In preparation for class this week, I found reading through the excerpts from Analects of Confucius to be very interesting, and I thought referencing the translation by A. Charles Muller to be especially helpful in making sense of some of these teachings. The concept of ren, in terms of Confucian thought, was something I was… Continue reading Analects of Confucius Reflection

We all have that one person in mind who is “that” guy, the one who goofs off or makes poor decisions or is just really annoying. Typically, being “that” guy comes with a bad connotation, but I want to touch on the good connotation, in connection with Confucius. Confucius is one of the great teachers/mentors… Continue reading Be “That” Guy

Poem 8 reads, “Best to be like water. Which benefits the ten thousand things And does not contend. It pools where humans distain to dwell, Close to the Tao. Live in a good place. Keep your mind deep. Treat others well. Stand by your word. Make fair rules. Do the right thing. Work when it’s… Continue reading Tao Te Ching

A Tiger Fighter is Hard to Find is a story about a scene director who struggles with shooting a scene about a fight between a man and a tiger. Originally the scene is done with a fake tiger but, the show caught the provincial mayors attention and he decided wanted them to redo the show,… Continue reading The Tiger Killer

This Friday I decided to go out of my comfort zone and try authentic Chinese food, rather than ordering my usual orange chicken. The restaurant that I visited was called Long Fei, located on Grant Street in Bloomington, IN. When I walked in it, I noticed a lack of decorations on the walls and the… Continue reading Authentic Chinese Food Experience

Our story starts with a local governor impressed by the T.V. show a small studio is creating. The only issue he has is that he doesn’t think the tiger is realistic enough. The lead they cast is the incredibly handsome, smart, athletic Huping. The crew illegally obtains a live tiger and they make Huping fight… Continue reading “A Tiger-Fighter is Hard to Find” Summary and Analysis

I attended the BCR event from Hello Gold Mountain last night and I am so glad that I did. The piece itself was beautiful but the meaning behind it was something very special and something I had never known based on my education behind WWII. Since Shanghai, China was one of the only places Jewish… Continue reading BCR Event 9/8 Hello Gold Mountain

Although these poems are difficult to understand at first, I think that once you really read into them, you can pull out the intended meaning behind them. One example is poem 8, which suggests that in order to not go wrong, you must act like water. This recommendation goes along with the idea of non-action,… Continue reading Daodejing Poems 1-40 Post

I thought all the poems we read were so beautiful. The thing that was most interesting to me though was the fact that the translations were so different between each of the years (even 2000 to 2003). Some years poems would be really short and other years they would be really long, and it seemed… Continue reading Poems 1-40

This story of Yü Jang illustrates the kinds of values and concepts that are prominent in ancient China as well as modern China. I think the value of authority is present in this story because Yü Jang honors his master, the earl of Chih. Yü Jang uses his stealthy skills and his loyal mindset to… Continue reading Yü Jang Post