Seeking Collection

Author: Yan Han
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: After the publication of my book "Millennium Writings," I have been greatly appreciated by readers, and it has been widely circulated. Ms. Zhou Kuijie and Mr. Zhang Shilin, who possess "special abilities" in publishing work, have shown great insight, recognizing that readers welcome this type of article. Therefore, they came up with an innovative idea, taking my book as a starting point, expanded the author range, and compiled a series of books named "Voices of Renowned Scholars." Ten volumes will be released this year, with more to follow. These ten authors are basically in their advanced years. Besides myself, they are all erudite scholars, skilled in writing, and highly specialized in their fields. Each has their own areas of expertise, all of whom have achieved remarkable accomplishments and are well-known in academic circles, requiring no introduction. However, the articles included in this collection are not their academic works. The articles they painstakingly write over a lifetime, burning the midnight oil and toiling year after year, are often profound and difficult to read, offering little benefit to general readers. These types of works are published separately. The articles in this collection are generally more accessible but cannot be entirely unrelated to their specialized fields—that is unthinkable. Most of the articles in this collection are connected to their areas of expertise, blending both popular and specialized elements. In layman's terms, they can be called "enjoyable for both the refined and the common." It is estimated that future collections will also feature a high proportion of articles by elderly scholars. Some may ask, why do you single out elderly scholars? I respectfully answer: People should adopt a dialectical view of age. Like all things in the world, age is ever-changing. The elderly of today were once young, and the young of today will become elderly tomorrow. The evolution of the world is like a long river. "The past flows like this, day and night." "To cut the water with a knife, the water flows even more." This long river of time never stops, and it is impossible to cut it. Young people have their own strengths and weaknesses, and the elderly do too. "Those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it," and the strengths and weaknesses of the elderly can serve as at least a reference for the young. Let’s focus on the elderly. Due to their longer lifespans, in two colloquial yet exaggerated words, they have eaten more salt than young people have eaten noodles and crossed more bridges than young people have walked. They possess ample experience and lessons. Experience can serve as a model for learning, while lessons serve as a warning for those who follow. The elderly are prone to certain faults, the most prominent of which are two: being self-important due to their age and being idle and passive, waiting to die. Both are unacceptable, harming themselves and benefiting no one. Now, worldwide, including China, the average human lifespan is gradually increasing, and it will continue to rise. The so-called "aging society" is already upon us. As for the term "aging society," I don’t know how others feel, but personally, I have a distaste for it. It is an imported concept, a foreign idea. It rigidly divides humanity into two halves at the age of 60, labeling those above it as "elderly," effectively isolating them. No matter how nice the words sound, this approach is not conducive to mobilizing the elderly’s enthusiasm or maintaining stability and unity. It is a product of Western utilitarianism and pragmatism, contradicting China’s ancient tradition of benevolent governance. In Mencius·Liang Hui Wang, it is said, "If chickens, ducks, dogs, and pigs are raised at the right time, those seventy years old can eat meat." I believe this is an excellent Chinese tradition, and respecting the elderly has been valued throughout history. I am not defending the elderly solely because I am old. I also oppose the very popular term "residual heat"—whether one is young or old, heat is heat; is the heat of the elderly cold? Take the elderly scholars included in this collection, for example. Elder Zhong (Jingwen) is nearly a hundred years old but remains tireless, delivering lectures and supervising graduate students. To label such elderly as outliers would hardly be fair. Another elderly scholar included, Mr. Hou Renzhi, named his collection "Late Dawn," also demonstrating that he remains sharp. This name, of course, comes from the Tang Dynasty poem "Heaven’s will pities the secluded grass, the world values the late dawn." This is the Chinese spirit. The famous poem by Cao Cao, "The old steed lies down in the stable, its ambition reaches a thousand miles. The hero in his twilight years, his indomitable spirit never fades," is well-known. It advocates this unrelenting spirit of progress. This can also be called a characteristic of China. I believe this spirit should always be promoted. The reason New World Publishing invested heavily in publishing this series of books is likely to advocate such a spirit. Therefore, I am delighted to write this preface. August 15, 2001