{"id":54838,"date":"2026-03-31T08:55:58","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T21:55:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/?p=54838"},"modified":"2026-03-31T12:09:49","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T01:09:49","slug":"other-peoples-thoughts-lxxv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/journal\/other-peoples-thoughts-lxxv\/","title":{"rendered":"Other People\u2019s Thoughts, LXXV"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is the seventy-fifth chapter in Other People’s Thoughts<\/a><\/em>, a\u00a0China Heritage<\/i> series inspired by a compilation of quotations put together by Simon Leys (Pierre Ryckmans), one of our Ancestors<\/a>, during his reading life.<\/p>\n

Pierre remarked that the resulting modest volume of quotations was ‘idiosyncratically compiled for the amusement of idle readers’ (see Simon Leys, Other People’s Thoughts<\/i><\/a>, 2007). Our aim is similar: to amuse our readers (idle or otherwise); as is our modus operandi<\/i>: to build up an idiosyncratic compilation, one that reflects the interests of The Wairarapa Academy for New Sinology<\/a> and its coterie.<\/p>\n

In collecting this material, and by adding to it over time, we accord also with a Chinese literary practice in which quotations \u2014 sometimes called y\u01d4l\u00f9<\/i> \u8a9e\u9304, literally ‘recorded sayings’ \u2014 have a particular history, and a powerful resonance.<\/p>\n

\"\"
The character ‘record’ \u8a18 in the hand of Mi Fei \u7c73\u82be, or ‘Madman Mi’ \u7c73\u7672 of\u00a0the Song. Source:\u00a0\u597d\u4e8b\u5bb6\u8cbc<\/a>.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The most famous collection of recorded sayings is The Analects<\/i> \u8ad6\u8a9e, compiled by disciples of Confucius. Then there is the timeless 5000-words of Laozi’s The Tao and the Power <\/i>\u9053\u5fb7\u7d93, as well as the Chan\/Zen \u79aa\u5b97 tradition of what in English are known by the Japanese term k\u014dan<\/em> \u516c\u6848, dating from the Tang dynasty. <\/i>Modern imitations range from the political bon mots<\/i> of Mao Zedong to excerpts from the prolix prose of Xi Jinping’s tireless speech writers, and published snippets from arm-chair philosophers and motivational speakers.<\/p>\n

Other People’s Thoughts<\/em><\/a> also finds inspiration in the ‘poetry talks’ \u8a69\u8a71, ‘casual jottings’ \u7b46\u8a18 and ‘marginalia’ \u7709\u6279 of China’s literary tradition.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

As is now customary in Other People\u2019s Thoughts<\/em>, this chapter in the series includes videos and illustrative material.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Geremie R. Barm\u00e9
\nEditor, China Heritage<\/em>
\n1 April 2026<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\"\"
\u611a\u4eba\u7bc0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A friend told me that
\nit\u2019s important to wait.
\n\u2018Wait for what, exactly?\u2019
\n\u2018I know what you know.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u2014 Lao Shu, trans. GRB<\/em><\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Other People’s Thoughts I-LXXIV:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  • Other People’s Thoughts<\/a>, China Heritage<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
    \n

    Other People\u2019s Thoughts, LXXV<\/strong><\/h3>\n

    Diskworld<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Sir Terry died before Brexit; he died before the election of Trump; he died before a flawed world tipped over into the absurdity of whatever we want to call our current odious stew. One can only imagine what he would have thought of the antics of Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage, of the ascendancy of tech billionaires and their pretensions to world domination, of America\u2019s doubling-down on Trump 2.0. That we lack his humour and rage and his capacity to imagine for us an alternative world is a profound loss. I don\u2019t begrudge him his rest, but I weep for a world without his wisdom.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \u2014 Christopher Lockett, The Magical Humanism of Terry Pratchett<\/a>, 12 March 2025<\/p>\n

    Bait-and-switch<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \u2018We were hoping to get a Delcy Rodriguez in Iran, but what we got is a young Kim Jong Un.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \u2014 David Petraeus, former head of the CIA<\/p>\n

