The Selden Map: Bodleian Library

Madness induced by the Siren Calls on the Shores of the Hellespont and Taiwan Straits

Part 3

under construction

October 2, 2022


John Selden was a polymath. As part of his many talents he can be regarded as an orientalist. It seems there is stronger evidence today to suggest that he may not only have bequeathed the map to the Bodleian Library of Oxford, but he may have commissioned or even have drawn it. The poet sees images of Selden himself on the map in different phases of his life. Conceivably, the inks used to draw the map and canvass could have been brought to Great Britain from the area of the South China Sea by a merchant or artist. Furthermore, the poet conjectures that Selden may have referred to the map as he was writing Mare Clausum.  In other words, he not only wanted to see how his ideas of a closed sea applied to Great Britain, but also wanted to test the hypothesis in an area of exploration which might be of contention between the British and Dutch.

 

The Selden Map was bequeathed to the Bodleian Library by Selden at his death in 1654. Historians generally assume that some rich merchant in the region of the South China Sea commissioned the map sometime between 1608 and 1619. In December 1618, James I commissioned Selden to write a full length treatise called Mare Clausum on the Crown's claim to sovereignty of the seas. Selden finished it, James I demanded changes, Selden obliged the Crown, but George Villiers who was the Lord High Admiral of England withdrew support. One might then assume that the merchant-trader retired to London where the map came into the possession of Selden around 1634. Mare Clausum was revised and published in that year with the permission of Charles I. Then, at the death of Selden, the map was archived and forgotten by the library until its existence was revealed in 2008 by an American no less whose name was Bachelor--end of story.  The preceeding scenario is plausible, but is there another which is more likely?

One should keep in mind that Grotius was approached by the Dutch India Company in 1604 to write a defence of the company's privateering in Asian waters. (Ittersum, 1195) That word "privateering" through its monopoly reminds one of "pirateering; although the former is legal while the latter is illegal. Chapter 12 of the report became Mare Liberum which was published in 1609. While Selden's treatise pertained to the waters of Great Britain, he may very well have kept in mind the Asian waters mentioned in Grotius' defence with the help of an Asian map of his own design.

The poet can understand why an important map showing the South China Sea was named after John Selden. He was described by John Milton as the most learned man of the land. Furthermore, Selden wrote Mare Clausum which was England's answer to Grotius' Mare Liberum. Finally, he donated the map to the Bodleian Library. However, up until now, the only direct connection between the map and Selden is that of a donation made by a dead man. How long had Selden owned the map or for what purposes is unknown.

The poet suggests one should look closer at the map with an open mind and without a bias to the idea of open seas. About five years ago, he published an extensive account of the map on his sundawu.ca website.  It was almost totally ignored by experts. It resembles the circumstance of how the map itself was ignored for almost 300 years in a library archive. From the age of exploration in the 17th century to the age of space exploration in the 20th century, nobody explored the archives. More lately, all through the Chinese negotiations on UNCLOS which began in 1973 to their ratification of it in 1996---the map went undiscovered. It is something of a convenient oversight, don't you think so? Only when China began to recognize the South China Sea as its own did the map make its appearance as if to confirm the concept of open seas with the exception of piracy.  The official version is that the map was kept on permanent display in the Anatomy School, but the time period is indefinite and indeterminate.

There is circumstantial evidence to show that the map was drawn around 1608-1619 CE.  One doesn't quite understand why anyone but the poet hasn't suggested that Selden may have used the map as inspiration to write Mare Clausum. The poet though goes one step further.  He suggests that Selden either commissioned the map or helped draw and design it either just before or after he was commissioned to write Mare Clausum.  For example, the "compass rose" and ruler on this oriental map which is unique may suggest "sovereign" and "sovereignty"; although, it was also a common feature on British maps.  

In his titular position at the Admiralty, George Villiers refused a final meeting with Selden to allow publication of the treatise. It was probably at the instigation of James  who was unhappy with the original submission. However, it is conceivable that James had a more profound objection to the treatise. Basically, he had been told that it would extend his sovereignty to waters of the coastline. James believed though that his absolute monarchy was based on divine right. Therefore, he might have seen Mare Clausum as a limitation to his sovereignty of the open seas.

Those who look at the map concentrate on maritime trade routes. The reason is that they were important during the Ming Dynasty and equally significant today for world trade as China asserts its claims in the South China Sea. It may be, though, that if Selden played a part in the design of the map then the lines of trade routes, the general form and placement of islands and the shape of the South China Sea expressed subtle, political messages to the point where the map has hidden meaning.

To avoid political censure and reprisals might explain why Selden kept the existence of the map a secret except perhaps to his closest friends for nearly four  decades. It is conceivable the map may have remained a secret for nearly four centuries to conceal the underlying hidden meaning in the trade routes.

The maritime trade routes are not just straight lines running hither and thither from one center of trade to another, but form recognizable patterns overlaid on the South China Sea. The poet has identified these patterns in his "Selden Poems'. However, he now reveals their deeper significance. These sketches reflect an anti-imperialist attitude of the map's designer. They mock the knight errant who tries and never tires to slay the dragon in far-off campaigns on the open sea.  It's a rendition of St. George who saves the damsel in distress with his swordplay.  In this case, the dragon is James. The damsel is George Villiers who was made Lord High Admiral of England in 1619 or the same year Mare Clausum was submitted to the king and admiral.

Here is the Janus-faced knight riding the dragon stead which is shaped like a Chinese junk on a junket eating a dessert of junket. The poem's title is "Togydre ymet and wrought his felawe wo ". The line is taken from Geoffrey Chaucer's Knight's Tale, Part 4 of The Canterbury Tales. The full passage reads as follows:

                                         Ful ofte a day han thise Thebanes two
                                         Togydre ymet, and wroght his felaw wo,
                                         Unhorsed hath ech oother of hem tweye,
                                         Therr nas no tygre in the vale of Galgopheye
                                         Whan that hir whelp is stole, whan it is lite,  


If you wish to know the meaning of Chaucer's lines then you will have to translate them yourself. However, so much is lost in translation. The lines are much more beautiful in  Middle English. When you have finished reading The Canterbury Tales then tackle Troilus and Criseyde which is an epic poem about two lovers during the siege of Troy.  

For these reasons, Rossi provides the remainder of his I'image poems, but asks you to interpret them. So much is lost in translation. He made a transition from free-form word poems to image poems long ago. They are more universal in character. To further translate the images would be one step away from reality for the poet. However, to be honest, the poet himself does not fully understand his image poems as they are revelatory.

It is hoped the reader welcomes a few new notes that haven't been seen previously about The Selden Map. Basically, the poet continues where the historians left off. Instead of dealing strictly with the eastern maritime trade routes which were a means to profit, the poet integrated them with the routes of the western Silk Road which were for profit and prayer.

North Circumpolar Rectangle (NCR) as recognized by John C. Didier, "In and Outside the Square"

Yanran Square "Who first was here is victorius" tr. Rossi 2018

Three religions or San Jiao ( 三 敎) are depicted on the map. At the time of the Song and Ming Dynasties, the religions of Daoism, Confucianism and Buddhism were syncretized. They combined merits, morals and meditation respectively.

They are all aligned West to East on the northern boundary. That boundary is not the defensive line of the Great Wall above the top of the emperor's hat. It is further North within the North Circumpolar Rectangle (NCR). At either end of the NCR are the Kun (fish) in the West and Peng (bird) in the East which ascend and descend. They are Daoist symbols. They mark the limit of boundaries.

Then, there is the compass rose. It is directly above the emperor's image. It is symbolic of the emperor's rule through the Mandate of Heaven (天命). He rules as long as he is in accordance with the will of Heaven. The actual "ruler" of measurement or figuatively speaking "sovereign" is below the NCR and above the emperor. The concept of the Mandate of Heaven was originally derived from the early Zhou Dynasty (1046-771 BCE). It was used as their justification to overthrow the Shang Dynasty. It was revived and advanced through Confucianism which stressed ancestor worship and ritual.

Further East is the nested set of vertical rectangles of which the outer has a small opening. The pair symbolize the Buddhist concept of nothingness. They are as far East of the compass rose as the Yanran Inscrition (tentatively identified by the poet) is to the West. It marked the decisive Han victory of General Dou Xian against the nomadic Xiongnu Empire. There can be no bigger contrast between that of nothingness and an inscription of decisive victory or are they really one and the same thing?  

James VI of Scotland wrote The True Law of Free Monarchies in 1598 knowing that he was to be the heir to the English throne. The title pretty well says it all. James believes the monarch is free under the true law of Heaven. He is not subject to the laws of his subjects. Even an evil monarch who ruins the kingdom is not subject to the laws of his subjects. There is no contract at the time of coronation between the people and the king. It was James who said "And so it followes of necessitie, the kings were the authors and makers of the Lawes, and not the Lawes of the kings".  In  other words, James wanted a divine right based on Medieval  absolutism.

To some extent, The Mandate of Heaven resembled King James' defence of The True Law of Free Monarchies. The Mandate provided a divine source of authority and the right to rule for its early kings and emperors. The difference between the two was not so much in laws, but rather moral obligations.

Mencius (孟軻)

For example, if a ruler through his mandate could not deal with disease, droughts and floods which were ravaging throughout the land then the people could seek change of the mandate. They might criticize, rehabilitate or replace the ruler. It was Mencius (孟軻) who said that "heaven sees as the people see; heaven hears as the people hear". Today, he might say that when the leaders of the People's Republic of China cease to sense what the people sense then the republic ceases to be the people's.   

Cross References

Northwest Rectangle

Qinghai Lake and Lake Baikal would have been of particular interest to Selden. They were boundaries of the empire as part of the Four Seas (四海) concept developed in the Han Dynasty after the defeat of the Xiongnu Confederacy. Qinghai Lake is notable as the largest lake in China with salt, alkaline characteristics. Lake Baikal is the deepest fresh water lake in the world. Both were regarded by the Han Chinese as sacred seas. They were called the West and North Sea respectively. The other two boundary markers--namely Telin and Taiwan--are either close to the sea or in the sea--namely the East and South Sea respectively.

While the emperor's upper body may be hard to discern on the map, it is more easily identified when highlighted. He wears a peaked cap which is a yishanguan (玄武) which is reserved for a Ming emperor. The emperor flies with two wings like a monarch butterfly. In addition, he blows the four winds out of his mouth.

Most interestingly, the emperor is found on the back of the black tortoise which is often referred to as the Black Warrior (玄武). In pinyin it is called Xuanwu. It is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations and itself is guardian of the North direction. The snake is to the right of the tortoise's head. In Taoist mythology, the female tortoise mates with the snake.

The presence of the snake may provide a clue as to what emperor reigned and the date of the map. The Tianqi Emperor (天啓帝) was born on December 23, 1605 and died on September 30, 1627. In the Chinese zodiac,  he was born in the year of the snake. Below the tortoise and the snake (as part of the robe) is a sheep.  In the western zodiac this means Capricorn. It is remotely possible therefore that The Selden Map was completed sometime between October 1, 1620 and September 30, 1627 or the reign of the Tianqi Emperor. On the other hand, perhaps the presence of the snake simply refers to the Year of the Snake which might be 1617 or just prior to the commission of the treatise.

The Chinese empire expanded in size and scope for many reasons which included conquest, Confucianism and commerce among others. Trade developed in the northwest region through the overland Silk Road. The capital of Xian (Changan) played a prominent role in this development.  Lake Baikal---as the North Sea---was an artificial, boundary marker even if it was a real lake or sea. Trade passed it by to the south on the Silk Road with the exception of jade deposits exploited in the region.  

As time went on, though, maritime trade routes in the South China Sea expanded. At first, they supplemented the Silk Road, but after awhile they surpassed and supplanted the land routes. By the time of the Ming Dynasty, power had shifted from Xian to Beijing reflecting the more active and prosperous sea routes and ports along the coast.

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the Northwest Rectangle (NWR) from a modern point of view is the island of Taiwan as an artificial, boundary marker. In other words, it is similar in this regard to Lake Baikal. Both had few settlers---at least until Dutch settlement of 1624 in the case of Taiwan--­-and trade was limited. In Taiwan's case, prolific trade was conducted across the strait on the mainland, but not with the mainland. The Pescadores which had fishing villages were considered informally to be Chinese territory as opposed to Taiwanese territory.

All of this means that Lake Baikal and Taiwan with its South Sea strait were boundary markers that had not become territorial boundaries. Neither does the poet regard Lake Baikal nor Taiwan as frontiers. The poet now takes his cue from Selden who said there are no frontiers.  

Eastern Seaboard Rectangle

The newly named Eastern Seaboard Rectangle (ESR) is the poet's complement to his Northwest Rectangle (NWR). It reflects the expanded reality of commerce and spirituality during the Ming Dynasty. The main focus is now on Beijing as the political center with one important exception. The Wanli Emperor almost entirely retreats from politics because of a spat over the choice of his successor. This circumstance may help explain something rather perplexing at least to the poet as he understands the map.

The ruler which measures distances and hence time on land and sea also represents the rule of the sovereign. One would expect the ruler to be placed horizontally on the map. However, it is placed at a slight angle. The poet suggests it represents something which is slightly off in terms of balance of rule. For example, if one looks at the "futou" (幞头) or Song Dynasty peaked hats called the Zhanjiao Putou (展角幞頭) with their wing-like flaps one can see stiff and straight horizontal flaps of up to a meter each which extend outward. To the poet these flaps together may symbolize the NCR.

On a more scientific basis, the downward slant of the ruler may signal that an adjustment has to be made to magnetic compasses that are not weighted. It may be noted that the compass is roughly at the same latitude as Japan to the east. Scientists are aware that compasses off the coast of Japan point to Lake Baikal, Siberia to the West. "The reason why we have now westward declination in Japan is probably due to the presence of a strong, positive, geomagnetic anomaly around Lake Baikal in Siberia. The N-poles of magnetic needles tend to be attracted to the anomaly to show westward declinations around Japan."

A compass is usually held horizontally. In the northern hemisphere it will point in the direction of the north of the Earth which is the South pole of the Earth's magnet. However, the magnetic field is not only horizontally aligned but also vertically aligned. This means it not only indicates the direction of North and South but also "in or out" of the earth. In Japan, the very tip of the needle "dips" toward the magnetic anomaly beneath the surface of the waters of Lake Baikal where there is a rift formation. To compensate for this dip a modern compass is balanced at the other end.

There is a third reason why the ruler may be declined  downwards. There are lines running from the center of the Compass Rose to either side of the infinity symbol on the ruler. If these lines are extended they can mark the locations of Beijing, Taiwan, Guangzhou and Quanzhou.

The poet hangs an overlay of the golden, geometrical "Magical Mystery Square" (MMS) onto the center of the Compass Rose. The implication is that one-third of the Square is within a part of the NCR. Also, the same horizontal line runs through the centers of the Kun, Compass Rose, Nothingness and Peng spiritual symbols This circumstance, in effect, links them.

However, The Yanran Square is special. First, it is not spiritual, but rather social; although, the actual site of battle elsewhere might be sacred. Second, it is contrasted to Nothingness as they are on opposite sides of the Compass Rose. Finally, while the line does not go through The Yanran Square;  nevertheless, it passes above the square. The square is linked, too, with both the Compass Rose and Nothingness symbols as the bigger golden square is related to the smaller golden square at its center.

One should pay particular attention to the perpendicular line running from the small circle at the center of the compass to the small circle within the small square. The center of the compass represents the binary stars of Draconis 11and 10 which were the polar stars at the time of the mythological Yellow Emperor Huangdi. Professor Didier contends that Draconis 11 corresponds to Taiyi (太一) and Draconis 10 to Tianyi (天一) or the two highest Chinese gods. All stars appeared to rotate around the polar stars which rotated around each other's barycenter. The small circle at the bottom may represent the Ming emperor who from the Forbidden City serves the people through the will of heaven. 

Banpo series poem 28

The Magical Mystery Square has been perceived by the poet from the stars. It is a perception rather than a projection. The poet is saying that the MMS is implicit in The Selden Map with regard to the ordering of symbols. The poet merely overlaid  a pattern he has seen in the stars (among many other patterns) which he then projected onto the form of an I'image type of mandala. The pattern of the mandala was then projected onto the map in the correct position.  

         The End of Shi Huangdi, the End of a Dynasty and then the End of an Empire

The concept of immortality was held in common by the syncretized religions during the Ming Dynasty through different means. Daoists stressed longevity, Buddhists meditated on reincarnation while Confucianists put their faith in ancestor worship. However, much earlier during the Qin Dynasty, Shi Huangdi had outdone all believers in his quest for immortality. Perhaps this is why there has been a recent attempt to rehabilitate and reincarnate his character in a modern form through revisionism by the Maoists and Legalists in the vein of Han Fei.

However, one must keep in mind that Shi Huangdi did not achieve immortality. He was assassinated near Xingtai, Hebei on his fifth expedition in search of immortality. Furthermore, his empire established under the Mandate of Heaven lasted only four years after his death rather than a dynasty of 10,000 generations of which he had boasted.

The South Sea expedition of 10,000 that he sent to Taiwan or Japan totally vanished. Its goal was to find the elixir of immortality. The poet suspects that clay forms of the 10,000 were made for his terracotta army and then the soldiers were executed. He would want them to be in the afterlife before he arrived in order to protect him from harm by his enemies. He would also want to eliminate a potential threat from them as his perceived enemies in the present moment. If this is the case then it seems the Confucianists may have underestimated his perfidy and treacherousness.

One might say there are two versions of how Ying Zheng came to power. The official version is simple. When King Zhuangxian died then Ying Zheng assumed power as his son and rightful heir. The second version is extremely complicated as it involves machinations of a merchant named Lu Buwei to legitimize his son named Ying Zeng born of his concubine named Lady Zhao. She eventually became queen consort to King Zhuangxian, "Uncle" Lu Buwei became chancellor and Ying Zeng was designated the crown prince. The very fact that Ying Zeng adopted the name of the mythological Yellow Emperor Huangdi indicates that he was paranoidly obsessed about the topic of his legitimacy and explains why he postumously redesignated his mother.

The determining factor in Ying Zeng's life was that he suspected he might be illegitimate. Those who threatened his position were executed by him. However, with so many  potential enemies he developed a fear of assassination and death so he retreated into a labyrinth-like palace. In effect, he becomes the Minotaur with the head of a bull and body of a man.

This situation resembles the archetype of a much earlier universal myth. The god Poseidon sends a magical bull to King Minos of Crete to be sacrificed in Poseidon's honour. King Minos swaps the magical bull with an ordinary bull. Poseidon becomes enraged and leads Minos' wife Pasiphae to fall in love with the magical bull. The Minotaur ravages the land. The Labryinth or Underworld is built to hold the Minotaur while his half-sister Persephone is held captive as the Queen of the Underworld. Her central myth promised regeneration and immortality.

Peng 鵬

Baby Bat Selden riding on top of Peng

The poet's approach to the Peng (bird) found in the North Circumpolar Rectangle (NCR) in the northeast quadrant of the map has been consistent. The Peng lays a special white egg. Its form is the head of a former, famous, Buddhist monk named Xuanzang (玄奘; 602–664 CE) who travelled West on the Silk Road to India so he could recover scriptures. The egg cracks open and the monk is reborn or reincarnated as "baby bat" Selden. The baby Selden rides on the back of the Peng to prepare for his ultimate, western journey within the NCR to the Kun (fish).

Sun Wukong (孙悟空 Monkey King)

To Buddhist believers it sounds miraculous while to non-believers it sounds nonsensical or at least satirical. The five characters from the novel Journey to the West (西遊記 1592) also make their appearance on The Selden Map to protect baby Selden. They are Sun Wukong (孙悟空 Monkey King), Pigsy, Friar Sand, White Dragon Horse who was son of Dragon King of the West Sea, and Tang Sanzang (based on Xuangzang). The one inconsistency with previous accounts of the poet is that he now regards these five defenders as simultaneously apart from the Peng and a part of the Peng.

The birth of Selden resembles that of the Monkey King who was born of a stone egg on an island. The Monkey King symbolizes someone with special powers who challenges the status quo in a rather chaotic way ie. a trickster god.  John Selden was born on December 16 1584;  so, he happens to be a Green Woodand Monkey according to the Chinese Zodiac. However, the jurist's powers are intellectual and spiritual as expressed in Erastianism. This doctrine was "simply a surface manifestation of the seventeenth century's attraction to the methods of scientific inquiry and mathematical measurement...." The Erastian doctrine claimed the state was superior to the church in ecclesiastical matters.

With respect to the sea, he wishes to apply reasonable limits (based on Rabbidinal Law) to absolute power. If the absolute power is god-like then its territorial claims lead to infinite "sea crises" with other nations who hold different views. Coincidentally, the word "crises" in English sounds like the word "Chryses" in Greek at the time of the Trojan War near the Hellespont Strait. Chryses' daughter was taken as a slave by Agamemnon. The king refused to return her until a plague sent by Apollo decimated the Achaeans. One might also cite some of these "sea crises" in the West-East Clash by the name of "cross-straits" as they might be applied to the Hellespont and Taiwan Strait.

Hellespont Strait

Muslim attired seafarer on Taiwan looking across the Taiwan Strait in the Qiblah direction from East to West or towards Quanzhou and then Mecca

The Hellespont crisis in the Trojan War led directly or indirectly to the collapse of the Mycenaean and Hittite Civilizations. With regard to the Taiwan Strait, two previous situations were classified as "crises" seemingly to minimize their real status. The pair of crises together seemed more like civil wars when the mainland and Taiwan were lobbing artillery shells at each other on a daily basis.  

Today, the so-called crisis of Cold War characteristics in the Taiwan Strait has the potential through nuclear weapons to not only wipe-out the so-called American Empire and nascent Chinese Empire, but civilization as we know it. Furthermore, it could lead to an extinction of entire species on a world-wide basis as a result of a ten year nuclear winter. For the human animal-mammal species, it would mean the death of 5 billion.  In total, it would be like climate change on steroids. 

Finally, my journey has led me to the Kun at the western end of the NCR. It's always been rather straightforward and clear to me despite the fact that others haven't yet seen it. The white  whale is descending into the cold depths. It is swallowing Jonah who was a Jewish prophet. He will be saved if he repents. The tail of the whale though is the head of a bird. There is syncretism here in the Jewish and Daoist religions. Overall though, the image of Jonah and the whale represents an archetype and allegory.

However, the image next to the Kun on my right is another matter. I can't quite understand it and my perception of it keeps changing. I'm not sure if it is changing or not or if I am or am not? It is a part of the Kun, but apart from it. I've identified it as Dragon King of the North Sea (北海龙王). It is called Ào Shun (敖顺). As such it is a divine ruler of the North and can be linked with the Black Warrior (under the Compass Rose). I should have an affinity with it because I'm a water dragon. Water Dragons are fairly placid creatures. We bring needed rain, but if we're riled we can cause destructive floods. Of course, lazy dragons can also cause drought.

Ào Shun is not one of your run of the mill water dragons like myself who come every 60 years.  He is much more powerful---even if I was born on a day at the time of the Qing Ming (grain rain in Hong Kong), when the planets were in alignment, a comet visited the solar system and UFO's were in formation over Temple, Texas. Anyway, what's all that got to do with me? If I don't understand Ào Shun then how can I be as powerful?

One of the problems for me is that he doesn't quite look like a water dragon or should   I say he doesn't quite look like me, but then who does? His only connection to the sea for me is that he is conch-shaped. This is even more perplexing because a salt-water conch shouldn't be associated with a fresh water, North Sea.

Dragon King of the North Sea (北海龙王). It is called Ào Shun (敖顺).

Taiwan

But, I am having a glimmer of insight!  I look through the various maps of Taiwan which I have seen many times---except now I see something different. I see a conch-shaped island with a mountain chain running along it similar to the conch-shape where the Altai Mountains run next to the North Sea. However, having solved the conundrum of the conch I'm faced with a more daunting problem that throws down its  gauntlet to me.

I'm almost 100% certain that John Selden would have regarded the North Sea as totally closed in terms of boundaries;  afterall, it is enclosed by land. Furthermore, it was claimed---at least as a boundary of the Han Empire---by dint of its decisive victory over the Xiongnu Empire in the classic Han v Hun confrontation. Yet, there is a lingering doubt in my mind. It was definitely a boundary, but did it become territory? It doesn't seem so.

A similar doubt arises for me over the status of Taiwan on The Selden Map. It shows definitively that Taiwan was a boundary of the Ming Empire rather than a territory. The Ming Emperor was quite assertive to the Dutch that the Pescadores were Ming territory, he drew no line at "elsewhere" which presumably included Taiwan.  Basically, Taiwan became Dutch territory through settlement and trade.
 
Ào Shun also reminds me of a bat. He is bat shaped. Mind you he is not a bat that hangs upside down, but rather one who is upright. He literally wears a bat for a crown, too.

The Chinese regard the bat as a good luck symbol and I hold the same view. In fact, I probably did what few other Chinese have done---I fed bats at dusk by throwing bits of food up into the air for more good luck. Yeah, that sounds pretty batty.

Of course, bats also have their other side, too. They can carry coronoviruses of SARS and SARS-CoV-2. There are many bats of different types found in the caves around the North Sea (Lake Baikal). They are peaceful and harmless. They are unlike horsehoe bats as carriers tested for years by Bat Woman in a cave in Yunnan Province in southwestern China. Those bats might bring disease and death to millions if there were to be lab-leaks.

It would seem that the strongest proof of someone's involvement in the design of a map would be a signature. This method is common with paintings and portraits. One is uncertain though how common or uncommon it is with ancient maps. At any rate, no one has found a signature on The Selden Map. Of course, it might be hidden or disguised in some way.

Even so, it doesn't seem the map maker wants his identity to be known. One has to ask oneself, if it is common to sign a map, then why has this particular map of high quality gone unsigned? There are many possible reasons, but the simplest explanation is that it is a risk to do so. For example, it might be a risk from a political or religious point of view.

It is least likely, but nevertheless within the realm of possibility, the map maker embedded his own portrait(s) on the map in lieu of a signature. The portrait would have to be miniature in size. Furthermore, the portrait would have to be disguised or distorted in some way as to hide its identify in a cursory examination.

A viewer who was concentrating on the latest, maritime trade routes wouldn't pay much attention to what was drawn on the rest of the map. He definitely though would be drawn to the Compass Rose and ruler at the top of the map because he is concerned with distances. That which is to the left and right of these instruments are only in his peripheral vision and of minor interest.

He may not realize there are two small boundary markers which are at either end of the NCR.  He may never focus, for example, on the small marker to the East because it appears to be more mountains, rivers and vegetation. The viewer may be unaware that this geographical location is equivalent to Pherkad within the bowl of the Little Dipper. It is called by the Chinese as (北極一) or the First Star of North Pole. Within the Purple Forbidden Enclosure it is known as the Crown Prince while Kochab symbolizes the Emperor. The stars of the Little Dipper appear to rotate around Pherkad. He may not notice, too, two disguised baby portraits or consider who they might be or what it means. He certainly could never dream that one or both portraits might be John Selden on The Selden Map.

If one accepts the premise that the image on the back of the Peng is a baby which has improbably hatched from an egg whose shape is the head of Tang Xuanzang (玄奘) then how does one know it is John Selden? The answer is that at this stage of development one can't be certain. The Monkey King is a trickster. He was himself hatched from a stone egg either in the forest at this location near Telin (特林) or nearby at the small island of Ush off the coast of Kuye (modern day Sakhalin).

It is difficult to distinguish between Selden and the other who may represent the Tianqi Emperor (天啓帝) in this visual representation of a satire called Journey to the West which is the first modern novel as we know it. They were both woodland monkeys based on the Chinese zodiac. Even in the Purple Forbidden Enclosure (紫微垣) they are close together as Crown Prince (太子) and the Emperor (帝) respectively in the stars Pherkad and Kochab. They are apart from and form a part of each other. However, there is one distinguishing detail which shouldn't be overlooked. The six stars (including Kochab of the Little Dipper) 'appear' to rotate around the Crown Prince.

One must wait for the Peng to fly from the East where the Sun rises, to the West where the Moon sets on the map. Both the Prince and Emperor will pass through Nothingness. Then, they will arrive at the Compass Rose's center. This is equivalent in astronomical terms to the binary pair of the ancient pole stars---Draconis 11 and 10 which rotate around each other's barycenter. At this point, the Emperor will depart to play his role in Beijing. The Prince will continue on the back of the Peng. He will pass close-by to the Yanran Square as a poet might write an homage to a brilliant general who won a decisive victory. Finally, he will arrive at the Kun (fish) in order to begin his descent.  

刘会茹: 觉醒的人 Liu Huiru: The Awakened One D. Carlton Rossi, January 30, 2022

Ta Sun 大尊 天空的 狮头人像 (D. Carlton Rossi copyright 2014-2022)

One wouldn't want the reader to not know the poet. The reader should have a clear understanding for one's own enlightenment of how the Dawu Group influenced the poet. He is a Buddist like LIU Huiru (刘会茹), a Confucianist like SUN Dawu (孙大午) and a Daoist like SUN Kai (孙凯) of Dawu family (大午家庭), Dawu Group (大午集团), Dawu City (大午城市) at the time of the Dawu (大午) Great Noon.

