Welcome to this forum. The reason for using Big5 is we need some of the words for discussing classical Chinese literature and often those words are not available in the GB format, or if they are available, they would not convey the meaning. I am using the most popular software developed in China, by Richwin. A problem of the simplified fonts is that words sometimes are substituted with a simpler word of similar sound. But it loses the meaning. I am a supporter for using simplified characters and have been learning and using them since 1950s when they first became available. I believe it can be improved. Now, often we have to use them interchangeably.

Thank you for writing to me.

I have devoted a great deal of my time in the past 5 years on this website. The task is much larger than one person can possibly accomplish. My hope is that other people, more able than I, will produce many more websites on various aspects. I also hope that you and others will contribute to this website as well.

Regarding the question of traditional vs simplified fonts, let me give you a bit of the background ,rationale, and difficulties.

A major part of my work is devoted to the classics, with almost nothing of the 20-century. I wanted to provide primary source reference materials, with as much reliability as possible. Since the original source documents are written in traditional font, it is natural and logical to use traditional font here. It has nothing to do with the preferences of Mainland or Taiwan at all.

When I started 5 years ago, few viewers had Chinese browsers. I found it necessary to convert the Chinese text to graphic (GIF or JPG) fonts. It takes a lot of time, disk space and long download time as well. But there was no choice.

Recently, as more people avail themselves with Chinese browser, or English browser with Chinese fonts added, it has become possible to have pages coded in actual Chinese text (either BIG5 or GB). These are much faster to download. Further, there is no need to have two versions, one BIG5 and one GB, because your browser can automatically recognize the text and disply them in the font of your choice. This is remarkable but true.

You will find that one of the two "Table of Contents" is in fact coded in GB.

Hopefully some one will help with the development of more GB materials.

Thanks again for writing to me.

Perhaps you can provide the kanji. That might help. The pronunciation in Japanese is quite different. Sometimes it is hard to guess. You might also give more information on how you heard about it and what your interest is on this martial art.

I do not know anything about the particular Martial Arts you asked about.

Thank you for your comments. I do not have pages dealing with Chinese dress of the 16-17th century, and have no plans to add them at the present.

You may search past issues of Art Magazines such as Asian Arts, which should be available at good university libraries. I remember seeing articles not too long ago.

You gave a very vague description of your sculpture. It is impossible to know what you have.

As a mininium, you must take a good photo and upload it with as much desciptions about it as you can.

Mahler - "Lied von der Erde"
(song of the earth)

Dear Siu-Leung, the two poems in modern Chinese IMHO seem to be the following below. Out of the cycle's six poems,the 2nd one is "The lonesome in the fall", the 3rd one is "On young people" - the 1st one's title is Li T'ai-po "Drinking Song on World's Misery", the 4th is also Li Bai: "On Beauty", the 5th poem Li's famous "Drunken in Springtime", with its first line quoting Chuang-tzu, the 6th one ("Farewell") is a mix after Meng Hao-jan ("World drunken of life") and Wang Wei ("Hsia4 Ma3") -
I must admit that I like the German translations below, esp. nr. 3; nr.5 was also beautifully transferred by Prof. G. Debon.

2. Der Einsame im Herbst after Chang-Tsi (c.765 - c.830) - for contralto / baritone

Herbstnebel wallen blaeulich ueberm See;
Vom Reif bezogen stehen alle Graeser;
Man meint, ein Kuenstler habe Staub vom Jade
ueber die feinen Blueten ausgestreut.

Der suesse Duft der Blumen is verflogen;
Ein kalter Wind beugt ihre Stengel nieder.
Bald werden die verwelkten, gold'nen Blaetter
Der Lotosblueten auf dem Wasser zieh'n.

Mein Herz ist muede. Meine kleine Lampe
Erlosch mit Knistern, es gemahnt mich an den Schlaf.
Ich komm' zu dir, traute Ruhestaette!
Ja, gib mir Ruh', ich hab Erquickung not!

