Thorsten Pattberg with ZHUO Xinping Director of the Institute of World Religions at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CASS)

Thorsten Pattberg with ZHUO Xinping, Aug 2013

Professor ZHUO Xinping is the Director of the Institute of World Religions at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CASS). He is also a former graduate of the University of Munich, Germany, and speaks fluent German with a wonderful Bavarian accent. De Mass, de Brezn, da Butter!

Irritating China - US should work with China, Not contain it

Dr. Thorsten Pattberg RT TV exclusive interview (extract)

BEIJING/MOSCOW - Discussing geopolitics, military build-up and US containment strategy against China:

Recent contra-China developments in Japan, Philippines, Vietnam, Russia, India, etc. (Aug 16, 2013) [Video extract]

Pattberg Urges “China Experts” To Use Chinese Terminologies in Their English Reports

THORSTEN PATTBERG, Peking University

Pattberg Urges “China Experts” To Use Chinese Terminologies in Their English Reports

In this op-ed piece to China Daily, cultural critic and activist Thorsten Pattberg warns China against importing history and terminologies from the West; instead, he says, China must contribute its own originality to world history, and Chinese terms to global language. In the long run, both East and West would benefit: China can keep its inventiveness, while the West learns something new. As an example, we are reminded of Japan which has contributed far more loanwords into the English language than China.

Pattberg also criticizes the “China experts” from a CCTV “Special” program about the “Chinese Dream”. The program – telecast nationwide - invited five foreigners or Western-educated Chinese to explain the Chinese Dream and the future of China; they did so in English and without ever using a single Chinese terminology. [The ‘Chinese Dream’ originally reads ‘Zhongguo Meng’]

[In fact, there were six guests on the program: The “foreign” experts were: Daniel A. Bell(Canadian), Zhang Xudong (New York University), M. D. Nalapat (India), Einar Rangen (American), Tu Weiming (American), and Wang Jianfei (PhD Berkeley).]

Pattberg thinks that such an awkward situation could only happen in China: Not only is China importing its own history from the West, that history also comes totally Chinese-free!

“[…] whenever Western readers come across the term "Chinese Dream", they will try to understand it through their concept of the American Dream.”

Ironically, they talked about how China must provide global knowledge and universalism. How is it going to do that, if China can’t even keep its own terminologies?

Dr. Thorsten Pattberg (Peking University) publishes widely on the East-Westdichotomy, Shengren, Language imperialism, Comparative cultural studies, Globallanguage, World history, the Competition for terminologies, the End oftranslation, and the Rise of non-European terminologies.

*****

Read article by star journalist Frank Ching about ‘Who is aChinese?’ in which he explains why the Chinese government seems to think that all ethnic Chinese belong to China even though they are often nationals of a foreign power.

康逸琨 (Kang Yikun): 一张照片引发的中国式成名梦 (via Big Think, New York)

康逸琨: 一张照片引发的中国式成名梦 (feat. Kang Yikun)

一个月前，近乎中国每一个人都在谈论一个名字：康逸琨。 [来原: Big Think]

她是中国人民大学艺术学院毕业生之一；她可爱而又迷人；她的毕业照最近被人民大学网站挂到了首页，并在短短的几小时内，吸引到了极其庞大的看客。甚至到最后，人大网站因为无法支持如此繁重的流量而崩溃。

于是，康逸琨一夜成名了。微博上有关其私房照的图片被上万次地转发；她在一夜之间成为了中国名人和性感妹子的象征——只是这个性感中不包含性。她有着上百万个粉丝，数百个粉丝公共主页、相册，甚至被网友及数家中国官方报纸称为称为“人大女神”。

中国式“一夜爆红”

一位博主这样写道：

当我第一次读到这个故事的时候，我还持着怀疑的态度。但是看到这个她的照片后，我完全明白了。她绝对能吸引众人的注意力，可以被称得上是我见过的最漂亮的中国女性。这么盯着她的照片真是享受... ...

今日，中国已经为成为文化强国做足了准备，微博上的4亿写手也是这个社会未来不可忽略的一部分。确切而言，中国公众对这种不可预知的事件求知若渴：正如康逸琨的摄影师毛岩政告诉媒体的那样：“一张照片就能让一个人成名的确很让人难以相信。”[English original via Big Think] [translation via jandan.net] [作者： 裴德思，德国人] [翻译者：煎蛋/jandan]

It’s Zhongguo Meng, stupid! (Interview, Shanghai Daily)

"Salaries in China are still too low, so most employees tend to stay close to the mother lode, like little children. Many feel “wu nai” – helpless. This inhibits their creativity and drive for self-actualization." 

