China and the West

Cao, Fu. Yuehan Duwei pi pan yin lun [ID D28696].
Chao Fu urged that criticism of Dewey should begin with a critique of his anti-Marxist, reactionary positions. While Marxism has been regarded as the absolute truth and guiding principles for all undertakings, including education, in the People's Republic, it has been constantly doubted and critized by Dewey, both in his lectures in China and in his writings on political and social philosophy. For example, while Marxists believe in using methods of violence to overthrow the old system, Dewy advocates the use of methods of intelligence or other nonviolent measures to gradually change and improve society. Marxist theory predicts that as capital squeezes out competition, the workers will become poorer and poorer, while Dewey argues that the workers will come to fare better and better as a result of competition. Marxists claim that Communism will inevitably win the final victory in the world, while Dewey maintains that the future is highly uncertain.

John Dewey : Shortly after the Communist takeover of the Chinese mainland, organized efforts were made to criticize and discredit John Dewey's philosophy and its practical influence in China. This began in a number of articles singling out for attach Dewey's educational philosophy, grew into a vehement and systematic campaign directed against Hu Shi but usually involving Dewey as well, and continued sporadically through the articles and books directed either against Hu Shi or Dewey himself, or against pragmatism as a school of though. This reaction might be considered a continuation of the 'radical' response already discussed earlier, except that, this time, the earlier radicals have come into power. Indeed, Chen Duxiu himself has been discredited much earlier. The reactions of the 1950s are entirely negative. There is no longer any discussion of pros and cons, any impartial analysis of Dewey's thought and influence. What we have is a thoroughgoing critique of Dewey's pragmatic theory of truth, his experimentalist methodology, as well as his social, political and educational philosophy. The criteria for criticism are derived from Marxist theories and are assumed to be themselves free from error. Dewey is criticized for being an idealist, who regards as truth only the data of subjective experience, and neglects the reality of the objective world. The pragmatic theory of truth is attacked for being relativistic and diametrically opposed to the absolute verity of the materialist interpretation of the laws governing class struggle and historical development. Dewey's social, political and educational theories are regarded as serving the interests of American capitalism and imperialism.