Ich weine viel in meinen Einsamkeiten.
Der Herbst in meinem Herzen waehrt zu lange.
Sonne der Liebe, willst du nie mehr scheinen,
Um meine bittern Traenen mild aufzutrocknen?

3. Von der Jugend after Li-Tai-Po (701-762) - for tenor

Mitten in dem kleinen Teiche
Steht ein Pavillon aus gruenem
Und aus weissem Porzellan.

Wie der Ruecken eines Tigers
Woelbt die Bruecke sich aus
Jade Zu dem Pavillon hinueber.

In dem Haeuschen sitzen Freunde,
Schoen gekleidet, trinken, plaudern,
Manche schreiben Verse nieder.

Ihre seidnen Aermel gleiten
Rueckwaerts, ihre seidnen Muetzen
Hocken lustig tief im Nacken.

Auf des kleinen Teiches stiller
Wasserflaeche zeigt sich alles
Wunderlich im Spiegelbilde.

Alles auf dem Kopfe stehend
In dem Pavillon aus gruenem
Und aus weissem Porzellan;

Wie ein Halbmond steht die Bruecke,
Umgekehrt der Bogen. Freunde,
Schoen gekleidet, trinken, plaudern.

You may find English translations at www.recmusic.org. BTW, some time ago, we had already discussed this topic on the forum - try the "search" function of CTB.

(Just saw that Bethge's version of Wang's "Farewell" is pretty huge, Debon is far better:

Abschied

Ich stieg vom Pferd und reichte dir den Wein
Und fragte dich, wohin du gingest.

Du sagtest: Hatte in der Welt kein Glueck,
Will heim, will ausruhn in des Suedbergs Gruenden.

Dann also geh! Da fragt dich keiner mehr,
wo weiss die Wolken ziehn und nimmer schwinden.

G. Debon)

Alfred

http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de
Traces of Butterflies' Dreams - "Tieh Meng Hen"
My Poetry

In case you cannot read GB code, I converted Siu-Leung's input to GIF.

Go to Su Shi's Main Page , click on "Selected poems in gif", and the poem is the last one on this page.

You might have some information on the German symphony "Song of the Earth" based on two Tang poems. Can you share with us? They were translated into modern Chinese as follows (in GB codes, I hope you can still read them using IE5):

À¶É«µÄÇïÎíÃÖÂþÔÚºþÃæÉÏ£¬ Çà²ÝÒ¶×Ó¸²¸Ç×ÅÑÏ˪£¬ ºÃËÆ»­¼Ò°Ñôä´äËƵÄÂÌ·Û£¬ ÇáÈöÔÚ½¿Ä۵Ļ¨¶äÖ®ÉÏ¡£ ÏÊ»¨ÒÑʧȥËüµÄ·Ò·¼£¬ º®·ç½«»¨¶ä´µÂäÔÚµØÉÏ£¬ ã°Ð»³É½ðÉ«µÄÁ«»¨£¬ ¼´½«Ë沨µ´Ñú¡£ ...... ÎÒÒÑÀ§¾ë£¬ µÆÒÑϨÃð£¬ÓÕÎÒÈëÃߣ¬ ³¤ÃßÖ®µØ°¡£¬ÎÒÒÑÀ´µ½ÄãÕâÀ ´Í¸øÎÒƽ¾²°É£¬ÎÒÐèÒªÐÝÏ¢¡£ ÎÒÐÄÖеÄÇïÈÕ¹ýÓÚÂþ³¤£¬ ÎÒÔڹ¼ÅÖÐà¨Æü£¬ Ç×°®µÄÌ«Ñô°¡£¬ÄãΪºÎ²»ÔÙ·ÅÉä¹â⣬ Ç×ÇеذÑÎÒÍ´¿àµÄÀáˮɹ¸É£¿