Poem 40 Banpo Poetry Series

The poet has approached The Selden Map as he has developed his earlier poetry. For example, his  Banpo Poetry series is derived from ancient star patterns and Banpo Pottery of the Yangshao civilization in China c.5000–3000 BCE. In the poet's opinion, Banpo Pottery exhibits pre-Taoist concepts. The pottery and derivitive poetry may be  zoomorphic, anthropomorphic and/or geometric.

The poet is adept at pattern recognition through various ways and means. He'll just mention one technique which is used by the mapmaker. The reader may then have an inkling of just what is going on with regard to perception. Keep in mind that the zoomed-in image may be only thumbnail in size.

The above image is found above the left shoulder of Ào Shun. It represents a kind of optical illusion. You'll see three black dots which may be eyes in roughly horizontal alignment. If you focus on the left and center dot then you may see one thing. On the other hand, if you concentrate on the center and right dot then you may see another thing. You might ask yourself "What is the mapmaker's view of the nature of reality in terms of transformation and transmutation?"

All that is left for the poet to do is to show images of Selden and his family on the map. If this can be done then it goes a long way to substantiate the hypothesis that Selden was instrumental to some degree in the design of the map. The poet will begin with an image which he assumes is the father of John Selden. It is indisputably the most clear, vivid and identifiable image of any person on the map. Of course, the identity of the person is subject to debate.

One might say that the image is surrealistic to some degree because the man wears a cap which transforms into a violin. On top sits a mouse. Indeed, it is known that John Selden's father of the same name was a ministrel. Therefore, there is a high likelihood that the miniature portrait portrays the head of Selden's father. The image of Selden's father is a three-quarter portrait which gives a 3D impression. It is found on the left-shoulder of Ào Shun from our point of view. The image faces West.

On the other shoulder of Ào Shun is a portrait of the head of a woman from the side view. It may be argued it is part of a full length portrait. The woman is the mother of John Selden. Her name is Margaret Selden (nee Baker of Rustington, West Sussex) descended from a knightly family of Kent. She faces East. This means they face each other. This pair of faces facing each other parallels the pair of dragons between them whose faces and tails are interlocked in a loving embrace.

Here's what you've awaited. It is three-quarters length, minature, side portrait of young John Selden. It may be the only one extant; so, it may be exceedingly difficult to compare with another or to positively identify the subject. If though it is part of a family collection of portraits, as it seems to be, then it bolsters its authenticity.

The boy is about 13 years old. He wears a mouse on his head (like his father). His ear reminds one of a bat. One might argue that his body overlaps that of the helmet below. Within the helmet are several images of a younger Selden.  One image may be overlaid with a handled pot. Does this represent the Big Dipper asterism?

The adolescent seems to be involved in some kind of ceremony. The poet's best guess is that he is receiving the breath of a dragon in his mouth. The white dragon enraps like an ermine a crowned, regal-looking figure who has four faces. This figure may be either a monarch, Sanzang or the Monkey King. One is also reminded of the image of the emperor on the back of the tortoise. The emperor's breath blew the spirit of four winds.

In this case, the indeterminate figure rather than the emperor has four faces. The breath is exhaled from a dragon to the adolescent Selden. The power of life and longevity is transfered from the dragon and is not derived from slaying the dragon from a horse as was St. George's. In fact, there is a full side view of the front of White Dragon Horse (which Sanzang rides) behind Selden. The horse and Selden face East towards the regal-looking figure.  

Let's re-examine the side portrait of Margaret Selden (nee Baker) with respect to a continuum. Underneath the portrait looking East is a three-quarters side portrait of her son John Selden looking in the same direction. Beneath that portrait is another of a skeletal knight looking East, too. He is the deceased knight in Kent from whom Margaret is descended.  

Kun descending

Ancestral lineage

 
Now, let's put two images side-by-side in parallel. To the left of the family continuum is the white Kun descending into the depths of the sea. It goes down into the depths of the North Sea with respect to the dimensions of space and time. The family continuum goes down its ancestral line from Margaret, to her son and then to the knight and continues on through its descent in space and time. One may now consider that the whole family continuum which began with Margaret may now be regarded as a full length portrait of Margaret Selden (nee Baker).


                                                                 Summary


In summary, the West-East clash of civilizations has been the dominant theme for over 3000 years. The Trojan War represented a clash between the Mycenaean civilization in the West and the Hittite civilization and empire in the East with Troy as a tribute state. The fundamental reason for the war was access to the Hellespont or a narrow strait between the Black and Mediterranean Sea. With the fall of Troy, the Greeks gained access to the strait for the next 500 years. However, both the Mycenaean and Hittite civilizations collapsed subsequently within a relatively short period of time perhaps due to climate issues.

The two Persian Wars emphasized the importance of the narrow strait since it must be crossed in an invasion by both Xerxes and a decade later by his son Darius I through the support of a fleet. The role of the strait as the dividing line between West and East was reinforced. The wars were not fought for control of the strait per se, but because the Persians wished to expand their empire to the West. At this time, the pass of Thermopylae and the narrow strait of Salamis served as gateways to the south of Greece and Athens respectively echoing the strategic importance of the narrow passage through the  Hellespont.

The Delian League (479- 404 BCE) under Athenian leadership was formed to counter an existential Persian threat. The Athenian navy grew in size. However, Sparta began to realize that Athens might be more of a threat than the Persians. The results were the Peloponnesian Wars. These wars and later plague weakened Athens to the point it was ruled by tyrants. Pointedly though, Persia did not invade Greece, but rather a would-be ruler of Persia used Greek mercenary troops to challenge Persian leadership.

Darius I wished to fulfill his father's goal of conquering the West. Alexander III of Macedon wished to fulfill his father's goal of conquering the East. However, Philip II had failed to capture Byzantium which was on the European side of the Bosporus Strait. One must keep in mind two things. Macedonia was a tribute state of Persia up to 479 BCE. Furthermore, unlike Athens it was not a democracy, but rather a militaristic monarchy.  

When Alexander crossed the Hellespont, he visited the site of Troy. Having secured the Phoenician ports he disbanded his fleet! While it was called a Panhellenic League; nevertheless, it was basically a Macedonian army that defeated the Persians at Guagamela in 331 BCE. Athens and Ephesus supported the Ionian revolt against Persia, the Greeks fought Persians through two Persian Wars, the Greeks fought each other through the Peloponnesian Wars. but it was the former tribute state of Macedonia which defeated the Persians on their own soil and Hellenized the East.

One must also mention how Constantine I transfered the seat of power to New Rome or Constantinople (formerly Byzantium) in 324 CE. The city was intended to civilize the barbarian eastern Romans. It is located along the Meridian of Alexandria as conceived by Eratosthenes. If one controls both the Hellespont near the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas and the Bosporus near the Black Sea then one's power is formidable since all roads go to Constantinople as they had gone to Rome.

To the Far East lies another strait of strategic importance which represents the essence of the East-West clash of civilizations if not empires. It is called the Taiwan Strait which is part of the South China Sea. The strait separates or joins the mainland depending on one's own respective point of view.  

During the Ming Dynasty, it might be said that the South China Sea was theoretically regarded as closed to trade based on the Haijin Sea Ban imposed in 1371, but was practically speaking open to international trade. In part, its goal was to curtail Japanese piracy. Private sea trading was banned and was to be replaced with "tribute trade".

Recently, the Chinese state has been looking for a precedent in the Ming and Qing Dynasties to support an isolationist position both theoretically and practically through a closed South China Sea. It would not be surprising if it reintroduced the equivalent of the Haijin Sea Ban, but with increased enforcement. Basically, the Haijin Sea Ban was a farce, but the CCP of the PRC may attempt to compensate for its deficiencies through force. It might try to regulate trade through a tribute system while labelling foreign navies as pirates.

The poet explored The Selden Map through a spiritual journey to gain an insight into himself and human nature. One might say he was imitating Homer who looked back through a mytho-poetic interpretation of an idealized version of the past at the time of the Trojan War. It was Homer who transformed the Olympian gods into Homeric gods who were all too human thus forming the basis of Greek religion. His epic poetry became the inspiration for the individual to seek perfection for himself and his creation.

In a similar manner, Confucius regarded the early Zhou Dynasty as a golden age. He selected the best of its poetry which he recorded in the Book of Songs so that the people's voice could be heard. The Zhou emphasized ritual and ancestral worship. It stressed collective duties and responsibilities centered on the unit of the family. These obligations were to become the foundation for dynastic rule in accordance with the Will of Heaven. It was recorded at a UNIRULE workship on the topic of Family to Country attributed to Sun Dawu that  "Since a dynasty can gain the mandate of heaven, it can also lose it, and it is not a god in itself. Whether it can keep the destiny depends on whether it follows the way of heaven."

Since the provenance of the map acquired by John Selden is unknown then its English appellation is simply The Selden Map. The reason is that the last owner of the map was John Selden. Furthermore, it is a kind of homage to the author of Mare Clausum. Its Chinese name is 明代東西洋航海圖  (tr.  Eastern and Western Navigation Charts in Ming Dynasty).

The predominant interest in the map is that it shows trade routes through the East and South China Sea. However, the poet is more interested in a perceived pattern of those routes. They seem to show a knight slaying a dragon. The poet interprets them to be satirical drawings of ultimately an absent king.

Of course, critics who generally support the idea of open seas are closed to this imaginative interpretation. They don't openly criticize it, but simply ignore it as if it had no merit. There is an unwillingness to draw any attention to it. If there were a recognition of even one pattern (or other patterns on the map) then it would be quite problematical for experts in the field.

Naturally, experts are interested in the Compass Rose and ruler on The Selden Map for nautical reasons. These devices are a means to measure space and time as one journeys. However, sailors also look at the North pole star for direction.

Today, the North star is Polaris (at tip of handle of Little Dipper). Approximately, 5000 years ago there were a binary pair of North stars known by the Chinese as Draconis 11 and 10 at the top of the North Circumpolar Rectangle (NCR) and also known as the celestial polar quadrangle. Of course, the polar star was known by the name of Thuban in the ancient Egyptian civilization. The pharoahs believed their final journey in the afterlife was to the Pole star which never set. The Chinese believed that their highest god known as Taiyi resided there.

The poet contends that the center of the Compass Rose represents the pole star associated with the god Taiyi (太乙). It is the star which the North Circumpolar stars appear to revolve. In this way, the compass is similar to our Sun which the planets revolve around. Our Sun appears to rise in the East and that is where it appears on The Selden Map. It seems that Sun worship arrived later during the Bronze Age. For example, a 3000 year old altar to the Sun was recently discovered in North-West China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

To the South of the compass is Beijing which sits on the back of the tortoise and an image of the emperor. The stars appear to go around their center at the pole star. So, too, do the subjects of the emperor appear to go around him.

The binary pole stars rotate around a common barycenter. Those stars are located in the middle at the top of the NCR. This rectangle extends from two stars of the Big Dipper on the left to two stars of the Little Dipper on the right ie. Pherkad (北極一) and Kochab (北極二). Those two stars briefly became pole stars themselves at a later time. This particular pattern will repeat in another 25,772 years as the heavens rotate slowly around the earth in what is called the precession of the equinoxes. "This precession is often referred to as a Platonic Year in astrological circles because of Plato’s recorded remark in the dialogue of Timaeus that a perfect year could be defined as the return of the celestial bodies (planets) and the fixed stars to their original positions in the night sky."

It is almost a certainty that if the mapmaker were Selden then he applied the pattern of the NCR to the map. Selden believed that all boundaries on the land or sea were artificial---even if they were lakes or mountains. However, it seems that if the NCR pattern is applied to a map of China in this way then it is based on a geometric pattern in the northern polar skies which might be divinely based or at least it was believed to be so in ancient times.

1.  The Selden Poems
https://web.archive.org/web/20190206172105/http://www.sundawu.ca/The_Selden_Poems.html

2.  Poetic Interpretation
https://web.archive.org/web/20190206172223/https://sundawu.ca/Poetic_Interpretation.html

3.  Transformation through Spiritual Pilgrimage
https://web.archive.org/web/20190206172318/http://www.sundawu.ca/Transformation.html

4.  Kun
https://web.archive.org/web/20190206172350/http://www.sundawu.ca/Kun.html

5.  Peng
https://web.archive.org/web/20190206172438/https://sundawu.ca/Peng.html

6.  Peng II
https://web.archive.org/web/20190206172535/http://www.sundawu.ca/Peng_II.html

7.  Transition
https://web.archive.org/web/20190206172610/http://www.sundawu.ca/Transition.html

8.  Northwest Rectangle
https://web.archive.org/web/20190206172826/https://sundawu.ca/Northwest_Rectangle.html

9.  The Riddle of Xian
https://web.archive.org/web/20190206172911/http://www.sundawu.ca/The_Riddle_of_Xian.html

10.  The Riddle Unravelled
https://web.archive.org/web/20190206173009/https://sundawu.ca/The_Riddle_Unravelled.html

11.  Kun II
https://web.archive.org/web/20190206173114/https://sundawu.ca/Kun_II.html


Banpo Poetry Series, D. Carlton Rossi

https://web.archive.org/web/20190206171856/http://www.sundawu.ca/Banpo_Poetry_A.html


Big and Little Dipper

https://www.fairbanksmuseum.org/uploads/night_sky/star_chart/Northern_Circumpolar_October.png


Black Tortoise

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Tortoise


Chinese zodiacal date, John Selden

https://chinese-year.com/1584


Debating the Free Sea in London, Paris, The Hague and Venice: the publication of John Selden’s Mare Clausum (1635) and its diplomatic repercussions in Western Europe, Martine Julia van Ittersum, Department of History, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/01916599.2021.1871930  


The Descent of Ariadne: Minoan Queen of the Dead to Mistress of the Labyrinth? Riley Winters, January 9, 2018

https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-europe/descent-ariadne-minoan-queen-dead-mistress-labyrinth-009407


Didier, John "In and Outside the Square: The Sky and the Power of Belief in Ancient China and the World, c. 4500 BC – AD 200" Sino-Platonic Papers No. 192, 2009, 3 vols.

www.sino-platonic.org
 
https://www.libarts.colostate.edu/people/jcdidier/


• Volume I: The Ancient Eurasian World and the Celestial Pivot

• Volume II: Representations and Identities of High Powers in Neolithic and Bronze
China....

• Volume III: Terrestrial and Celestial Transformations in Zhou and Early-Imperial
China

http://sino-platonic.org/complete/spp192_vol1.pdf


Fisk, William L. “John Selden: Erastian Critic of the English Church.” Journal of Church and State, vol. 9, no. 3, 1967, pp. 349–63. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23913734. Accessed 12 Sep. 2022.


Four Seas

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Seas


Futou

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futou


Great Reformers: Psychological Analysis Of Their Personality, Justinian, Julius Caesar And Shi Huangdi, Daniela Zaharia a *, Elena Stănculescu a, Florica Mihuț-Bohîlțea a, Ecaterina Gabriela Lung, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 140 (2014) 212 – 220,

www.sciencedirect.com


Guan (headwear)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guan_(headwear)


HISTORY OF EUROPEAN IDEAS 2021, VOL. 47, NO. 8, 1193–1210
https://doi.org/10.1080/01916599.2021.1871930    Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group


The Knight's Tale (in Middle English), Geoffrey Chaucer, Track 2 The Canterbury Tales (in Middle English)

https://genius.com/Geoffrey-chaucer-the-knights-tale-in-middle-english-annotated


Mandate of Heaven, Mark Cartwright, July 25, 2017

https://www.worldhistory.org/Mandate of Heaven/


The Political Works of James I: Reprinted from the Edition of 1616. Charles Howard McIlwain. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1918

https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.03.0071%3Asection%3D4%3Asubsection%3D2


Star Facts, Pherkad, by admin2020-12-21

https://www.star-facts.com/pherkad/


The Tianqi Emperor

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianqi_Emperor


天则双周学术论坛：孙大午，从家国到国家。

Unirule Biweekly Academic Workshop: Sun Dawu, From Family to Country, May 18, 2018

https://twitter.com/flourishflood/status/997364163927195648


Universe Today,  Space and astronomy news, Matt Williams. November 07, 2010

https://www.universetoday.com/77640/precession-of-the-equinoxes/

Patroclus' body is retrieved in the Trojan War

China fires Dongfeng ballistic missiles towards Taiwan

 

Madness induced by the Siren Calls on the Shores of the Hellespont and Taiwan Straits

Part I   


The year was 1968. I was an anti-war Vietnam protestor who wore an army surplus jacket from the time of the Korean War. The mixed message wasn't lost on me as one can accomodate seemingly contradictory, opposite thoughts at the same time. It also didn't stop me in participating in a squirt gun war in our ancient history class. The whole class was sent down to the vice-principal's office. He didn't quite know what to do with us. The blame fell on the new teacher who hadn't been able to control us. We all felt a bit sheepish for our misbehaviour. However, I remember one thing that our teacher had said in his lesson. The West-East clash was the dominant theme in history. At that time, I didn't know if the clash was a harbinger of things to come or not. I decided to wait half a century to prove or disprove the hypothesis.

Multiple definitions are now provided in an extensive list  along with brief history in chronological order from the ancient to the modern period with illustrations in some cases. The Mycenaean (Greek) civilization was centered on the Peloponnese. The exact political relation between the center and other centers is unclear. Therefore, one cannot be confident calling it the Mycenaean Empire.  The Hittite Empire was of the Late Bronze Age of several periods on the Anatolian Peninsula known as Asia Minor which was east of the Hellespont. Troy (Wilusa) was a vassal state of the Hittite Empire. The Hittites also had an advanced civilization. 

The Greek world during the Persian Wars (500-479 BCE)

Macedonia was a full-fledged subject kingdom of the Achaemenid Empire until 479 BCE. The Achaemenid Empire and civilization under Darius III fell at the hands of Alexander the Great in the Battle of Guagamela. The Macedonian Empire was the largest one up until that time as it was forged through conquest beginning in 334 BCE by the Macedonian named Alexander the Great. It broke into four kingdoms at his death. Basically, Alexander was great at conquering, but poor at administering.

City-state is defined as a political system consisting of an independent city. The Delian League was formed in 478-477 BCE and disbanded in 404 BCE. It was an alliance of Athens and other city-states (which included Ionian maritime cities on the Anatolian coast which were seeking independent status) to undertake the war against Persia--at its height it was comprised of 200 cities.

In more modern times,  the Soviet Union (known as Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or USSR) was the largest country in the world from 1922 to 1991. It consisted of 15 Republics. The USSR is not generally regarded as an empire, but rather as a State. It is said that "no official Soviet source would ever come close to using the word "empire" in self-description." It evolved though from the empire of Imperial Russia founded by Peter the Great in 1721. The fall of the USSR has meant that Russia or the Russian Federation has became a regional power.

There is great debate as to whether the United States is an empire or not. Howe defines an empire "as a political unit made up of several territories and peoples usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". This definition might apply to the United States depending on whether it is an imperial or non-imperial power. One thing is certain. The United States remains the world's only superpower; although, its power is waning. If the poet's definition of empire is superpower then both the USSR and the United States are to be considered empires.

For example, while 168 parties have ratified UNCLOS, the United States has neither signed nor ratified it; nevertheless, the US enforces it. This is a prime example of American exceptionism. There may be some hypocrisy here; although, it may want to avoid the appellation of American Empire--even if it really is.

Unveiling Ceremony with Lily Sui-fong Sun 孫穗芳 (granddaughter of Sun Yat-sen) and Sun Dawu 孙大午

 
Presentation of Dawu Group 大午集团​ magazine by Sun Dawu 孙大午 to Lily Sui-fong Sun 孫穗芳  in October 2014

Sun Dawu visits Fushan

The Yellow Emperor Huangdi united the tribes at Fushan (outside of Dawu City) within Yellow River Civilization.  At the time, the river was located near Fushan. Sun Dawu is the official protector of Fushan Mountain. In 2070 BCE, the Xia was established under Emperor Yao (尧) as China's first dynasty (夏朝) c. 2070 BCE to c.1600 BCE. Much later, in 261 BCE, Qin Shi Huangdi (始皇帝) united China through an empire. However, the Qin Dynasty (221-210 BCE) was one of the shortest-lived dynasties on record. Many dynasties followed up until the Yuan Dynasty.

Expansion of Mongol_Empire_between_1206-1294 superimposed on a modern political map of Eurasia

The nomadic Mongols under Genghis Khan conquered China and the rest of Asia and Europe to form the Mongolian Empire. They became civilized under the successor state called the Great Yuan (大 元) under Kublai Khan (忽必烈). At  Khan's death the empire fractured into four separate empires.

Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙)

The last dynasty was that of the Qing which ended with the Xinhai Revolution in 1912 CE. Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) became the Provisional President of the Republic of China from January 1, 1912 to March 10, 1912 and later served as the Premier of the Kuomintang from October 10, 1919 to March 12, 1925. He formulated The Three Principles of the People ( 三民主義).  It may be that he has the most honorific names of any Chinese leader.

Lily Sun Sui-fang 孫穗芳 Sun Dawu 孙大午 copyright D. Carlton Rossi

大午城里，浓浓的中华文化和思想在这里散播。在中国历史人物中，孙大午最喜欢两个人，孔子和孙中山。他认为，孔子是仁政，孙中山是天下为公、有德者居之。

In Dawu City, strong Chinese culture and ideas are spread here. Among Chinese historical figures, Sun Dawu likes two people the most, Confucius and Sun Yat-sen. He believed that Confucius was a benevolent government, and Sun Yat-sen was the ruler of the world, and the virtuous lived in it.

http://sundawu1.blog.sohu.com/307539355.html  (censored)

Deng Xiaoping (邓小平)

Today, The People's Republic of China is a regional power that aspires to be an empire and superpower under Xi Jinping. There  had been significant economic reform and opening up (改革开放) under the leadership of Deng Xiaoping (邓小平).  Reform came from bottom up rather than from top down. In addition, he proposed the concept of ‘setting aside dispute and pursuing joint development’ in territorial disputes involving the Daiyu and Nansha Islands. Otherwise, the government remains uncivilized under the CCP which prefers fear, terror and arbitrary rule by law.

Beacons of civilization---representing rule of law and constitutionalism--- shone in the city-states of Hong Kong as a Special Administrative Region and Dawu City which had its own Private Entrepreneurial Constitutional System. Hong Kong had an independent court system. Dawu Group emphasized Confucian morality as the foundation for law.

Hong Kong and Dawu City were also examples of the engine of growth for the People's Republic of China under Reform and Opening Up. Hong Kong is an international financial hub which is quickly losing its lustre and under its National Security Law and Group Dynamic ZER0 Covid.  Dawu Group of Dawu City achieved "common prosperity" through efficiency and self-sufficiency as well as through establishing subsidiaries as far away as Hainan Island.

Alexander the Great of Macedon

We had been studying in our class about Alexander the Great's expedition in 334 BCE against the Achaemenid Empire of Persia. It was all pretty exciting stuff for me ---despite my anti-war proclivities.  Of course, I wanted the Macedonians to win against the Persian king of the authoritarian regime in what was billed as retribution for the invasion of Greece.

Perplexingly, the Macedonians and Greeks regarded the Persians as barbarians even though they were extremely refined and civilized.  In turn, the Persians regarded the Macedonians as barbarians despite the fact that they had improved on the Theban phalanx and whose leader Alexander was educated by Aristotle.  Maybe their views stemmed from ignorance, hubris and racism.

It didn't quite seem like ancient history to me when in the real world the United States had entered a proxy war in Vietnam against China based on the domino theory. In that year of 1968, I visited the White House, Capitol and the South Vietnamese Embassy.     I helped wrestle down a soldier in the hall of the hotel who was tripping out on drugs and then waited for the military police. It was the year in Washington of flower power and resistance to the war by young people. It was the year of the draft and Tricky Dicky's  administration which was purportedly conducting the right war in the right place and at the right time.

The West-East clash hadn't begun with Alexander. He used the invasions of the Greek city-states by Xerxes and Darius of Persia in 490 BCE and 480 BCE respectively as a pretext. It seemed that he overlooked the fact that Macedonia had been a vassal state which then became a full-fledged  subordinate kingdom of the Achaemenid Empire until 479 BCE.  Nevertheless, he had understood the weakness of the Persian Empire in 401 BCE (as recorded by Xenophon in his Anabasis) when Cyrus the Younger rebelled against his brother who was king.  Cyrus started his march on Babylon with 20,000 troops of whom were 10,000 hoplite mercenaries and some peltasts. Cyrus lost the war and his life, but the mercenaries Greeks had won their part of the battle and they returned.  

Alexander's most prized possession was an annotated version of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey written in verse. The Iliad was probably written in the mid-8th century BCE.  It describes four days of battle between the Achaeans and Trojans.  One might say that its theme is the wrath of Achilles who pursued glory and an everlasting name.

Mycenaean Civilization

Hittite Empire and Civilization

On the other hand, the Achaeans wished to break Trojan control of the Hellespont Strait (modern day Dardanelles) whose southern entrance at the Bosporus Strait is only 2826 meters in width. The Trojans taxed ships which travelled through the Hellespont Strait as they went to and fro between the Black and Mediterranean Seas.  It is tragic that the opposing sides didn't negotiate a treaty to share access to the strait.

In a sense, nature had provided a kind of blueprint for co-operation and co-existence. There are two currents through the strait. One is a freshwater, surface current which flows from the Black Sea towards the Mediterranean Sea. The heavier and more saline undercurrent flows in the opposite direction. Between them is a "no flow zone" which at times is distorted under various circumstances.  

It is true that opposite current flows in the Hellespont hadn't been formally recognized until the time of Pliny the Elder.  It is also true that the reason for these particular flows in the Dardanelles hadn't been understood until the theory of fluid dynamics had been applied in the 20th century. The presence of a "no flow zone" accelerates the currents.  It was the modern poet though who had been inspired by Pre-Socratic philosophy and one might say dialectic to seek a natural basis for his poetry through analytics which (in part) is based on current flow in the Hellespont-Dardanelles and a similar phenomenon at the mouth of the Yellow River Delta.

It seemed to the poet that Parmenides of Elea was urging us to resolve the apparent differences between The Way of Conviction and The Way of Mortals. The modern poet fused Pre-Socratic and Hegelian dialectics to achieve this goal through his poetry and analysis expressed in "Poetic Analytics of Imagery through Streams of Consciousness and Unconsciousness". He was enlightened by the Parmenidean fragments and Hegel's lectures in his History of Philosophy as they pertained to the Eleatic School.

Hegel comments on Sextus Empiricus' preservation of the poems of Parmenides. "The goddess develops everything from the double knowledge (α) of thought, of the truth, and (β) of opinion; these make up the two parts of the poem." To simplistically paraphrase Hegel,  it can be said that the one is only Being and the other is not Being. Hegel believes "The dialectic that the transient has no truth, is implied in it."

The historical facts of the Trojan War are few and far between. The archeology confirms that Troy was rebuilt many times at the same location. Troy VIIa was destroyed by fire around 1180 BCE at the time of the Trojan War.

The poet argues though that the poetic-mythic interpretation presented in the Iliad represents a valid virtual reality in the imaginative unconscious. He regards Troy's fall as a mythological archetype of universal significance. It is curious to note that the actual fall of Troy does not take place in either the Iliad or Odyssey.  It is found between verses of those poems almost as if it were in a "no flow zone" separating the Cyclopean structures of Troy VIIa which is above from the crumbled stones below of previous iterations. The poet reminds the reader that the historical site would perhaps have remained undiscovered without an understanding and appreciation of the epic poem.

Scylla

Charybdis

Neither the Achaeans nor the Trojans regarded the Trojan War as a victory. Odysseus lost his way on his return home as he wandered about for ten years---at least according to the mytho-poetic version of the Odyssey. His home was overrun by suitors who sought the hand of his wife.

The historical truth may be that the ten year period actually coincided with that of the Trojan War rather than afterwards. It is highly improbable that the Achaean ships beached on the Trojan shores for ten years. This occurence would have made them vulnerable to both a simultaneous land and sea attack. One might therefore suspect that they landed for a few days at a time and then left to wander and plunder elsewhere before they repeatedly returned over a ten year period.  

The poet's understanding of Homer's Iliad and Odyssey is that there are two currents running simultaneouly through those poems.  In other words, the Iliad is to be overlaid the Odyssey.  In the Iliad is found the surface current of the light of consciousness that flows in one direction. The images portrayed are vividly realistic. Beneath it is a heavier and darker  submerged current in the Odyssey that flows in the opposite direction representing unconsciousness. The images are phantasmagoric. Between them is a "no flow zone" that accelerates the current, but which occasionally is interrupted by rocks and whirlpools in the real world as there are in the Bosporus Strait or hideous dream-like images of a hidden hell like those of Scylla and Charybdis which threaten destruction and annihilation.

In lulls of the battle, Odysseus may think of his wife and home. He is consciously aware of his separation from them. If the battle is particularly stressful  then unprocessed, chaotic thought breaks through to the unconscious. For example, Odysseus might  dream of the queenly Circe in her palace. Circe becomes a wish fulfillment of his wife who is the equivalent of Scylla or the lesser of two evils. Ironically, as the suitors of his wife are invading his home, Odysseus himself along with the Achaeans resemble the suitors or multi-headed Scylla who pursue the destruction of Troy and the slavery of its women.

