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Liao-Fan's Four Lessons
''Liao-Fan's Four Lessons'' () is a book written by Yuan Liaofan (; 1533–1606), was a Chinese official during the Ming Dynasty, born in present-day Wujiang District, Suzhou, Wujiang County, Jiangsu Province. Yuan wrote the book to teach his son, Yuan Tian-Chi. The principal idea behind these lessons is that destiny can be changed through proper cultivation of kindness and humility. Thus, one should not be bound by fate, but by one's own actions. Yuan Liaofan was told by a Taoist monk surnamed Kong that he would only live to the age of 53 and have no son. At first, he disregarded this monk's words as farcical nonsense, but as Kong's other predictions began to occur with great accuracy, he then proactively made an effort to rewrite his fate. In relating his own life experience in changing destiny, Yuan, at the age of 69, wrote and taught these four lessons to his son. The first lesson shows how to create destiny. The second lesson explains the ways to reform. The third reveals the ...
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Ming Dynasty
The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of China ruled by the Han people, the majority ethnic group in China. Although the primary capital of Beijing fell in 1644 to a rebellion led by Li Zicheng (who established the short-lived Shun dynasty), numerous rump state, rump regimes ruled by remnants of the House of Zhu, Ming imperial family, collectively called the Southern Ming, survived until 1662. The Ming dynasty's founder, the Hongwu Emperor (1368–1398), attempted to create a society of self-sufficient rural communities ordered in a rigid, immobile system that would guarantee and support a permanent class of soldiers for his dynasty: the empire's standing army exceeded one million troops and the naval history of China, navy's dockyards in Nanjing were the largest in the world. H ...
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Wujiang District, Suzhou
Wujiang District (; Suzhounese: ''Wukaon Chiu''), formerly Wujiang City, is one of five urban districts in Suzhou, Jiangsu province. As the southernmost county-level division of Jiangsu, it borders Shanghai to the northeast and Zhejiang province to the south and southwest. The total area of Wujiang is 1176.68 square kilometers, with a population of 1.5 million. Wujiang is currently one of the most economically successful cities in China. Songling (), a town located at the centre of Wujiang, serves as the seat of the district government. Geography A portion of Lake Tai, numerous historical canals, and Historic Lili village are all located in Wujiang district. The government has announced that Wujiang will be designated as Taihu New City. Administration divisions In the present, Wujiang District has 1 subdistrict and 8 towns. Subdistrict * Binhu () Town * Lili () * Qidu () * Shengze () * Pingwang () * Songling () * Taoyuan () * Tongli () * Zhenze () Economy Wujian ...
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Jiangsu
Jiangsu is a coastal Provinces of the People's Republic of China, province in East China. It is one of the leading provinces in finance, education, technology, and tourism, with its capital in Nanjing. Jiangsu is the List of Chinese administrative divisions by area, third smallest, but the List of Chinese administrative divisions by population, fifth most populous, with a population of 84.75 million, and the List of Chinese administrative divisions by population density, most densely populated of the 22 provinces of the People's Republic of China. Jiangsu has the highest GDP per capita and second-highest GDP of Chinese provinces, after Guangdong. Jiangsu borders Shandong in the north, Anhui to the west, and Zhejiang and Shanghai to the south. Jiangsu has a coastline of over along the Yellow Sea, and the Yangtze flows through the southern part of the province. Since the Sui dynasty, Sui and Tang dynasty, Tang dynasties, Jiangsu has been a national economic and commercial center ...
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Taoist
Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', 'path', or 'technique', generally understood in the Taoist sense as an enigmatic process of transformation ultimately underlying reality. Taoist thought has informed the development of various practices within the Taoist tradition and beyond, including forms of meditation, astrology, qigong, feng shui, and internal alchemy. A common goal of Taoist practice is self-cultivation, a deeper appreciation of the Tao, and more harmonious existence. Taoist ethics vary, but generally emphasize such virtues as '' effortless action'', ''naturalness'', ''simplicity'', and the three treasures of compassion, frugality, and humility. The core of Taoist thought crystallized during the early Warring States period (), during which the epigrammatic an ...
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Confucianism
Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, Religious Confucianism, religion, theory of government, or way of life. Founded by Confucius in the Hundred Schools of Thought era (c. 500 BCE), Confucianism integrates philosophy, ethics, and social governance, with a core focus on virtue, Harmonious Society, social harmony, and Filial piety, familial responsibility. Confucianism emphasizes virtue through self-cultivation and communal effort. Key virtues include ''Ren (philosophy), ren'' (benevolence), ''Yi (philosophy), yi'' (righteousness), ''Li (Confucianism), li'' (propriety), ''Wisdom, zhi'' (wisdom), and ''Xin (virtue), xin'' (sincerity). These values, deeply tied to the notion of ''tian'' (heaven), present a worldview where human relationships and social order are manifestations of sacred moral principles.. While Confucianism does not emphasize an ...
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Buddhism
Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or 5th century Before the Common Era, BCE. It is the Major religious groups, world's fourth-largest religion, with about 500 million followers, known as Buddhists, who comprise four percent of the global population. It arose in the eastern Gangetic plain as a movement in the 5th century BCE, and gradually spread throughout much of Asia. Buddhism has subsequently played a major role in Asian culture and spirituality, eventually spreading to Western world, the West in the 20th century. According to tradition, the Buddha instructed his followers in a path of bhavana, development which leads to Enlightenment in Buddhism, awakening and moksha, full liberation from ''Duḥkha, dukkha'' (). He regarded this path as a Middle Way between extremes su ...
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Chinese Classic Texts
The Chinese classics or canonical texts are the works of Chinese literature authored prior to the establishment of the imperial Qin dynasty in 221 BC. Prominent examples include the Four Books and Five Classics in the Neo-Confucian tradition, themselves an abridgment of the Thirteen Classics. The Chinese classics used a form of written Chinese consciously imitated by later authors, now known as Classical Chinese. A common Chinese word for "classic" () literally means ' warp thread', in reference to the techniques by which works of this period were bound into volumes. Texts may include ''shi'' (, ' histories') ''zi'' ( 'master texts'), philosophical treatises usually associated with an individual and later systematized into schools of thought but also including works on agriculture, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, divination, art criticism, and other miscellaneous writings) and ''ji'' ( 'literary works') as well as the cultivation of '' jing'', 'essence' in Chinese m ...
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Ming Dynasty Literature
The literature of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) was characterized by a strong renewal of entertainment literature in vernacular Chinese, including theatre, tales, short stories, and novels. Meanwhile, the previously practiced genres became stagnant and unchanging. In the theatre, '' chuanqi'', a style of the Southern tradition, was characterized by its lengthy plays, often consisting of several dozen "acts". This style has gained popularity among the public. One of the most well-known plays in this style was ''The Peony Pavilion'', written by Tang Xianzu. During the 16th century, ''chuanqi'' gave rise to ''kunqu'', also known as Kunshan opera, which is considered to be the oldest form of Chinese opera still performed today. Another style, ''zaju'', originated in the Northern tradition and flourished during the Yuan dynasty. It remains popular among the court and scholars, and has been influenced by the Southern theatre style. In the genre of the novel, four extraordinary masterpie ...
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