The Athenaeum

More "China" from Stan

"Mount Huang (Yellow Mountain) in Anhui Province is one of the most famous scenic spots in China, a subject for poetry and paintings over the centuries. The mix of mist and jagged rocks produce a wonderland that has become a trademark for Chinese mountain scenes. Take the trail in photo-1, stay overnight at the top, and hope for a misty morning. Upon nearing the top, I was met by the "Guest Welcoming Pine" in photo-2. Move on in the early morning to see the scenes in

photos-3 & 4. You can then descend by cable car (if it is working-not when I visited in 1992). There is a hotel on the mountain and some scattered rough-it accommodations. I stayed in the latter with a Chinese friend. It rained that evening (great for morning mist, but not so hot for a comfortable evening) and we ended up with twice the normal number of guests in one room - my friend and I slept head to foot on one cot. One guest kept slapping his poor little kid for crying (wonder why the kid didn't stop?) -- BUT IT WAS ALL WORTH IT!  Stan Henning

Bonsai and Chinese Folk Drama - Stan Henning

I understand that there are a number of readers of Pat's Blog who remember the Bonsai tree I contributed a year ago about this time, and there are some among you who would like to see? more. I must admit that Bonsai trees are more soothing to the eye and mind than the sad state of affairs that gave rise to the Blog. I thought about this for a while and it occurred to? me that, in China, where most of my focus has been since graduating with Pat from VMI, the affairs of heaven, earth, and man are seen as intertwined and that there are lessons to be learned from this interaction. I then thought of another beautiful scene in the same location as the Bonsai, the Memorial Hall to Three Kingdoms Strategist Zhuge Liang in Chengdu, Sichuan - a twisted peach tree and stone tablet that combine nature, history, and lessons to ponder. The stone tablet is engraved with the Chinese calligraphy for "peach orchard" and, to Chinese, the scene evokes both natural beauty and thoughts of the heroic personages on the stage of history during tumultuous Three kingdoms Period (220-265 CE).? A peach orchard is said to be where three key figures, the future emperor of the State of Shuhan (now Sichuan Province), Liu Bei, and? his trusted lieutenants, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei swore a blood oath of loyalty. And this symbol of the peach orchard oath is? located in the memorial hall to Zhuge Liang, whom the three sought out and persuaded to act as Liu Bei's strategic advisor. My first photo, then, symbolizes the "Peach Orchard Oath of Three", while the second photo, taken near Xiangfan City, Hubei Province, is where Liu Bei and his two lieutenants are said to have made three trips to persuade Zhuge Liang of their sincerity and to have finally coaxed him to serve as Liu Bei's strategist. The scene is from a folk opera depicting Liu Bei and his two lieutenants meeting Zhuge Liang in front of a building on the alleged location of the latter's "straw hut", where he avoided the madding crowd for a time. The Chinese characters above the entrance read, "Hall of Three Visits". Overall,? this short description symbolizes the considerable effort taken to find the right man to act as strategist, not a "yes man" nor a bully, but someone knowledgeable and able to balance plus and minus factors and secure a meaningful "victory" for their cause. Zhuge Liang was just such a man and, as I mentioned in a Military Review article in May 1979 ("Chinese Defense Strategy: A Historical Approach"), it was he around 200+ CE, not J.F.C. Fuller in 1920, who coined the term "psychological warfare".? It seems to me that we could learn a hell of a lot from the Chinese, and was it not Sunzi who said, "know yourself, know your opponent [not necessarily enemy], fight a hundred battles without encountering disaster"?  Stan Henning