    \u2018Trump: the world’s only elephant who walks around with his own china store.\u2019<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \u2014 Claude Malhuret<\/a>, French politician<\/p>\n

    \u2018The Dildo of Consequences Rarely Arrives Lubed\u2019 is a catchphrase and internet proverb similar in meaning to proverbs such as \u2018you reap what you sow\u2019.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    The Trumpageddon Express <\/strong><\/p>\n

    The IEA just confirmed this is the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market. The largest. Ever. Gulf production has been cut by 10 million barrels a day. The Strait of Hormuz is closed. A fifth of all the world’s oil used to flow through there. Used to.<\/p>\n

    And here’s what $200 oil means for you personally.<\/p>\n

    97% of everything you touch, eat, wear, and use involves crude oil. Your food. Your medicine. Your plastic. Your fertiliser. Your transport. Your heating. Even your tomatoes from the farmers market. Grown with petroleum fertiliser. Picked by blokes who drove there in trucks made from crude oil. Delivered on diesel. Wrapped in petroleum packaging. That little sticker on the tomato? Petroleum.<\/p>\n

    When oil doubles, everything doubles. When it triples, civilisation starts to wobble. This isn’t a recession. This is a fucking seizure.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \u2014 Here Comes The Trumpageddon Express To Destination Epic Clusterfuck.<\/a>, 19 March 2026<\/p>\n

    Predicable Disassemblage<\/strong><\/p>\n

    At the on-camera Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Trump\u2019s free-associative drivel, in the midst of a world crisis, ranged from the new White House ballroom: \u201cThe military wanted it more than anyone,\u201d to the Kennedy Center: \u201cIt\u2019s going to be beautiful when you add the name Trump,\u201d to his favored Sharpie pens: \u201cThey do treat me well, Sharpie.\u201d My historian friend Sir Simon Schama sent me a despairing text. \u201cIt was like a bit from <\/span>One Flew Over the Cuckoo\u2019s Nest. <\/em>What was the 25th Amendment for, if not for this? The stroke-struck Woodrow Wilson was a combo of Jefferson, Lincoln, and FDR, compared to this oozing hulk of cognitive rot. HELP US, Obi-Wan, HELP US.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \u2014 Tina Brown<\/a>, 31 March 2026<\/p>\n

    China Maxxing in West Oakland<\/strong><\/p>\n

    His \u201cneocolonialism\u201d solution for the historically Black neighborhood entails allowing the Chinese government to impose an authoritarian surveillance regime:<\/p>\n

    \u201cSo we basically cede West Oakland and it becomes extraterritorial under Chinese law. And then Chinese like police, you know how in Beijing they have the police officers with like the white gloves… and so, basically, like, if there’s any sort of \u2014 you know\u2014it\u2019s under Chinese law, enforced by Chinese security forces\u2014so if there\u2019s any bad bad behavior and then, you know, the guys in white gloves are like they blow the [whistle<\/em>] and they’re like right you know like jaywalking right. I mean first of all anything involving both Asians and African-Americans is inherently amusing, number one fact, and it\u2019s just how it is I don\u2019t make the rules…\u201d<\/p>\n

    West Oakland where he could use an app to summon a drone armed with a megaphone to yell at people considered bothersome (here, he appeared to do a racist imitation of a Chinese voice).<\/p>\n

    \u201cAnd that\u2019s the first step, and if there\u2019s no compliance with these orders in Chinese\u2014which maybe the guy doesn\u2019t understand\u2014I think he\u2019ll learn to understand them,\u201d Yarvin said, calling the situation a \u201cwin win\u201d and a model for future governance.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

    \u2014 Gil Dur\u00e1n, Curtis Yarvin Compares Africans to Cattle, Cuddles A Soros<\/a>, The Nerd Reich<\/em>, 15 March 2026<\/p>\n

    ***<\/p>\n

    \u5bb6\u919c<\/strong><\/p>\n