Yao Minji (Emily Yao) from Shanghai Daily sits down with Thorsten Pattberg from Peking University to discuss the Chinese Dream. Dr. Pattberg argues that Chinese key concepts should not be translated, and explains why, in his view, the Zhongguo Meng is very different from the American Dream.(July 2013)

READ FULL UNABRIDGED INTERVIEW HERE

Ramadan ends at Niujie Mosque in Beijing, August 8, 2013

Niujie Mosque in Beijing on August 8, 2013 (Side Entrance)

BEIJING - Niujie Mosque is the oldest in Beijing, dating back to 996 AD during the Liao Dynasty. Ramadan is the Muslim month of fasting. The end of Ramadan and the beginning of the next lunar month is called Shawwal.

Niujie Mosque in Beijing on August 8, 2013 (Preparation for Shawwal)

There are an estimated 10,000 to 60,000 Muslims living in Beijing, mostly from Hui minority, the largest group of Muslims in Beijing, followed by Uighur.

Niujie Mosque in Beijing on August 8, 2013 (Main Prayer Hall)

The architecture is Chinese with Islamic interior designs. You even get Chinese calligraphy and paintings mixed into the wall paintings. Before the prayer, a Chinese governmental note was read, usually praising the Party and how it successfully manages China's cultural diversity.

Niujie Mosque in Beijing on August 8, 2013 (Imam prays)

It is a fascinating thing to experience the holidays of another culture's tradition, and Chinese Islam is a wonderful journey.

Pattberg with Roger T. Ames, August 2013

Ames, Roger T. 安樂哲| Center for Chinese Studies | Pattberg, Thorsten 裴德思 | Peking University

With friend and spiritual mentor Roger T. Ames, sinologist, educator, and ethicist of Hawaii University. Roger believes we should get rid of the term ‘Confucianism’ and call it by its real name: Rujia or Ruxue:

“I am not saying that ruxue has the answers to the world’s problems; but it has very important contribution to make.”

Roger T. Ames: We are getting rid of the term 'Confucianism'

Roger T. Ames: The Class of Ru

Kang Yikun - Goddess of Renmin University (康逸琨)

Kang Yikun - Goddess of Renmin University

The University community in China goes crazy about this pretty girl and fellow student: Kang Yikun (康逸琨). She appeared out of nowhere on Renmin University’s website this summer and, within a few days, caused its server to crash. China has 400 million microbloggers.

Her Weibo profile amasses 100,000 followers in no time, and around 300,000 comments were dropped in the first week. All majornewspapers reported about her. She might even change the way Chinese universities are presenting themselves to the outside world. After all, this isn’t just a dull world of all learning and no fun; it’s also a place where young people spend 24/7 of their most precious time of youth.

As one anonymous commentator wrote: “We want more of it!” Chances are they’ll get it. [MORE LINKS AND IMAGES HERE]

Thorsten Pattberg 裴德思 and XU Dasi 徐达斯, August 2013

Thorsten Pattberg 裴德思 and Xu Dasi 徐达斯, August 2013

Meeting Master XU Dasi, Sanskritist, Taoist, and scholar of religions, graduated from Tianjin University and went to Cambridge University to pursue his career in Comparative Religious Studies. He combines his knowledge of ancient Indian culture and Sanskrit language with in-depth understanding of the three great Chinese traditions Daoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. XU Dasi is the author of ‘Everywhere is Zen,’ ‘God gene,’ and other socio-spiritual monographs. He is currently teaching at Zhejiang University and also works as professor for Yoga Studies in Hong Kong.

Add wushu, shengren, junzi and zhongguo meng to the global language!

DO NOT translate Chinese key terminologies!". This is true for kungfu, wushu, shengren, junzi, and... the zhongguo meng. Thorsten Pattberg, a disciple of Ji Xianlin, Gu Zhengkun, and Tu Weiming from Peking University explains why the correct names and the language of origin matter for inclusion into World History... a field that to this day is literally Chinese-free. [...] One day in June 2013; IAHS, Peking University.

Shanghai Daily - The Chinese dream (by Emily Yao)

Thanks for quoting goes to Emily Yao from Shanghai Daily: "It's not about a definition, but more about universality," Thorsten Pattberg, a doctor of letters and research fellow at Peking University, said of Xi's concept. "You, I and everyone have dreams. The question becomes: Can you fulfill your dreams in China and not elsewhere?" (July 30, 2013)

RT Russia - All according to plan: China injects $2.8 billion into economy

RT RUSSIA LIVE: China's central bank injected money into the financial system for the first time since February, calming concerns that June's cash squeeze will be repeated at the end of July.

“There is nothing to worry about. 7.5% is still a healthy growth and is actually designed by the government to reduce the overrated economy and the secret now lies in domestic consumption,” Thorsten Pattberg, a research fellow at Peking University,  told RT. 