Persian Wars

The West-East clash appears to be the dominant theme throughout recorded history. It is often forgotten that the city-states of Athens and Eretria had supported the Ionian Revolt against the Persian Empire between (499-494 BCE). This revolt failed. The events may be interpreted as the first phase of the Greco-Persian Wars. In response, the invasion of Greece took place between (492-490 BCE). It was led by the Persian king Darius I. The second Persian invasion of Greece (480-479 BCE) was undertaken by his son who was Xerxes I.
                      
In both invasions, the Persian army crossed the Hellespont Strait while the navy shadowed it along the coast. Any schoolboy can tell you the story of how Xerxes in the Second Persian Invasion crossed the Hellespont Strait. His first attempt to build bridges failed perhaps due to the strong current. As a result, he ordered the Hellespont to be lashed in order to bring it to heel or to hell. He then ordered his ships to be lashed together so his army could cross the Hellespont. Two separate bridges consisting of a total of 674 ships were lashed together.

Athenian Empire c. 431 BCE

Many historians on both sides have concentrated on the fall of Athens along with its rather restricted democracy. The fall might be expressed in a grander context as the decline of the Athenian Empire which began perhaps at the time of or earlier than the Second Peloponnesean War (431-404 BCE). It appears these phenomena of fall and decline are not central to the West-East clash.

Delian League (in yellow)

The Delian League (478-404 BCE) had been formed to counter the Persian threat. It was composed of ancient Greek city-states. As time went by, though, the association became more under the control of Athens to serve its own interests.

The Athenians debated in 480 BCE whether to strengthen the city's walls or build a wall of wooden ships. They settled on the latter course. But later they fortified their own Long Walls during the First Peloponnesian War which made many think they were serving their own interests rather than the Delian League's. Of course, without Athens' leadership and ships there would be no Delian League. Note that "Athenian control of the sea allowed the city to be supplied with grain from the Hellespont and Black Sea regions."

Prior to the Second Persian Invasion the oracle made the following prophecy.

"Far-seeing Zeus gives you...a wall of wood.
Only this will stand intact and help you and your children"

Herodotus, The Histories, 7.141


Thucydides interpreted this to mean a fleet of wooden ships in 480 BCE,  but decades later at the time of the First Peloponnesian War he interpreted it to mean the building of the Long Walls from Athens to its two ports. 

Greek v Greek

Peloponnesian League in 457 BCE before First Peloponnesian War

The Peloponnesian League (c.550-c.366 BCE) represented city-states on the Peloponnese. It ceded leadership to Athens so the maritime power could meet the existential Persian threat and so Sparta could deal with its own internal problems. However, as time passed, it regarded Athens and the Delian League itself as a threat. Both the First and Second Peloponnesian Wars were fought to gain hegemony over the Greek world--not the Persian Empire.

Definitely, the Persians were instrumental in undermining Athenian democracy and used their gold to achieve political ends. They also benefited by the collapse of Athenian democracy and the Athenian Empire with its Delian League.  It is true that there was some overlap of cultures with underlying unrest on the Ionian coast where Greek city-states paid tribute to the Persian Empire. It was also on the Ionian coast where Cyrus the Younger hired Greek mercenaries in 401 BCE to challenge his brother Artaxerxes II to the Persian throne. Sparta actually signed what appears to be a non-aggression treaty with Persia in 411 BCE, but both sides ignored it.   
 
The decisive West-East clash though took place much later in 331  BCE. Alexander the Great led his troops across the Hellespont to invade Persia. He met Darius III at Gaugamela. Darius III was defeated in battle by Alexander the Great. The winner was not a Greek, but rather a Macedonian. As you will recall, the Macedonians had been a tribute state of Persia during the Persian Wars up to 479 BCE.

Alexander (obverse) Zeus (converse)

Alexander III became the leader of Macedon--after his father's assassination--not due to a system of hereditary monarchy, but because his soldiers recognized him as the strongest. He defeated Darius III because he was the stronger of the two. On his death, he left his empire to the strongest.

It may be necessary as an amateur historian to overesimplify this complicated set of events. As a "foreign expert" employed at the graduate schools of CAS and CASS in Beijing, he told his students (who are by now retired scientists and professors) he would make things as clear as mud; so, here's mud in your eye.

The Persian Empire was characterized by the Greeks as despotic or tyrannical. The Greeks loved their freedom. For example, the Athenian leader whose name was Peisistratus seized the Acropolis of Athens with a series of tricks and armed men. He instituted a tyranny. It was not a tyranny as we may know it as he kept offices, laws and ruled by the constitution. He ruled Athens as a tyrant until his assassination.

Ionian Revolt Campaign

This attitude toward freedom explains to some extent why the Athenians supported the revolt of Greek city-states on the Ionian coast against the tyrannical rule of Persia. Persia appointed tyrannts to rule the Ionian city-states. The tyranny of Persia was more cruel and capricious than that of Peisistratus who had championed the common people. It should be noted that when the Mycenaean civilization collapsed the Ionian tribal group settled its citizens on the coasts of Lydia and Caria thus founding the twelve Ionian cities.

For a more complete picture one must go back earlier in time to the Late Bronze Age. The Achaeans of the Mycenaean civilization on the Peloponnese besieged Troy which was east of the Hellespont Strait. Troy was a tribute state of the Hittite Empire. The Achaeans wanted free passage through the strait. Their immediate goal was control of the strait rather than subjugation of the Hittite Empire. They succeeded at great cost in defeating Troy. However, both the Mycenaean and Hittite civilizations  collapsed soon afterwards. Greeks did though gain free access to the strait for at least half a millenium.  

There appears to be no single answer as to why major civilizations disappeared during the Late Bronze Age. It is rather a mystery. Scientists are looking at the possibility of climate change. There is evidence to suggest that "surface temperatures in the eastern Mediterranean Sea cooled rapidly around 1250 BCE, which resulted in reduced rainfall and marked the beginning of drought". It is uncertain if it may have led to famine and disease.

D. Carlton Rossi
August 31, 2022

Did Climate Change Bring Down Late Bronze Age Civilizations?
https://hakaimagazine.com/did-climate-change-bring-down-late-bronze-age-civilizations/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achaemenid_Macedonia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire#cite_note-FOOTNOTEHowe200230-1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mycenaean_Greece

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun_Yat-sen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Principles_of_the_People

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuan_dynasty

https://www.quora.com/Did-Kierkegaard-present-Socrates-and-Hegel-as-utilising-the-same-method

https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/15946

Hegel comments on Sextus Empiricus' preservation of the poems of Parmenides.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/51635/51635-h/51635-h.htm#c239

Hegel’s Lectures on THE HISTORY OF PHILOSOPHY, Translated from the German by E. S. HALDANE, ROUTLEDGE & KEGAN PAUL LTD: London 1895. Originally published by Hegel in 1805-1806. Volume One, The Eleatic School, 2. Parmenides 249-262.
https://www.gutenberg.org/files/51635/51635-h/51635-h.htm#c239

Long Walls
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Walls

The Oracle of Delphi, November 16, 2021, Laura Hayward
https://thecollector.com/oracle-of-delphi-oracular-statements

https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780190221911/obo-9780190221911-0035.xml

https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/American_Empire

Parmenides began Philosophy proper." G. W. F. Hegel, Lectures on the History of Philosophy, Vol. I Greek Philosophy to Plato, (1825), Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 1995, p. 254
https://www.ontology.co/parmenides.htm

https://web.archive.org/web/20180903160235/https://sundawu.ca/Poetic_Analytic_Imagery.html

https://www.worldhistory.org/hittite/

Madness induced by the Siren Calls on the Shores of the Hellespont and Taiwan Straits

Part II

Mycenaean Gate

Hittite Gate

The Mycenaean and Hittite civilizations of the Bronze Age  lasted 500 years. In some respects, they filled the gap left by the collapse of the Minoan civilization on Crete which was wiped out in an instant by a tsunami that ensued after the eruption of the Aegean Island of Thera/Santorini. Studies at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory funded by NASA indicate the eruption took place in the late 17th century BCE. The explosion equaled the power of two million Hiroshima-type atomic bombs.

Tyrant Jia of Xia

Year of the Three Suns in Xia dynasty

The change in weather on a world-wide basis was devastating because sulfur dioxide was thrown into the atmosphere. In China, for example, extreme weather was recorded in the last year (1675 BCE) of the Xia Dynasty under the 17th ruler known as Xia Jie  (夏桀).  It was when "ice formed during the summer mornings and frost occurred through July." Buildings collapsed as a result of heavy rainfall. Crops failed and famine ensued.

Today, similar extreme weather in China is a result of climate change with rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. There are high temperatures in the South accompanied by drought. In northern China, temperatures are abnormally high, too. They exceed 104 degrees Fahrenheit. All temperatures are also over a more prolonged period of time. The rice crop in the South and the wheat crop in the North will be adversely affected. One must keep in mind that the  Mycenaean and Hittite civilizations declined principally because of drought which led to food shortages. 

Jialing tributary of Yangzte

Jialing tribuary of Yangzte near Wuhan

The biggest engineering project in modern history was Three Gorges Dam on the Yangzte River. It was designed to produce electricity and secondarily to prevent flooding. The dam and reservoir were not built to deal with high temperatures and drought due to climate change. Water levels are at a record low on the Yangzte. This includes the water level of the Jialing which is a major tributary. Sixty-six rivers have dried up. Crops are withering in the heat. Will Chinese civilization face the same fate as the Mycenaean and Hittite?

The energy released with the explosion of Thera is exponentially more than that which could be released in a nuclear war between the United States and China over the Cross-Strait issue---or for that matter from all stockpiles of nuclear weapons. The main problem as far as climate is concerned remains nuclear winter in the event of a nuclear war. If a volcano erupts the gases reach the atmosphere where they don't absorb much radiation. Since the gases dissipate in one or two years then the cooler weather and lower crop production is short-term from this point of view. However, in the event of nuclear war, black carbon soot is released into the atmosphere (especially from cities as opposed to forests) which absorbs radiation. The climate models presented in the Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres show that "a nuclear winter would mean an almost 10°C reduction in global mean temperature, extreme changes in precipitation, and a 90% reduction in the growing season" for a decade.

Nuclear bomb blast

There have been five major extinctions from the Ordovician-Silurian to the Cretaceous-Tertiary where 75% of the species have been killed off. A nuclear winter caused by a large scale nuclear war would put 150 million tonnes of soot in the atmosphere. Literally, it would bring about the sixth mass extinction of all species. Five billion people would die of starvation. Before extinction it might be nice to know you are currently living in the Cenozoic Era, Quatenary Period, Holocen Epoch and Meghalayan Age.

High altitude EMP

Red China's "Capitalist Bomb" and Neutron bomb program

The probability of a nuclear conflict between the two countries if China attempts to forcibly unite with Taiwan may be assessed based on their policies regarding first strike. China says that it holds a nuclear No First-Use (NFU) policy. Why would it say anything else with a small inventory of nuclear weapons compared to the US?  Its behaviour though may belie its intentions. It is increasing the number of warheads from 300 to 1000. It is also promoting a DF-17 hypersonic missile mounted to a DF-ZF hypersonic glide vehicle to celebrate the PLA's 95th anniversary rather than the visit of Pelosi to Taiwan.

On the other hand, the United States has a nuclear First-Use policy which reserves the right to strike under certain conditions. This policy is used to deter an enemy's use of conventional warfare. It is also part of a strategic ambiguity strategy to keep the enemy guessing.

Large Chinese sign on mainland directed to Kinmen (PRC) or Jinmen (ROC)

People gather on the beach across from Kinmen Island (PRC) or Jinmen Island (ROC)

Perhaps the United States realizes that there is nothing more ambiguous than current statements of China's leadership.  China's first white paper in two decades proposes to apply "One Country, Two Systems" to Taiwan because of its success in Hong Kong. By success the government may mean how seemlessly seemed the transfer of Hong Kong to the mainland. The current administration is seemingly following in the footsteps of Deng Xiaoping who on June 22-23, 1984 introduced "One Country, Two Systems" to apply not only to Hong Kong, but Taiwan. The Sino-British Joint Declaration was signed on December 19, 1984.  Deng said "the mainland with its one billion people will maintain the socialist system, while Hong Kong and Taiwan continue under the capitalist system."

The present Chinese government ignores four things. First, through selective, collective amnesia called "reverse  historical nihilism"(反历史虚无主义) the CCP forgets how fifty-year promises made by Deng Xiaoping regarding principles, positions and policies on Hong Kong have not been fully followed in the present day administration. Second, there may be de jure "Two Systems" in Hong , but de facto there is only "One System" since the implemention of its National Security Law" with its sixty-six articles in 2020. Third, today, China is more capitalist than socialist and the Party has a thorough understanding of Capital.  Fourth, Deng Xiaoping undertook extensive negotiations with Hong Kong before the transfer while the present administration is launching missiles over Taiwan into international waters as possible preparation for invasion.

The Chinese negotiations for the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) took place between 1973 and 1982 under the Mao and Deng administrations. Political idealogy was their primary concern. The convention was ratified by China in 1996 under Jiang Zemin's administration.

United Nations Convention of the Sea

UNCLOS forms the basis of international law in the South China Sea where legal maritime rights come from the status of land features. China says that it is in compliance with its laws. However, it also asserts that historical considerations mean that exceptions should be made. One of these exceptions is China’s "nine-dashed line claim" which is derived from a 1947 map drawn for the Nationalist Government. However, the ROC “suspended its claim to the entire waters” within the line in December 2005. It continues to claim sovereignty over land features within the line. Since 2015 the ROC has emphasized resource sharing and co-operation in the South China Sea.

China's 9-Dash Maritime claim line in red

China is not laying its claim to the entire waters of the South China Sea (南海) based on land features, but rather on the nine-dash line.  Furthermore, it expanded the size of the line in 2009 so that it comes far closer to the shores of nations in the region than did the 1947 map. This expansion accomodates its artificial islands which may be an attempt to gain access to the Pacific Ocean for its naval fleet.  It is clear that a nine-dash line which is not based on land features does not follow maritime law under UNCLOS.

However, China seems to interpret the South China Sea within the 9-dash line with respect to trade conducted with its tribute states during the Ming Dynasty (1403–1644). "In exchange, the Chinese Emperor would offer protection to a series of states whose relative power was starkly inferior to China’s".  (Percival, 2007)  At the moment, China wants to apply this ancient empire, tribute-state model to the South China Sea by negotiation or where that fails it may resort to more force.  

The Ming also traded over twelve western routes. The treasure ships of Zhang He were to extend the tribute-state model to foreign locations. One Belt One Road (一带一路) may be its modern day equivalent which is intended to establish tribute-states dependent on the Chinese empire.

Recently, the Chinese government announced live fire drills around Taiwan. They arbitrarily established six blocks in a U-shape pattern which control air and sea around the island. These six blocks formed a virtual blockade around the territory of Taiwan. In this respect, they resemble the artificial U-shape, 9-dash line around the South China Sea waters. This line may be regarded as an attempt to virtually blockade air and sea space.  

If an arbitration tribunal of UNCLOS is to accept China's assertion of a nine-dash line based on a special-case scenario  then China must provide historic evidence regarding trade and settlement during the Ming Dynasty rather than a model of a Middle-Kingdom tributary system in the South China Sea which the Ming were trying to expand to foreign destinations through the treasure fleet of Zhang He. These facts may be hard to come by.

The reason is not that trade was unplentiful during prosperous times or numerous settlements were lacking. Trade was booming and settlements were multiplying. However, "the Haijin (海禁) or sea ban was a series of related isolationist policies restricting private maritime trading and coastal settlement during most of the Ming Empire and early Qing Empire."

                         The Old Hellespont Strait and the New Taiwan Strait


On a general level, there is some resemblance between the Hellespont and Taiwan Straits. The Hellespont was an extremely narrow strait. It is 61 kilometres (38 mi) long and 1.2 to 6 kilometres (0.75 to 3.73 mi) wide. It marked the boundary between western Europe and eastern Asia or between the Mycenaean and Hittite Civilizations. The Taiwan Strait within the South China Sea was wider. Its narrowest point was at its northern end. The narrowest part is 130 km (81 mi; 70 nmi) wide. To put this into perspective, this width is less than the length of the island of Taiwan.

Hellespont strait close to ancient Troy and Bosporus Strait leading into Pontus Euxinus (Black Sea)

The Hellespont Strait was controlled by the city of Troy which was nearby. It paid tribute to the Hittite Empire on the Anatolian peninsula. As such it was allowed to collect taxes on ships passing North through the Hellespont Strait leading to the  Bosporus Strait at the entrance to the Black Sea and and South to the Mediterranean Sea. The city prospered in this endeavour.

The Taiwan Strait at the time of the Ming Dynasty was between the most populous and advanced civilization on the planet which was located on the mainland and the island of Taiwan which was virtually uninhabited. The Dutch tried to settle on the Pescadores Islands (1622 CE) which lay in the strait closer to Taiwan, but were told to move farther afield--meaning to Taiwan where they settled in 1624 CE.  The island of Kuyi (Sakhalin) to the North was under administrative control and later briefly became a tributary of the Ming Empire.

John Selden

Hugo Grotius

Chinese negotiations on UNCLOS took place between 1973 and 1982. China finally ratified the treaty in 1996. Despite the extended period it seems the government overestimated the importance of their own priorities and underestimated the legal issues of maritime international law. The British and Dutch had already dealt with these issues as early as the 17th century. The main spokesman for the British was John Selden who wrote Mare Clausum (Closed Sea) in 1619 under James I who banned publication. It was eventually published in 1635 under Charles I.  The Dutch were represented by Hugo Grotius who published Mare Liberum (Open Sea) in 1609 . These two doctrines helped establish the British and Dutch Empires.

Lake Baikal was known as the North Sea while Lake Qinghai was called the East Sea


One can speculate how Selden and Grotius might have looked at the Taiwan Strait in terms of international maritime law during the Ming dynasty around 1620 CE---or prior to the arrival of Dutch settlements and trade. Of course, there are various possiblilities so one might try to use a common sense approach. Selden's main focus might have been that of a closed sea. For example, he might have regarded Han-hai (贝加尔湖) or Lake Baikal as a closed sea; as well as, Qinghai Lake (靑海湖 or 青海湖) located on the Tibetan Plateau in the Ming Empire.  

In this respect, he might have considered the mainland to have a three mile maritime limit from its shore ie. the maximum range for a canon ball.  For instance, this area might be closed to foreign fishing. Roughly speaking, this area might have coincided coincidentally with the cold coastal current that flowed from the East Sea along the Chinese coast through the Taiwan Strait.

The same three mile limit might have been recognized around the Pescadores Islands (澎湖群島) as territory of the Ming Empire if China had established trade with the islands and some Chinese settlement had taken place. These islands were predominantly involved with fishing.

The status of Taiwan would be harder to divine.  It appears the Ming emperor regarded it as a frontier rather than a territory. Berkowitz said that Selden had called for the obliteration of all frontiers [which presumably would have applied to Taiwan]. Furthermore, he paraphrases Selden when he says that sovereignty is possible when frontiers become boundaries.  (Berkowitz, p.36)  The waters of the strait outside the pair of three mile territorial limits would be categorized as open to navigation or international waters.  Of course, if Selden commissioned or drew the map then added dimensions may exist to what constitutes a closed sea.  

Grotius may have said more simply that the waters of the Taiwan Strait (as part of the South China Sea) were international waters which could be freely navigated.  He probably would have favoured Dutch fishing around the Pescadores. Even If the Pescadores were Ming territory it wouldn't have made a difference with respect to the the right to fish. He might think the same way about the coastal waters, but circumspectly might not have pushed the fishing issue too far.

The Dutch were able to settle on Taiwan because it was unclaimed. The fundamental error of omission by the Ming Emperor was in allowing the Dutch to begin settlement on Taiwan in 1624 CE. This meant that he lost full control of the Taiwan Strait which was the choke point between the East and South China Sea.

It would have been far better for him and the empire if there had been no  Hăijìn, Taiwan was settled with Chinese under administrative control,  private trade was officially encouraged and a tax was put on ships going through the strait. This course might also have discouraged piracy and illegal trade. The enforcement of the tax could have been left to the sixty-two or sixty-three vessel fleet of Zhang He.

It would be difficult to say what the emperor was unaware of with respect to foreign events or developments whether they were in the past or present. It is easier to say what he may not have cared about in an isolationist empire. He would not have cared about the relations between the Mycenaean and Hittite civilizations nor the trade between the Black and Mediterranean Seas a time long ago. He would be interested in land territory rather than treating the sea as if it were like land territory. He would not be interested in books on the subject of maritime law written by foreigners in Latin.

Batchelor has written noteworthy analyses on the maritime trade routes as they mainly pertain to navigation in the South China Sea. To do this he has examined The Selden Map which may have been drawn between roughly 1608-1619 CE at the time of Wanli Emperor 萬曆帝 and King Charles I. The detailed accounts are in an historically  accurate from an expert in this field.

On the other hand, D. Carlton Rossi has primarily examined the map from a poetical perspective; so, one can anticipate a creatively imaginative approach. His Selden Poems rely on a sketch of a trade route provided by Dr. Batchelor and the maritime trade routes as drawn on The Selden Map itself. Other images on the map are perceived in either an historical or ahistorical context. Finally, his sketches which overlay the map are derived geometrically, astronomically and spiritually. 


D. Carlton Rossi
August 29, 2022


Part III   to be continued



https://accidentaloriental.com/tag/xiamen/

The Biden Administration And The Future Of ‘No First Use’ – Analysis, December 31, 2021 Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (MP-IDSA),  Rajiv Nayan.
https://www.eurasiareview.com/31122021-the-biden-administration-and-the-future-of-no-first-use-analysis/

China Flashes ‘Rare Footage’ Of DF-17 Hypersonic Missile Ahead Of Army Day Celebrations, Pelosi’s Taiwan Visit, Sakshi Tiwari, August 1, 2022
https://eurasiantimes.com/china-flashes-rare-footage-of-hypersonic-missile-army-day/

China Says Taiwan Can Be Just Like Hong Kong. Huh? “One Country, Two Systems” hasn’t worked out as promised in Hong Kong. It isn’t likely to change minds in Taipei.
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2022-08-10/china-says-taiwan-can-be-just-like-hong-kong

Cross-Strait, Cross-Straits relations, China releases white paper on Taiwan question and reunification, outlines irreversible historical process, stronger capability and rock-solid resolution in new era, By Wang Qi , Yang Sheng and Bai Yunyi Published: Aug 10, 2022 10:05 AM Updated: Aug 10, 2022 10:06 PM
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202208/1272637.shtml

Deng Xiaoping on "one country, two systems" (full text) (Xinhua) Updated: 2004-02-19 17:22
https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-02/19/content_307590.htm

Derouin, S. (2019), Nuclear winter may bring a decade of destruction, Eos, 100, September 27, 2019.

https://eos.org/articles/nuclear-winter-may-bring-a-decade-of-destruction

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jie_of_Xia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerxes%27_Pontoon_Bridges

https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/therasantorini-eruption

The Future of U.S. Nuclear Policy: The Case for No First Use,  Michael S. Gerson,  February 2011
https://www.eurasiareview.com/31122021-the-biden-administration-and-the-future-of-no-first-use-analysis/

Nuclear Winter May Bring a Decade of Destruction, New climate models present a grim prediction of what would happen worldwide after a nuclear war between the United States and Russia, by Sarah Derouin 27 September 2019.
https://www.livescience.com/nuclear-war-could-kill-5-billion-from-famine

Haijin 海禁, wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haijin

Policy Roundtable: Nuclear First-Use and Presidential Authority, Chair: Galen Jackson, Contributors: Nina Tannenwald, Jon B. Wolfsthal, John R. Harvey, Rachel Elizabeth Whitlark, Brendan Rittenhouse Green.
https://tnsr.org/roundtable/policy-roundtable-nuclear-first-use-and-presidential-authority/

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/parmenides/

What could a nuclear war do to the climate — and humanity? A new study on “nuclear winter” estimates that as many as 5 billion people could die from starvation, Bryan Walsh, August  17, 2022.
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/8/17/23306861/nuclear-winter-war-climate-change-food-starvation-existential-risk-russia-united-states

Madness induced by the Siren Calls on the Shores of the Hellespont and Taiwan Straits

Part III

September 20,  2022

Under Construction

The Selden Map: Bodleian Library

John Selden was a polymath. As part of his many talents he can be regarded as an orientalist. It seems there is stronger evidence today to suggest that he may not only have bequeathed the map to the Bodleian Library of Oxford, but he may have commissioned or even have drawn it. The poet sees images of Selden himself on the map in different phases of his life. Conceivably, the inks used to draw the map and canvass could have been brought to Great Britain from the area of the South China Sea by a merchant or artist. Furthermore, the poet conjectures that Selden may have referred to the map as he was writing Mare Clausum.  In other words, he not only wanted to see how his ideas of a closed sea applied to Great Britain, but also wanted to test the hypothesis in an area of exploration which might be of contention between the British and Dutch.

 

The Selden Map was bequeathed to the Bodleian Library by Selden at his death in 1654. Historians generally assume that some rich merchant in the region of the South China Sea commissioned the map sometime between 1608 and 1619. In December 1618, James I commissioned Selden to write a full length treatise called Mare Clausum on the Crown's claim to sovereignty of the seas. Selden finished it, James I demanded changes, Selden obliged the Crown, but George Villiers who was the Lord High Admiral of England withdrew support. One might then assume that the merchant-trader retired to London where the map came into the possession of Selden around 1634. Mare Clausum was revised and published in that year with the permission of Charles I. Then, at the death of Selden, the map was archived and forgotten by the library until its existence was revealed in 2008 by an American no less whose name was Bachelor--end of story.  The preceeding scenario is plausible, but is there another which is more likely?

One should keep in mind that Grotius was approached by the Dutch India Company in 1604 to write a defence of the company's privateering in Asian waters. (Ittersum, 1195) That word "privateering" through its monopoly reminds one of "pirateering; although the former is legal while the latter is illegal. Chapter 12 of the report became Mare Liberum which was published in 1609. While Selden's treatise pertained to the waters of Great Britain, he may very well have kept in mind the Asian waters mentioned in Grotius' defence with the help of an Asian map of his own design.

The poet can understand why an important map showing the South China Sea was named after John Selden. He was described by John Milton as the most learned man of the land. Furthermore, Selden wrote Mare Clausum which was England's answer to Grotius' Mare Liberum. Finally, he donated the map to the Bodleian Library. However, up until now, the only direct connection between the map and Selden is that of a donation made by a dead man. How long had Selden owned the map or for what purposes is unknown.

The poet suggests one should look closer at the map with an open mind and without a bias to the idea of open seas. About five years ago, he published an extensive account of the map on his sundawu.ca website.  It was almost totally ignored by experts. It resembles the circumstance of how the map itself was ignored for almost 300 years in a library archive. From the age of exploration in the 17th century to the age of space exploration in the 20th century, nobody explored the archives. More lately, all through the Chinese negotiations on UNCLOS which began in 1973 to their ratification of it in 1996---the map went undiscovered. It is something of a convenient oversight, don't you think so? Only when China began to recognize the South China Sea as its own did the map make its appearance as if to confirm the concept of open seas with the exception of piracy.  The official version is that the map was kept on permanent display in the Anatomy School, but the time period is indefinite and indeterminate.

There is circumstantial evidence to show that the map was drawn around 1608-1619 CE.  One doesn't quite understand why anyone but the poet hasn't suggested that Selden may have used the map as inspiration to write Mare Clausum. The poet though goes one step further.  He suggests that Selden either commissioned the map or helped draw and design it either just before or after he was commissioned to write Mare Clausum.  For example, the "compass rose" and ruler on this oriental map which is unique may suggest "sovereign" and "sovereignty"; although, it was also a common feature on British maps.  

In his titular position at the Admiralty, George Villiers refused a final meeting with Selden to allow publication of the treatise. It was probably at the instigation of James  who was unhappy with the original submission. However, it is conceivable that James had a more profound objection to the treatise. Basically, he had been told that it would extend his sovereignty to waters of the coastline. James believed though that his absolute monarchy was based on divine right. Therefore, he might have seen Mare Clausum as a limitation to his sovereignty of the open seas.

Those who look at the map concentrate on maritime trade routes. The reason is that they were important during the Ming Dynasty and equally significant today for world trade as China asserts its claims in the South China Sea. It may be, though, that if Selden played a part in the design of the map then the lines of trade routes, the general form and placement of islands and the shape of the South China Sea expressed subtle, political messages to the point where the map has hidden meaning.

To avoid political censure and reprisals might explain why Selden kept the existence of the map a secret except perhaps to his closest friends for nearly four  decades. It is conceivable the map may have remained a secret for nearly four centuries to conceal the underlying hidden meaning in the trade routes.

The maritime trade routes are not just straight lines running hither and thither from one center of trade to another, but form recognizable patterns overlaid on the South China Sea. The poet has identified these patterns in his "Selden Poems'. However, he now reveals their deeper significance. These sketches reflect an anti-imperialist attitude of the map's designer. They mock the knight errant who tries and never tires to slay the dragon in far-off campaigns on the open sea.  It's a rendition of St. George who saves the damsel in distress with his swordplay.  In this case, the dragon is James. The damsel is George Villiers who was made Lord High Admiral of England in 1619 or the same year Mare Clausum was submitted to the king and admiral.

