{"id":693,"date":"2016-04-27T11:00:42","date_gmt":"2016-04-27T01:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/callum-smith.com\/chinaheritage\/?page_id=693"},"modified":"2026-03-12T18:48:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T07:48:36","slug":"other-peoples-thoughts","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/chinaheritage.net\/other-peoples-thoughts\/","title":{"rendered":"Other People’s Thoughts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Other People’s Thoughts<\/a> is a section in the Journal<\/i> of the China Heritage <\/i>site. It is 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 complied 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

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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<\/a> also finds inspiration in the ‘poetry talks’ \u8a69\u8a71, ‘casual jottings’ \u7b46\u8a18 and ‘marginalia’ \u7709\u6279 of\u00a0China’s literary tradition.<\/p>\n

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Contributors<\/b><\/p>\n

Quotations suggested by members of the Academy and friends are acknowledged by providing their initials in square brackets at the end of the relevant quotation. Thus, Jamil Anderlini<\/a>\u00a0is marked as [JA]; Gloria Davies<\/a> is [GD]; John Minford<\/a> is [JM];\u00a0Richard Rigby<\/a>\u00a0[RR]; and,\u00a0Jeffrey Wasserstrom<\/a>\u00a0[JW].\u00a0My selections are unmarked.<\/p>\n

\u2014 The Editor<\/i><\/a>, China Heritage<\/a><\/p>\n

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Other People’s Thoughts Index<\/strong><\/h3>\n