Lin Zexu’s Password──The Legendary Future of Hong Kong
One of the characteristics of Chinese culture is its respect for nature and the pursuit of the unity of nature and man. It is believed that many principles of life can be inspired by the natural world. Lin Ze’s couplet is obviously one of the important keys to Hong Kong’s ability to survive this crisis.
Author: GUDORDI | 2022-09-13
Lin Ze, a famous official in the Qing Dynasty, was supervising the smoking ban. (Wikimedia Commons)
Continuing from the previous article: “The future of Hong Kong legend”
There are three types of people in this world: those who can understand; those who can understand if you give them guidance; and those who cannot understand.
──Leonoard Da Vicci
The sea accepts hundreds of rivers, and it is great if it has tolerance; if it stands thousands of feet high on the wall, it is strong if it has no desires.
The phrase “The sea embraces all rivers” comes from Lin Zezhu (1785-1850), a famous official in the Qing Dynasty. It is a couplet he wrote for the Yuehua Academy in Guangzhou in the 19th year of Daoguang’s reign (1839). According to records, when Lin Zezhu became the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi, he hung this couplet in the Governor’s Mansion. The first couplet earnestly warned himself to be as tolerant as the sea, be open-minded, be open-minded and listen to different opinions from all sides; the second couplet Strengthen yourself. When you are an official, you must resolutely purify your personal desires, so that you can stand upright in the world like a mountain.
Although this couplet comes from Lin Zechu, it has a subtle and far-reaching inheritance and relationship with Chinese culture and the thoughts of ancient Chinese. The concept of “the sea embraces all rivers” can be traced back to Zhuangzi (369 BC – 286 BC). “Zhuangzi: Autumn Water” says: “There is no water in the world greater than the sea. All the rivers return to it. I don’t know when it will stop but never fill up.”
As for the concept of “tolerance means greatness”, its original origin should be Shangshu. “Shangshu·Junchen” says: “Tolerance is helpful; tolerance is great.” However, it was later believed that Li Si (284 BC – 208 BC) of the Qin Dynasty changed the concept. In order to deeply inject Chinese culture. In his “Book of Remonstrance and Chasing Guests”, Li Si said: “This is because Mount Tai does not allow soil to grow, so it can become big; rivers and seas do not allow small streams, so it can grow deep; the king does not exclude the common people. , so we can understand its virtue.” From this perspective, the first couplet of Lin Zexu’s couplet clearly has elements of Chinese cultural inheritance.
Both the upper and lower couplets have elements of Chinese cultural inheritance.
The same situation applies to the second line of this couplet. The concept of “standing on the wall with thousands of feet” should have originated from Li Daoyuan (466 BC – 527 BC) of the Northern Wei Dynasty. In the “Shui Jing Zhu” written by Li Daoyuan, he said this: “The mountain is just stone, with walls standing thousands of feet high. It’s dizzying when you approach it. If you want to advance, you can’t put your foot forward.”
“Shui Jing Zhu” is an extraordinary and great book. Li Daoyuan traveled throughout half of northern China in his life. He made full use of his personal experience and wrote a lot of what he saw and heard. On this basis, he wrote “Shui Jing Zhu”. “Sutra Annotations” in 40 volumes, the seriousness and rigor of its writing and research are admirable, and it also proves that there is not no scientific spirit and tradition in the blood of Chinese culture. The modern Japanese geographer Mikura Jiro once praised Li Daoyuan as “the greatest geographer in the world in the Middle Ages”. Li Daoyuan should be well-deserved for this praise.
More importantly, general knowledge and scientific works often lack literature, but “Shui Jing Zhu” has a strong literary and humanistic side. In fact, reading “Shui Jing Zhu” is definitely not like reading a boring geography book. Li Daoyuan, in the spirit of “water proves the place and preserves the past,” tells the historical stories and stories of the places where the water passes. Myths, legends, folk songs… are all faithfully recorded. It seems that the rivers have come to life because of this. We listen silently, sometimes with excitement, sometimes with tears. The author also used vivid and expressive pen and ink to make every landscape seem to be alive on the pages of the book, just like an extremely vivid and fascinating landscape painting. Later, Li Bai, Du Fu, Liu Zongyuan, etc. in the Tang Dynasty all recognized it. Absorb the artistic nourishment of “Shui Jing Zhu”. In the author’s opinion, the style and tradition of Chinese landscape painting should be influenced by “Shui Jing Zhu” to a certain extent.
“Shui Jing Annotated Pictures”. (Wikimedia Commons)
However, in “Shui Jing Zhu”, “Standing on the wall with thousands of feet” is just a description of the natural landscape, while Lin, in addition to the cleverness of this couplet, relates it to human character and the Chinese culture’s tradition of advocating the elimination of personal desires. combined together. Yes, in Chinese culture, it has always been emphasized that only by breaking through the control and constraints of fame, lust, and material things can one’s personal realm and cultivation be improved. Wang Bo’s heroic words of “Being poor will make you stronger, and your ambition will never fall into the clouds”, and Zhuge Liang’s aphorism of “Indifferent will make your ambition clear, and tranquility will lead you far” are all examples. Therefore, Lin Ze not only regards the natural landscape that is still tall and tall in the face of the frozen sun as a symbol of human will and perseverance, it actually has many shadows of Chinese cultural heritage. Moreover, on top of this, Lin Zezhu also extended it to one of the most important concepts in Confucianism, which is the supreme aura of awe.
The so-called “rigid” concept can be traced back to Mencius (372 BC – 289 BC). The second chapter of “Mencius Gongsun Chou” records this:
Gongsun Chou asked, “May I ask, Master, how long has it been since you were evil?”
He said, “I know what to say, and I am good at cultivating my awe-
inspiring Qi.” “May I ask, what is the awe-inspiring Qi?”
He said, “It’s hard to say. It is Qi, the most powerful. If it is strong and nourished without harm, it is blocked between heaven and earth.
The couplet metaphors the key to whether Hong Kong can survive the crisis.
Yes, one of the characteristics of Chinese culture is its admiration for nature and the pursuit of the unity of nature and man. It is believed that many principles of life can be inspired by the natural world. The Yangtze River can gather into a river precisely because it does not choose small streams. The more a person can stand tall like a cliff and transcend worldly gains and losses, the more he will be unafraid of difficulties and his ability will be as high as the sky.
From this perspective, Lin Zechu’s couplet is a motto that he compiled by digesting several major concepts of Chinese culture and adding his own personal experience. Lin Zechu’s work style and deeds are of course directly and importantly related to the history of Hong Kong. However, more importantly, these 16-character couplets are obviously one of the important keys to whether Hong Kong can finally overcome this crisis. In the next chapter, I will discuss this point in more depth.
“Hong Kong’s Legendary Future” Series 2
Contact the author: GDD@protonmail.com