ÔÚÄÇССˮ³ØµÄÖÐÑ룬 ØùÁ¢×ÅÒ»×ùÂÌÉ«ÁðÁ§µÄСͤ£¬ ÉÏÃæ¸Ç×Å°×É«µÄÎÝÍߣ¬ ºÃÏñÊÇÃÍ»¢µÄ¹­±³Ò»Ñù£¬ ôä´äµÄСÇÅÍäÍäµØºá¿çµ½Ð¡Í¤ÉÏ¡£ ÅóÓÑÃÇÔÚͤÖÐÏà¾Û£¬ ´©×Å»ªÀöµÄÒÂÉÀ£¬ Òû¾Æ³©Ð𣬸³Ê«×÷ÀÖ£¬ Ë¿ÐäÍϵأ¬Ã±´øÆ®´¹¡£ ÔÚƽ¾²µÄºþÃæÉÏ£¬ Ò»Çж¼ÆæÒìµØµ¹Ó³³öÀ´£¬ ÂÌÉ«µÄÁðÁ§Ð¡Í¤£¬ ¸²¸Ç×Å°×É«µÄÎÝÍߣ¬ ÐÂÔÂÐεÄÍäÇÅ£¬ ÓÌÈçµ¹Á¢µÄ¹­¡£ ÅóÓÑÃÇÔÚͤÖÐÏà¾Û£¬ ´©×Å»ªÀöµÄÒÂÉÀ£¬ ËûÃÇÒû¾Æ¡¢³©Ð𣬠¸³Ê«¡¢×÷ÀÖ¡£

Chi Cheung, I just found one poem that could match the one you're looking for, published in 'Song Shi Yi Bai Shou', page 36: Su Shih, "Hai T'ang". Sorry, for technical reasons I cannot display the Chinese character text for the moment so write it in pinyin:

Hai tang

Dong feng niao niao fa(n) chong guang
Xiang wu kong meng yue zhuan lang
Zhi kong ye shen hua shui qu
Gu shao gao zhu zhao hong zhuang

Su Shi

(The notes of 'Song Shi Yi Bai Shuo' say: "hong zhuang" - zhi de shi hai tang hua).

I am aware that the first line cited by you, doesn't go together with the above poem - so maybe I am wrong with it. It can easily be that there exists a similar poem by Su Shih not included in the volume '100 Sung Poems'.

BTW, Stephen and Siu-Leung, how do you like the rhymes in Mandarin!!!

Alfred

http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de
Traces of Butterflies' Dreams - "Tieh Meng Hen"
My Poetry

Dear Siu-Leung

Thanks for giving us the pharmacological components of Ma Fei San Âé·ÐÉ¢ and for pointing out about the work of Bian Que ±âȵ, actual name Qin Yueren ÇØÔ½ÈË, in the philosophical book, the Liezi ÁÐ×Ó. You may be right that anaesthetic might have been used in Bian Que¡¯s time, in which case we can antedate the discovery of anaesthesia by another five hundred years before Hua Tuo ÈAÙ¢. However, for general anaesthesia, it is more widely accepted that it came with the herbal concoction, Ma Fei San, discovered by Hua Tuo. Hua Tuo was noted in Dun Li¡¯s ¡°The Ageless Chinese: A History¡± to have performed open-heart surgery in the third century AD, but Dun Li did not quote his reference. Between Bian Que and Hua Tuo, I would find it more likely that Hua Tuo had attempted a cardiac operation with the help of Ma Fei San, though I doubt that the poor patient would have survived.

With due respect to the Liezi, the heart transplants that Bian Que performed sounded more like a fairy tale, similar to those mythological works of the legendary Medical Trinity of Fu Xi, Shenong and Huangdi. According to the book ¡°History of Chinese Medicine¡± ÖЇøátÊ· by Drs. K.C. Wong Íõ¼ªÃñ and W.Lien-Teh ÎéßBµÂ, pub. 1936, the Liezi related that Bian Que had two male patients, Kong Hu of Lu and Qi Ying of Zhao. One had a strong will and a poor physique, and the other had a weak will and a strong physique. Hence, Bian Que persuaded them to have an exchange of heart. He then gave them herbs which caused them to fall asleep for three days during which time he transplanted the two patients¡¯ hearts in mutual exchange. Believe it or not, both survived with different personalities and their respective families had to be reassured that they were healthier than before.