Pound, Ezra. Confucian analects [Lun yu]. [ID D29065].
http://www.ostasien.uzh.ch/sinologie/forschung/chinaundderwesten.html. Appendices.
1950
Note to Pound's translation of The Analects. In : Hudson review ; no 635 (1950).
"During the past half-century (since Legge's studies) a good deal of light has been shed on the subject by Fenollosa (Written character as a medium for poetry), Frobenius (Erlebte Erdteile) and Karlgren (Studies of sacrificial bone inscriptions)."
1997
Mary Paterson Cheadle : The Analects are composed of 482 chapters that are grosped into twenty books. It approaches its many subjects from various exegetical angles. Images of lieght and ideals of orderly government that are crucial in The great digest and The unwobbling pivot are not privileged over other terms and concepts. Other terms and concepts are newly introduced and some of these are poignantly appropriate to Pound around 1950 : the process and practice ; humaneness, total humanity, or manhood ; verbal fidelity and the importance of rites ; also, the role of the Confucian gentleman out of office as well as in office ; the importance of love and friendship, of learning, conscience, and beauty ; the proper attitude toward illness, death, the death penalty, and war. The defeat of Fascism and the crisis of events in Pound's own life jarred him, for the moment, out of the didactic form of study he had pursued for so long, reminding him that there was still as much to be learned as to be taught. The Analects is in part his expression of his relationship to Mussolini's Fascist movement and a preliminary exploration of what his new relationship to post-World War II America might be.
The Analects XIII.9 prescribes the priorities of a Confucian government ; XII.7 : armaments are the least important of the three necessities, food is more important, and most important of all is the people's 'faith' in their ruler ; XV.4 is presented as a result of the sovereign's introspectively based self-discipline. The last book Yao, Shun and Yu are celebrated for their realization of ideal rule.
Pound continues in The Analects to interpret individual words and passages with respect to the principle of verbal precision. Balanced against the despairing desire for no words are two responsibilities The Analects also gives to the Confucian in respect to language, both having to do with fitting the word to some nonverbal referent, an action or a thing, a subjective or objective experience. The concept of verbal definitions is crucial to Pound's interpretation of Confucianism around 1950 : as a whole, he claims in his 'Note to This New Version', The Analects is not 'a continuous narrative' or 'a collection of fancy ideas', but 'should be considered rather as definitions of words, and a number of them should be taken rather as lexicography, as examples of how Kung had used a given expression in defining a man or a condition'. Precise self-definition is the first responsibility of the Confucian in respect to language ; the second is the correlation of words and actions.
Some of the ceremonies referred to in The Analects are performed to the spirits of the land or ground, others to the spirits and powers of air, others to thee spirits of imperial ancestors.
Many issues and themes having special personal relevance as well as special didactic value for Pound around 1950 is the ritual of mourning outlined in several passages.
War is another subject that because of its relevance to Pound is treated with special expressiveness or, in passages where this may not be the case, should be read with special attention.
Regard to military aggression in The Analects presents another contradiction between Pound's Confucianism and his belief in the Fascist project. Another contradiction between Pound's Confucianism and the belief he had in Fascism is posed by the treatment of the death penalty. Subjects such as illness and death, war and the death penalty, have a great deal of poignancy for Pound.
Like the word 'conscience', the word 'beauty' is an aspect of his reinterpretation of Confucianism. 'beauty' does not always means 'true' or essential beauty, but sometimes false or merely superficial beauty.
The Analects concentrates more on Confucian earthly and celestial realms : the necessity of looking in one's own heart, mind, conscience, and of cultivating knowledge in order to make oneself sincere, or, in Pound's definition, in order to find the 'precise verbal definitions' of one's heart, mind, conscience.

Ezra Pound was engrossed in Confucian translations. Apart from making draft versions of The Analects and the Odes he prepared the bilingual edition of The great digest & The unwobbling pivot with reproductions of rubbings from the Tang Stone-Classics. Willis Meeker Hawley (1896-1987), a Hollywood bookseller and sinologist have him the idea of the Stone-Classics. James Laughlin of New Directions forwarded him a letter from Fang Achilles, suggesting consistent and correct spelling of Chinese names in Cantos 52-61. Fang offered to compose a note on the Stone-Classics and decided to come to Washington to meet Pound. During this meeting, Fang handed over to Pound a list of recommended changes in the Romanization of Chinese names and Pound accepted them. The first meeting was followed by vigorous exchanges of letters. Fang sent him the Shu-jing in the original and at Pound's request Fang gave him an account of the 'Thirteen Classics'. After reading though some of these volumes, Pound came to the conclusion "All the answers are in the FOUR BOOKS". As a dictionary compiler, Fang was able to answer Pound's trying queries about Chinese dictionaries, evaluating in specific terms their respective strengths and weaknesses. With Mathews' Chinese-English dictionary he was able to study Chinese sound, even its tone.

