2025.11.03 - Same and Different

2025.11.03 – Similarities and Differences

A Rural Kid’s Twenty‑Three Years

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/ReDof_6vyHOWp1nAe-HYJg

This piece comes from a long, heart‑to‑heart chat I had with a friend. He became intensely curious about my childhood and teenage years, and during a recent livestream many viewers asked about my mindset in high school and university. I decided to organize my answers into this article. It’s written straight‑forward, in one go, without any polishing or cutting. I’m sharing it as a casual conversation. Thank you for reading this line.

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Fu Peirong: “When you reach a certain age, what’s the best way to stay healthy? Two words are enough.”

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/f1H-RqJ0UGYJ9zLiC3lDAg

Simple—but “simple” is not always easy to achieve.

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Shao Yibo on the Inner Journey: “Know your mind, see your nature, cultivate yourself, benefit others.”

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/cuPLiTuLRs2Y5T4CHdmcmw

We live in an age of ever‑increasing material abundance and better health, yet more and more people feel empty, anxious, even powerless and lost. I’ve been there, too. When external achievements, wealth, and titles keep arriving, they often fail to bring lasting inner satisfaction. Maybe they give a brief boost for a week or a month, but soon new peaks to climb, new comparisons, and fresh anxiety surface. Why does this happen? And what concrete steps can we take to cope?

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Herbal Notes | Huang Jing: The Ordinary Perilla

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/7P1YZqq__to2swhQPDjYMg

I can’t quite recall the exact scene of my first encounter with perilla. Pharmacology textbooks say it neutralizes toxins from fish, shrimp, and crab, but at the time my impression of perilla was purely academic. I once saw it bundled with other market vegetables—onions, cilantro—its tiny purple hue the only thing that caught my eye. In my parents’ regular menus, perilla never made the cut.

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Course Review | Shanghai Pudong – “We Can”

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/0Y1H9HNS4tdi3ENz3jEMSA

The steel‑and‑concrete jungle of the “Magic City” (Shanghai) is inherently barren. Modern people live comfortably, with food and clothing assured, looking glossy on the surface, yet they resemble those towering skyscrapers—lifeless, and that is the greatest suffering. How to break this impasse? It’s both hard and easy, depending on perspective. Look at our Shanghai alumni association: within this concrete sea, we’ve sprouted green shoots, reviving the wilted, giving root to the feeble. In human affairs, nothing beats a heart that wants to grow. Don’t dismiss a narrow opening or a faint spark; a single inch of fresh green can open a whole sky. Once, a teacher on a China Airlines flight couldn’t get a hot meal; he watched the ice‑cream and cake breakfasts and told his wife, “In our lifetime we can turn this around—then life will be worth it!”

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Similarities and Differences

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/Ey2f3oPVpHzPzH7ure31Eg

“Harmony” (和合) is a core value of Chinese culture. The Chinese people have long prized “harmony”—seeking inner balance and friendliness rather than mere outward sameness or conformity. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, Confucians taught “ren” (benevolence), Daoists advocated “wu‑wei” (non‑action), Legalists emphasized “law,” and Mohists promoted “jian’ai” (universal love). Though the Hundred Schools of Thought debated, they all shared the common ideal of “governing the world and pacifying the people.” Especially Confucius’s notion of “harmony without uniformity” (和而不同) has long been woven into the cultural DNA of the Chinese nation, becoming a lasting philosophy for how to conduct oneself in the world.

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Originally written by Ping Xia (平侠) and published in Chinese on 拾一集 (Weekly Reflections). Translated and adapted for DriftSeas with permission.