It has been a very stimulating, thought provoking week.
Why do you find Song
and Yuan Dynasty art and architecture in Japan rather than China, especially
that of the Chan masters?
Seeded during my father’s sabbatical (9th grade)
was a lurking identity crisis that burgeoned during a summer sojourn
(sophomore) in Kyoto JP. Nurtured by
traipsing around the many Zen temples with my parents, my friend Marie and by
myself, I began to feel unexpectedly comfortable not only with my aesthetic
environment … and my minority myself. I
didn’t understand why. In unadorned
terms it was the gentle sweep of thickly thatched temple roofs, the browned and
greyed worn wooden walls, and the ‘naturally’ arranged rocks, combed gravel,
verdant moss, gnarled trees and calming ponds.
This aesthetically and viscerally appealed to and calmed me in contradistinction
to the gaudy yellow tiled roofs, blue, green, and gold details and red walls of
the Manchu taste. Upon my return to the
U.S. I weathered a full blown existential mid-college crisis … for another discussion.
My father told me that visiting Kyoto was in effect being
transplanted to Song (960-1279) Dynasty China.
I did not fully grasp this notion until yesterday. Watching to James Cahill’s (an art historical
colleague of my father’s) video and listening to Professor Wang yesterday, the
cultural flow across the Sea of Japan of Japanese monks to Chinese Chan temples
and the return of Song Chan (Zen) scrolls to Japan led to an infusion of one
genre that inspired Japanese art and architecture to the present. Specifically, the axe cut angular landscape
strokes of Ma Yuan, the soft power of Mu Xi’s Six Persimmons and the sketchily
spontaneous Chan Two disciples (one a tiger) are recognizably ‘Japanese’
instead of the complex landscapes of the Chinese literati (intellectuals). Simply,
the paintings that could be taken to Japan were those of ‘untrained’
idiosyncratic freewheeling Chan monks whereas those of the master painters
could not be removed from literati or royal collections. Once Japan closed its ports, this flow
stopped and those artifacts became iconic in Japanese culture preserved and refined.
Ying Wang, Chinese Painting Course, UW-Milwaukee and James
Cahill Video on Chan and Japanese Painting
Why is China building
artificial islands in the South China Seas and trying to grab the Senkaku
Islands?
What is China’s endgame, safeguarding its shores, protecting
its passageways to the Pacific, gaining access to continental hydrocarbons, or
domination of Asia, or beyond …? French
traces the current aggressiveness to three concepts. First is the dynastic Sinocentric view of tian xia (everything under the heavens)
with China at the very center and all empires either conquered states or
tribute-paying vassals. Second is 21st
China’s rising reaction to the horrific century of humiliation from 1840-1945
spanning the Opium War, international spheres of influence/concessions, sack of
Beijing, and Japanese occupation (Nanjing massacre). Three is countering militarily and surpassing
economically the U.S.’s Asian presence by both hard military and soft economic
power. Militarily, they manufactured an
island outpost atop submerged Paracel (Fiery Cross) Reefs, repeatedly invaded
the 12 mile limits of Senkaku Islands (and stoking anti-Japanese nationalism),
unilaterally explored for oil in Vietnamese waters while developing the largest
nuclear submarine fleet. Economically,
they are pouring resources into the Maritime Silk Road (Malacca Straits) and
One Belt, One Road (OBOR) infrastructure and trade development from China to
Europe over the former Silk Road and Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank.
Will this pattern continue inexorably, and China eradicate
U.S. influence in Asia? Possibly yes,
probably no. As China continues to
expose its sharp elbows, resistance by the ASEAN coalition and new bedfellows
Vietnam, Philippines and India mounts.
The cost of naval military buildup is likely to exceed their inflation
rate, hardware innovation further increases cost and scaled production may not
occur in the dearth of China’s alliance partners. Lastly, the growing elderly population (330
million by 2050 and lowest ratio of working/military eligible to elders) and
predicted decline to under 1 billion (US 450 million) will exacerbate the
military support. So, perhaps this is Xi
Jinping’s brief window of opportunity to reef and island grab, and to expand
the military. So yes, there will be a
rebalancing but not complete dominance.
Interesting!
Everything Under the Heavens: How the past helps shape China’s push for
global power by Howard W. French
Why is the current
state of affairs in so many countries, toxic and polarized?
It’s the tribal instinct says the author of the Tiger
Mother. She analyzes the U.S. military
failures of the Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq wars through the prism of long
standing internecine tribal conflicts.
These were not appreciated by US policy or military leaders. In Vietnam it was between the 1% elite
Chinese-Vietnamese who controlled 80% of the economy (market-dominant
minorities) and the Vietnamese. In
Afghanistan, it was between the Pashtun elite vs. the Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras. In Iraq, it was between the Sunni minority
elite vs. the Shia and Kurd majority, respectively. In other words, democracy was a predictable
failed exercise and the ‘democractic’ sharing of Afghan power alienated the
Pashtuns and directly furthered the rise of the Taliban from amongst their
ranks. All missed opportunities that
should have begun with a deep understanding of the tribal milieu. Hindsight is 20/20.
She turns to the U.S. and the same tribal model can be
applied to the current divide. The alt
right tribe takes Trump seriously but not
literally as he represents the symbolic values. The left takes Trump literally but not seriously in their world view. And the two sides are not interacting, and
the we-they divide expands. She cites research
than indicates how intra-tribal loyalties influence perception of facts and and
out-groups, and how these allegiances can be manipulated! Of concern, poor
whites appear to have limited upward social mobility, and perhaps due to lack of attention, are even more underrepresented than minorities in the elite
colleges. At the end, she is sees some
crossing of the demilitarized zone and glimmers of hope.
Political Tribes:
Group instinct and the fate of nations. Amy Chua (author of Tiger
Mother)