Gary Snyder and China : general
Quellen
[Chinese and Buddhist literature].
Chang, Kwang-chih. The archaeology of ancient China [ID D13609].
Confucius. [Texts].
Elvin, Mark. The pattern of the Chinese past [ID D12822].
Fenollosa, Ernest. Epoch of Chinese and Japanese art [ID D5101].
Fenollosa, Ernest. The Chinese written character as a medium for poetry [ID D22141].
Frodsham, John D. The murmuring stream [ID D19382].
Gernet, Jacques. Daily life in China on the eve of the Mongol invasion. (Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 1962).
Grousset, René. The empire of the steppes. (New Brunswick : Rutgers University Press, 1970).
Kahn, Paul. The secret history of the Mongols : the origin of Chinghis Khan : an adaptation of the Yuan ch'ao pi shih. (Berkeley, Calif. : North Point Press, 1984).
Karlgren, Bernhard. Glosses on the Book of odes [ID D3516].
Laozi. Dao de jing.
Marco Polo. The travels. (New York, N.Y. : Penguin, 1958).
Needham, Joseph. Science and civilisation in China.
Payne, Robert. The white pony [ID D32201].
Pound, Ezra. [Translations of Chinese poetry].
Fairbank, John K. ; Reischauer, Edwin O. East Asia [ID D8482].
Hawkes, David. Chu ci : the songs of the South [ID D14573].
Sherman, E. Lee ; Wen, Fong. Streams and mountains without end. In : Artibus Asiae (1976).
Siréen, Osvald. The Chinese on the art of painting [ID D29304].
Sowerby, Arthur de Carle. Nature in Chinese art. (New York, N.Y. : John Day, 1940).
Ssu-ma Ch'ien. Records of the grand historian [ID D10059].
Su, Tung-p'o [Su, Shi]. Su Tung-p'o : selections from a Sung dynasty poet [ID D10954].
Sullivan, Michael. On the origins of landscape representation in Chinese art. In : Archives of the Chinese Art society of America ; vol. 7 (1953).
Sze, Mai Mai. The way of Chinese landscape painting. (New York, N.Y. : Vintage, 1959).
Suzuki, Daisetz Teitaro. [Texts].
Tang shi san bai shou du ben. [300 Tang poems]. 唐詩三百首讀本
Tuan, Yi-fu. China. (Chicago, Ill. : Aldine, 1970).
Waley, Arthur. [Translations of Chinese poetry].
Watson, Burton. Chinese lyricism [ID D10951].
Yoshikawa, Kôjirô. An introduction to Song poetry [ID D10945].
Zhuangzi. [Works].

