“ I will faithfully fulfill my responsibilities bestowed by the Constitution, with the nation’s needs as my mission and the people’s interests my yardstick. ” 1 China today is a reinvigorated successor to its “ Hundred Schools of Thought ” ancestors. Though China defies easy labeling, the melded legacy of the early Confucians and Legalists courses through Chinese society. We see this in statements such as that of Chinese leader Xi Jinping above and his overseeing of strict ru

“‘ The tendency of human nature to do good is like that of water to flow downward .’” 1 This 2,300-year-old statement by Mencius, second only to Confucius in the Confucian pantheon, would have been relatable, yet not, to Daoists Laozi and Zhuangzi who believed that the Way of nature is balanced. This distinction is representative of the freewheeling philosophical “Hundred Schools of Thought” discourse for hearts and minds that blossomed in the Chinese heartland during the hal

(photo by Glenn Carstons Peters, www.unsplash.com ) My mentor often asks me if I have an outline of topics mapped out for future Substack posts. My answer is the same every time. No. There are many good reasons to do so, but it does not come easy for me. So, where do my writing ideas come from? What is my inspiration? I read a lot and something always hits me and sends me down a new path. This past weekend (before a blizzard knocked me back to the stone ages for several days)

Who am I? How should I act? Why? These questions keep coming to mind lately. Maybe because I have now entered my seventh decade of life. So, I am stepping aside for a moment from the onslaught of daily news fraught with unrelenting disquiet. Pondering briefly the self in culture and belief on the long and winding road of life. What of the individual in the Confucian and Buddhist traditions of China? Landscape painting with poem alluding to virtuous and lowly men, by Gong Xian

China is a place where the past walks beside the present, receding but never disappearing. Three artifacts that reflect this are dragon screens, pagodas, and city walls. They are not simply physical structures. They form an architecture of Chinese authority, belief, protection, and thus identity. They are symbols that explain a worldview. Dragon Screens Datong Nine Dragon Screen ( www.westchinatour.com ) Dragons are powerful creatures in China. Unlike Western tradition, Chine

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 22 Thinking about China. And America. Even when I am not. In today’s issue, a...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 19 Today is the last day of 2024. As we prepare to turn the page on a new...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 16 This American Thanksgiving week, I am returning in prose to Bhutan (I...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 14 Hiking was on the itinerary in Bhutan. I enjoy hiking because it makes the...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Newsletter Vol. 3, Issue 13 This new series journeys to Bhutan, a small, Buddhist country in...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 3, Issue 1 The Chinese (aka Lunar) New Year arrives this weekend on February 10, 2024....

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 2, Issue 38 Chapel Vestibule, Fronteira Palace The Portuguese fell in love with...

Continuing with the Buddhist theme I wrote about last week, the following is an excerpt from my visit to the world's largest stupa in...

I stepped outside my front door at 5:45 a.m. this morning, January 1, 2023. Above me hundreds of stars, including the Big Dipper directly...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 2, Issue 13 The 2022 final curtain is approaching. It has been a momentous year in...

Peace (kier-in-sight-WjMNw7dOBB0-unsplash) Humans talk a good game about peace, while exhibiting millennia-long, historical traditions of...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America, Vol. 2, Issue 4 Merit has been a central concern in China since before the more than...

Buddhism, though not native to China, has become synonymous with much of Chinese culture and history since its introduction from India in...

I went for a walk on New Year's morning. Deep in the crispy snow-covered woods. Along a frozen coast--brisk wind blowing with sting from...

Andrew Singer Talks About China and America  This month's Newsletter includes a postscript to the recent U.S. national election and a...

Andrew's review of Ms. Ming’s Guide To Civilization by Jan Alexander. Do you want to make the world a better place? Well, Ms. Ming’s...

Tips from a Shaolin monk on self-discipline in strange times Here is practical advice from a Shaolin monk for staying calm in these...

Using the original Ballad of Mulan (a relatively short 31-couplet poem from 1,500 years ago) as muse, Professor Jim Millward in LARB...

Heavy flooding in Southwestern China reached the feet of the Leshan Giant Buddha (樂山大佛) last week for the first time in more than seventy...

"Congee boiling in a pot." Certainly not imminent (more like a slow simmer) and maybe ultimately won't even pan out, but this story seems...

It is human nature to suffer (the Buddha said that). But just because something is a reality, this does not make it easy (or fair or...

During the Northern Wei Dynasty 1,500 -1,600 years ago, the sandstone cliffs of the Wuzhou Mountains outside of Datong, Northern China...

Nephrite Axe Blade, China, Approximately 4,000 years old (Freer Gallery of Art) Name three things that come readily to mind when Chinese...

China is an old civilization. As a people. As a place. As an idea. Even setting aside the pre-historical Xia Dynasty, documented Chinese...

This excerpt from a short history of Chinese writing I am reading ( Between Heaven and Earth: A History of Chinese Writing ) is something...