I noticed you were doubtful about the heart transplant. Any surgeon, even a lay person, would have questioned the success of cardiac transplant without modern day cryo-stabilization of the heart tissues as well as without empty stomach pre-operative preparation. Hence, doubtlessly, I can discount that such major operations, like cardiac and abdominal surgery, could not have been successfully performed by either Bian Que or Hua Tuo. Nevertheless, Bian Que, considered by some to be the Father of Chinese Medicine, certainly mastered sphygmology (art of pulse palpation), good clinical history and examination, and treatment with acupuncture, herbs and moxibustion. My fellow medical colleague and regular contributor, Dr. Stephen Hwang, should be able to comment more.

The Liezi, originally thought to have been composed by Liezi himself in the fifth to fourth century BC, is now known to have been written by someone else at about the third century AD, just before the commentary on it by Zhang Zhan around 370 AD. It is debatable whether there was a Daoist master called Liezi. However, the book is considered the third major Daoist classic after the Laozi and the Zuangzi ׯ×Ó. The stories in the Zuangzi and the Liezi can be supernatural or ¡°transcendental¡±. The Zuangzi mentioned in its first chapter that the master, Liezi, could travel for days riding on the wind. In the Huang Di chapter in Liezi, there is a story of the drunk falling off a cart and not hurt because he was relaxed and did not brace himself as normal people do. How much is figurative and how much is factual again belongs to the realm of mysticism and imagination. I think it is safer to accept the Zuangzi and Liezi as philosophical works than historical documents.

Sima Qian gave a write-up on Bian Que, but apparently he collected all the tales about Bian Que from various ancient works and combined them into a connected story. The two stories of a) medical secrets passed by his dying tutor, Zhang Sanjun, éLÉ£¾ý and b) the ¡°dead¡± Crown Prince of Guo ë½¹ú brought to life, were said to belong to the real Bian Que, i.e. Qin Yueren ÇØÔ½ÈË. The three stories of a) Duke Huan of Qi ýR»¸¹« not listening to Bian Que¡¯s advice until he (the Duke) succumbed to the fatal disease, b) the unconscious Zhao Jianzi's Úwº†×Ó revival after seven days¡¯ of stupor, and c) the murder of Bian Que by his rival, Li Xi, Àîõµ the royal physician to the Qin King, were claimed in the ¡°History of Chinese Medicine¡± as related to another physician of the same name called Bian Que, but not Qin Yueren. How would the authors know which stories fitted the real Bian Que?

Although Bian Que did not leave behind his record of his experiences, the Nan Jing ÄѾ­ or Difficult Classics, (which discussed the 81 passages from the Nei Jing ÄÚ¾­), also mentioned Bian Que. His work on pulses was mentioned in the book ¡°Pulse Classic¡± Ã}½› by Wang Shuhe ÍõÊåºÍ in 280 AD. Hence, it is safe to conclude that there was such a famous person called Bian Que, and he might even have an imposter. Sieving medical facts from fiction was not the fine art of Chinese historians who were more used to political intrigues and philosophy. Hence, Sima Qian was very accurate in many historical events, but his write up of Bian Que, reviving so many people in prolonged coma, cannot be accepted as facts but rather as a honest collection of stories about a highly respected physician. Sima Qian also wrote on another physician, Chunyu Yi, of the Western Han period of Emperor Wen Di.

There are so many notable physicians in the long history of China. The three most famous were Bian Que (born ? 410BC), Hua Tua (born ? AD145) and Li Shizhen Àî•rÕä (born AD 1518). The other well known ones include: a) Zhang Zongjing éLÖÙ¾° (born ? AD142), who wrote on febrile illnesses and typhoid, b) Sun Simiao ŒO˼åã (born ? AD580), who collected a medical compendium called the ¡°Thousand Golden Prescriptions¡±, inclusive of sea-weed (iodine) and beans (Vitamin B), c) Song Ci ËδÈ, who published the first book in the world on Forensic Medicine in 1247.

