2025.05.12 - Is being born here by chance enough to be called Chinese?
Ping Xia
Title: 2025.05.12 – Does Being Born Here Automatically Make You Chinese?
The Pull of Ancient Villages
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/SpB_si_vZ5sPJzJwvCAWSw
It concerns faith, family values, and hometown sentiment. The culture of ancient villages holds the emotional DNA that runs through Chinese bloodlines. No matter how times change, this spiritual force keeps calling us. Scattered across the land, these old villages are like “time capsules,” waiting for us to open them and listen to the long‑echoing voices from the past.
Ni Haixia: Cooking Over Wood Fires Is the Most Nourishing
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/w5HiqTNMrkMfdK6eyRpodw
In my hometown they no longer allow firewood cooking, and I feel a deep nostalgia. I miss the smell of stewing meat in a cast‑iron pot over wood when I was a child…
Zhao Qianlin | Massage: A Gentle Connection
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/9BSd5M3Laoq9UxOS7VNtww
External therapies in traditional Chinese medicine are the counterpart to internal herbal formulas. These treatments act on the body’s surface yet can resolve internal problems. So how do these outward forces or energies penetrate deeply enough to achieve therapeutic results?
Fu Peirong: Does Being Born Here Automatically Make You Chinese? One Thing Every Chinese Person Must Understand
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/sZN7cVh8G5uiqlRdjGFqVQ
The central character “中” carries a strong cultural self‑affirmation and aspiration; it signifies that we are at the heart of civilization, open and radiant. Hence ancient texts refer to the “Huaxia civilization,” where “夏” (the Xia dynasty) denotes greatness and is linked to light. Traditional Chinese culture embraces two philosophies: one of permanence and one of change. The permanent philosophy is embodied in the Shangshu “Hongfan” chapter, presenting an eternal ideal of absolute justice—encouraging people to do good and avoid evil, with moral retribution. The philosophy of change teaches us how to survive by adapting to shifting conditions, understanding the rules of transformation, letting go when appropriate, taking what is deserved, moving with the flow, and persisting with vigor. What we need to do today is simple: return to the pre‑Qin mindset—there is no alternative path. Stand on our own feet and contemplate life’s questions.
Life Is a Union of Form and Spirit
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/d_uPD8RLbcvLP1cS9w4fhg
The lifestyle advocated by traditional Chinese medicine aligns with the natural order of heaven and earth: a balance of yin and yang, flexibility, and measured tension and release. Our body and spirit, mind and heart, are essentially one. Therefore, daily health cultivation should emphasize “nurturing both form and spirit,” achieving “the union of form and spirit.” If we live according to our own circumstances and follow nature’s rhythm, we can move with all things through the gateway of yin and yang.
Originally written by Ping Xia (平侠) and published in Chinese on 拾一集 (Weekly Reflections). Translated and adapted for DriftSeas with permission.