Not just the "Analects" but other Chinese classic texts are also doing well on the market. The phenomenon has surprised publishers, who have been impressed by readers' eagerness to read the original texts - composed in an ancient script not easily accessible to modern Chinese speakers - first-hand.
I recall asking a couple of Chinese students from the Mainland to confirm a translation of a passage in Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching some years ago. They said that they could not read the ancient characters and that I should consult a fellow professor who did read it, a Harvard-trained American. I found that rather ironic.
Ecns
2,000-year-old classic becomes bestseller in China
Ecns
2,000-year-old classic becomes bestseller in China
In context of Xi's Make China Great Again focus on not only a being a world economic power but also respected socially and politically for their leadership, this seems significant as the ideology behind what he is doing, he has repeatedly highlighted it.
ReplyDeleteThe MSM dismisses China as not being adequate because capital,trade,speech freedoms and human rights generally while China refuses to accept that framing and is instead showing their adeptness at raising standards of living, quality of society and stability with impressive achievements and targets that, if successful, surpass the west within a couple decades by most measures.
Of course, the guffaws and scoffs are loud in western media and we're all aware of the deficiencies and problems in China but given their ability to get this far and transform their society as they have, they should be taken more seriously because their success if how we will measure the success of our ideologies and dogmas as they pull ahead.