During the Ming Dynasty, the Yao Wang È™Íõ Medical Temple in Shaanxi dedicated to Sun Simiao, had a unique way of giving free prescriptions. The medical sripts were carved into stone slabs (steles) and the patient could take rubbings on the steles with ice paper. Of course, there was no guarantee of wrong diagnosis! And another interesting fact is that the Chinese first used small pox vaccination, which was introduced to Turkey and to Dr. Jenner.

Tin-Kay

"One thing it does not cover is the irreversibility of time function. But who knows. Can light and time come back in cycle from infinity?"

indeed, this is a real interesting question: I'd answer: No! The T'ai-Chi symbol is a *rotating* 'picture', i.e,. it first of all stands for 'motion' (change, transition, cycles etc.). Motion etc. is *in* time and symbolizes the *cyclic* structure of time, yet the end of the 'circle'cannot be the beginning of the same cycle, but just the start of a new one - and so on. (And every single segment/place/point of the 'ring' is both, ending and start in one.)
Only this 'motion' quality (beautifully indicated in the circle-shaped symbol) makes 'life' go on - or still better: is creating life, or *is* life itself! It's comparable to a spinning top or water flowing - stop its movement, and it will fall or there won't be a wave any more: cessation of the movement, the standstill of time means/is death! But the symbol of yin-yang or t'ai-chi means life and time! In my opinion, it cannot symbolize 'eternal' movement, because eternity is out of time, maybe the contrary of time - the cessation of all being! 'When' this will occur, the spinning t'ai-chi will tumble and fall to immobility, (then, there will be no 'when' any more).To speak in terms of physics: the electrons will stop to circulate around their kernels, the planets no longer spin around their suns etc. and crash into one big nothing.

Chung Liang Al Huang once depicted a t'ai-chi symbol with a white hole in its centre: maybe this indicating the motionless final big emptiness! Thus, this symbol could even bear and comprehend its very opposite: ... eternal death

Alfred

http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de
Traces of Butterflies' Dreams - "Tieh Meng Hen"
My Poetry

Alfred

http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de
Traces of Butterflies' Dreams - "Tieh Meng Hen"
My Poetry

According to legends, it was FuxiShi ¥ñ¿ª¤ó who invented the Yin Yang logo. I don't think it matters in any way you look at it as it is circling and dynamic. ¥Í¥Í¤£®§¡A´`Àô¤£¤w¡C

The logo symbolizes unification of contrasting forces ¹ï¥ß²Î¤@. The two are counteracting yet each evolves from, or penetrates into, the other. Tracing the edge, each force/matter grows and eventually diminishes to allow the other to emerge. There is no end and no beginning. Black is in white, and white is in black. There is nothing absolutely pure. Neither exists alone without the other. They are countering each other and balancing each other.

From elementary particle physics, to biological sexuality, to social interactions, to astronomical bodies, to aesthetics, one can find relevance. It is the most intriguing symbol of all. I am perpectually amused by how accurate it discribes the universal laws at such ancient time with such simplicity. One thing it does not cover is the irreversibility of time function. But who knows. Can light and time come back in cycle from infinity?

It seems to me that everyone knows it, yet no one knows it. Is the symbol above shown correctly? Or is it upside down? Rotate 90% to the right? To the left?

Every one simply copies from some one else, without doing any research. I cannot find an authoritative source for this. Can anyone help?

I don't think Lao Tze invented it? But who did?

