Last time, we looked at a hexagram that was all yin lines, except one -- the fifth line, the "head" line, was yang. Energy at the head is a good thing, and that was a particularly favorable ("lucky" isn't quite the word) hexagram. This time, we've got a hexagram that's all energy -- all yang lines -- except one, the fourth line. The "heart" line is yin. So... is this a receptive heart in the middle of brash, ascending energy? Or is a sinking heart... more

I've been remiss in going through the I Ching lately, but what the heck, it's Friday. Time to get back in the saddle, right?

We're up to the eighth hexagram, bi, made up of the trigrams for water (kan) over earth (kun).

Maybe a review of what those two trigrams can stand for would help clear out some cobwebs. Earth is the lowest rung on the cosmic ladder, the basement floor -- the source of all growing things, and the ultimate receptive force: dark, mysterious, but nurturing. The trigram kun can also stand for your abdomen (and is used... more

I didn't notice that one of the sites linked to in my prior post on Maoist propaganda and Chinese pop art actually offered the following amazing service: For $149, an artist will actually insert your face into a Maoist propaganda poster image.

This is possibly the most bizarre gift idea I've ever heard of.

Is golf a Chinese invention?

Among our travel group was a doctor who had some kind of banter going with the facilitator about finding a hotel with a golf course. I imagine if he heard the reports being broadcast about this discovery on the hotel room cable news, part of his brain would have lit up.

It's about the discovery of chuiwan, a sport that might be the ancestor of golf.

Yeah, officials at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum are displaying... more

Emblem from vector-images.com

Unite, Glorious Adoptive Parents, and Celebrate Chinese Posters!

Is it wrong for me to love this propaganda stuff as much as I do? Because I do. It's so darn... optimistic and intrepid. Who can resist?

From Landsberger's intro at the above-linked exhibition:

Due to the enormous visual impact these... more

Yunyang County, where my son (son!) comes from, is the home of the Zhang Fei Temple.

That's Zhang Fei in the lower right of the picture. The one with the googly eyes and the wrathful grin, yeah?

His temple is the place in this story: http://www.china.org.cn/english/culture/70271.htm

Zhang Fei was a famous general from the third century (and an important character in the epic ... more

Earth over Water -- the Receptive over the Dangerous, the image of groundwater being the stored up energy of the ground, just as a country's army represents the stored up energy of the people.

Water is at its most powerful when it's descending (think of a waterfall), and the Earth is at its most useful when it receives or stays passive (think of a yawning sinkhole or the solid ground). This is a picture of an obedient soldier -- receiving orders like a rock (as in Sergeant Rock, natch) and possessing an... more

OK, so last time, we talked about the inner and outer trigrams that make up the image of a hexagram. In that case, it was Heaven (qian, also known as "Force") and Water (kan, also known as "Danger"). Well, in this case, it's the same two trigrams, but reversed. You'll see this pattern a lot in the I Ching -- at least in what's called the "King Wen sequence." Not all versions of the book put the hexagrams in the same order, you see. But most seem... more

THE pure man of old was righteous but impartial, and humble but not subservient. He was naturally independent but not obstinate. His humility was manifest, but not displayed. Smiling, he seemed to be happy. He acted as if he had to.... Without any attachment, he seemed to have forgotten what he said.... ...Anyone with two feet can climb a hill, but people think that a pure man makes diligent effort to do so. Therefore what he liked was one and what he did not like was also one. That which was one was one and that which was not one was also one.... more

When last we got into this stuff, we talked about youthful folly. Now, we're looking at the majestic force of Heaven wrapped in the shady perils of the Abyss.

Gosh, that sounds terribly gothy. I'm sorry, Raven Darckchylde. It's not. It's about the trigrams that make up this hexagram.

OK, so, you remember the business with trigrams, right? Sets of three lines, either... more