Here is the Janus-faced knight riding the dragon stead which is shaped like a Chinese junk on a junket eating a dessert of junket. The poem's title is "Togydre ymet and wrought his felawe wo ". The line is taken from Geoffrey Chaucer's Knight's Tale, Part 4 of The Canterbury Tales. The full passage reads as follows:

                                         Ful ofte a day han thise Thebanes two
                                         Togydre ymet, and wroght his felaw wo,
                                         Unhorsed hath ech oother of hem tweye,
                                         Therr nas no tygre in the vale of Galgopheye
                                         Whan that hir whelp is stole, whan it is lite,  


If you wish to know the meaning of Chaucer's lines then you will have to translate them yourself. However, so much is lost in translation. The lines are much more beautiful in  Middle English. When you have finished reading The Canterbury Tales then tackle Troilus and Criseyde which is an epic poem about two lovers during the siege of Troy.  

For these reasons, Rossi provides the remainder of his I'image poems, but asks you to interpret them. So much is lost in translation. He made a transition from free-form word poems to image poems long ago. They are more universal in character. To further translate the images would be one step away from reality for the poet. However, to be honest, the poet himself does not fully understand his image poems as they are revelatory.

It is hoped the reader welcomes a few new notes that haven't been seen previously about The Selden Map. Basically, the poet continues where the historians left off. Instead of dealing strictly with the eastern maritime trade routes which were a means to profit, the poet integrated them with the routes of the western Silk Road which were for profit and prayer.

North Circumpolar Rectangle (NCR) as recognized by John C. Didier, "In and Outside the Square"

Yanran Square "Who first was here is victorius" tr. Rossi 2018

Three religions or San Jiao ( 三 敎) are depicted on the map. At the time of the Song and Ming Dynasties, the religions of Daoism, Confucianism and Buddhism were syncretized. They combined merits, morals and meditation respectively.

They are all aligned West to East on the northern boundary. That boundary is not the defensive line of the Great Wall above the top of the emperor's hat. It is further North within the North Circumpolar Rectangle (NCR). At either end of the NCR are the Kun (fish) in the West and Peng (bird) in the East which ascend and descend. They are Daoist symbols. They mark the limit of boundaries.

Then, there is the compass rose. It is directly above the emperor's image. It is symbolic of the emperor's rule through the Mandate of Heaven (天命). He rules as long as he is in accordance with the will of Heaven. The actual "ruler" of measurement or figuatively speaking "sovereign" is below the NCR and above the emperor. The concept of the Mandate of Heaven was originally derived from the early Zhou Dynasty (1046-771 BCE). It was used as their justification to overthrow the Shang Dynasty. It was revived and advanced through Confucianism which stressed ancestor worship and ritual.

Further East is the nested set of vertical rectangles of which the outer has a small opening. The pair symbolize the Buddhist concept of nothingness. They are as far East of the compass rose as the Yanran Inscrition (tentatively identified by the poet) is to the West. It marked the decisive Han victory of General Dou Xian against the nomadic Xiongnu Empire. There can be no bigger contrast between that of nothingness and an inscription of decisive victory or are they really one and the same thing?  

James VI of Scotland wrote The True Law of Free Monarchies in 1598 knowing that he was to be the heir to the English throne. The title pretty well says it all. James believes the monarch is free under the true law of Heaven. He is not subject to the laws of his subjects. Even an evil monarch who ruins the kingdom is not subject to the laws of his subjects. There is no contract at the time of coronation between the people and the king. It was James who said "And so it followes of necessitie, the kings were the authors and makers of the Lawes, and not the Lawes of the kings".  In  other words, James wanted a divine right based on Medieval  absolutism.

To some extent, The Mandate of Heaven resembled King James' defence of The True Law of Free Monarchies. The Mandate provided a divine source of authority and the right to rule for its early kings and emperors. The difference between the two was not so much in laws, but rather moral obligations.

Mencius (孟軻)

For example, if a ruler through his mandate could not deal with disease, droughts and floods which were ravaging throughout the land then the people could seek change of the mandate. They might criticize, rehabilitate or replace the ruler. It was Mencius (孟軻) who said that "heaven sees as the people see; heaven hears as the people hear". Today, he might say that when the leaders of the People's Republic of China cease to sense what the people sense then the republic ceases to be the people's.   

Cross References

Northwest Rectangle

Qinghai Lake and Lake Baikal would have been of particular interest to Selden. They were boundaries of the empire as part of the Four Seas (四海) concept developed in the Han Dynasty after the defeat of the Xiongnu Confederacy. Qinghai Lake is notable as the largest lake in China with salt, alkaline characteristics. Lake Baikal is the deepest fresh water lake in the world. Both were regarded by the Han Chinese as sacred seas. They were called the West and North Sea respectively. The other two boundary markers--namely Telin and Taiwan--are either close to the sea or in the sea--namely the East and South Sea respectively.

While the emperor's upper body may be hard to discern on the map, it is more easily identified when highlighted. He wears a peaked cap which is a yishanguan (玄武) which is reserved for a Ming emperor. The emperor flies with two wings like a monarch butterfly. In addition, he blows the four winds out of his mouth.

Most interestingly, the emperor is found on the back of the black tortoise which is often referred to as the Black Warrior (玄武). In pinyin it is called Xuanwu. It is one of the Four Symbols of the Chinese constellations and itself is guardian of the North direction. The snake is to the right of the tortoise's head. In Taoist mythology, the female tortoise mates with the snake.

The presence of the snake may provide a clue as to what emperor reigned and the date of the map. The Tianqi Emperor (天啓帝) was born on December 23, 1605 and died on September 30, 1627. In the Chinese zodiac,  he was born in the year of the snake. Below the tortoise and the snake (as part of the robe) is a sheep.  In the western zodiac this means Capricorn. It is remotely possible therefore that The Selden Map was completed sometime between October 1, 1620 and September 30, 1627 or the reign of the Tianqi Emperor. On the other hand, perhaps the presence of the snake simply refers to the Year of the Snake which might be 1617 or just prior to the commission of the treatise.

The Chinese empire expanded in size and scope for many reasons which included conquest, Confucianism and commerce among others. Trade developed in the northwest region through the overland Silk Road. The capital of Xian (Changan) played a prominent role in this development.  Lake Baikal---as the North Sea---was an artificial, boundary marker even if it was a real lake or sea. Trade passed it by to the south on the Silk Road with the exception of jade deposits exploited in the region.  

As time went on, though, maritime trade routes in the South China Sea expanded. At first, they supplemented the Silk Road, but after awhile they surpassed and supplanted the land routes. By the time of the Ming Dynasty, power had shifted from Xian to Beijing reflecting the more active and prosperous sea routes and ports along the coast.

Perhaps the most controversial aspect of the Northwest Rectangle (NWR) from a modern point of view is the island of Taiwan as an artificial, boundary marker. In other words, it is similar in this regard to Lake Baikal. Both had few settlers---at least until Dutch settlement of 1624 in the case of Taiwan--­-and trade was limited. In Taiwan's case, prolific trade was conducted across the strait on the mainland, but not with the mainland. The Pescadores which had fishing villages were considered informally to be Chinese territory as opposed to Taiwanese territory.

All of this means that Lake Baikal and Taiwan with its South Sea strait were boundary markers that had not become territorial boundaries. Neither does the poet regard Lake Baikal nor Taiwan as frontiers. The poet now takes his cue from Selden who said there are no frontiers.  

Eastern Seaboard Rectangle

The newly named Eastern Seaboard Rectangle (ESR) is the poet's complement to his Northwest Rectangle (NWR). It reflects the expanded reality of commerce and spirituality during the Ming Dynasty. The main focus is now on Beijing as the political center with one important exception. The Wanli Emperor almost entirely retreats from politics because of a spat over the choice of his successor. This circumstance may help explain something rather perplexing at least to the poet as he understands the map.

The ruler which measures distances and hence time on land and sea also represents the rule of the sovereign. One would expect the ruler to be placed horizontally on the map. However, it is placed at a slight angle. The poet suggests it represents something which is slightly off in terms of balance of rule. For example, if one looks at the "futou" (幞头) or Song Dynasty peaked hats called the Zhanjiao Putou (展角幞頭) with their wing-like flaps one can see stiff and straight horizontal flaps of up to a meter each which extend outward. To the poet these flaps together may symbolize the NCR.

On a more scientific basis, the downward slant of the ruler may signal that an adjustment has to be made to magnetic compasses that are not weighted. It may be noted that the compass is roughly at the same latitude as Japan to the east. Scientists are aware that compasses off the coast of Japan point to Lake Baikal, Siberia to the West. "The reason why we have now westward declination in Japan is probably due to the presence of a strong, positive, geomagnetic anomaly around Lake Baikal in Siberia. The N-poles of magnetic needles tend to be attracted to the anomaly to show westward declinations around Japan."

A compass is usually held horizontally. In the northern hemisphere it will point in the direction of the north of the Earth which is the South pole of the Earth's magnet. However, the magnetic field is not only horizontally aligned but also vertically aligned. This means it not only indicates the direction of North and South but also "in or out" of the earth. In Japan, the very tip of the needle "dips" toward the magnetic anomaly beneath the surface of the waters of Lake Baikal where there is a rift formation. To compensate for this dip a modern compass is balanced at the other end.

There is a third reason why the ruler may be declined  downwards. There are lines running from the center of the Compass Rose to either side of the infinity symbol on the ruler. If these lines are extended they can mark the locations of Beijing, Taiwan, Guangzhou and Quanzhou.

The poet hangs an overlay of the golden, geometrical "Magical Mystery Square" (MMS) onto the center of the Compass Rose. The implication is that one-third of the Square is within a part of the NCR. Also, the same horizontal line runs through the centers of the Kun, Compass Rose, Nothingness and Peng spiritual symbols This circumstance, in effect, links them.

However, The Yanran Square is special. First, it is not spiritual, but rather social; although, the actual site of battle elsewhere might be sacred. Second, it is contrasted to Nothingness as they are on opposite sides of the Compass Rose. Finally, while the line does not go through The Yanran Square;  nevertheless, it passes above the square. The square is linked, too, with both the Compass Rose and Nothingness symbols as the bigger golden square is related to the smaller golden square at its center.

One should pay particular attention to the perpendicular line running from the small circle at the center of the compass to the small circle within the small square. The center of the compass represents the binary stars of Draconis 11and 10 which were the polar stars at the time of the mythological Yellow Emperor Huangdi. Professor Didier contends that Draconis 11 corresponds to Taiyi (太一) and Draconis 10 to Tianyi (天一) or the two highest Chinese gods. All stars appeared to rotate around the polar stars which rotated around each other's barycenter. The small circle at the bottom may represent the Ming emperor who from the Forbidden City serves the people through the will of heaven. 

Banpo series poem 28

The Magical Mystery Square has been perceived by the poet from the stars. It is a perception rather than a projection. The poet is saying that the MMS is implicit in The Selden Map with regard to the ordering of symbols. The poet merely overlaid  a pattern he has seen in the stars (among many other patterns) which he then projected onto the form of an I'image type of mandala. The pattern of the mandala was then projected onto the map in the correct position.  

         The End of Shi Huangdi, the End of a Dynasty and then the End of an Empire

The concept of immortality was held in common by the syncretized religions during the Ming Dynasty through different means. Daoists stressed longevity, Buddhists meditated on reincarnation while Confucianists put their faith in ancestor worship. However, much earlier during the Qin Dynasty, Shi Huangdi had outdone all believers in his quest for immortality. Perhaps this is why there has been a recent attempt to rehabilitate and reincarnate his character in a modern form through revisionism by the Maoists and Legalists in the vein of Han Fei.

However, one must keep in mind that Shi Huangdi did not achieve immortality. He was assassinated near Xingtai, Hebei on his fifth expedition in search of immortality. Furthermore, his empire established under the Mandate of Heaven lasted only four years after his death rather than a dynasty of 10,000 generations of which he had boasted.

The South Sea expedition of 10,000 that he sent to Taiwan or Japan totally vanished. Its goal was to find the elixir of immortality. The poet suspects that clay forms of the 10,000 were made for his terracotta army and then the soldiers were executed. He would want them to be in the afterlife before he arrived in order to protect him from harm by his enemies. He would also want to eliminate a potential threat from them as his perceived enemies in the present moment. If this is the case then it seems the Confucianists may have underestimated his perfidy and treacherousness.

One might say there are two versions of how Ying Zheng came to power. The official version is simple. When King Zhuangxian died then Ying Zheng assumed power as his son and rightful heir. The second version is extremely complicated as it involves machinations of a merchant named Lu Buwei to legitimize his son named Ying Zeng born of his concubine named Lady Zhao. She eventually became queen consort to King Zhuangxian, "Uncle" Lu Buwei became chancellor and Ying Zeng was designated the crown prince. The very fact that Ying Zeng adopted the name of the mythological Yellow Emperor Huangdi indicates that he was paranoidly obsessed about the topic of his legitimacy and explains why he postumously redesignated his mother.

The determining factor in Ying Zeng's life was that he suspected he might be illegitimate. Those who threatened his position were executed by him. However, with so many  potential enemies he developed a fear of assassination and death so he retreated into a labyrinth-like palace. In effect, he becomes the Minotaur with the head of a bull and body of a man.

This situation resembles the archetype of a much earlier universal myth. The god Poseidon sends a magical bull to King Minos of Crete to be sacrificed in Poseidon's honour. King Minos swaps the magical bull with an ordinary bull. Poseidon becomes enraged and leads Minos' wife Pasiphae to fall in love with the magical bull. The Minotaur ravages the land. The Labryinth or Underworld is built to hold the Minotaur while his half-sister Persephone is held captive as the Queen of the Underworld. Her central myth promised regeneration and immortality.

Peng 鵬

Baby Bat Selden riding on top of Peng

The poet's approach to the Peng (bird) found in the North Circumpolar Rectangle (NCR) in the northeast quadrant of the map has been consistent. The Peng lays a special white egg. Its form is the head of a former, famous, Buddhist monk named Xuanzang (玄奘; 602–664 CE) who travelled West on the Silk Road to India so he could recover scriptures. The egg cracks open and the monk is reborn or reincarnated as "baby bat" Selden. The baby Selden rides on the back of the Peng to prepare for his ultimate, western journey within the NCR to the Kun (fish).

Sun Wukong (孙悟空 Monkey King)

To Buddhist believers it sounds miraculous while to non-believers it sounds nonsensical or at least satirical. The five characters from the novel Journey to the West (西遊記 1592) also make their appearance on The Selden Map to protect baby Selden. They are Sun Wukong (孙悟空 Monkey King), Pigsy, Friar Sand, White Dragon Horse who was son of Dragon King of the West Sea, and Tang Sanzang (based on Xuangzang). The one inconsistency with previous accounts of the poet is that he now regards these five defenders as simultaneously apart from the Peng and a part of the Peng.

The birth of Selden resembles that of the Monkey King who was born of a stone egg on an island. The Monkey King symbolizes someone with special powers who challenges the status quo in a rather chaotic way ie. a trickster god.  John Selden was born on December 16 1584;  so, he happens to be a Green Woodand Monkey according to the Chinese Zodiac. However, the jurist's powers are intellectual and spiritual as expressed in Erastianism. This doctrine was "simply a surface manifestation of the seventeenth century's attraction to the methods of scientific inquiry and mathematical measurement...." The Erastian doctrine claimed the state was superior to the church in ecclesiastical matters.

With respect to the sea, he wishes to apply reasonable limits (based on Rabbidinal Law) to absolute power. If the absolute power is god-like then its territorial claims lead to infinite "sea crises" with other nations who hold different views. Coincidentally, the word "crises" in English sounds like the word "Chryses" in Greek at the time of the Trojan War near the Hellespont Strait. Chryses' daughter was taken as a slave by Agamemnon. The king refused to return her until a plague sent by Apollo decimated the Achaeans. One might also cite some of these "sea crises" in the West-East Clash by the name of "cross-straits" as they might be applied to the Hellespont and Taiwan Strait.

Hellespont Strait

Muslim attired seafarer on Taiwan looking across the Taiwan Strait in the Qiblah direction from East to West or towards Quanzhou and then Mecca

The Hellespont crisis in the Trojan War led directly or indirectly to the collapse of the Mycenaean and Hittite Civilizations. With regard to the Taiwan Strait, two previous situations were classified as "crises" seemingly to minimize their real status. The pair of crises together seemed more like civil wars when the mainland and Taiwan were lobbing artillery shells at each other on a daily basis.  

Today, the so-called crisis of Cold War characteristics in the Taiwan Strait has the potential through nuclear weapons to not only wipe-out the so-called American Empire and nascent Chinese Empire, but civilization as we know it. Furthermore, it could lead to an extinction of entire species on a world-wide basis as a result of a ten year nuclear winter. For the human animal-mammal species, it would mean the death of 5 billion.  In total, it would be like climate change on steroids. 

Finally, my journey has led me to the Kun at the western end of the NCR. It's always been rather straightforward and clear to me despite the fact that others haven't yet seen it. The white  whale is descending into the cold depths. It is swallowing Jonah who was a Jewish prophet. He will be saved if he repents. The tail of the whale though is the head of a bird. There is syncretism here in the Jewish and Daoist religions. Overall though, the image of Jonah and the whale represents an archetype and allegory.

However, the image next to the Kun on my right is another matter. I can't quite understand it and my perception of it keeps changing. I'm not sure if it is changing or not or if I am or am not? It is a part of the Kun, but apart from it. I've identified it as Dragon King of the North Sea (北海龙王). It is called Ào Shun (敖顺). As such it is a divine ruler of the North and can be linked with the Black Warrior (under the Compass Rose). I should have an affinity with it because I'm a water dragon. Water Dragons are fairly placid creatures. We bring needed rain, but if we're riled we can cause destructive floods. Of course, lazy dragons can also cause drought.

Ào Shun is not one of your run of the mill water dragons like myself who come every 60 years.  He is much more powerful---even if I was born on a day at the time of the Qing Ming (grain rain in Hong Kong), when the planets were in alignment, a comet visited the solar system and UFO's were in formation over Temple, Texas. Anyway, what's all that got to do with me? If I don't understand Ào Shun then how can I be as powerful?

One of the problems for me is that he doesn't quite look like a water dragon or should   I say he doesn't quite look like me, but then who does? His only connection to the sea for me is that he is conch-shaped. This is even more perplexing because a salt-water conch shouldn't be associated with a fresh water, North Sea.

Dragon King of the North Sea (北海龙王). It is called Ào Shun (敖顺).

Taiwan

But, I am having a glimmer of insight!  I look through the various maps of Taiwan which I have seen many times---except now I see something different. I see a conch-shaped island with a mountain chain running along it similar to the conch-shape where the Altai Mountains run next to the North Sea. However, having solved the conundrum of the conch I'm faced with a more daunting problem that throws down its  gauntlet to me.

I'm almost 100% certain that John Selden would have regarded the North Sea as totally closed in terms of boundaries;  afterall, it is enclosed by land. Furthermore, it was claimed---at least as a boundary of the Han Empire---by dint of its decisive victory over the Xiongnu Empire in the classic Han v Hun confrontation. Yet, there is a lingering doubt in my mind. It was definitely a boundary, but did it become territory? It doesn't seem so.

A similar doubt arises for me over the status of Taiwan on The Selden Map. It shows definitively that Taiwan was a boundary of the Ming Empire rather than a territory. The Ming Emperor was quite assertive to the Dutch that the Pescadores were Ming territory, he drew no line at "elsewhere" which presumably included Taiwan.  Basically, Taiwan became Dutch territory through settlement and trade.
 
Ào Shun also reminds me of a bat. He is bat shaped. Mind you he is not a bat that hangs upside down, but rather one who is upright. He literally wears a bat for a crown, too.

The Chinese regard the bat as a good luck symbol and I hold the same view. In fact, I probably did what few other Chinese have done---I fed bats at dusk by throwing bits of food up into the air for more good luck. Yeah, that sounds pretty batty.

Of course, bats also have their other side, too. They can carry coronoviruses of SARS and SARS-CoV-2. There are many bats of different types found in the caves around the North Sea (Lake Baikal). They are peaceful and harmless. They are unlike horsehoe bats as carriers tested for years by Bat Woman in a cave in Yunnan Province in southwestern China. Those bats might bring disease and death to millions if there were to be lab-leaks.

It would seem that the strongest proof of someone's involvement in the design of a map would be a signature. This method is common with paintings and portraits. One is uncertain though how common or uncommon it is with ancient maps. At any rate, no one has found a signature on The Selden Map. Of course, it might be hidden or disguised in some way.

Even so, it doesn't seem the map maker wants his identity to be known. One has to ask oneself, if it is common to sign a map, then why has this particular map of high quality gone unsigned? There are many possible reasons, but the simplest explanation is that it is a risk to do so. For example, it might be a risk from a political or religious point of view.

It is least likely, but nevertheless within the realm of possibility, the map maker embedded his own portrait(s) on the map in lieu of a signature. The portrait would have to be miniature in size. Furthermore, the portrait would have to be disguised or distorted in some way as to hide its identify in a cursory examination.

A viewer who was concentrating on the latest, maritime trade routes wouldn't pay much attention to what was drawn on the rest of the map. He definitely though would be drawn to the Compass Rose and ruler at the top of the map because he is concerned with distances. That which is to the left and right of these instruments are only in his peripheral vision and of minor interest.

He may not realize there are two small boundary markers which are an equal distance from the Compass Rose. He may never focus, for example, on the small marker to the East because it appears to be more mountains, rivers and vegetation. The viewer may be unaware that this geographical location is equivalent to Pherkad within the bowl of the Little Dipper. It is called by the Chinese as (北極一) or the First Star of North Pole. Within the Purple Forbidden Enclosure it is known as the Crown Prince while Kochab symbolizes the Emperor. The stars of the Little Dipper appear to rotate around Pherkad. He may not notice, too, two disguised baby portraits or consider who they might be or what it means. He certainly could never dream that one or both portraits might be John Selden on The Selden Map.

If one accepts the premise that the image on the back of the Peng is a baby which has improbably hatched from an egg whose shape is the head of Tang Xuanzang (玄奘) then how does one know it is John Selden? The answer is that at this stage of development one can't be certain. The Monkey King is a trickster. He was himself hatched from a stone egg either in the forest at this location near Telin (特林) or nearby at the small island of Ush off the coast of Kuye (modern day Sakhalin).

It is difficult to distinguish between Selden and the other who may represent the Tianqi Emperor (天啓帝) in this visual representation of a satire called Journey to the West which is the first modern novel as we know it. They were both woodland monkeys based on the Chinese zodiac. Even in the Purple Forbidden Enclosure (紫微垣) they are close together as Crown Prince (太子) and the Emperor (帝) respectively in the stars Pherkad and Kochab. They are apart from and form a part of each other. However, there is one distinguishing detail which shouldn't be overlooked. The six stars (including Kochab of the Little Dipper) 'appear' to rotate around the Crown Prince.

One must wait for the Peng to fly from the East where the Sun rises, to the West where the Moon sets on the map. Both the Prince and Emperor will pass through Nothingness. Then, they will arrive at the Compass Rose's center. This is equivalent in astronomical terms to the binary pair of the ancient pole stars---Draconis 11 and 10 which rotate around each other's barycenter. At this point, the Emperor will depart to play his role in Beijing. The Prince will continue on the back of the Peng. He will pass close-by to the Yanran Square as a poet might write an homage to a brilliant general who won a decisive victory. Finally, he will arrive at the Kun (fish) in order to begin his descent.  

刘会茹: 觉醒的人 Liu Huiru: The Awakened One D. Carlton Rossi, January 30, 2022

Ta Sun 大尊 天空的 狮头人像 (D. Carlton Rossi copyright 2014-2022)

One wouldn't want the reader to not know the poet. The reader should have a clear understanding for one's own enlightenment of how the Dawu Group influenced the poet. He is a Buddist like LIU Huiru (刘会茹), a Confucianist like SUN Dawu (孙大午) and a Daoist like SUN Kai (孙凯) of Dawu family (大午家庭), Dawu Group (大午集团), Dawu City (大午城市) at the time of the Dawu (大午) Great Noon.

Poem 40 Banpo Poetry Series

The poet has approached The Selden Map as he has developed his earlier poetry. For example, his  Banpo Poetry series is derived from ancient star patterns and Banpo Pottery of the Yangshao civilization in China c.5000–3000 BCE. In the poet's opinion, Banpo Pottery exhibits pre-Taoist concepts. The pottery and derivitive poetry may be  zoomorphic, anthropomorphic and/or geometric.

The poet is adept at pattern recognition through various ways and means. He'll just mention one technique which is used by the mapmaker. The reader may then have an inkling of just what is going on with regard to perception. Keep in mind that the zoomed-in image may be only thumbnail in size.

The above image is found above the left shoulder of Ào Shun. It represents a kind of optical illusion. You'll see three black dots which may be eyes in roughly horizontal alignment. If you focus on the left and center dot then you may see one thing. On the other hand, if you concentrate on the center and right dot then you may see another thing. You might ask yourself "What is the mapmaker's view of the nature of reality in terms of transformation and transmutation?"

All that is left for the poet to do is to show images of Selden and his family on the map. If this can be done then it goes a long way to substantiate the hypothesis that Selden was instrumental to some degree in the design of the map. The poet will begin with an image which he assumes is the father of John Selden. It is indisputably the most clear, vivid and identifiable image of any person on the map. Of course, the identity of the person is subject to debate.

One might say that the image is surrealistic to some degree because the man wears a cap which transforms into a violin. On top sits a mouse. Indeed, it is known that John Selden's father of the same name was a ministrel. Therefore, there is a high likelihood that the miniature portrait portrays the head of Selden's father. The image of Selden's father is a three-quarter portrait which gives a 3D impression. It is found on the left-shoulder of Ào Shun from our point of view. The image faces West.

On the other shoulder of Ào Shun is a portrait of the head of a woman from the side view. It may be argued it is part of a full length portrait. The woman is the mother of John Selden. Her name is Margaret Selden (nee Baker of Rustington, West Sussex) descended from a knightly family of Kent. She faces East. This means they face each other. This pair of faces facing each other parallels the pair of dragons between them whose faces and tails are interlocked in a loving embrace.

Here's what you've awaited. It is three-quarters length, minature, side portrait of young John Selden. It may be the only one extant; so, it may be exceedingly difficult to compare with another or to positively identify the subject. If though it is part of a family collection of portraits, as it seems to be, then it bolsters its authenticity.

The boy is about 13 years old. He wears a mouse on his head (like his father). His ear reminds one of a bat. One might argue that his body overlaps that of the helmet below. Within the helmet are several images of a younger Selden.  

The adolescent seems to be involved in some kind of ceremony. The poet's best guess is that he is receiving the breath of a dragon in his mouth. The white dragon enraps like an ermine a crowned, regal-looking figure who has four faces. This figure may be either a monarch, Sanzang or the Monkey King. One is also reminded of the image of the emperor on the back of the tortoise. The emperor's breath blew the spirit of four winds.

In this case, the indeterminate figure rather than the emperor has four faces. The breath is exhaled from a dragon to the adolescent Selden. The power of life and longevity is transfered from the dragon and is not derived from slaying the dragon from a horse as was St. George's. In fact, there is a full side view of the front of White Dragon Horse (which Sanzang rides) behind Selden. The horse and Selden face East towards the regal-looking figure.  

Let's re-examine the side portrait of Margaret Selden (nee Baker) with respect to a continuum. Underneath the portrait looking East is a three-quarters side portrait of her son John Selden looking in the same direction. Beneath that portrait is another of a skeletal knight looking East, too. He is the deceased knight in Kent from whom Margaret is descended.  

Kun descending

Ancestral lineage

Now, let's put two images side-by-side in parallel. To the left of the family continuum is the white Kun descending into the depths of the sea. It goes down into the depths of the North Sea with respect to the dimensions of space and time. The family continuum goes down its ancestral line from Margaret, to her son and then to the knight and continues on through its descent in space and time. One may now consider that the whole family continuum which began with Margaret may now be regarded as a full length portrait of Margaret Selden (nee Baker).


                                                                 Summary


In summary, the West-East clash of civilizations has been the dominant theme for over 3000 years. The Trojan War represented a clash between the Mycenaean civilization in the West and the Hittite civilization and empire in the East with Troy as a tribute state. The fundamental reason for the war was access to the Hellespont or a narrow strait between the Black and Mediterranean Sea. With the fall of Troy, the Greeks gained access to the strait for the next 500 years. However, both the Mycenaean and Hittite civilizations collapsed subsequently within a relatively short period of time perhaps due to climate issues.

The two Persian Wars emphasized the importance of the narrow strait since it must be crossed in an invasion by both Xerxes and a decade later by his son Darius I through the support of a fleet. The role of the strait as the dividing line between West and East was reinforced. The wars were not fought for control of the strait per se, but because the Persians wished to expand their empire to the West. At this time, the pass of Thermopylae and the narrow strait of Salamis served as gateways to the south of Greece and Athens respectively echoing the strategic importance of the narrow passage through the  Hellespont.

The Delian League (479- 404 BCE) under Athenian leadership was formed to counter an existential Persian threat. The Athenian navy grew in size. However, Sparta began to realize that Athens might be more of a threat than the Persians. The results were the Peloponnesian Wars. These wars and later plague weakened Athens to the point it was ruled by tyrants. Pointedly though, Persia did not invade Greece, but rather a would-be ruler of Persia used Greek mercenary troops to challenge Persian leadership.