Pattberg with famed journalist Frank Ching in Beijing, July 2013

Certainly one of the most thought-provoking and entertaining talks I've heard at Peking University this year, also because it wasn't the usual propaganda work (the speaker is ethnic Chinese, but a naturalized American citizen). Frank Ching, famed journalist [Wall Street Journal, New York Times, the list is long] talked about Chinese nationalism, nationality, and the identity crisis of overseas Chinese. [The event took place in a little classroom, not one of the halls, letting alone one of the big auditoriums.] There are so many brilliant observations in his talk (read the transcript here), and the one that resonates best with my experience was the fact that China officially holds onto "all descendants of its people who emigrated overseas and claims them as its own." This, of course, makes all ethnic Chinese in the US potential spies, and most of the people of Singapore "foreigners in their own country." Chilling.

Censorship and Internet with Chinese Characteristics

TOKYO/BEIJING - Global Research TV, Canada - James Corbett is a Japan-based famed investigative journalist, host, and editor of well-known Corbett Report conducted this exclusive interview on current and relevant global topics such as cyber-espionage, internet and censorship, US-China relations, and the American dream vs the Chinese dream. [GO TO YOUTUBE] [GLOBAL RESEARCH TV]

Thorsten Pattberg and Riccardo Pozzo – Comparing China and the West

In Beijing with Riccardo Pozzo, philosopher, activist, and Director of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Cultural Heritage of Centro Nationale de Ricerca in Rome, Italy, recently toured Beijing and promoted ‘The World Digital Library (WDL)’ project and ‘The European Cultural Heritage Online (ECHO)’ initiative. (June 14, 2013)

At Beijing Sihai Confucius Academy

Visiting Beijing Sihai Confucius Academy (from left to right:) Pei Songxian, Feng Zhe, Thorsten Pattberg

Visit to Sihai Confucius Academy in Beijing (June 17, 2013). This academy is a private school that caters for children age 3-13 to learn Chinese classics, and to become experts and practitioners of Chinese culture. The student teacher ratio is 150 to 40, and 20 support staff. The curriculum heavily favors both Chinese and Western classics. Children board Monday to Friday at the academy and return home for the weekends.

The academy lies in the suburbs of Beijing on a mountain slide with forests, gardens, and beautiful mansions with clean and tidy halls, classrooms, playgrounds and student dormitories. Sihai Confucius Academy has successfully established itself as a brand, with its own farm product, a vegetarian restaurant chain, the Ertong education project, etc.

Moreover, Sihai Confucius Academy receives regular media attentionfrom home and abroad, hosts conferences, and publishes its own teaching materials, built from scratch its classical library, offers outdoor programs, organic farming, music classes, and is supported from famous Confucian scholars like Gu Zhengkun, Wang Caigui, Wang Dianqing, Guo Qijia, Roger Ames, He Guangrong, Ling Zi, and Tu Weiming. The list goes on.

And yes, the students here learn to recite the Dao De Jing, for example. Sometimes at the age of three. Really. [SEE WEIBO BLOG] [BACK TO MAIN]

Thorsten Pattberg with Gu Zhengkun, famed Daoist and Confucian scholar

Thorsten Pattberg 裴德思 and Gu Zhengkun 辜正坤, famed Daoist andConfucian scholar, professor of English literature, linguist, and Director of the Institute for World Literature and Comparative Studies at Peking University. Many people think that Professor Gu’s translation Lao Zi: The Book of Tao and Teh is maybe the most elegant in the English language. [BACK TO MAIN]

Thorsten Pattberg with John G. Blair and Jerusha McCormack, authors of Western Civilization with Chinese Comparison

(from left:) J. McCormack, J. G. Blair, and T. Pattberg

By the way, this 622-pages (3rd ed) course/resource book makes a great and inspirational read in China Studies. It’s all in there: the money-grabbing, the concubines, ghosts, arranged marriages, castration, the Europeans, the misery, the rejuvenation, the ecology, the Diasporas, the modern Chinese family… [See Review]

--Blair, John G., Hull McCormack, Jerusha (2010), Western Civilizations with Chinese Comparisons, Fudan University Press, Shanghai [BACK TO MAIN]

German Confucianism at Peking University

THIS PLACE is where I work, eat, sleep - 24/7. It’s a little building on PKU campus, close to the great lake. I got a gym card for daily shower. It’s the reclusive life of a junzi, no?

Anyways, it is here where I found inspiration for my essays on 'Shengren,' 'The End of Translation,' 'Vocab Wars,' 'Language Imperialism,' and 'Lingualism' which have been syndicated in East Asia's media, by circulation alone, millions of copies. [GO TO WEBSITE]

裴德思：中华文明的专属词汇应普及“天人合一”

裴德思：对我的同事们在翻译时几乎完全抛弃中文原意而采用外国表达的做法，我经常感到困惑不解。就当下而言，即使是最有教养的西方人都没有听说过“ren”（仁），“datong”（大同），“tianxia”（天下）和 “tian ren he yi”（天人合一）。[南方周末] [东西方二元法]