The use of plant medicine for anesthesia started in 500 BC with Bian Chue who was said to "drug" people and then performed heart-exchange surgery.(Liezi¦C¤l)
¾|¤½±¯¡B»¯»ôÀ¦¤G¤H¦³¯e¡A¦P½Ð«óÄN¨Dªv¡A«óÄNªv¤§¡A¬J¦P·U¡C¿×¤½±¯¡B »ôÀ¦¤ê¡G¡u¦¼Ä䤧©Ò¯e¡A¦Û¥~¦Ó¤z©²Âê̡A©TÃÄ¥Û¤§©Ò¤w¡C¤µ¦³°º¥Í¤§¯e¡A »PÅé°ºªø¡A¤µ¬°¦¼§ð¤§¡A¦ó¦p¡S¡v¤G¤H¤ê¡G¡uÄ@¥ý»D¨äÅç¡C¡v«óÄN¿×¤½±¯¤ê¡G ¡u¦¼§Ó¾Ê¦Ó®ð®z¡A¬G¨¬©ó¿Ñ¦Ó¹è©óÂ_¡C»ôÀ¦§Ó®z¦Ó®ð¾Ê¡A¬G¤Ö©ó¼{¦Ó¶Ë©ó±M ¡C­Y´«¦¼¤§¤ß¡A«h§¡©óµ½¨o¡C¡v«óÄN¹E¶¼¤G¤H¬r°s¡A°g¦º¤T¤é¡A­å¯Ý±´¤ß¡A ©ö¦Ó¸m¤§¡A§ë¥H¯«ÃÄ¡C¬J®©¦pªì¡A¤G¤HÃãÂk¡.

I can't say for heart exchange, but the anesthesia probably was known then. Hua Tuo probably learned it through some documentation.

Dear Yoon-Ngan

You have done a wonderful write-up on Hua Tuo. The summary is a concise story of Hua Tuo's rather misty life history.

May I add that the actual name of Hua Tuo is still debatable. The name Hua Tuo is not his real name and came from the Indian God of Medicine. Also, the circumstances leading to his death at the hands of Cao Cao, the cunning and capable Prime Minister of the declining Han court, were historically vague. One version, as written by you, is that Cao Cao wanted him to be his personal physician, and when Hua Tuo disappeared, Cao Cao felt that Hua Tuo had defected to his enemies. On capture, he was executed.

Another version, mentioned that he was treating Cao Cao's illness (?migraine?tumour), and when he advised Cao Cao to have a brain surgery, he was suspected of trying to kill Cao Cao. Being the ultra-paranoid that he was, Cao Cao took no chance and had the physician executed, so that he could not continue his good work for any enemy. Hua Tuo's death also had two versions, one being a death in prison from sickness and torture, and another by heheading.

The tragedy of Hua Tuo was a great loss to Chinese and world medicine. Hua Tuo was definitely an enlightened physician, very versatile in all forms of medical art. He was an exponent of acupuncture and excelled in surgery. Guan Yu, the sworn brother and famous general of Liu Bei, who was later diefied as Guan Gong, the Chinese God of War, had an arrow head removed by Hua Tuo while he was playing a chess or board game. As a child, I remembered a picture of the strong warrior, Guan Yu, with a calm disposition and playing chess while Hua Tuo was cutting the back of his chest. Hua Tuo also encouraged calisthenics (body exercises) far ahead of his time. His medical experience in the book that you mentioned was lost to all posterity when the prison warden burnt it for fear of being discovered while in possession of it.

In spite of his greatness, I must caution that some writers went overboard by attributing open heart surgery to him. He obviously had tried trephining (boring a hole in the skull for brain tissue removal)as the Incas of ancient times were also noted to have done. He might have tried abdominal surgery, but I doubt many of his patients would have survived sepsis. He was also said to be an expert in gynecology, a subject usually reserved for Chinese midwives.

Yet, he was well ahead of his time, bearing in mind the dislike of the Chinese for surgery, to advocate surgical intervention, especially for abscesses and dermatological problems. Also, interestingly, he used a plant, (as you mentioned) called Ma Fei San or Ma Fu San, as anaesthetic, surely the first time in the world that a physician has used anaesthetic. When I was in Chengdu recently, I found the hua jiao (flower chilli) to have an anaesthetic effect on the tongue. I wonder why the Chinese or Western pharmacologists have not get a pure extract of these plants for anaesthetic use.

I hope Jerry will be stimulated to do more research on Hua Tuo, surely the greatest of Chinese Physician.