Darius I wished to fulfill his father's goal of conquering the West. Alexander III of Macedon wished to fulfill his father's goal of conquering the East. However, Philip II had failed to capture Byzantium which was on the European side of the Bosporus Strait. One must keep in mind two things. Macedonia was a tribute state of Persia up to 479 BCE. Furthermore, unlike Athens it was not a democracy, but rather a militaristic monarchy.  

When Alexander crossed the Hellespont, he visited the site of Troy. Having secured the Phoenician ports he disbanded his fleet! While it was called a Panhellenic League; nevertheless, it was basically a Macedonian army that defeated the Persians at Guagamela in 331 BCE. Athens and Ephesus supported the Ionian revolt against Persia, the Greeks fought Persians through two Persian Wars, the Greeks fought each other through the Peloponnesian Wars. but it was the former tribute state of Macedonia which defeated the Persians on their own soil and Hellenized the East.

One must also mention how Constantine I transfered the seat of power to New Rome or Constantinople (formerly Byzantium) in 324 CE. The city was intended to civilize the barbarian eastern Romans. It is located along the Meridian of Alexandria as conceived by Eratosthenes. If one controls both the Hellespont near the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas and the Bosporus near the Black Sea then one's power is formidable since all roads go to Constantinople as they had gone to Rome.

To the Far East lies another strait of strategic importance which represents the essence of the East-West clash of civilizations if not empires. It is called the Taiwan Strait which is part of the South China Sea. The strait separates or joins the mainland depending on one's own respective point of view.  

During the Ming Dynasty, it might be said that the South China Sea was theoretically regarded as closed to trade based on the Haijin Sea Ban imposed in 1371, but was practically speaking open to international trade. In part, its goal was to curtail Japanese piracy. Private sea trading was banned and was to be replaced with "tribute trade".

Recently, the Chinese state has been looking for a precedent in the Ming and Qing Dynasties to support an isolationist position both theoretically and practically through a closed South China Sea. It would not be surprising if it reintroduced the equivalent of the Haijin Sea Ban, but with increased enforcement. Basically, the Haijin Sea Ban was a farce, but the CCP of the PRC may attempt to compensate its deficiencies through force. It might try to regulate trade through a tribute system while labelling foreign navies as pirates.

The poet explored The Selden Map through a spiritual journey to gain an insight into himself and human nature. One might say he was imitating Homer who looked back through a mytho-poetic interpretation of an idealized version of the past at the time of the Trojan War. It was Homer who transformed the Olympian gods into Homeric gods who were all too human thus forming the basis of Greek religion. His epic poetry became the inspiration for the individual to seek perfection for himself and his creation.

In a similar manner, Confucius regarded the early Zhou Dynasty as a golden age. He selected the best of its poetry which he recorded in the Book of Songs so that the people's voice could be heard. The Zhou emphasized ritual and ancestral worship. It stressed collective duties and responsibilities centered on the unit of the family. These obligations were to become the foundation for dynastic rule in accordance with the Will of Heaven.

1.  The Selden Poems
https://web.archive.org/web/20190206172105/http://www.sundawu.ca/The_Selden_Poems.html

2.  Poetic Interpretation
https://web.archive.org/web/20190206172223/https://sundawu.ca/Poetic_Interpretation.html

3.  Transformation through Spiritual Pilgrimage
https://web.archive.org/web/20190206172318/http://www.sundawu.ca/Transformation.html

4.  Kun
https://web.archive.org/web/20190206172350/http://www.sundawu.ca/Kun.html

5.  Peng
https://web.archive.org/web/20190206172438/https://sundawu.ca/Peng.html

6.  Peng II
https://web.archive.org/web/20190206172535/http://www.sundawu.ca/Peng_II.html

7.  Transition
https://web.archive.org/web/20190206172610/http://www.sundawu.ca/Transition.html

8.  Northwest Rectangle
https://web.archive.org/web/20190206172826/https://sundawu.ca/Northwest_Rectangle.html

9.  The Riddle of Xian
https://web.archive.org/web/20190206172911/http://www.sundawu.ca/The_Riddle_of_Xian.html

10.  The Riddle Unravelled
https://web.archive.org/web/20190206173009/https://sundawu.ca/The_Riddle_Unravelled.html

11.  Kun II
https://web.archive.org/web/20190206173114/https://sundawu.ca/Kun_II.html


Banpo Poetry Series, D. Carlton Rossi

https://web.archive.org/web/20190206171856/http://www.sundawu.ca/Banpo_Poetry_A.html


Black Tortoise

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Tortoise


Chinese zodiacal date, John Selden

https://chinese-year.com/1584


Debating the Free Sea in London, Paris, The Hague and Venice: the publication of John Selden’s Mare Clausum (1635) and its diplomatic repercussions in Western Europe, Martine Julia van Ittersum, Department of History, University of Dundee, Dundee, UK

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/01916599.2021.1871930  


The Descent of Ariadne: Minoan Queen of the Dead to Mistress of the Labyrinth? Riley Winters, January 9, 2018

https://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-europe/descent-ariadne-minoan-queen-dead-mistress-labyrinth-009407


Didier, John "In and Outside the Square: The Sky and the Power of Belief in Ancient China and the World, c. 4500 BC – AD 200" Sino-Platonic Papers No. 192, 2009, 3 vols.:

www.sino-platonic.org
 
https://www.libarts.colostate.edu/people/jcdidier/


Fisk, William L. “John Selden: Erastian Critic of the English Church.” Journal of Church and State, vol. 9, no. 3, 1967, pp. 349–63. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23913734. Accessed 12 Sep. 2022.


Four Seas

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Seas


Futou

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futou


Great Reformers: Psychological Analysis Of Their Personality, Justinian, Julius Caesar And Shi Huangdi, Daniela Zaharia a *, Elena Stănculescu a, Florica Mihuț-Bohîlțea a, Ecaterina Gabriela Lung, Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 140 (2014) 212 – 220,

www.sciencedirect.com


Guan (headwear)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guan_(headwear)


HISTORY OF EUROPEAN IDEAS 2021, VOL. 47, NO. 8, 1193–1210
https://doi.org/10.1080/01916599.2021.1871930    Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group


The Knight's Tale (in Middle English), Geoffrey Chaucer, Track 2 The Canterbury Tales (in Middle English)

https://genius.com/Geoffrey-chaucer-the-knights-tale-in-middle-english-annotated


Mandate of Heaven, Mark Cartwright, July 25, 2017

https://www.worldhistory.org/Mandate of Heaven/


The Political Works of James I: Reprinted from the Edition of 1616. Charles Howard McIlwain. Cambridge. Harvard University Press. 1918

https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.03.0071%3Asection%3D4%3Asubsection%3D2


Star Facts, Pherkad, by admin2020-12-21

https://www.star-facts.com/pherkad/


The Tianqi Emperor

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tianqi_Emperor

Ottawa "Freedom Convoy" protest

Washington "Save America" Rally

                         A Tale of Two Cities and Countries

It is commonplace in Canada for critics to compare the application of the War Measures Act of October 1970 under the government of Pierre Elliott Trudeau and the application of the the Emergencies Act under Justin Trudeau in February 2022.  It is said that the Emergency Act which was enacted in 1988 was a result of an overreaction and overresponse by Pierre Elliot Trudeau in 1970 with the application of the War Measures Act. His most famous expression was "Just watch me!"  At that time, civil liberties were suspended and individuals were arrested without charge. Ironically, a similar criticism was made of Justin Trudeau at the time of what has been termed the Freedom Convoy when he justified using the Public Order Emergency provisions of the Emergencies Act to quell peaceful protests in order to ostensibly defend the national security of Canada. However, this particular analysis looks at matters from a different point of view. It contrasts the insurrection in Washington, D.C on January 06, 2021 with the three week protest called "Freedom Convoy" in Ottawa during late January and February along with temporary closures of US-Canada crossing points.  

The rambling and incoherent speech of Trump given at the "Save America" Rally on January 6, 2021 in Washington, DC to dismiss the results of the election set in motion the protests at the Capitol which followed. The rally was held at the Ellipse which is close to the White House. There are two statements in the speech which are most often quoted. His critics point to the words "We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore." His defenders point to the statement "I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard."

Basically speaking, Trump's two statements which are to be taken together are doublespeak. They are contradictory; yet, both are  viewed by the speaker as true.    The "fight like hell" phrase expresses feelings while "the make your voices heard" phrase represents logical thought. Trump is inducing hysteria through cognitive dissonace by inciting the crowd to put their feelings ahead of their contradictory thoughts so that they can fight the weak "warriors" in the Senate.

It reminds the author of the science fiction movie called "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (1951) when a humanoid alien visited the Ellipse in a UFO. The alien became a projection of the nation's fear of Communists. In real life, hysteria may have been the explanation of the radar sighting over Washington on July 19, 1952. Two unidentified objects were sighted hovering over the White House and another over the Capitol.

Klaatu's speech though  was much more succinct and logical. It wasn't an expression of the "Big Lie", but rather the "Big Truth".  Disarm or the Earth will be vaporized.  He said "There must be security for all -- or no one is secure. This does not mean giving up any freedom except the freedom to act irresponsibly." Both Trump's speech which expressed views disassociated from reality and the violent interruption of the legal proceedings at the Capitol were acts of irresponsibility.

Some protesters arrived at the Capitol before Trump's speech ended which dispels the idea of spontaneity. They were prepared for an insurrection with respect to their intentions, plans and what they brought along with them. The situation quickly morphed into an attempted coup d'etat when insurrectionists breached perimeter fences by assaulting police. They then broke into the Capitol building. The goal was to forcefully and forcibly overturn the election. 

Trump's reaction to the turn of events was underwhelming. He watched events on TV from the private dining room of the White House as they transpired at the Capitol. [The New York Times, citing unnamed Defense Department officials, said it was Vice President Mike Pence, not Trump, who approved deployment of the D.C. National Guard that afternoon. The Times also cited a “person with knowledge of the events” who said Trump “initially rebuffed and resisted requests to mobilize the National Guard “and that the “mobilization was initiated with the help of Pat A. Cipollone, the White House counsel, among other officials.”] The first National Guard member arrived at about 5:40 pm or only after most of the violence had subsided. 

Canadian Federal election held on September 20 2021

The federal election in Canada was quite different. It took place on September 20, 2021. With virtually no platform, Trudeau called an early election for no apparent reason except to try and change his status from a minority to a majority leader.          He failed to change anything. Remarkably, the results of the uncontested election were similar to those of the   2019 election. He gained only one seat. It is no exaggeration to say that it was the most pointless election in Canadian history.  

However, the election was not the least consequential. It was held during the fourth wave of the Delta variant of COVID 19.  For example, on September 9th, the country reported 4,179 new cases and 27 deaths.  It cannot therefore be said by holding an early, unnecessary election that the health and safety of Canadians was of paramount importance to the government when people stood in line at polling stations during a pandemic.

As a re-elected minority leader, Trudeau didn't exactly speak from a position of strength at the the North American Leaders' Summit sometimes called the Three Amigos Summit on November 18, 2021. It was held at the White House. The cameras zoomed in on Trudeau's socks which for some unknown reason he is proud. One might imagine him saying to President Biden "Sock it to me" with regard to the proposed electric vehicle tax credits.

Those proposals have not yet become law because they face opposition in the Senate. A tax credit of $7500 would be allowed for electric vehicles made only in the US from 2026.  In addition, another $4500 of tax credits would be available for purchasing cars with union labor. These tax credits would devastate the Canadian auto parts industry. Obviously, both Canada and Mexico would like the EV credits extended to electric vehicles made in their respective countries, too.

One of the areas of co-operation at the summit in a somewhat minor area involved COVID-19. There was broad agreement on ending COVID-19.  In terms of specifics, Canada and Mexico agreed to redistribute vaccines they received from the United States to other Western Hemisphere countries.

It so happened that the Government of Canada through the Public Health Agency of Canada "announced adjustments" to its border measures with respect to COVID-19. This announcement was made on November 19, 2021. The word "adjustments" rather minimizes significant changes with respect to entry requirements of certain groups such as international students, athletes and service workers.  All of these travellers, as of January 15, 2022, who were previously exempt from entry requirements, must be fully vaccinated.  

Surprisingly, foreign national truck drivers (who are regarded as essential service workers) are no longer exempt from entry requirements.  It is surprising because the The North American Leaders' Summit had just been held a day earlier and auto parts was the key issue. The "adjustment" means that all foreign national truck drivers will be turned back if they are either not vaccinated or partially vaccinated.

The list of requirements as of January 13, 2022 to qualify as a fully vaccinated foreign national truck driver are as follows:

1.  Have received at least two doses of a vaccine accepted for travel, a mix of two accepted vaccines  or at least one dose of the Janssen/Johnson & Johnson vaccine

2.    Have received their second dose at least 14 full days before they enter Canada. For example: if a driver received their second dose anytime on Saturday, January 1, then Sunday, January 16 would be the first day that they would meet the 14-day condition.

3.    Have submitted all required COVID-19 information into ArriveCAN.


Several questions arise from the tighter vaccination requirements of foreign national truck drivers. Was it the  result of an agreement or understanding  between the United States and Canada at the summit? It hardly seems that the United States would agree to such a thing. On the other hand, were the tighter requirements imposed arbitrarily by the Canadian government, and if so, was it a retaliatory measure in response to Biden's Buy America proposal as it pertained to the EV credit and auto parts?  Tighter requirements would force vaccination of American truckers and could possibly slow down Just In Time (JIT) deliveries at the border points in the future. Finally, were the "adjustments" just the opening shot of the Canadian government before it threatened retaliatory tariffs on December 10th against American exports?

Personally speaking, the author knows what the truckers are going through with respect to requirements. The Ontario government has regulated him out of the trucking profession despite the shortage of drivers in the province. He used to hold a Class A driver's licence which qualified him to drive a tractor trailer. If you think it is easy to drive a truck, for example, with a double-clutch as is used on troop transports then try it some day. Then along came a Z brake endorsement requirement for which he should have been grandfathered in. Only a brain surgeon could understand the technicalities of the 75 page booklet. He was also hit with a series of medical tests over the years which cost him time and money for trips to the doctor and lost work for those days.  All of this red tape didn't make him a better driver or the roads safer.

Tamara Lich who was one of the organizers of the "Freedom Convoy"

The Freedom Convoy emerged in mid-January.  One of the Canadian leaders of the convoy was Tamara Lich who had been involved in small-scale fringe political activities. She helped secure support for the convoy on both sides of the border. It is probable that the political orientation of the Freedom Convoy was conservative and pro-Trumpian.

The truckers railed and rallied against COVID 19 mandates imposed on them when they tried to perform their essential services. American truck drivers who crossed the border didn't quite understand why they were being forced to meet standards that a high percentage of Canadian truck drivers met without much objection. Canadians truck drivers sympathized with the concerns of their American counterparts which suggested that their compliance with Canadian regulations was less than voluntary and more disagreeable.

The loathing felt of COVID-19 mandates explains the truckers' occupation of  Ottawa. In typical Canadian fashion which prioritized peace and order it was largely civilized. Of course, the protesters wished to speak to the "minority of one",  but he was nowhere to be found. It seems he vanished from Ottawa to isolate himself from the contagion of diesel fuel and honking horns. It must be admitted though that the Ottawa protest was predominantly symbolic. That status could at least be understood by "the minority of one" who relishes symbols and slogans.

The substance though of the Freedom Convoy involved the blockade of US-Canada border points.  It is said that "some auto parts cross the US, Mexico and Canada borders “seven or eight times” before being assembled into the final vehicle." The EV tax credits could eliminate almost all transportation jobs taking auto parts back and forth along north-south lines.

The crucial artery for the automotive supply chain is the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor and Detroit. Pickup trucks undertook a blockade of the bridge thus hindering the crossing of automotive components and parts.  Other crossings were also blocked in Coutts Alberta, Emerson Manitoba and Surrey British Columbia.

The Emergency Act which was imposed by Justin Trudeau (Just In Not Time)  on February 14th (as his Valentine's gift to Canada) was not only overkill, but also overwhelmingly unnecessary and inappropriate. It was like taking a sledgehammer to crush a nut---an analogy used with the application of the War Measures Act in 1970 under Pierre Trudeau. Basically, Justin Trudeau did too little too late to show he was in charge even though he was miles away in self-imposed isolation. The provinces had enough power to deal with the situation without the Federal government resorting to extraordinary powers which had never been used in modern Canadian history.

                                                              Just watch em

One of the unknowns but not unknowables of the government's response to the peaceful occupation of Ottawa was the use of a new surveillance plane on a so-called training mission of the Canadian special forces. The  US registered King Air aircraft was seen circling Ottawa on Jan. 28, Jan. 29, Feb. 3, Feb. 10 and Feb. 11 according to Stephan Watkins. The use of the surveillance plane skirted an official directive of the Department of National Defence that it was not to do so.  "Canadian special forces had access to similar aircraft in Afghanistan to track and target insurgents." 

However, there are several problems that arise with the application of classified surveillance technology at that time. The occupation of the city of Ottawa was peaceful. There were no riots. There were no kidnappings. There was no attempt to enter Parliament. There was no use of firearms or bombings. No one was hurt or injured. What could justify the use of this invasive technology before the passage of the Emergency Act about a week later? If it had been necessary then wouldn't it have been more appropriate to use this technology with the passage of the act itself?

The events of January 06, 2021 in Washington at the Ellipse and Capitol and the events involving the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa which expanded to the cross border points between January 15 to February 23, 2022 show a marked contrast. The Capitol insurrection threatened the life and liberty of Senators and can't be regarded as anything less than a coup d'etat. Trump appears to have rebuffed and resisted the use of the National Guard which didn't arrive until almost five hours after the disturbances had begun.

Ironically, the seeds of the Freedom Convoy's protests in Ottawa which developed into a full-scale peaceful occupation of Ottawa began the day after the North American Leaders' Summit in Washington. The Canadian government announced adjustments to its COVID-19 border policies with respect to certain groups which included foreign national truck drivers. In all likelihood, this particular adjustment was triggered by Ottawa's dissatisfaction with the EV tax credits proposed by Biden which would decimate Canada's auto parts industry in the future. The day of implementation of the adjustments which began on January 15th coincided with the beginning of the Freedom Convoy.

Obviously, the Canadian government hadn't fully understood the implications of its decision to require foreign national truck drivers to be vaccinated according to Canadian standards. The Freedom Convoy occupied Ottawa and basically paralyzed Parliament. Trudeau disappeared to parts unknown because he was infected with COVID.  The protests spread to cross-border points, but had negligible impact on the auto parts industry.  Trudeau's use of the Emergency Act was both a misstep and overstep of power because the provinces had adequate resources and legal means of enforcement to deal with the chaotic situation.

D. Carlton Rossi
June 16, 2022


 

Biden electric vehicle plans sparks outrage in Mexico, Canada
November 15, 2021

https://oltnews.com/biden-electric-vehicle-plans-sparks-outrage-in-mexico-canada


The Day the Earth Stood Still (4/5) Movie CLIP - Klaatu's Speech (1951) HD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASsNtti1XZs


KLAATU'S SPEECH FROM "THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL" (1951), November 29, 2010, transcript

https://mizpeh.blogspot.com/2010/11/klaatus-speech-from-day-earth-stood_29.html


The 1952 Washington, D.C., UFO Incident, Explained, Gaia Staff, January 22, 2020

https://www.gaia.com/article/1952-washington-dc-ufo-incident-explained


The ‘freedom convoy’ of truckers protesting Canada’s vaccine rules blocks a crucial link in the auto supply chain, Bloomberg, Gabrielle Coppola, February 8, 2022

https://fortune.com/2022/02/08/freedom-convoy-blocks-ambassador-bridge-auto-supply-chain-covid-vaccine-protest/


Government of Canada announces adjustments to Canada’s border measures, From: Public Health Agency of Canada, Latest border and travel measures

https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/news/2021/11/government-of-canada-announces-adjustments-to-canadas-border-measures.html


Requirements for truckers entering Canada in effect as of January 15, 2022
Statement, January 13, 2022 - Ottawa, ON - Public Health Agency of Canada

https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/news/2022/01/requirements-for-truckers-entering-canada-in-effect-as-of-january-15-2022.html


Read Trump's Jan. 6 Speech, A Key Part Of Impeachment Trial, February 10, 2021, Brian Naylor

https://www.npr.org/2021/02/10/966396848/read-trumps-jan-6-speech-a-key-part-of-impeachment-trial


September a ‘critical time’ for Canada’s COVID-19 fight, experts say,  Global News, Aaron D'Andrea, September 10, 2021

https://globalnews.ca/news/8181026/september-covid-critical-time-canada/


Surveillance aircraft over Ottawa during 'Freedom Convoy' protest operated by Canadian special forces, DND confirms, Ottawa Citizen, David Pugliese, May 03, 2022.

https://ottawacitizen.com/news/national/defence-watch/surveillance-aircraft-over-ottawa-during-freedom-convoy-protest-operated-by-canadian-special-forces-dnd-confirms


Three Amigos summit: Awkward conversations for US with its neighbours,      November 19,  2021

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59300461


Timeline of National Guard Deployment to Capitol, By Robert Farley,
Posted on January 13, 2021 | Updated on May 24, 2021.

https://www.factcheck.org/2021/01/timeline-of-national-guard-deployment-to-capitol/

                           President Xi Jinping                                                                            Former President Jiang Zemin

                                                          The Wild Card


President Xi is a powerful leader.  He is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission. His philosophy was enshrined in the constitution as "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for the New Era". President Xi seeks a third term in the fall of 2022 at the 20th Party Congress in either October or November. However, there is one wild card which could hamper Xi's ascendancy in the Fall---former President Jiang Zemin (江泽民).

Xi's supporters have tried to establish a personality cult around him called "Xiism" to parallel that of "Maoism" and "Dengism". An example of the cult is the publication in one province  of a Little Red Book with quotations of Xi.  There is some resistance to the cult by Party members who have become enemies on his way up and due to the perception that he has a bland personality.

Xiism though is more than just a personality cult. According to Andreas Møller Mulvad of the Copenhagen Business School,  it is  an "hegemonic project in the making". Basically, Xi wishes for China to achieve world domination while maintaining domestic stability. In the short term, its objective regarding the international front is on rather shaky ground when its Russian ally encountered resistance in its invasion of the Ukraine. In addition,  there is an awakening from complacency of the EC and NATO with the encouragement of the United States.

On the domestic front, its newly named  "Dynamic zero-COVID policy" (DZCP) has been anything but dynamic against stealth Omnicron. The BA-1 and BA-2 versions have targeted the weaknesses of the policy with respect to non-efficacious vaccines. There is also a senior population which is partly immuno--compromised and under vaccinated. Together, these two deficiencies in policy have meant a rapid spread of Covid, a rising mortality rate, an inability to achieve herd immunity, a draconian lock-down of major cities and high certainty of mutation-variations. At the moment, Omnicron rules---not the Party.

The Party has enforced a particularly repressive and expansive  variant of DZCP against its own people (resembling the "Z" invasion of sovereign  Ukraine to some extent) which has spread like a virus. The fatality figure of 587 for SARS-CoV-2 in Shanghai in 2022 has now exceeded the total number of SARS deaths in China at 349 between 1 November 2002 – 31 July 2003.  

92 year old forcibly removed from apartment to isolation ward

Alive body knowingly transported to morgue

The shock and awe lockdown of Shanghai has been both vicious and virulent. To illustrate this point it is only necessary to cite two examples which are known by all Chinese internet users. The "Big Whites" in bubble suits broke into the apartment of a  92 old woman who showed no signs of Covid and had had a recent negative test. She was forcibly removed from her apartment to an isolation center. Her daughter whose name is Zhi Ye commented on Weibo that ""There's no limit to the cold-blooded cruelty and violence".  In another incident, a living person was knowingly sealed in a body bag to be transported to the morgue. The person was discovered to be alive upon arrival at the morgue. “The nursing home is such a mess. They sent a living person on a hearse and said they were dead. The undertaker staff said they were still moving … It is irresponsible, really irresponsible,” the person who captured the scene says, according to CNN.

There are various reasons for a stringent, martial-law lockdown of Shanghai.  First and foremost is the pending appointment of Xi to a third term as president.  Second, the Party has deliberately weakened the financial hubs of both Hong Kong and Shanghai by Covid restrictions to restrict the entrepreneurial and financial classes in order to bolster the strength of its own State Owned Enterprises (SOE's). Third, the Party's sacred mission is to reunify Taiwan with the Mainland by peaceful means or if necessary by any means. Shanghai faces the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait linking Taiwan and the Mainland. "A leaked audio revealed that the Chinese military hosted a meeting in May 2022 to plan an invasion of Taiwan and the South China Sea." Fourth, in order to secure Taiwan it must secure its frontiers. Shanghai is a cosmopolitan city of 21 million. It must be pacified before Taiwan is pacified. It represents the East frontier which is closest to Taiwan. The other frontiers have already been pacified by various means ie. Hong Kong represents the South , Xinjiang the North, and Tibet is the East.  

There is one wild card which could hamper Xi's ascendancy in the Fall. It is former President Jiang Zemin (江泽民). His powerbase is Shanghai where he became mayor in 1985 and later Party Committee Secretary of Shanghai. In time, he was elevated to the positions of General Secretary of the CCP,  Chairman of the Central Military Commission and the Presidency.  

His economic-political theory was called "Three Represents".  It justified incorporation of the capitalist business class into the Party. One is reminded of the situation of Sun Dawu. His status in the Party was always in a rather gray area. If he had been fully incorporated into the Party then it might have been possible for it to have considered the merits of the Private Entrepreneurial Constitutional System established by Dawu Group in 2004;  as well as, its success in achieving "common prosperity".  Instead, Sun Dawu is under another kind of lockdown on a long-term basis  in a prison of Xingtai, Hebei.

Under Jiang's leadership, China achieved economic stability with an average growth rate of 8% GDP annually. This growth rate has declined precipitously due to Dynamic zero-COVID Policy and a hardened political stance under China's current leadership.   In particular, one can say that the economy of Shanghai has been Shanghaied under martial law and lockdowns. Its people haven't even had enough food to eat. They have been told that freedom is an illusion.

In searching for an elder hero,  the most popular figure among China's new generation is Jiang Zemin. They are nostalgic for things of the past.  "Jiang has been reborn as a “meme beacon,” while the social media tide has simultaneously turned in favor of him. This gave birth to a new subculture on the Chinese internet — “toad worship” (moha, 膜蛤)."

It may very well be that the people of Shanghai will remember  China's economic growth under their native son when they are released from lockdown.They may well recall Shanghai's illustrious designation of financial capital of China which is somewhat tarnished these days. They will certainly remember to celebrate the anniversary of Jiang Zemin's 96th birthday on August 27, 2022.

They may not Lie flat (躺平) in doing so. They may celebrate the life of China's paramount leader by singing the lyrics of the Chinese national anthem called March of the Victims which was written by another native of Shanghai whose name was Tian Han (田汉). The first line reads ‘Arise, those who do not wish to be slaves!’ 起来！ 不愿做奴隶的人们！

The young "Mohaists" may post Big Posters with the words of the Gettysburg address. It was written by Lincoln and recited from memory by Jiang. One line reads "Government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."


D. Carlton Rossi
May 20, 2022


Former official: Jiang Zemin’s ‘underground Zhongnanhai’ is more luxurious than Mao Zedong’s palace, theBL, Linda Aniston, September 24, 2021

https://thebl.tv/world-news/former-official-jiang-zemins-underground-zhongnanhai-is-more-luxurious-than-mao-zedongs-palace.html


China Covid-19 Cases and Deaths Statistics (Updated May 19, 2022)

https://virusncov.com/covid-statistics/china


Leaked audio reveals China’s military planning the invasion of Taiwan, The BL Staff, May 18, 2022

https://thebl.news/china/leaked-audio-reveals-chinas-military-planning-the-invasion-of-taiwan.html


Jiang Zemin (江泽民)  Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiang_Zemin


Mulvad, Andreas Møller, Copenhagen Business School,  "It's an "hegemonic project in the making". Abstract

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/330740622_Xiism_as_a_hegemonic_project_in_the_making_Sino-communist_ideology_and_the_political_economy_of_China's_rise


Shanghai health workers broke down door of 92-year-old to take her into quarantine, by CNN for Digital Citizen, April 22, 2022.

https://www.citizen.digital/news/shanghai-health-workers-broke-down-door-of-92-year-old-to-take-her-into-quarantine-n296939


2002–2004 SARS outbreak, Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2002%E2%80%932004_SARS_outbreak


Shanghai Stats, Update May 19, 2002   ie.  587 deaths

https://corona.help/country/china/state/shanghai


Steinbuch, Yaron, Moment Shanghai COVID ‘victim’ wakes up in bodybag on way to morgue, May 03, 2022: NY Post.

https://nypost.com/2022/05/03/shanghai-man-mistakenly-taken-for-dead-taken-to-morgue


Why China’s Younger Generation (Sort of) Loves Jiang Zemin,
Meet China’s “toad worshipers.” The Diplomat, Chutian Zhou, February 13, 2019.

https://thediplomat.com/2019/02/why-chinas-younger-generation-sort-of-loves-jiang-zemin/


Wong, Jan, RED CHINA BLUES: My Long March from Mao to Now, Doubleday Anchor Books, Toronto: 1996.