Sekundärliteratur
1972
Wand, David Happell Hsin-fu [Wang, David Rafael] : Gary Snyder found in classical Chinese poetry in translation a sense of the harmony of man and nature 'better and to me more accurate than anything in English or Western poetry tradition'. Being a mountain-climber, Snyder finds a spiritual affinity with the Chinese landscape poet Xie Lingyun. He also admires Wang Wei and Yuan Zhen. Snyder finds no simple rule or rules for translating Chinese poetry. Being a Buddhist like Wang Wei and Wei Yinwu and being steeped in the tradition of China, whose culture he has studied, he is adequately trained to be their interpreter. Believing fully that 'whatever is or ever was in any other culture can reconstructed from the unconscious through [Zen] meditation. Snyder subscribes to the theory that a poet is a medium through whom other voices or spirits would distill and speak. Being thoroughly immersed in the translation and explication of Chinese poets as Han Shan, Wang Wei and Wei Yingwu, he penetrated into the essence of these classical Chinese poets and emerges as their twentieth-century American medium. Totally identified with them in his Zen outlook and sensibility, he not only lends the Chinese poets his voice but also fuses with them so skillfully as to make us wonder if he were their poetic reincarnation. With his Taoist-Zen orientation, Snyder believes only in the constancy of flux. Just as the Taoists believe that water is the highest good, because it is characterized by eternal fluidity, Snyder subscribes to no fixed principle about prosody, but tacitly agrees that organicity and spontaneity are the bases of satisfactory rhythm in poetry. As the rhythm of the Chinese poems is totally incomprehensible to those unfamiliar with the sound pattern and tonal variations of the Chinese language, a knowledge of Chinese prosody might have contributed to Snyder's use of syllabic count and stress patterns in some of his short poems. Snyder has learned a lesson from classical Chinese poets. And this lesson can by summarized as : make the poem as compressed as possible and omit all words that do not absolutely contribute to the image.
1986
Yip Wai-lim : It is no accident that Snyders early Amerindian studies, his love for Taoism and Chinese landscape poetry and his Ch'an Buddhist training all converge into one center of awareness where man becomes truly 'moral' by trusting his natural being and by 'following the grain'. The primitive mode of perception of nature was concrete, viewing things as holistically self-complete ; it was a state of total harmony between man and nature before polarization. The Taoist philosophy and esthetic at work in Chinese landscape poetry seeks the restoration of the original mode of perception, giving back to things their own status and their natural endowment and function, allowing them to emerge from their silent world as self-generating, self-conditioning, self-complete beings. In Snyder's paraphrase, this is 'the non-human, non-verbal world, which is the world of nature as nature is itself, before language, before custom, before culture. Ch'an Buddhism, which also give primacy to this world, attempts to teach man, through intuition and poetic flashes in the form of 'kung-an (koan), to live and function within nature's way ; to do this by a process of dispossessing the partial and reduced forms that intellectualization has imposed upon him and which has thus distorted his original commerce with nature's potentials. For Snyder, the underlying principle is the complete awareness of all the beings in Nature as 'self-so-complete' or 'tzu-jan' as the Taoists and the Chan Buddhists would say. It is upon this ground that a new humanism is to be built or rebuilt.
2007
Robin Chen-hsing Tsai : Snyder claims that Christianity desacralizes nature. His knowledge of nature, along with his life experience and proclivity toward direct action, leads to his dual vision of verse-making : 'A poet faces two directions : one is to the world of people and language and man and society, and the other is to the nonhuman, nonverbal world, which is nature as nature is itself, and the world of human nature – the inner world – as it is itself, before language, before custom, before culture'. From a Zen-Buddhist perspective, the poet is strongly convinced that 'the notion of emptiness engenders compassion. Snyder's idealization of the other stems from his deep involvement with the cultural other in/of Eastern thinking, including (Tibetan) Buddhism, Taoism, and Zen Buddhism (in China and Japan). He writes poetry so as to arouse our 'ecological consciousness' in response to the call of the other. Generall speaking, Snyder's notions of the other are threefold : 1) the human other ; 2) the nonhuman other ; 3) the 'other in the self' or ecological unconscious, 'the wild'. Snyder is both romantic and anti-romantic in his attitude toward 'freedom' in nature, in part because the art of the wild, being 'abyssal', 'disorderly', and 'chaotic'. He looks to the East for religious and cultural inspiration, hoping that the Zen Buddhist's conception of compassion will help achieve and East-West fusion.
2009
Robin Cheng-hsing Tsai : Gary Snyder was much influenced by the Beat generation and countercultural movement of the fifties and sixties, which closely linked anti-establisment politics with non-Western (especially Asian) religions and modes of thought. He attempts to sensitize us to the constant disruptions of our environment by rationalized, capitalist and essentially Western technology. Poet and translator as well as radical ecologist, anarchist-pacifist and Native American mythographer, Snyder was also a disciple of Confucianism, Daoism and Zen Buddhism. These cross-fertilizing influences form the basis of his eco-poetics. Snyder's translation of Chinese literature, in particular poetry and Buddhist scriptures, has been instrumental in (re)shaping his imagination of the local and the global. His interest in Asian texts and philosophies has been a crucial element in his expression of a transcultural, post-civilizational, post-human 'culture of wildness'. In Snyder's view, Western discourse of the human and social sciences has been uncritical of the centrality it has historically accorded to culture, civilization and man.
A very important 'Other-culture' for Snyder is ancient China. In addition to its Daoist-Buddhist spiritual values, which recognize the vital importance and centrality of the earth in a way that the Western or Middle Eastern monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity, Islam) do not. Chinese civilization has a very old writing system that includes historical, religious-philosophical and literary texts. This means that the rich ancient culture of China is readily 'translatable'. Snyder's literary and cultural translation of traditional Chinese literature, mostly classical poetry and Zen-Buddhist texts, helps Western readers to see that their horizon of expectations is too narrow and that they need a much wider and more encompassing cultural-environmental imagination. Snyder readily admits the enduring creative influence of Chinese landscape paintings on his imagination that began with the visit to the Seattle Art Museum.
2009
Joan Qionglin Tan : Snyder developed his ecopoetic way by absorbing a variety of influences from global subcultures : American Indian culture, Hinduism, Japanese haiku, Japanese Nô plays, Chinese classical poetry, Chinese landscape painting, and different branches of Buddhism. His works cover Indian Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, Huayan Buddhism, Chan Buddhism and Rinzai Zen, whereas his daily practice is 'zazen' ('sitting in meditation') as a Zen practitioner. What he adopted in his poetry is consistent with his belief that 'poetry also exists as part of a tradition'. In his eyes, 'the collective unconscious' and 'cultural history' are embedded in 'the language' of a tradition. Snyder's 'cultural unconscious' refers to the active interaction in translation he created between his mountain experiences on the coast of western America and Han Shan's seclusion in the costal mountain ranges of eastern China.
Chinese landscape paintings, Ezra Pound's ideogrammic method and Zen practice gave Snyder an impetus to study Chinese culture and Buddhism.
As a teenager Snyder was greatly influence by his first viewing of Chinese landscape paintings at the Seattle Art Museum. He was surprised to find en echo in his soul when confronted by the Chinese depiction of the world in the painting. The same empathy for nature in his own aesthetic sensibilities prefigures his later choice of the Chinese tradition in his poetry.
Snyder's interest in Chinese poetry is inseparable from his belief in Mahayana Buddhism. His enthusiasm for Mahayana Buddhism reflects his respect for primitivism and priorities he expressed in his poetry. He found that Chan and Chan poetry suited him because they express the ineffable 'dao in 'koans' and transparent images.
Snyder articulates his own unique manifesto of ecopoetry in the hope of legitimating right understanding, right speech and right action. The idea is publicly expressed from the angle of Buddhist environmentalism with an imperative voice through the poem. As a poet in contemporary times, Snyder believes that one should have a right understanding of the relationship between man and nature. In this place, plants, animals, land and planets are in a harmonious and ecological balance.