Tin-Kay

You can find this and other stories by Han Fei Zi at this website.
From the homepage, click on "Story/Parable."
Or, go there directly at http://www.chinapage.org/story/story.html

It is indeed remarkable that Chinese historians from 2,000 years ago recorded these events in great details, and not only are they preversed until today, we can still read the original texts easily, as our resident scholars showed.

In the story of "The old man at the northern border who lost his hores" also tells how his horse recognises the way back and it brings along with it a whole bunch of fine horses.

Dear Kim

You are right that it was Han Fei Zi who wrote about this interesting tale of the old horse which knows the way. The idiom implies a person of experience or ¡°a wise old owl".

The true story occurred during the Spring and Autumn Period when the minority tribe in Shanrong Kingdom (ɽÈÖ¹ú) attacked the state of Yan (Ñà¹ú). Yan appealed to the State of Qi (Æë¹ú) for help and Qi Huangong (Æ뻸¹«), the Duke of Qi, decided to lead the troops himself, accompanied by his wise minister, Guan Zhong (¹ÜÖÙ). The Qi troops defeated the Shanrong army and pursued the King of Shanrong into the Kingdom of Guzhu (¹ÂÖñ¹ú).

Although the Qi army was victorious, the campaign dragged on from spring into winter. When the Qi troops finally wanted to return home, they found the roads and landscape covered with snow, without any proper passage way despite sending out their scouts. Reaching this deadly impasse, the Qi army was trapped. Then Guan Zhong came out with the idea of setting out some old horses free to roam about. Sure enough the old horses were able to find the way out.

Han Fei Zi, himself, had a colourful life as he was a political philosopher of the Marchiavellian mould. He was born in 280 BC in the state of Han (different from the later Han Dysnasty of Liu Bang) during the Warring States Period. He felt that human beings are basically self-centered and the benevolence of virtuous rulers to set a good example for governmental conduct as proposed by Confucius and Mencius was ineffective. In his views, the government needed two ¡°handles¡±, viz. Reward and Punishment. He belonged to the Legalist school which combined law, power and statecraft into a effective, impersonal but regimented state organisation.

Han Fei Zi was initially not called for service by his own native ruler, the King of Han. When Qin was bent on attacking Han, he was sent as an envoy to Qin, whose King, later to become the First Emperor of China (Qin Shi Huangdi) , promptly imprisoned him. The Qin Prime Minister, Li Su, who was Han Fei Zi¡¯s former fellow student and Legalist, then persuaded the Qin king to execute him with a poisoned drink in 233 BC.

Li Su, himself, met his doom when the Qin Dynasty fell, and the people he sought shelter with had to report him, under the pain of death, to the authorities under the very Draconian law that he enacted for Qin Shi Huangdi.

Tin-Kay

- Front page
New York Times
December 19, 1999

An outdated URL seems to attribute it to Han Fei-zi:

{HYPERLINK "http://click.hotbot.com/director.asp?id=9&target=http://www.gio.gov.tw/info/sinorama/8505/pcut_e0.html&query=Han+Fei&rsource=LCOSW1"}Sinorama Magazine - Stories Told in Chinese Paper Cuts: An Old Horse Knows the - An Old Horse Knows the Road Meaning:An experienced person is familiar with a particular situation, and therefore is able to judge it accurately. Source:From "Han Fei Zi--Comments on Various Topics fro.

http://www.gio.gov.tw/info/sinorama/8505/pcut_e0.html

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

Kim Marie Wood

It is a collection of short essays on his personal experience at different places in China. Part of it is on the internet web. I would recommend reading on the Dunhuang chapter. You would need to have GB fonts to read it.
http://www.home.sj.net.cn/~zhouwei/whkl.htm

And about the author:
http://www.xinhuabookshop.com/book/author/yu-qy.htm

I have not read any new Chinese books for a while. Reading the few chapters on the net urges me to buy this book. It has been a bestseller for quite a while.

I wrote a number of emails to you and have yet to receive any acknowledgement from you.

Please send an email to me from a working email address ASAP

During this time, I shall spell out some policies and guidelines which I shall expect everyone to honor and follow, not just to the letter, but in spirit as well.

Ming