​From Paradise to Hell to Purgatory Rebooted

The poet was not unaware of the significance of SUN Dawu's speech at the China Agriculture University in 2003. Indeed, the poet hired a graduate student to translate the speech into English. Both versions were published on the poet's website. Although he personally did not hear the speech, nevertheless he, Dr. LUO Xiwen (Department of Philosophy of CASS) and SUN Dawu had met leading educators at the institution in order to arrange a co-operative agreement with respect to vocational training between a proposed college of Dawu Group-Red Deer College and the university. 

The high frequency of the word "xianghe" (祥和) in the speech has been emphasized by the editor of ChinaChange. It means "peacefulness”or "serenity”but carries the literal meaning of "auspicious harmony". In other words, in 2003 and much earlier, SUN Dawu had dreamed of an utopian Paradise based on the idea of "common prosperity". 1.  More importantly, he was successfully implementing it. As the poet understands it "common prosperity" has also been a priority of Xi Jinping Thought--particularly in 2021. On the final day of his trial, SUN Dawu implied that inflation might impede wide-spread common prosperity for the country. 

One might say that the period of opening up and reform on the macro scale and the common prosperity of Dawu Group as a private enterprise on the micro scale represented a kind of Paradise. However, the fall from grace for Dawu Group took place with the arrest of Sun Dawu and his two brothers on May 27, 2003. Arrest represented Hell. Purgatory began in prison and lasted until November 11, 2003 when all legal details were finalized. Paradise was revisited with freedom of the individual and group. It was reached in the establishment of the Private Entrepreneurial Constitutional System in 2004 which was a type of constitutional monarchy. 

Over the years, there were many trials and tribulations faced by the Group due to property disputes of a historical nature going back to the 1950's and more recently to an intellectual property dispute resolved at the Supreme Court. The main dispute though was between Dawu Group and Xushui State Farm which is only an organ or agent of the government; so, its actual ownership is unclear. The dispute involved land. However, despite these  disputes it is indisputable that common prosperity was achieved by 9000 employees of Dawu Group through a system that emphasized people rather than profit. 

The year 2020 resembled the year 2003 in some respects. One similarity was the emergence of atypical pneumonia in southern China. It was classified as SARS-CoV-1 during its emergence in Guangdong Province in November 2002 and SARS-CoV-2 as it emerged in Wuhan perhaps in November of 2019. The initial government response in both cases was deceit and denial. It treated the disease as a political issue; for example, it organized neighbourhood committees as it had utilized them to control political dissent during The Cultural Revolution. People were afraid of the disease, but the government was more afraid of losing control of the people. 

It is no coincidence that Sun was arrested as the disease hit Beijing in May 2003 and also after the evolved virus struck the Xinfadi market in Beijing and and then Baoding which is 150 kilometers southwest of the capital. Martial law was declared in Baoding and a wartime mechanism was imposed by the epidemic response center. 

Today, the government restricts visits of lawyers to SUN Dawu on the excuse of SARS-CoV-2. However, it is more concerned how peasants, farmers, entrepreneurs and even intellectuals of China are influenced by the man considered to be the moral conscience of the nation. Incarceration merely strengthens the people's trust in The Great Noon (伟大的正午).  

The re-descent into Hell of the decent SUN Dawu and Dawu Group began with two protests reflecting its relations with Xushui State Farm. Sun has characterized it as a "Freak Farm".  They were known as the 6.20 and 8.4 incidents in the summer of 2020. By themselves they were not very important as they historically involved only 740 mu of land, but their influence was magnified as they are representative of land disputes throughout China.

The incidents were special, too, in that they are responses to land laws enacted in the commune era of Mao dating back to The Great Leap Forward in 1958. They haven't yet been adequately solved by any CCP government. Therefore, who is to blame for the incidents?  It's almost an example of "original sin" of the Party as opposed to its propaganda which emphasizes "original sin" of the peasants. Peasants like Sun--and Sun still calls himself a peasant-- commit no sin when they set up a grain bank in 2003 at Langwuzhuang to maximize and stabilize the income of farmers nor did they commit any sin when they prevented thugs from leaving who provokingly   demolished a Dawu building in the August 4th incident of 2020. Sun does admit though that he made some inappropriate comments which he regrets in the aftermath of the incidents.

As a guide to the reader it may be said by the poet that Dawu Group entered Hell around midnight on November 11, 2020. Six busloads carrying 300 submachine-gun toting police and their dogs were dispatched. One can infer that the purpose was to instill terror. 

The main difference though between the 2003 and 2020 arrests was in degree. In 2003, SUN Dawu was actually lured outside of the area to the Hongyan Hotel  in Xushui City through a dinner invitation from a newly appointed  county-party secretary. 10. The arrest was done in the light of day by plainclothes officers. If the poet recalls correctly there were many plainclothes police and unmarked cars that arrived during the day at Dawu Group in order to mop up as about 20 employees were detained. However, in the 2020 raid, The Great Noon was arrested along with about 30 senior Dawu officials by police in full tactical gear at midnight. The actions in 2003 were intended to instill fear; although, in retrospect, SUN Dawu described it as an atmosphere of terror. 10. The actions of November 11, 2020 were intended to instill terror. There is a saying by an unknown poet that reads as follows:

                                                  "When the use of fear fails
                                                   then the abuse of terror trails" 

One might compare the fear and terror used in the Dawu arrests in 2003 and 2020 by contrasting the use of fear and terror in the The Great Leap Forward (1958-1962) and The Cultural Revolution (1966-1976). The Great Leap Forward (大跃进) was a disaster in that it caused The Great Chinese Famine (三年大饥荒) from 1959-1961 which killed between 15 and 55 million. While terror was a factor in The Great Leap Forward it would seem that fear was the dominant emotion instilled in the peasants. Generally, people died slowly of starvation. They feared death through starvation.  Of course, there were many individual exceptions such as scholars who experienced terror.  

However, one might say that terror was instilled in the Chinese population in the early stages of The Cultural Revolution (文化大革命) 1966-1976. The first stage of mass killings began with the Red Terror (August-December 1966). For example, it did not concentrate on poor peasants, but rather rich peasants along with four other black categories as well as "capitalist roaders" in the Party. In Qufu or the birthplace of Confucius, the graves of the Kung family were dug up by the Red Guards (红卫兵) led by TAN Houlan in order to Annihilate the Kung Family Business (歼灭孔氏家族企业) 2. The takeover of the Confucian, Dawu Group (大午集团) in 2020 is its equivalent in what might be called Cultural Revolution 2.0 with its campaign to Annihilate the Dawu Family Business (歼灭大悟家族企业). 

Seven of the innocent defendants which included Sun --who were presumed guilty until proven innocent-- were transferred to RSDL under jurisdiction of the Baoding municipal Public Security Bureau (PSB). RSDL stands for “Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location”. This means they had no fixed residence. This is unbelievable because the poet has visited SUN  Dawu in his residence and listened to the words of Xi Jinping at the time of the national holiday. Now, the PSB is saying it didn't happen in Sun's residence which has remained the same. 

Normally, RSDL is temporary in nature. For example, it may last three months. However, it can be extended as it was in these cases. The duration was extended several times. It appears to have lasted from November 11, 2020 to at least July 25, 2021 or the last day of the trial. "The PSB took advantage of the law with ill-intention, and nullified the human rights protection statute by designating jurisdiction." 3. 

The defendants asked to be able to transfer from RSDL or Hell to a detention center because they said  under RSDL they were being tortured. SUN Dawu stated "During RSDL, I once requested to be transferred to the detention center because my treatment produced misery beyond words and life was worse than death. I went on a hunger strike for three days." 4.  All defendants said "life was worse than death". 6.

The defendant Ji Weilian ( 纪玮莲) said "I could see that there were once windows in the Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location (RSDL) room. I applied to change rooms, I was extremely agitated, and wanted to dig out the window. I wanted to open the door. I wanted air. I was interrogated too many times. My memory was declining." 5.

The RSDL were specifically constructed for the defendants of Dawu Group. They can hardly be called residences as there were no windows and no ventilation. The "formaldehyde level severely exceeded safety standards." 6.  Formaldehyde is  known to be a human carcinogen based on "higher risks of nasopharyngeal cancer and leukemia". 7. It is also used as an embalming fluid for the dead. 

In other words, terror of the arrest was transforming into torture through RSDL for the defendants.  Torture became a tactic of terror. During The Cultural Revolution the paramilitary organization called the Red Guards used torture through brutal struggle sessions. For example, On August 23, 1966 SHU Qingchu known as Lao She who was a communist party member and 20 other writers were transported to Beijing’s Temple of Confucius where a mob of 150 teenage girls beat them with bamboo sticks and theater props. 8.  

The actual trial started on July 15th and lasted until July 25th 2021. It can be said that this was the eighth circle of Hell for the defendants. They were faced by those who claimed that the trial was open, but the visitors invited by those facing trial could not be seen. Each defendant was allowed only one visitor who was held in another room. SUN Dawu himself stated “All my family members had come, including our in-laws and other relatives, as well as employees, where are they? I want to know: Is this an open trial or not?” 3. Secondly, in the 2003 trial there were photographs allowed of the defendants which were published. No photos were allowed in the "open" court of 2021 to be published. Lawyers  requested that judges recuse themselves on the ground that the court hearing was not truly public. The operative word there is "truly". 

                           Canto XXIX      Hell     Divine Comedy      Dante Alighieri

                                     With points of thrilling pity, that I clos'd
                                     Both ears against the volley with mine hands.

                                     Together; such was here the torment: dire
                                     The stench, as issuing steams from fester'd limbs. 9.


The outcome of the trial was never in doubt. If ever there were a predetermined result it was in the Gaobeidian Municipal court. For example, the Dawu Group itself was on trial. However, before the trial, government working groups took over operation of the company including company seals and financial affairs. The trial and sentence merely legalized seizure and control of the company by the government. SUN Fushuo (youngest son of SUN Dawu) has not been allowed to return to his position even when he completed his sentence on September 29, 2021. He and his family are invited to Canada as the poet's guests. 

While SUN Dawu has risen from Hell he may be trapped in Purgatory for 18 years. He might get an opportunity to appeal his sentence if he is ever again allowed to see his lawyer. SARS-CoV-2 is used as the excuse to isolate Sun. Will Purgatory reform SUN Dawu?  Perhaps, if he is allowed to read "Thirty Lectures on Socialist Thinking" by Xi Jinping which he was prevented from reading in Hell while he awaited trial. 

One expects though that the real impact will be on the Chinese people. They may finally realize that the same thing could happen to any one of them. If they do not have the protection of lawyers, law, police and Party then who will protect them? 

Purgatory where SUN Dawu was briefly incarcerated  is called Baoding Prison or should one say the whole  city of Baoding (保定) itself? The poet may have visited Baoding a hundred times for various reasons. However, he found no reason to stay for more than a few hours. It is one of the most heavily polluted cities in China. 

It seems though that Baoding Prison was a little too close to Langwuzhuang or Sun's birthplace for the comfort of local authorities. They wanted to get rid of him as far away as possible from potential support. The capital of Hebei or Shijiazhuang which is hundreds of miles away was too close. They went further south to a prison in the Tangshan Guye District of Xingtai (邢台).  It's almost on the southern boundary of the province of Hebei. The poet has passed through Xingtai by bus and train on his way from Anyang, Henan to Langwuzhuang Hebei, but again, it is no place to linger. 

Xingtai is the most polluted city in China, so one can't imagine a Purgatory less likely to cleanse. It is a coal mining hub producing 20 million tonnes of metric coal a year and has one of the largest reactors. It meets the national standard with respect to pollution for only 38 days. On December 15, 2021 the pollution index was an unhealthy 183.   11. 

Xingtai is reminiscent of industrialized London in the  mid-nineteenth century. It is described by Charles Dickens (查尔斯·狄更斯) in Chapter One (The Chancery) of the serialized novel Bleak House (荒凉山庄).


"Smoke lowering down from chimney-pots, making a soft black drizzle, with flakes of soot in it as big as full-grown snowflakes—gone into mourning, one might imagine, for the death of the sun." 14.


The pollution in Xingtai is not the only environmental problem. In the Spring, large sandstorms blow in from the Mongolian steppe. The worst sandstorm the poet ever experienced was in Linyi City when his face and larynx were literally sandblasted. 

There are few who don't know -- which includes authorities -- that this super-sized Purgatory is prone to earthquakes. Xingtai, Hebei is located above the North China Seismic Belt. "The frequency and intensity of earthquakes here are second only to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau". 12. From March 8th to March 29th in 1966 the Xingtai earthquakes (邢台大地震) struck and killed 8064 people. 13. Fate will dictate whether you go out with a bang (earthquake) or a whimper (pollution) in the Purgatory of Xingtai. 

SUN Dawu may take some solace in the lessons that real history provides. The Battle of Julu (鉅鹿之戰) 13. was fought at Xingtai in 207 BCE between forces of the Qin dynasty and the insurgent state of Chu. The battle provided a decisive victory for the rebels over the larger Qin army. Furthermore, it allowed for the rise of Liu Bang (劉邦) who was born into a peasant family. He reigned from 202-195 BCE as the first emperor of the Han Dynasty. 16. 

In summary, there are two key 18 year periods of three phases each for Dawu Group and its founder SUN Dawu which may be broadly summarized. In period one, Dawu Group is founded. This may be equated with Paradise as barren land becomes fertile. However, Hell begins with the arrest of SUN Dawu and his brothers on May 27, 2003. It is followed by Purgatory until the official settlement on November 11, 2003 for time served. 

In period two, Paradise begins for the Sun family and Dawu Group with the release of the Suns and establishment of normalcy at Dawu Group. The fruition of Paradise is the creation of the Private Entrepreneurial Constitutional System in 2004. The company continues to grow and its employees prosper. However, there were several major setbacks which included two trademark cases, African Swine Flu, seizure of apartment buildings and two land disputes in 2020. It may be said that there was a descent into Hell on November 11, 2020 in the detention of Dawu employees which included SUN Dawu and the seizure of Dawu Group. Seven employees including SUN Dawu were removed from their residences and then designated without residence. Life in “Residential Surveillance at a Designated Location” is Hell. The defendants are consigned to Purgatory in their sentences on July 28, 2021.  

Sun is sentenced to 18 years in Purgatory for pleading not guilty. The verdict implies that he has learned nothing in the last two periods of 18 years. The open question though is what have the Chinese people learned from the imprisonment of SUN Dawu, the seizure of Dawu Group and their own situation within the Cultural Revolution 2.0 of fear and terror sponsored by the State. Perhaps the unintended lesson is that revolution is the solution. 

D. Carlton Rossi
December 24, 2021

​
1.  https://chinachange.org/2021/04/02/sun-dawu-a-chinese-agricultural-entrepreneurs-36-year-dream-in-the-era-of-reform-and-opening-up-part-two/

2.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Guards

3.  https://chinachange.org/2021/07/17/briefing-on-the-first-day-of-dawu-trial/ 

4.  https://chinachange.org/2021/07/18/briefing-on-the-second-day-of-dawu-trial/

5.   https://chinachange.org/2021/07/20/briefing-on-the-fourth-day-of-dawu-trial-i-want-to-dig-a-window/

6.   https://chinachange.org/2021/08/01/briefing-on-the-eleventh-day-of-dawu-trial-10-questions-and-10-answers/

7.  https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/formaldehyde.html

8.  https://listverse.com/2016/06/24/10-disturbing-stories-from-chinas-horrific-cultural-revolution/

9.  https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8789/8789-h/8789-h.htm#link29

10. https://chinachange.org/2015/07/24/what-can-you-do-in-the-face-of-terror-a-chinese-entrepreneur-responds-to-arrest-of-rights-lawyers/

11.  https://aqicn.org/map/china/

12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1966_Xingtai_earthquakes
                                                                                                               
13. https://www.163.com/dy/article/G8MBV1OJ0543RDXS.html

14. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/1023/1023-h/1023-h.htm

15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Julu

16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emperor_Gaozu_of_Han

                                                         The Demolition Incidents

My readers may be familiar with a story published on my websites about three years ago. The basis of the story didn't make the national headlines in China because it was a local matter; although, it represents a rather pervasive phenomenon. Several large advertising towers along the highway belonging to Dawu Group were demolished on June 16, 2018 by government departments. 

The circumstance reminded the author of his experience at the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in 1993. He asked his doctoral students to imagine they were starting up a business in their particular field of expertise. The project was to design a poster which would advertise their business. Out of his own funds he purchased the posters which were to be used. 

It was amazing the degree of enthusiasm and skills the students applied to their project. This was magnified because most of the students were in theoretical rather than applied sciences. They actually had to think about the real world and what they might do after they graduated. 

Their teacher was quite proud of their achievements. He displayed their posters on the walls of three classrooms. However, he ran out of space. Therefore he also posted them on the walls of the stairwells. 

The Party had them all torn down within one-half hour. It may not be called demolition, but it is definitely censorship of free speech. They asked him why the posters had been put up. He explained to them that his kindergarten teacher used the same method. And everything he learned was in kindergarten--especially social skills. They didn't quite know how to respond to that reply.

Dawu Group put up large advertising signs along the highway to direct motorists to their businesses--especially out of town travellers who wanted to find the water park. They asked permission of authorities to put up the signs and they received permission. Another hundred businesses did the same thing. 
​​

Yet, one day the government arbitrarily tore down the signs without using legal procedure. They even confiscated property in the same manner. Anyone else-- except those in authority--might regard it as vandalism if not theft. The signs were sold for their scrap steel value. Of course,  the government used a third party so that they could distance themselves from illegal theft. The point is that the distinction between getting permission and not getting permission is blurred because the government can act arbitrarily and even claim legality based on vague laws. However, if the government is teaching its citizenry to act as it does rather than what it says then it may unexpectedly get exactly what it wishes. 

One might say that the government's dismantlement of the billboards was predicatable based on two factors. The most important was the Xiong'an New Area 雄安新区 which was established in April 2017. Xiong'an's development is taking place under the direct oversight of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council. This means private signs were sacrificed by the State in the interest of public good as interpreted by the State, part of a beatification program or for any other reason. 

The second factor involves precedent. The city of Beijing had announced on December 17, 2017 that 27,000 illegal signs would be demolished. These were along the 4th Ring Road which was fininished in 2001. The author is familiar with this road because he travelled on it for 45 minutes by bicycle to CAS in Zhongguancun, Haidian District so he could teach a 3 hour class and then returned on the same road in the opposite direction to teach a 3 hour class at CASS in Chaoyang District. 

The battle of 4th Ring Road, so to speak, was waged on four fronts; namely, signs, safety, beatification and demolition of homes. Tens of thousands of rural migrants and workers were kicked out of their homes and forced to move back to the countryside. One woman was thrown out of her home, thrown out of a hostel the next day and thrown out of another hostel on the third day. 

The dismantlement of billboards in the Xiong'an area in 2018 was also a harbinger of things to come. Billboards are basically signs. However, symbols are much more important.  Dawu SUN, Dawu Group and Dawu City are related symbols. They symbolize freedom, family enterprise, democracy, constitutionalism and moral principles. The three symbols are perceived as threats to the Communist Party because of their proximity to the the Xiong'an New Area.

Dawu City is a socialist, utopian paradise of common prosperity. It is based on goodness rather than evilness. The model encourages people to be good and it begins with the family and earlier with ancestors and rites. On the other hand, the Party's model is top down. It assumes that force is necessary because people are born evil. Of course, it may be said that evil is in the eye of the beholder. 

It can be perceived that SUN Dawu is much like Confucius who searched for a ruler to serve. According to a new book called of The Shortest History of China  by Linda Jaivin, Confucius  asked seventy-two different rulers if he could serve them. Ironically, it seems, he also had seventy-two pupils who mastered his thought, but they were not rulers. 

Unfortunately for Sun--China has only one ruler. China is ruled by only one thought. It is Xi Jinping Thought. It is a situation reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution under Mao Tse-tung who wanted to preserve Chinese Communism and his own authority by imposing Mao Tse-tung Thought as the dominant ideology. 

There is a difference though between Confucius and SUN Dawu with respect to the times they lived.  Confucius lived in the Spring and Autumn period of the Zhou Dynasty. He was   arrested only temporarily because of misidentification. However, if Confucius had lived in the Qin Dynasty he likely would have been persecuted or perhaps executed through burial along with 460 Confucian scholars. The author classifies Emperor Qin Shi Huang's Thought as "Tough Thought".

It was not enough for the Party to establish a committee at Dawu Group. It was not enough for the Party to require  systematic government access to private-sector data at Dawu Group as they have required throughout China. It was not enough to hold a local meeting of the Party at Dawu Group around the time of the trial. 

What  was required was the arrest of more than 20 family members and company executives of Dawu Group along with the seizure of the Dawu Group Ltd. What was required was replacement of all 30 managers of the subsidiaries with officials sympathetic to the Party if not outright Party members. What was required was the conviction of SUN Dawu and others on charges of "Picking quarrels" 寻衅滋事 which the author calls "Peking quarrels" even though those quarrels were provoked by organs of the State. What was required by the Party was the Annihilation of the Dawu Group Family Enterprise reminiscent of the Annihilation of the Kong (Confucius) Family Enterprise in 1966 during the Cultural Revolution. 

The trigger for the arrests and seizure of Dawu Group 大午集团​ were the land dispute incidents of 6.21 and 8.4 against Xushui State Farm in 2020 which are known in Chinese as 2020年针对徐水国营农场的6.21和8.4土地纠纷. Three of the charges relate specifically to the 8.4 incident of August 04, 2020. The following abbreviated account is provided through the courtesy of China Change. 
​

"The “August 4 incident” specifically refers to a series of collective rights’ protection actions by Dawu Group employees on August 4, 2020, when the Xushui District Public Security Bureau (徐水区公安局) intervened with excessive force in the land dispute between Dawu Group and a state-owned farm.

At the end of July 2020, the Dawu Group built fences and prefabricated mobile houses on the Sijiatai (四家台) lot for farming and management needs in accordance with the land contract signed with Langwuzhuang village (郎五庄).

On August 4, 2020, the state-owned farm obtained the protection of a large number of police from the Xushui District Public Security Bureau (PSB) through a mere written request without prior notice to Dawu Group, without negotiating with Dawu or taking other legal approaches. The state farm personnel unilaterally demolished Dawu's enclosure and mobile houses valued at 18,000 yuan..." 


In retrospect, one can see that the demolitions began outside of the Dawu Group on the highways leading up to it. It involved the destruction of billboards or property owned by Dawu Group which were used for advertising purposes. The company had legal permission to erect those billboards. Dawu Group's staff claimed the demolition was done by government departments. The mayor actually said "Your Dawu Company must support the work of the government!" Basically, the Dawu response was as long as it complies with the law. The author seems to recall that the total loss to the Dawu Group amounted to $100,000 US and the loss to business is incalculable. 

On August 04, 2020 another demolition took place at Dawu City. It was a building owned by Dawu Group. The building had been erected a few days earlier. This was done in accordance with a land contract with Langwuzhuang village (where SUN  Dawu was born). However, the building was demolished without notice under a police protective umbrella. While the damage done amounted to only about $3000 US; nevertheless, the demolition was planned in advance as a provocation by an organ of the State. A civil disturbance and resistance ensued. In the immediate aftermath, Dawu Group employees were arrested. No one who was responsible for the demolition was arrested. No police were arrested. All of this resulted in the midnight arrest of the Great Noon (SUN Dawu) and executives of the company by police wielding submachine guns on November 11, 2020.  In effect, the entire Dawu Group Ltd. was also seized by the State. 

D. Carlton Rossi
October 18, 2021



Beijing is rapidly demolishing its own city, and 27,000 billboards are next,
Tara Francis Chan Dec 4, 2017
https://www.businessinsider.com/beijing-after-mass-evictions-comes-billboard-campaign-2017-12

Briefing on the Seventh Day of Dawu Trial
Dawu Legal Team, July 21, 2021
https://chinachange.org/2021/07/24/briefing-on-the-seventh-day-of-dawu-trial/

民营企业“大悟公司”大型广告牌被拆除（博讯2018年6月22日转载）
The large-scale billboard of the private enterprise "Dawu Company" was demolished (Reproduced by Boxun on June 22, 2018. 
https://bnn.co/news/gb/china/2018/06/201806222201.shtml

Linda Jaivin, The Shortest History of China, Published by Black Inc.: Carlton Australia, 2021.

                                     无限   Infinity                                              沙漏    Sandglass

                From Infinity to Time as Measured by a Sandglass


The Mandate of Heaven was a compact between the people of the Zhou Dynasty (1046 BCE-256 BCE) and the supreme god. It conferred legitimacy on the Zhou ruler. The ruler was bound to uphold harmony and honor within the empire. The Zhou was the longest lasting dynasty at 790 years.

The Han Dynasty (202 BCE-220 BCE) was the second longest imperial dynasty at 422 years. The Four Seas (四海) concept was a pre-Han Dynasty belief which was held since at least the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty. However, the Han Dynasty defined it more clearly and expanded upon the concept. The seas included the East China Sea, South China Sea, Lake Balkash as the West Sea and Lake Baikal as the North Sea.

Today, China's offshore Four Seas are the Bohai, Yellow, East China and South China. It was announced on November 28, 2011 that military exercises were held near the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, East Sea, in the north Bohai Sea and Yellow Sea. The exercises continue to the present time.

The most disputed area with respect to legal rights pertains to the South China Sea. On September 25, 2017, China announced a claim called the Four Sha” (四沙 meaning four sand). It extends sovereignty and maritime jurisdiction to the island groups called Dongsha, Xisha, Nansha, and Zhongsha.

The poet is reminded of the "X" symbol in the middle of the ruler on the Selden Map. It resembles infinity. The symbol is employed by the poet on both the Northwest Rectangle (Silk Road trade routes) and expanded Illustration D (includes Maritime Trade Routes) to define the extent of Chinese territory based in part on the old and modified concept of Four Seas during the Han Dynasty. The horizontal infinity symbol represents an unlimited period of time.

With respect to the human time span one might consider the period from the Zhou to the Qing Dynasty which is exceedingly long. However, if the infinity symbol is turned so that it becomes vertical it resembles a sandglass or hour glass. It measures short periods of time. For example, the shift for a Chinese sailor during the Ming Dynasty as measured by a sandglass was two and a half hours or one tenth of the day. Therefore, the shift from what had been the Nine Dash Line to a shifting sands Four Sha claim seems to be equivalent to that of a sandglass with respect to time. It is short and rather fleeting compared to the longer 2957 year period from Zhou to Qing which involved both the Mandate of Heaven compact and the Four Seas concept.

However, the Chinese government and Communist Party is officially atheist. They have connected the Four Seas which are adjacent to China. Since the South China Sea links the Pacific and Indian Oceans it then becomes part of the One Belt One Road plan which is an expanded view of Xi Jinping Thought. One Belt One Road has been renamed the "Belt and Road Initiative" (BRI) which is intended to join China with more than 100 countries through railroad, shipping and energy projects.

The BRI may be regarded as a grandiose scheme. Historically speaking, how have grandiose schemes fared in Chinese history?  Qin Shi Huangdi (秦始皇) was the first emperor of a united China. In the North, he built the precursor of the Great Wall to defend the Qin state from the Xiongnu and in the South he built the Lingqu canal to transport supplies to the army. He was unable to secure an elixir of life from the island of Zhifu which has since joined the mainland by sand and soil of the sea's floor. His Plan B was to build a tomb and 35 to 60 kilometer square necropolis for the afterlife. The Qin Dynasty (秦朝) was one of the shortest since it lasted only fourteen years from 221 BCE-206 BCE.

Then there was the Yongle Emperor (永樂帝) who was the third emperor of the Ming Dynasty. He reigned from 1402 CE-1424 CE. He called for a massive reconstruction of the Grand Canal. He also continued the building of the Ming Great Wall as a defensive measure and to protect his tomb. The Forbidden City of the new capital of Beijing took years to build at great expense. The inauguration took place on February 2, 1421. On May 09, 1421 the Forbidden City was struck by lightning. The fire burned down the Hall of Great Harmony, Central Harmony and Preserving Harmony. The Emperor lost the Mandate of Heaven.

Before the fire, the emperor had sponsored ZHENG He's sixth expedition of nine-masted treasure ships which sailed on March 03, 1421. The main purpose of the Treasure Fleet was to display Chinese might in order to secure tribute as early as 1409. A fleet of smaller vessels had sailed down the Sungari and Amur Rivers to Telin (特林) where the poet argues the Peng is located and the boundary of the Empire. The expenditures of the construction projects and the Treasure Fleet as well as ill-fated military expeditions left the empire in poor financial straits.

The main problem with the grandiose Belt and Road Initiative (involving the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road) is that there is no clear idea of its cost, timeline or extent.The cost estimates vary from $1 trillion to $8 trillion. The Center for Strategic and International Studies said in 2018 that China's trillion dollar infrastucture promise may not be met for several years. The main danger to the program seems to be inflated expections--especially if $8 trillion promises are touted as they have been by commentaries in the Hong Kong Economic Journal and mirrored by the Asian Development Bank. One might say that inflated promises of spending encourage countries to curry favour with China in order to secure funding. Is currying favour not the equivalent of paying tribute?

The China Communications Construction Company (CCCC) has taken part in BRI projects. It is said to be "the fulcrum of China’s BRI ambitions". Five of its entities have been placed on The Entity List of The Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS). The BIS placed restrictions on the companies which enabled the People's Republic of China to reclaim and militarize disputed outposts in the South China Sea.


