easiest course," My professor said. "now you should focus on your research." He gave me a bunch of fancy gadgets as well as tasks during break. 

They are programmable sensors I should work on. I think it's cool. I'm looking forward. And It's something practical that helps in career. I'm tired doing research only on my labtop. The world is bigger than that.

My former research, the shortest path problem assigned by my supervisor, was too theoretical that nobody would never pay me to do. We have theory group in our department. They do math. So why don't we just leave those Big O Notations and Inequalities to them?

When I first came to this grad school, I wanted to do something with AI. Now I don't take it serious anymore. Survey shows that AI is the field that most scientists want to work on. AI is cool but it doesn't pay that much in career. We can draw this conclusion from I couldn't get any fund when I applied to study AI as a grad student, so I had to change it to my current supervisor.

Let's be realistic. I don't even register the course "Artificial Intelligence" this summer.

I was recruiting a tour guide for Yan's supervisor in Beijing. A guy sent a resume lists his advantages. One of them is "main force of university basketball team". It's not English. It's Chinese English.

We were working in the consultant office by then. A Canadian kid saw the resume too. He got confused and asked: "What's main force?"

"It's starter." I answered. The meaning of the Chinese word is either starter or star. I just happened to know the word because I am a NBA fan. But, if I didn't know the word, I wouldn't call myself "main force" neither, no matter how important I think I am to the team. ^_^ Instinct would tell something amiss.