[Samarin, Roman Mikhailovich]. [The true face of Mark Twain]. [ID D29575].
Liu Haiming : Samarin discussed the essays of Twain's later years that were concerned with political matters, helping Chinese readers gain a deeper understanding of Twain's criticism of the capitalist system.

Letter from Ernest Hemingway to General Charles T. Lanham ; 11 Sept. 1950.
But I do know fighting people of all kinds, painters, diplomats, thieves, gangsters, politcians, jockeys, trainers, bull fighters, many beautiful women, great ladies, the beau monde, the fast International sporting house set, professional killers, every sort of gambler, Madame Chang Kai Chek and both her sisters, the good one and the bad one, rapid anarchists, socialists, democrats, communists and monarchists and so I guess if you are guilty by association I plead guilty on the above counts.

Soren Egerod studiert chinesische Linguistik, Tibetisch und Thai an der University of California, Berkeley.

Vladislav Fedorovich Sorokin ist Dozent am Institut für Orientalitik, Moskau ; dann an verschiedenen Intituten.

Die Zentrale des The Institute of Oriental Studies wird von St. Petersburg nach Moskau versetzt. Die Sammlungen bleiben in St. Petersburg.

Kenneth Bumstead ist Generalkonsul des britischen Generalkonsulats in Shanghai.

Scott Langshaw Burdett ist Generalkonsul der britischen Generalkonsulats in Shanghai.

Allan Veitch ist Konsul, dann Generalkonsul des britischen Generalkonsulats in Shanghai.

René Minutti baut die French Convent School in Hong Kong.

Handelsvertrag für Wirtschafts- und Handelsbeziehungen zwischen China und der Deutschen Demokratischen Republik.

Christian Zinsser ist in sowjetischer Gefangenschaft.

Norwood F. Allman kehrt nach Amerika zurück.

Roger Paul Establie ist Konsul des französischen Konsulats in Kunming.

Edouard Hutte ist Sekretär der französischen Botschaft in Nanjing.

Léon Jankélévitch ist Sekretär und Conseiller der französischen Botschaft in Beijing.