D. Carlton Rossi
2020年10月26日​

https://web.archive.org/web/20210122201442/http://sundawu.ca/Sun_Dawu.html

Illustration D

                             The Selden Map is provided courtesy of the Bodleian Library for educational purposes only

The poet is revisiting an image revealed to him on February 11, 2017 in order to make a descriptive comment on it. The image is superimposed on The Selden Map of the seventeenth century. It may surprise the reader to realize that he/she is viewing a poem. It is a poem of D. Carlton Rossi. It is a poem in the style of Poetic Analytic Imagery or to be specific Poetic Analytics of Imagery through Streams of Consciousness and Unconsciousness.

In this case, the poem is called Illustration D because the poet actually did not want to name it more specifically or for that matter describe it. He wanted the onlooker to see it without interpretation much as one would look at a painting in an art gallery or without commentary as one would read a poem.

An exception is made to the rule at this time because on The Selden Map he is now contrasting an unnamed poem involving a sandglass with a new poem involving the infinity sign. In other words, a rectangle is divided by an X into four parts. The infinity sign is horizontal and the sandglass sign is vertical stressing two different concepts of time and space. These signs are within Illustration D.

The viewer may appreciate the beauty of the geometric form evidenced in the illustration. Basically, it shows the Mandate of Heaven in the Middle Kingdom around 1619;  that is, the relation of heaven, man and earth. More practically, it shows maritime trade routes complimenting older Silk Trade Routes on land. The emphasis though is on Beijing rather than Xian which was highlighted in an image poem called North-West Rectangle.

A brief description of Illustration D follows. The most important vertical line goes through the middle of the horizontal infinity symbol and the vertical sandglass sign. It also goes upward through a large yellow square.  In the center of the large square is the smaller square. At its bottom is Beijing and within it is the Forbidden City and within it is the Temple of Heaven and within it is the Observatory near which sacrifices were made.

The small square is superinposed on another image. It is an outline of the Emperor dressed in Ming Dynasty style attire . As far as the poet knows he is the only one who has seen this hidden image. It is an image of the Emperor blowing the wind. Beijing is located in the Cap of the Emperor. It may be imagined that the Emperor is protected by the wall around the Forbidden City and one can see the Great Wall which protects China at the top of the Cap.

The line then continues north or upwards through the smaller infinity sign in the middle of the ruler. It progresses onward to the North Circumpolar Rectangle or Polar Quadrilateral. At the top of the large yellow square is the yellow rectangle (NCR). At the top of the square and rectangle is the center of the compass. It represents the location of Draconis A (an ancient Pole Star).

At the top, left-hand corner of the large square the poet has identified the Yanran Inscription within an horizontal rectangle. It marks a major victory of the Han over the Xiongnu Confederacy in 89 CE. The line then goes through the point at the center of the compass. It then goes eastward to the middle of the vertical rectangle representing the void. In other words, the importance of a major victory is contrasted with the unimportance of nothingness.

A poetic interpretation of The Selden Map through geometric form is relevant today. It defines the historical boundaries of modern China. Generally speaking, the Four Seas of the Han Dynasty mark the North, South, West and East boundaries of the Empire as defined in Illustration D and as explained in the poet's thesis called The Selden Poems. This illustration may or may not provide historical justification for China's claim to some or all of the South China Sea through either force or discourse based on the harmony of heaven, mankind and earth as a moral or legal imperative. However, it acts as an historical reference and guide for all parties.

The map itself is named after John Selden who wrote the draft for Mare Clausum or the closed sea in 1618 and the final version in 1635. He attempted to prove that the sea was "in practice virtually as capable of appropriation as terrestial territory." In the area of the South China Sea it contrasts to the Dutch East India Company's claim to an open sea enforced in 1619 with their seizure of the Javanese city of Jayakarta. The doctrine of the open sea was promulgated by Hugo Grotius in his Mare Liberum (1609) with respect to the Dutch involvement in the West Indies.

Illustration E

The poem called Illustration E is a refinement of Illustration D.  The compass rose  is now circled in yellow as if if it were the Sun. This acts as a counterpart to the square below.  It suggests the circle could be theoretically squared. 

One may also conjecture that the small yellow circle within the compass represents Draconis 11 while the small circle at the bottom of the yellow square represents Draconis 10. These small circles are the Pole Star and its binary companion respectively. The poet contends there were actually two Pole Stars.  They rotate around a common barycenter.  


D. Carlton Rossi
2020年10月25日

https://web.archive.org/web/20201210191822/http://www.sundawu.ca/Sun_Dawu.html

                                       Fearful Symmetry


The author is rather surprised at the continuing naivety of government authorities in Canada. They talk about hostage diplomacy with regard to a link between the Spavor-Kovrig cases and that of the Meng Wanzhou case. It seems however that they learned nothing from the earlier Garratt case in terms of hostage diplomacy of Canadian citizens by Chinese authorities which directly involved Chinese-Korean relations. It should be noted that Kovrig was an expert of the Korean Peninsula while Spavor was a businessman in North Korea. 

To support his view the author quotes from his April 03, 2019 paper called "The absurdity of the Liberal Government's China Policy and Strategy as it pertains to Canola". One needs to put the present into perspective by examining the past. On June 28, 2014, SU Bin--who was a permanent resident of Canada--was arrested for cyberespionage against Amercian military contractors with the theft of hundreds of thousands of files. Kevin Garratt who is a Canadian was arrested in China on August 4, 2014 in a tit-for-tat response and later charged with espionage. There was no foundation for the charges against Garratt. One might even call them absurd. Garratt didn't report to CSIS, but rather to God. He was held as a bargaining chip.
 
More fundamentally, though, Canadian authorities have not understood the phenomenon of "hostage diplomacy" as it has been applied internally and domestically in China. For example, the author is aware of a personal story of a Renmin University student at Tiananmen Square in 1989. He was one of the 1,000,000 students who were involved in the demonstration known as the June 4 Fourth Incident in China (六四事件). The national movement was called the 89 Democracy Movement (八九民运). The student caught the attention of Chinese authorities who limited his influence by stealing his sandals. As a result, he had to visit the infirmary of the hospital to get treatment for his blistered feet. They wanted to detain him on the second floor, but he climbed down the outside of the building to secure his freedom. The police couldn't find him; so, they arrested his father at his village thousands of miles away in the countryside. This forced the student to give himself up to police. The above example is a domestic case of hostage diplomacy. His father had nothing to do with his son's behavior; but, nevertheless, he was arrested so that they could target his son. 

There was an instance of hostage diplomacy in the May 27, 2003 arrest of Sun Dawu (孙大午). The government's main target was Sun Dawu both because of his public statements at Beijing universities and because of his application of innovative financing in the grey area which competed against monopolistic banking concerns. Basically, authorities arrested his two brothers as hostages to bend Sun Dawu's will. Furthermore, they tried to arrest his wife, but she escaped in the trunk of a car. 

A similar kind of situation transpired on November 11, 2020. Again, the target was Sun Dawu. This time all his family was arrested who were involved in the private, family business called Dawu Group making his grandchildren legal orphans. His lawyers continue to have concerns about the threat of gang charges being levied which could mean the legal seizure of his business. Virtual extortion may go hand-in-hand with virtual kidnapping. 

Let's also not forget possible charges involving "foreign forces" which were first expressed around Tomb Sweeping Day on April 4, 2021. This charge might actually involve the author. Imagine, a poet as a foreign force! All the poet can say to the charge is "Vergiß die alten Freunde nicht" from the title of a poem by Leonard Cohen. 

It is of significance that Sun Dawu's wife Liu Huiru and daughters-in-law Zhang Yuan and Ma Xiaochen were charged with “illegally absorbing deposits from the public” in a separate case. The defence argues the following. "The case was returned by the Gaobeidian People’s Prosecutorate to Gaobeidian Public Security Bureau for supplementary investigation. That’s the only charge against these women, and their so-called “criminal offense” involves nothing but providing personal bank accounts to Dawu Group, which is not a crime at all. What the Gaobeidian Prosecutorate is doing is holding these women as de facto “hostages” as a way to dismiss the defense lawyers’ motion against bringing separate charges against them." 1.

The Dawu Group was actually founded by Sun Dawu's wife. The year was 1985. It grew from a few chickens and pigs to an agricultural enterprise. However, the enterprise suffered a devastating blow some eighteen years later when its management led by Sun Dawu and his two brothers were arrested in 2003 on charges of illegal fund-raising. 

It is commonly known that Sun Dawu was released on October 30, 2003 when he returned home at the time of his father's birthday (Sun Kai). However, what has been forgotten is that his probation formally began on November 11, 2003 when he dropped his appeal to the charges of illegal fundraising. 

November 11th therefore takes on special meaning because that was the anniversary of the day on which Sun Dawu and his family were arrested in a massive sweep of Dawu Group. The date is informally known as 被捕11112020.    It is no coincidence that Sun Dawu was arrested on November 11, 2020 or the anniversary to the day on which his probation began on November 11,2003. It is a political statement which is intended to convey that Sun Dawu learned nothing with respect to illegal fund-raising as well as the other charges. Nothing could be further from the truth;  for example, he designed the Private Entrepreneurial Constitutional System in 2004. 

The sentence of Sun Dawu was announced on July 28, 2021 or in the eighteenth year since his arrest in 2003. How many years did Sun Dawu get on the various charges? The length of the sentence appears to have been politically predetermined in advance. He received 18 years or, unofficially, one year for every year since his probation began after the trial in 2003. Sun Fushuo (孙福硕), Sun Dawu's younger son, said it plainly during the trial:  “We all know that, no matter how outstanding the lawyers who defended us are, it will not change the rulings against us.” 2. which suggested a kind of pre-determination with regard to both verdicts and sentences.

If prosecutors unofficially lumped together sentences on eight charges to meet a predetermined length in Sun Dawu's case then it potentially jeopardizes the rights of appeal for Sun Dawu. The eighteen year periods from 1985 to 2003, 2003 to 2021 and 2021 to 2039 may be called Triple Unhappiness (三重不幸).  It is shared by farmers, peasants and migrants. 

D. Carlton Rossi

2021年8月13日



1. https://chinachange.org/2021/07/17/briefing-on-the-first-day-of-dawu-trial/ 

2. https://chinachange.org/2021/08/01/briefing-on-the-eleventh-day-of-dawu-trial-10-questions-and-10-answers/




​

Nomad 2002

Nomad MK-15c Tan Ru Stardate 3541.9

谭茹的使命是消毒生命
​
Tan Ru's Mission is to Sterilize Life

It is difficult to say anything new about the old, original Star Trek (星际迷航) series because the viewpoints of Trekkies have become canonical. Yet, it may be worthwhile to re-examine an episode of the series called The Changeling (变形金刚) which aired on September 29, 1967. That date happens to be close to the 2518th Anniversary of the Birth of Confucius (孔子) on September 28th. While the series purports to be science fiction; nevertheless, it may reflect more of what was going on in the present at that time. 
​
On the macro scale, the United States was involved in a proxy war with China and Russia in Vietnam; so, it might be regarded as a conflict between democratic and communistic systems or more simply as powers wishing to extend their influence through imperialism. In China, the Cultural Revolution (文化大革命)  had begun which was designed by Mao to replace the four olds (which didn't include Mao himself) with a new order of Communism. It was based on Mao Thought (毛泽东思想) of which Xi Thought (习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想), today, bears an uncanny resemblance which is not coincidental. Thought is not theory which can be proven scientifically as correct or incorrect as in Deng Theory (邓小平理论), but has more nebulous characteristics (模糊特征) with various interpretations and is of a purported higher order. 

An event was presaged by the People's Daily editorial on June 1, 1966 about the Four Olds (四旧). It was fulfilled through one of the notable occurences in 1966 during the Cultural Revolution beginning on November 07th which  involved the activities of the young Red Guards (红卫兵) led by Tan Houlan (谭厚兰).
The campaign was called "Annihilate the Kong Family Business" (消灭孔氏家族企业).  In the offensive the Guards dug up and dynamited corpses of the family of Confucius and set them on fire. They also unburied and burned 100,000 Confucian texts. 

It was part of  an offensive against the so-called capitalist-roaders (走资派). Deng Xiaoping (邓小平) was regarded as one of the capitalist-roaders.  He was attacked verbally and physically by the Red Guards. 15  Of course, after the Gang of Four (四人帮) who were charged with treason, Deng Xiaoping led China through a series of far-reaching economic, market reforms. Today, the pendulum has swung away  from reform or should one stress that the pendulum has been sharpened?

​

 Red Guard Rampage at Kong Family Cemetary led by Tan Houlan

It was basically an assault on "rule of law" (法律规定), the family, Ruism (儒) or Confucianism itself . However, one can't  easily destroy traditions going back thousands of years which are the essence of what it means to be Chinese by a single act of madness or  through symbolic gestures. Communism has little to do with tradition or what it means to be Chinese, but more to do with "The business of revolution" (革命事业) to quote Sang Ye and Geremie R. Barmé  6.

The campaign to dig up Confucian texts and  the bones of the first three generations and the last three generations of Confucius' family and set them on fire reminds the author in an inverse way of instructions given by Emperor Qin Shi Huang (秦始皇) or first emperor of the Qin Dynasty which was one of the most short-lived and brutal dynasties. He ordered Confucian scholars to be buried and their books burned. One might say that Qin represented "rule by law" (依法治国). He may have been the first practitioner of "Tough Thought" (强硬想法) 16  on a grand scale or at least has historically inspired it even if there is a pretense by modern acolytes to ignore, cherry pick or reinterpret history. 

The basic plot of The Changeling  is improbable bordering on impossible, but remember it is set in the future (star date 3541.9 to be exact). An interstellar probe is launched from Earth in 2002. It is called Nomad (游牧民族). Its mission is to explore for life forms. It collides with a meteor and is damaged. Eventually, it meets an alien probe which is designed to sterilize soil as a prelude to colonization. Nomad repairs itself with help from the other probe, but its mission is skewed. 

As Tan Ru 9 its goal is now to sterilize life. It begins by sterilizing 4 billion inhabitants of the Malurian system. This number roughly corresponds to the whole population of Earth which in 1967 numbered 3,478,770,104. It then proceeds to the planet of its creator or Earth where it intends to sterilize the population. In this sense, the episode is apocalyptic. 

If one wishes to interpret the clash of systems representing both life and sterilization as it pertains only to China then one may begin one's examination with The Great Leap Forward 大跃进 (1958-1962). It was the clash between the old feudal system and the establishment of a new, Communist industrial system through people's communes. However, the unexpected consequence of a new wind of communism with the meteoric rise of Mao was the death of over 40 million Chinese in a man-made famine. It is comparable to a freak accident of a probe hit by a meteor. The probe repairs itself with the help of an alien probe, but its mission changes to sterilization of life. 

Sun Dawu (孙大午) was born in 1954 in the village of Langwuzhuang. It was just before The Great Leap Forward. As a youngster he had no food to eat. He was forced to eat grass to survive. He estimates that millions more were killed in The Great Famine 大饥荒  (1958-1962) than have been officially reported. 

To enforce the unrealistic quotas which were never met, First Party Secretary Zhang Guozhong ran a labour camp. It held 1.5% of the population from farmers to Party officials who offered resistance. Punishment included flogging and naked exposure to the winter elements. As a result, 124 people did die. "Outside the camp some 7,000 people were tied up, beaten, spat upon, paraded, forced to kneel or deprived of food, resulting in another 212 deaths." 18  

​

"A little over an hour's drive from Beijing via the new highway, Xushui (徐水) was a star county of the Great Leap Forward at the end of the 1950's. Mao Zedong and Liu Shaoqi both toured Xushui and promoted the community nationwide. It is where the fantasy started that a single mu of land could produce 10,000 catties of wheat (亩产万斤).  Upon learning that there was so much food it couldn't be eaten Mao told the members of the people's communes to eat five meals a day.  The tragedy that transpired following The Great Leap Forward is well known
​to history." 2
​

Chairman Mao visits Xushui in 1958

​The people's commune of Xushui (徐水) in 1958 set the national standard with Mao's visit for two reasons. On hearing of the projected, unrealistic harvests that were expected in the autumn, Mao recommended the following. 'Plant a little less and do half a day's work. Use the other half for culture: study science, promote culture and recreation, run a college and middle school.' 4   It meant nothing to starving people. Do you know that no one officially starved in China as they were listed as dying of other causes and imaginary diseases?  

Furthermore, the institution of the family was destroyed in the People's Commune of Xushui. The first separation of men and women into different living quarters took place in Xushui in 1958. The practice of separation spread to Henan, Hunan and Anhui. It was said through propaganda that the dearest persons in the world are our parents, but they cannot compare to Chairman Mao and the Communist Party. 1

"During the Great Leap Forward in 1958, Xushui became a model county for state collectivizing measures. The Xushui experiment in Communism was one of the most revolutionary, ludicrous, and tragic experiments in the history of China, as Chinese scholars now recognize.  Mao visited communes in Dingxian and Xushui. Just southeast of Xushui county-town, Dasigezhuang village was renamed the 4th August brigade. But when Zhou Enlai (周恩来) visited he was shocked to see the destitution that communization was bringing, and Xushui's favoured status did nothing to prevent many starving to death there around 1960." 4

The Great Famine threatened to undermine Mao's power so the Cultural Revolution ensued from 1966 to 1976. It represented the collapse of Chinese civilization. New targets of resistance classified as enemies were found. One of these targets of a new apocalypse was the family. For example, young Red Guards were encouraged to "turn in" members of their family who deviated from Mao Thought. 
​  
On November 07, 1966. Red Guards under the leadership of Tan Houlan (谭厚兰) dug up and dynamited the graves of the first three and last three generations of the Kong family (Confucius).  On November 29, 1966, a telegram was sent to Chairman Mao.  It read as follows:

“Dearest Chairman Mao,

One hundred thousand members of the revolutionary masses would like to report a thrilling development to you: we have rebelled! We have rebelled! We have dragged out the clay statue of Kong the Second Son (Kong lao’er 孔老二);  we have torn down the plaque extolling the ‘teacher of ten-thousand generations’;  we have leveled Confucius’ grave; we have smashed the stelae extolling the virtues of the feudal emperors and kings, and we have obliterated the statues in the Confucius Temple! 6

With reference to The Changling one may also refer to geometry. Imagine two equilateral triangles  in the sci-fi episode which are fairly balanced. They correspond to the two probes representing life and sterilization. Then, an unexpected happening transpires which distorts the balance and harmony of sine, co-sine and tangent. It is tangent then that rules or what is called Tan Ru in The Changeling episode. The new triangle is no longer equilateral. It corresponds to illogic or Mao Thought gone askew without checks and balances during The Great Leap Forward and The Cultural Revolution. It is personified by the zealot Tan Houlan during the latter revolution. 

Dawu City is NNW of Xushui

A "farm" whose generic name is used herein was created as an organ of the state in 1958 at the beginning of The Great Leap Forward. In theory, it was created in order to use unplanted land and wasteland in the surrounding villages. However, [in 1963] the "farm" also requisitioned large amounts of land from surrounding villages such as Dingzhuang Village, Langwuzhuang Village, Mazhuang Village, and Zhaizhuang Village." 3  The implication was that if it wasn't accepted then one didn't eat. 

The farm's new mission wasn't to sterilize wasteland for productive usage, but rather it adopted a mission which is metaphorically similar to The Changeling. The farm sterilized life in the villages. Life left. The "farm" is the metaphorical equivalent of Tan Ru or Tangent Rules which sterilizes life. Tan Ru is shaped like a drill and it drills out life with a laser or photon torpedo. It wishes to sterilize the King Fisher (翠鸟) who as head of Dawu Group brings fertility to the Waste Land (荒地). 19, 20

孙大午和妻子刘会茹当年创业时的合影

In 1985--not 1958, it was the Dawu Group which formed an agricultural enterprise on wasteland by leasing it. The more successful it became the more irritating it was to the "farm". Sun Dawu states the problem succinctly. "The farm does not have a dominant position in the market economy, it does not have the qualifications to cooperate with me, and the two sides have no basis for equal cooperation, because the farm itself has no ownership, and it manages the land for the country, but the background is different. It is vacant, and there is no real unit that bears economic responsibilities, and no investors. The Bureau of Agriculture is only responsible for policy guidance, regardless of the farm’s business activities." 3 
​ 
In 2010, the newly built Rongwu Expressway reignited the dispute between the "farm" and Dawu Group. Even though Dawu Group leased the land, it could only be compensated for ground attachments. This meant major compensation went to the "farm". 12 

More recently, the Dawu Group encountered major problems with its Dawu Kangyang Nursing Home Project. It was approved by the district chiefs and had support from the Xushui District Land Bureau. However,on July 25, 2018 the decision was reversed. It was declared the buildings were built without approval and the land was illegally occupied. At the request of The Xushui District Government and Land Bureau, the Group paid a fine of 4,151,250 yuan. In addition, the 77,000 square meter project was confiscated and Sun Dawu threatened with arrest. 21  If the project received approval from the local government then how did it all of a sudden become illegal according to Sun Dawu?

The Great Noon Triangle comprised of Xushui City, Dawu City, Fushan and Baoding City Satellite

Dawu City is seven kilometers northwest of Xushui City. One might imagine it forming a small, equilateral triangle (等边三角形) of Xushui City, Dawu City, Fushan and Baoding City. Fushan is included because Sun Dawu is guardian of the mountain where Huangdi united the tribes over five thousand years ago. In addition, remnants of religious enclosures can be found at Fushan. The Sun Temple Park at Dawu City with its Confucian and Buddhist temples is the spiritual center of the region.

​Sharing one side of the equilateral triangle which might be referred to as The Great Noon Triangle (大正午三角) is one side of what might be referred to as a non-equilateral Great Xiong'an Triangle (雄安新三角) whose center is Xiong'an New Area (雄安新区). Xiong'an New Area is expected to grow exponentially. It is the artificial intelligence, 5G, I of T center of The Great Xiong'an Triangle. The programs and programmers of the area reflect Xi Thought; whereas, Dawu City serves people personifying Sun's  heart. 

Both triangles are within the bigger area called Jing-Jin-Ji (雄安新三角) or Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei (known as Ji). It can also be said that a large piece of Jing-Jin-Ji (JJJ) may be found within an imagined non-equilateral triangle of Beijing, Tianjin and Baoding. 
​
The centerpiece or hub of the JJJ megalopolis is Xiong'an New Area.  It was founded on April 1, 2017.  It's about 40 kilometres east of Xushui City. It seems that Jing-Jin-Ji rings in a poetic way with President Xi Jinping's name and furthermore that the Xiong'an hub of Jing-Jin-Ji represents his legacy. 

During the Northern Song Dynasty 北宋 (960-1127), the area was a Watery Great Wall. In the Sixth Lunar Month of 1048, the Yellow River flooded 13 and more floods followed. However, in 1128, General Du Chong intentionally broke the bank of the river thereby provoking a flood in order to halt the Jurchen invasion. The waterlogged swamps were not deep enough for boats, but not shallow enough for soldiers to walk through. The swamp stretched nearly 500 kilometers. As a result, fertile farmland was lost and replaced by salinized, sand- covered land. The peasant-farmers left.

A thousand years later the state is draining the swamps in order to build a modern hub of the future. While peasants have returned to make claim on their property the legacy is "soil salinization, water toxicity and poverty". Why are farmers poor and why do they have little to eat? The answer is that the state plans for them and plans for them badly.

The "farm" and land bureau have disturbed the harmony between The Great Noon Triangle and  Great Xiong'an Triangle. It has disrupted the balance between Dawu Village founded in 1985 to become a city and Xiong'an New Area  founded in 2017 to become a hub. If Dawu Group (大午集团) as a large, self-sufficient agricultural enterprise is metaphorically sterilized then who will provide food for programmers in the self-sufficient, Xiong'an New Area with its sandy, salinized soil?  There is friction brought about, too, along the Xushui-Baoding common line of the triangles or between heart and thought. 

In Dawu's view, the "farm" is like a "freak" (怪物) 3. Its business activities have nothing to do with its superiors, its profits and losses have nothing to do with its superiors, and the amount of money it makes is not handed over to the state or the government. However, the superiors will still provide various compensations to the "farm" according to the agricultural land. In other words, as a result of a freak accident in The Great Leap Forward, the "farm" has itself become like a "freak" where Tangent and illogical arbitrariness rule. 
​

Dawu Group has made it explicitly clear in writing that it does not give bribes nor accept bribes or red packets. It has been trusted by the local peasant population since its inception in 1985. The Group established a co-operative-grain bank which has had the confidence of farmers since at least 2003 if not earlier. Its medical system is free and is not plagued with bribery as it is throughout China. The Group puts people ahead of profits. Anyone who claims the Dawu Group is corrupt has corrupted the definition of corruption. Therefore, it is abundantly evident that charges  brought against executives of Dawu Group for corruption have no basis in truth. They are infamous  confabulations.  
​
Dawu Group represents life and growth in the Xushui area. It reclaims the waste land. Sun Dawu represents  the Kingfisher (翠鸟) 19,20  bringing fertility (生育能力). On the other hand, the "farm" is sterile (无菌的) and metaphorically sterilizes its people as a Changeling. As a result, the peasant-farmers live in poverty or have moved away to poverty. Life is sterilized.  

大午集团孙大午大 8.4事件

The clashes of “6.21事件”和“8.4事件 were not provoked ( 没有被激怒)) by Dawu Group, but by the "farm". It is the metaphorical equivalent of Tan Ru firing 90 photon torpedoes (光子鱼雷) at the starship Enterprise (星舰企业). The campaign to annihilate the private enterprise of Dawu Group in 2020-21 (which is run on Confucian principles stressing the importance of the family along with its ancestors) is equivalent to the campaign to "Annihilate the Kong Family Business" (消灭孔氏家族企业) in 1966. The new campaign might be called an attempt to  "Annihilate the Sun Family Business" (歼灭太阳家族企业) as part of Cultural Revolution 2.0.  It can be expressed by lyrics from the 1965 single called "Paint It Black" (把它涂黑) by the Rolling Stones (滚石). 

"I wanna see it painted, painted black
Black as night, black as coal
I wanna see the sun blotted out from the sky
I wanna see it painted, painted, painted, painted black.

“我想看到它被涂成黑色，涂成黑色
黑如夜，黑如煤
我想看到太阳从天空中消失
我想看它涂漆，涂漆，涂漆，涂黑。

D. Carlton Rossi
2021 年 7 月 10 日
July 10, 2021

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References

1. Becker, Jasper,  An Overview of the Famine, 1996.

http://www.geocities.ws/films4/anoverviewofthefamine.htm

2. Cao Yaxue, Sun Dawu: A Chinese Agricultural Entrepreneur's 36 year dream in the era of reform and opening up, part one, March 30, 2021 

http://www.chinaheritagequarterly.org/scholarship.php?searchterm=020_confucius.inc&issue=020


3. 中国经营报：孙大午的新困惑：国营农场为何物？
China Business News: Sun Dawu’s new puzzle: What is a state-owned farm? 2010-10-25 

在孙大午看来，国营农场就像一个“怪胎”：它的经营活动与上级无关，盈亏与上级也没关系，赚多少钱也不上交国家，也不给政府交。可是上级仍然会按照农用地给予农场各种补偿（原来的情况是农民纳农业税，农场也纳农业税；现在农民享受每亩80多元的补贴，农场也享受），农场在市场经济中经营生产、盈亏自负，看不出和“国家”有什么关系。

http://sundawu1.blog.sohu.com/161530405.html   (censored)


4. Jones, Stephen, Xushui Ritual

https://stephenjones.blog/xushui-ritual/#_ftn2


5. Kong Lin During the Cultural Revolution

https://dongren.fr/kong-lin-during-the-cultural-revolution/

6. Sang Ye and Geremie R. Barmé, The Fate of the Confucius Temple, the Kong Mansion and Kong Cemetery 孔庙、孔府、孔林

http://www.chinaheritagequarterly.org/scholarship.php?searchterm=020_confucius.inc&issue=020


7. Pickowicz, Friedman, and Selden, Chinese village, socialist state, pp.217–20; Dikötter, Mao’s great famine, pp.40, 47–9, 68–70, 290.

8. Ping Xin 辛平, “Menghuan de tiantang: Xushui "gongchan zhuyi’ shidian ji” 梦幻的天堂: 徐水”共产主义” 试点记 [Illusory paradise: record of the experimental site for “Communism” in Xushui], Yanhuang chunqiu 1994/1, pp.29–40.


9. Tan Ru

https://www.tor.com/2015/12/15/star-trek-the-original-series-rewatch-the-changeling/


10. The Great Cultural Revolution 文化大革命

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_Revolution


11. The Great Leap Forward 大跃进

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Leap_Forward


12. 吴丹红, 孙大午因何被抓？与国营农场土地纠纷浮出水面, November 15, 2020

https://money.163.com/20/1115/18/FRGCB76N002580S6.html


 13. Zhang Ling, Changing with the Yellow River: An Environmental History of Hebei, 1048-1128, Newcastle University, 

https://www.academia.edu/6168887/Changing_with_the_Yellow_River_An_Environmental_History_of_Hebei_1048_1128


14. Zhang Ling, Xiong'an New Area: One locale, two histories, a thousand years apart 

https://chinadialogue.net/en/cities/10508-xiong-an-new-area-one-locale-two-histories-a-thousand-years-apart/


15.  Red Guards

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Guardshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Guards


16. 邓小平理论  Tough Thought, Tough used as an adjective in English means strong or resilient, so in Chinese it means tough, strong or unyielding  
© D. Carlton Rossi, https://www.sundawu.net 


17   吴丹红  孙大午因何被抓？与国营农场土地纠纷浮出水面   2020-11-15 

​Wu Danhong, Why was Sun Dawu arrested? Land disputes with state farms surfaced  November 15, 2020

https://money.163.com/20/1115/18/FRGCB76N002580S6.html
​

18.  Jun, Xiao, Through the Valley of Death: 9 Warning Signs, Part II

https://erenow.net/modern/maos-great-famine-the-history-of-chinas-most-devastating-catastrophe-1958-62/11.php

​
19.  T. S. Eliot reads:  The Waste Land

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqvhMeZ2PlY


20.  Frazer.  J. G.,  The Golden Bough:  A Study in Comparative Religion, 12 Volumes, New York, Macmillan and Company: 1894.

Volume 4,   The Golden Bough:  The Dying God

https://ia800206.us.archive.org/29/items/goldenboughstudy04fraz/goldenboughstudy04fraz.pdfia800206.us.archive.org/29/items/goldenboughstudy04fraz/goldenboughstudy04fraz.pdf


​21.  大午：民在违法，官在犯罪，路在何方？！ 

The People are Breaking the Laws, The Government Officials are Committing Crimes, Where’s the Exit?

By Sun Dawu (Chairman of Supervisory Board of Hebei Dawu Group, China)

https://www.hrichina.org/chs/zhong-guo-ren-quan-shuang-zhou-kan/sun-da-wu-min-zai-wei-fa-guan-zai-fan-zui-lu-zai-he-fang

22.  孙大午：我这十年, 请看博讯热点：民企的困扰 (博讯北京时间2013年10月13日 转载)

孙大午曾经感叹，最近提到重庆的事情，大家还心有余悸，说害怕“文革”回头，确实如此，我今年59岁了，经历了“文革”，也经历了改革开放三十多年的过程，一直以来，我们的社会何时摆脱过“文革”的阴影呢？

Sun Dawu once sighed that at the recent mention of Chongqing’s affairs, everyone still has lingering fears, saying that they are afraid of the "Cultural Revolution" to turn around. It is true. I am 59 years old this year. Since then, when has our society escaped the shadow of the "Cultural Revolution"?   

 https://www.boxun.com/news/gb/china/2013/10/201310131940.shtml



​

                                                     Has the Past Passed?


I was trapped at the railway station in Guangzhou. There were wall-to-wall people. It seemed like I had been sent to the underworld for past transgressions--it was so crowded. Yet, it was not a dream. It was real. A late snowstorm had frozen all traffic in southern China. They say a million people wanted to leave Guangzhou by train, but were stuck there because of the snow.

It felt like a relief to board a K train and remain standing for another 20 hours until I reached my destination at Hangzhou North Railway Station. Of course, the train was packed, too, but this was only purgatory. I had some hope of redemption. Finally, I arrived at a hostel across from West Lake. 

After 3 hours sleep I visited the famous lake. It was like Heaven. I say this for two reasons. Snow is rare in Hangzhou at that time of year, so I got some great pictures. Secondly, I was almost alone at the lake. There should have been walk-to-walk tourists crowding the banks, but there were only a few professional photographers for the unique occasion. For me, Heaven has beautiful scenery and few souls. 

The reader might think therefore that the poet would be uncomfortable in Hangzhou of the Late Southern Song Dynasty. Its population exceeded one million persons in 1275. However, you'd be mistaken. It was the most advanced, prosperous and refined city of its time. It lacked nothing and had everything. To be honest with myself, though, the poet would like to live in the countryside in proximity to the city. 

Most importantly, it had the Westlake Poetry Club and visiting poets. The poet  Zhu Dunru (朱敦儒) had sung more than a hundred years before about its beauty in praise to the new court of Emperor Gaozong.  

Nowadays the true environment around West Lake is the revitalization of sagely rulership.

One only needs to listen to the music and watch the dancing; the fragrances linger, and deep cups are filled with wine.

Celebrating the good years and the peace that pervades the country is the best part.


The capital must have seemed like perfect Heaven. However, the prosperity of the capital of the Southern Song was illusory.  The dynasty was ready to collapse. Behind the illusion was "the continuous and tragic impoverishment of the State, destitution and disaffection in the countryside, and the struggle of factions in the ruling class." (pg. 16)  

Basically, the State controlled the entire economy. It did so through monopolies of necessary commodities like salt, liquor and tea. Furthermore. it controlled the transportation associated with these commodities. Another powerful monopoly was the issuance of currency. 

One can say that the wealthy and upper classes in the city consumed while the countryside produced. Poverty forced peasants into the city which swelled the population. To put it succintly there was a shortage of capital and a surfeit of labour which resulted in low wages. 

The underlying principle of the administrative system was peace. (pgs. 106-107) The State realized that where there was disquietude then two sides were to blame. If a sub-prefect could not maintain the peace he was reprimanded through loss of promotion. The accused though was thrown into prison even if he was innocent because he had disturbed the peace of the region and that of the judge. He faced torture. As one can see the punishments were unequal for the sub-prefect and the accused. Widespread injustice was one cause for revolt in the countryside (along with famine and pestilence). 

Many of the characteristics of the late Song Dynasty are present in modern China. For example, there are state-owned enterprises which act as monopolies, migration of farmers to the cities, poverty and injustice in the courts. It is hard to measure the exact weakness of the system because of lack of transparency. 

The "temporary" capital at Hangzhou which was then known as Linan was over-run by the barbarian hordes on March 22, 1276.  The Book of Sui (隋书) describes how the Yuan Dynasty under Kublai Khan sent an expedition in 1292 to the "Lesser Liuqiu" or Taiwan. This followed the invasions of Japan, Java, Vietnam, Champa and Sakhalin. 

The modern State does not fear invasion of frontier peoples, but it is concerned about insurrection in Tibet, Xinjiang, the northeast and Hong Kong. It has shored up its defences in the frontier  areas by quelling rebellion. It governs through rule by law or force. 

In order to militarily prepare for unification of Taiwan and the mainland, the State has developed the Zhurihe Training Base (朱日和训练基地) in Inner Monogolia. The base covers 412 square miles. "The Tapei section is one of the most elaborate urban training areas. By itself, the re-creation of the Presidential Office Building, a structure that is some five-stories tall with six-story high corners and a large central tower nearly 200 feet tall, is likely the largest of its kind anywhere in the world."

Today, the totalitarian state tries to bury history. It is not so much concerned about the history of the Late Song Dynasty. It wants to erase recent history such as The Great Leap Forward where 45 million died in the man-made, Great Chinese Famine (三年大饥荒) which was followed by the horrors of The Cultural Revolution (文化大革命). The State doesn't want comparisons between  The Cultural Revolution and Cultural Revolution 2.0, SARS and SARS-Cov-2, demonstrations at Tiananmen Square and in Hong Kong or Mao and Xi Thought as opposed to Deng Theory. However, the late Song Dynasty shows that prosperity and longevity can be an illusion as are shadows on the wall of a cave. 


D. Carlton Rossi
2021年5月4日 



Gernet, Jacques, Daily Life in China on the Eve of the Mongol Invasion 1250-1276, Stanford University Press: Stanford, California, 1962. 

https://thediplomat.com/2015/08/chinas-military-trains-for-taiwan-invasion-with-mock-ups/

Zhurihe combat training base:  China's Military Trains for Taiwan Invasion With Mock-Ups, The Diplomat, Greg Austin, August 11, 2015

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Sui

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_conquest_of_Song_China
​
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liuqiu_(medieval)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Yuan_dynasty

Sun Dawu at trial on October 29, 2003

2020年11月11日警察进入大悟集团 police presence at Dawu Group on November 11 2020

                                            158 DAYS                                                                                      

One hundred and fifty-eight days was the time Sun Dawu spent in prison in 2003. The author was present at Dawu Group during his arrest. He was the guest of Sun Dawu. He himself was put under house arrest for three days. In what is termed 2.0, Sun Dawu was arrested a second time. On April 18, 2020 158 days has passed. With respect to the author, he, too, would have been arrested a second time. He, too, would have been forced to read Article 1 regarding National Security or its modern equivalent as had happened on May 28, 2003. He, too, may have been arrested waiting for charges to be laid in what might become a gang related case.  

You might say that this supposition is hypothetical and you would be correct. However, you will need more facts because the degree of certainty increases. The author who is a teacher sent a six page proposal by Fed Ex to Dawu Group at the end of 2019.  He was creating his own teaching position as a "foreign expert" as he had formerly been classified by the Foreign Experts Bureau. He wanted to teach teachers. One can have much more influence teaching teachers of students rather than students. He had had experience in this field in both China at several schools and South Korea where he taught at Kunsan University. He was accepted for the position at Dawu Group. In addition, Sun Dawu wanted the author to teach his grandchildren.  

It seems that the Canadian Embassy in Beijing under the leadership of Ambassador Barton was out of the loop concerning the emergent virus--at least according to the testimony of the ambassador before a parliamentary committee in 2020. On the other hand, the author was well acquainted with the emergence of a new virus similar to SARS. He had not forgotten the lessons of SARS because he had been at ground zero of the epidemic in Beijing prior to May 28, 2003. He had been teaching at both the Graduate School of CAS and at another university specializing in finance when the outbreak hit. He lived right across from a restaurant which was converted into a SARS hospital. Both this hospital and the military hospital in Beijing were the two designated places where patients were sent.  

In SARS 2.0, a virus was identified at the end of December 2019 which had emerged in Wuhan. At the end of December Dr. Li Wenliang (李文亮) who was a  doctor of opthalmology blew the whistle on a new virus similar to SARS. That doctor was Li Wenliang of Wuhan. That doctor had been the author's opthamologist in Xiamen. The author still holds his written prescription and uses the reading glasses which were manufactured at the clinic where he worked. The new virus was designated SARS-CoV-2. Dr. Li Wenliang passed away on February 06, 2020.

The author was well aware of the relationship between SARS and the arrests of Sun Dawu and Sun Zhigang in 2003. He had written an article called The Year of Two Suns about the beginning of the civil rights movement in China during 2003. Perhaps a reprint is necessary at this time. In retrospect, the author was a participant in what became a movement. SARS basically created a climate of fear where citizens demanded more rights--especially involving information and free speech while the government used cover-up because it was concerned about further unrest or "class struggle".  

At any rate, the author saw a parallel between the arrest of Sun Dawu in 2003 during the SARS crisis and the possible arrest of Sun Dawu just a year after he had acted as a "whistleblower" in February 2019 about the African Swine Flu (ASF) epidemic in Hebei Province. This epidemic affected Chinese farmers who culled millions of swine. It still is prevalent in China. Sun Dawu is still referred by many international news organizations as a "pig farmer" because of the publicity or by Chinese state media with reference to the "pig killing list" of the government concerning alleged wayward entrepreneurs. 

The SARS-CoV-2 epidemic though was affecting wide swaths of the Chinese population with its epicenter in Wuhan. To remind the reader, ASF is a hemorrhagic fever that affects mainly swine while SARS-CoV-2 is a respiratory fever that affects humans and other mammals. It is possible for a pig and handler to have both ASF and SARS-CoV-2.  

On January 16, 2020, the author informed the Dawu Group that he declined the offer to teach at their school. He informed Sun Dawu that he was concerned about the emergence of a new virus in China. He cited the opinion of The Lancet which is an independent, international general medical journal founded in 1823. The journal was saying they believed there were many more cases in Wuhan than were being officially reported. I am not sure why the Canadian Embassy in Beijing was not warning Canadians to avoid travel to China either because of COVID-19 or the arrest of Spavor and Kovrig, but the author was informing Sun that he was concerned and that Sun should be concerned about the emergence of a new disease. Indirectly, the author was saying to Sun that he might be arrested. 

The second reason the author gave to Sun Dawu was that he (the author) might be arrested. The author saw the parallel between his house arrest in 2003 at the height of the SARS epidemic and his possible arrest in 2020 with the emergence of SARS-CoV-2. Incidentally, the author was arrested in 2003 while he was establishing a new college in a cooperative program between Red Deer College, Alberta and Dawu Group. Officials of the Canadian Embassy had inspected the educational facilities of the Dawu Group. 

In the author's opinion, it was more than likely that he himself might be arrested in 2020 because it was the end of the civil rights movement in China. For example, Xu Zhiyong who was the former lawyer of Sun Dawu and founder of the New Citizens' Movement (新公民运动)  was on the run having evaded an arrest at a dinner party in Xiamen. This was unknown to the author at the time who actually had considered hiring Dr. Xu to meet him at the airport in the event that the author was arrested for arbitrary reasons as had been the Canadians known as Spavor and Kovrig. The lawyer who represented Sun Dawu in 2003 was arrested on February 15, 2020. 

The author has contrasted this dinner party of a handful of citizens with the Baibuting Banquet in Wuhan of 10,000 participants where the mayor--Zhou Xianwang (周先旺)--was trying to set a world record. This contributed to the epidemic along with the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market (武汉华南海鲜批发市场) from which some of the food for the open banquet originated. What was the government's answer to banquets and food consumption especially of pork? Eat less! 

The reader will point out quite rightly to the author that Sun Dawu was not arrested at the beginning of 2020 and that the epidemic was under control by the summer. However, Sun Dawu was arrested on November 11, 2020 between two resurgences of the disease in Hebei Provice. On June 15, 2020, there was an outbreak at Xinfadi market in Beijing. This must have reminded authorities of the outbreak traced to the Wuhan market which is denied by you know WHO. At the same time, authorities declared martial law in Baoding which is a 15 minute ride away from Dawu City. Then, on January 07, 2021, the capital of Hebei Province or Shijiazhuang which has a population of 11 million was under total lockdown. 

In summary, there is a similar feature between the arrest of Sun Dawu in 2003 and in 2020. That feature is SARS and its derivative SARS-CoV-2. Both diseases started off as epidemics in China and became international pandemics. In 2003, the emergence of SARS coincided with the beginning of the civil rights movement in China. In 2020, the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 marked  the end of the civil rights movement with the arrest of Xu Zhiyong and Sun Dawu under a much more authoritarian government.

So far, the government has avoided or evaded a trial of the Confucian entrepreneur Sun Dawu. If there is a trial then it will be the trial of the century. It will remind the author of how Red Guards tried to dig up the bones of Confucius on two occassions in order to burn them during the Cultural Revolution. It will be Cultural Revolution 2.0 or The Great Terror 2.0 (大恐怖 2.0) . It will be the end of civil rights, Confucianism and private enterprise. 


D. Carlton Rossi​
2021年15月4日
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updated 2021年18月4日

                                                  人类病毒

                                             Human Virome


Telecommunication executives in China will be subject to rectification or correction which has a retributive aspect unless they self-educate themselves to censor informational chaos through rules and restrictions which in turn threaten rectification to their customers who may neglect to re-examine and re-educate themselves through self analysis. It is literally a chain of rectification. In layman's terms, it simply means don't criticize the government.

We are led to believe that stricter controls are a natural outcome of the situation after the COVID-19 outbreak. Clearly, the author needs more introspection to believe it is a natural outcome rather than a power play. It is difficult to be in-line with either One Thought policy of Socialism with Chinese characteristics or with No Thought of a Minority Government of One in Canada which wishes to extend its authoritarian socialist mandate. Frankly, the introspection results in cognitve dissonance and short-circuiting of synaptical connections.

The author is aware that his body is composed of bacteria and viruses. His gut instinct is that he must be defined by bacteria. There are up to 500 in his gut. However, on second self-examination--over a period of minutes--he is convinced the answer is viruses. In nature, viruses outnumber bacteria by 10-1. He has a unique "human virome" and it constantly changes. That means he must spend every minute if not every second of his life at self-examination. How he has time to do anything else except self-examination to avoid rectification is beyond his limited knowledge or ability.

Any self-examinatiion must start with definition. In this case, it must begin with the definition of "human virome". It is the total collection of viruses in and on the human body. His viruses are rapidly evolving and his human virome is quite dynamic. It seems rather chaotic. He will have to brush up on the technique of deep sequencing. Maybe he'll throw in a little ultradeep and a bit of transcritome sequencing.

Normally, he would look outside of himself to understand about viruses. For example, he would seek the advice of scientists at the Wuhan Institutue of Virology. Their scientists are experts on coronavirues at the Biosafety Level 4 Lab. In particular, they have extensive experience with bat viruses that can cause SARS-like coronaviruses with the potential for human transmission. Their avowed mission is to prevent future epidemics and not cause epidemics perhaps through lax security standards as some have claimed. However, while security standards may have been lax; nevertheless, secrecy is drum tight so consultation with experts is difficult. Let's be unbiased. One may say the same thing about the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, Canada--especially with the Qiu revelations.

Therefore, more self-examination is required for a person to understand himself/herself. It is rather ironical that while the threat of rectification is intended to induce compliance with one point of view in order to establish harmony its effect may be the opposite. One may realize that one's own human virome is unique and therefore the individual is unique. It seems rather chaotic to have 1.4 billion Chinese come to the self-realization that they have a unique human virome.

As a result of his newly discovered individuality, the author wonders if he was exposed to SARS when he lived in Beijing at the time of the SARS pandemic in 2003. He lived right across from a restaurant which was newly converted to a SARS hospital. He will have to search within himself for the RNA genome of SARS-HCoV.

He wonders (to himself only) why Canadian health experts didn't remember in 2020 how easily SARS spread from Beijing to Toronto in February 2003. Patient Zero was a woman who booked into the Metropole Hotel in Hong Kong and then returned to her home in Toronto. Severe acute respiratory syndrome killed 44 Canadians. Forty-four is a very unlucky number for Chinese. It became a more unlucky number for the Canadians who died.

Furthermore, he asks himself in an effort of self-discovery why Ottawa would dismantle the early pandemic warning system called Global Public Health Intelligence Network or GPHIN? It was set-up in 1997. The early warning system was cancelled on May 24, 2019 or two weeks before Dr. QIU Xiangguo was escorted out of the Level 4 Security section of the National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) in Winnipeg. She had made at least five trips to the Wuhan National Biosafety Laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences between 2017-2018, which was certified for BSL4 in January 2017. While she had been in Canada for 23 years it is somewhat murky if she were classified as a Canadian citizen, permanent resident or a Chinese national.

It is commonly hyped that GPHIN ceased to exist "less than a year before the COVID-19 pandemic began". However, self-analysis through Jungian depth psychology reveals to the author that it was less than six months after Dr. Qiu was escorted out of the lab for breach of protocol before the discovery of a SARS-like coronavirus on December 30, 2019 at 7:00 pm. That was the exact time at which samples arrived at the Wuhan Institute of Virology.

Historically, GPHIN I had detected that something was going on in China with regard to infectious diseases. Dr. Ron St. John, Director General, Centre for Emergency Preparedness and Response with the Public Health Agency of Canada reported that in late 2002 and early 2003 an influenza or early SARS was detected in China. However, he said that it was a new disease for which there was no test. From this system GPHIN II developed which gathers and disseminates data in a "real-time, 24/7" basis.

If authorities were to self-examine themselves regarding decisions they made regarding dismantlement of early warning virus detection systems they might ask the following. Was the decision to end GPHIN linked to the dismantling of Predict? The Trump administration cut funding for Predict which had identified 160 different viruses that had the potential to develop into pandemics. It was run by the US Agency for International Development which had instituted the program in 2009. The program was terminated in September 2019 just three months before it was believed COVID-19 began infecting people in Wuhan, Hubei.

Of course, authorites will say they cut programs to cut costs. However, it almost seems that with cancellation of programs so close together in time they may have been aware of what might transpire. Cancellations meant an absence of evidence which would allow for plausible deniability. For example, did US authorites know before September 2019 that a US Harvard professor allegedly became a Strategic Scientist beginning in 2011 at Wuhan University of Technology in China? In Canada, the early warning system was disbanded two weeks before Dr. Qiu, her husband and her students were escorted out of the Level 4 Lab in Winnipeg. CBC News reported that one of the scientists was "responsible for exporting [Ebola and Henipah] pathogens to the Wuhan Institute of Virology" some four months before July 5, 2019 or the day of expulsion. Do these incidents exhibit coincidence or rather correspondence?

The Chinese early warning system for infectious diseases was established in 2004. It is called the National Notifiable Disease Reporting System (NNDRS) which is operated by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to Manoj Harjani who is a Research Fellow with Future Issues and Technology "China’s early warning system may have been hampered by its reliance on case information obtained after diagnosis rather than analysis of pre-diagnosis risk factors." One thinks of the expression "Closing the stable door after the horse has bolted".

Recently, according to a report in the British Medical Journal dated October 26, 2020, there is a call for a national intelligent syndromic surveillance system (NISSS) in China. It would incorporate real-time data to forecast an epidemic accurately and robustly in order to guide the epidemic control and prevention work. One wonders how much NISSS resembles GPHIN II?

The author's self-examination should not exclude SARS-CoV-2. In February, he self-isolated for three weeks with severe bronchitis and pneumonia at least as they were discoverable through his self-diagnosis. Obviously, it will be necessary as part of his self-examination to administer to himself the SARS-CoV-2 Nucleic-acid Amplification Test. That will tell him whether or not he has had COVID-19.

In summary, self-examination has taught the author that he is a collection of viruses. He may have had SARS-HCoV which originated in Guangzhou, Guangdong. He probably had SARS-CoV-2 which originated in Wuhan, Hubei. He has received many Chinese vaccines over the last three decades. His unique human virome is more Chinese than he thought it was. Indeed, he is not what he eats, but rather the viruses to which he has been exposed.


D. Carlton Rossi
2020年11月1日

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The Importance of Ostracism for Athenian Democracy


One remembers--for a moment--the crowd at President Trump's rally in Toledo, Ohio. They were yelling "Lock her up!" The president agreed. "You should lock her up, I'll tell you". The alleged crime of the Democratic presidential nominee wasn't made clear in the circus-like atmosphere. In that brief moment, the president lost more than the trust of the American people--he lost the election.The ancient city-state of Athens which began the democracy experiment had similar problems. However, one innovation called "ostracism" provided a relief value for tumultuous politics and tensions which substituted for the threat of a trial or an actual trial.

It was Cleisthenes who reformed the Athenian constitution in 508 BCE. For this achievement he is regarded as the father of Athenian democracy. He though was forcibly expelled from Athens by his political opponent Isagoras with the help of Spartan King Cleomenes. Isagoras dispossessed hundreds of Athenians of their homes and exiled them on the basis of the Alcmaeonid curse. However, councillors and the people resisted the attempt to abolish the "Boule" or Council.  

It is said that Cleisthenes probably introduced the reform called "ostracism" which was first used in 487 BCE. It differed from Athenian law in that there was no charge or defense possible in a court of law. The vote could take place only once a year and applied to a single person.The exiled person could retain his property and be recalled earlier. 

In contrast, Meletus in 399 BCE summoned Socrates (470-399 BCE) to court on charges of corrupting the youth and impiety. If found guilty before 500 citizens then Socrates would face a variable sentence from small fine to execution. One of the differences between ostracism and a trial was that the former required a quorum of 6000 while a trial required 500 citizens. The larger number gave a better representation of the people's wishes who were more likely to be swayed by reason than political rhetoric. In either case, though, it was not held in camera by judges who have already made a decision before hearing the case.   

However, Socrates' case was special as he could only be tried for actions four years prior to his trial or 403-399 BCE. The reason was that a general amnesty was given to those before or during the reign of the Thirty Tyrants which lasted for eight months beginning in 404 BCE. The Thirty Tyrants were a pro-Spartan oligarchy led by Critias and Theramenes. Many wealthy citizens were murdered or exiled just so the Thirty could confiscate their property.  

Yet, it was said by the orator Aechines "Men of Athens, you executed Socrates, the sophist, because he was clearly responsible for the education of Critias, one of the thirty anti-democratic leaders." It was also recorded by Xenophon "that Athenian anger at the reckless and destructive behavior of Critias and Alcibiades, both associates of Socrates, was the real reason behind the execution of Socrates in 399 BC (Memoirs of Socrates 1.2.12). In other words, Socrates was a scapegoat. One might therefore say that it was not the trial of the moral Socrates but rather the postumous trial of the immoral Critias and Alcibiades. 

The vague charges of impiety may also have influenced the jury. "For Athenians, piety meant not only respect for the gods, but also for the dead and ancestors."  Again, though, it was not what Socrates did but what Alcibiades might have done. Plutarch explains that Androcles, a political leader [in 415 BCE], used false witnesses who accused Alcibiades and his friends of mutilating the statues, and of profaning the Eleusinian Mysteries. Critias was accused of the same crime and released on the testimony of Andocides. 

In summary, Socrates was treated as a scapegoat. He was sacrificed at trial in both the political arena and religious area.This was due to a popular hatred for the tyrant Critias and the figure of Alcibiades. While both men respected the teachings of Socrates they preferred an easier path which led to corruption. 

It is Socrates though who is remembered through schools of philosophical thought. He used reason through what is termed the "Socratic Method" to determine that the supreme good is virtue which is defined as moral excellence. It so happens that another man named Confucius 孔子 (who chose and was allowed self-exile) developed a similar view emphasizing moral cultivation at about the same time in another place. 

D. Carlton Rossi
2021年4月4日




Alcibiades

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcibiades


Critias (460—403 B.C.E.)

Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy

https://iep.utm.edu/critias/


Ostracism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ostracism


Thirty Tyrants 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirty_Tyrants


The Trial of Socrates, Professor Douglas O. Linder

https://famous-trials.com/socrates/833-home

Kongzi

The Chinese Communist Party is not really very Chinese at all

Charles Burton

Special to The Globe and Mail

July 4, 2020


With enormous good grace, considering the circumstances, my kindly and generous teachers readily took me in as one of their own. What they taught me was that China’s cultural greatness yesterday, today and tomorrow lies in the immutable principles clearly and simply expressed in the classical Chinese of the ancient sages of China’s Confucian tradition.

If the party seeks to devastate the international rules-based order, then be transparent and open about it. It is a betrayal to claim the party’s dissembling is true to Chinese cultural imperatives. In this sense, the Chinese Communist Party is ultimately not very Chinese.


https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-chinese-communist-party-is-not-really-very-chinese-at-all/







                       To Be Confucian is to be Chinese


Professor Burton is one of the few Canadians who understand the basic nature of the Chinese. To be Chinese is to be Confucian and to be Confucian is to be Chinese. The Communist Party of China tries to impose an unnatural order on the Chinese people.

If Canadian foreign policy with regard to China does not begin with an understanding of the role of Confucianism in China it will fail. Communism may be only a short lived and short sighted experiment. To illustrate this point one might paraphrase the words of one who was to have been the successor of Mao. One cannot judge the success of the French Revolution as it is too early to determine. In the same vein, one cannot yet judge the success of the Communist Party in relation to Confucianism whose principles were based on governance during the Zhou Dynasty.

One might refine the contrast between the Communist Party of China (CPC) and Confucianism with respect to religion, philosophy and governance. With respect to religion the CPC is atheistic. This means there is no God or afterlife. However, Communism has effectively turned atheism into a religion as the only image to view and word to hear is of the leader. Everyone is to have one thought without thinking and the origin of One Thought is from the number one leader.

On the other hand, Confucianism expresses the continuity of life through the family and ancestral worship. It is accomplished through ritual which has been practiced over thousands of years. Its goal is to harmonize the earthly and heavenly. This is accomplished through the heart and feelings.

Ultimately, the philosophy of the CPC is based on atomism expressed by the Pre-Socratic philosopher Democritus. Everything is composed of atoms. Everything is material. In modern terms it becomes dialectical materialism developed during the Industrial Revolution and expressed by Hegel.

There is a clear distinction between governance as practiced by Communists and Confucianists. A communist system in China is top down. It uses the philosophy of Legalism and rule by law developed by Mozi. Furthermore, it assumes the individual is guilty until proven innocent. In order to correct behaviour in a communist system the individual must live in fear of punishment.

A Confucian system of governance is bottom up or to express it another way is "of the people" as opposed to "of one person". It stresses rule of law where law is the lowest form of morality. It is believed the individual is innocent until proven guilty. Good behaviour is rewarded.

A practical model of Confucianism has been established by Sun Dawu of Dawu Group at Dawu City in Hebei Province. It is based on the Private Entrepreneurial Constitutional System. Cadres elect management every two years. Voting is mandatory. Of equal importance is that decisions are made by workers and implemented by management. The goal of the enterprise is not profit but the welfare of the people.

This Confucian model of an enterprise and city is to be contrasted to the establishment of a new city nearby called Xiaong'an. It will be President Xi's legacy. It is based on 5G, artificial intelligence and the internet of things. Basically, it will be the pinnacle and penultimate of materialism. It will be where machines dominate machine-like units whose performance is programmed.

Basically speaking, Confucianism looks backwards to the past while Communism looks forward to the future. The former prefers evolution while the latter stresses revolution. If Confucianism is to successfully compete with Communism it must consider a morality based on future generations. Furthermore, it must become less paternally patriarchal and more maternally matriarchal. If one looks at history prior to 5000 years then one sees Chinese society was matriarchal. Both Confucianism and Communism today are unbalanced patriarchal systems which are disharmonius. Therefore, Confucianism must distinguish itself from Communism by modernizing the definition of family and by empowering women through practice.

D. Carlton Rossi

July 05, 2020




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