ORIENTAL POWER

China is a sleeping lion. Napoleon once warned, “Let her

sleep, for when she wakes she will shake the world.”

What have we done during the sleep? And now, with what

are we gonna shock the world? Not the haze, I guess.

Armed with nuclear bombs and space shuttles, is might

always right? No, because barbarian brutality is no more

than paper tiger.

Oriental power lies in the grassroots; it’s the power from

within; it’s as smart as Taiji, softer than water, stronger

than rock.

Can you find any foreign words as beautiful as the poems

by Li Bai or Du Fu?

Have you ever been moved by the moral integrity and will

power of Wen Tianxiang or Yuefei?

And how can you not marvel at the divine stratagems by

the Art of War or by the man of intelligence -- Zhuge

Liang?

Oriental power lies in its thousands of years of civilization,

its cultural cohesion, its consistent philosophy and

practice.

From Buddhism to Daoism to Confucianism, even to

Marxism, the great minds of this land have exerted

profound thinking on the infinite universe, on the balance

between nature and human, and on the harmony between

heaven, earth and humanity.

Oriental wisdom lies in its simple, clever, intuitive and

comprehensive outlook and methodology, its agile and

responsive reaction to the internal and external world, both

physically and societally.

Tonight you come here for this contest, you probably have

noticed the ancient mathematician and pi calculator -- Zu

Chongzhi Road by the metro line 2; You take a tour around

the Zhangjiang high-tech park, you definitely will remember

all the great oriental names like the astronomer Zhang

Heng, the Chinese herbalist Li Shizhen, etc, who are well

comparable to the western counterparts.

We invented paper making and printing for the persistence

of our civilization; we harnessed the fire, minerals,

chemicals, and explosives for peace and prosperity, we

discovered and applied the magnet for navigation and

transportation.

No matter how overwhelming the big data and cloud

computing can be, the best human computing system--I

dare say-- is I-Ching or the Book of Changes, in which the

delicate and marvelous interactivity of Yin and Yang

illustrates the infinity, intricacy and sophistication of the

reality, concise and right to the point.

No matter how complicated a machine can be, it can never

replace oriental mind and heart, for our senses and

feelings count, always.

As early as the deduction of I-Ching, our ancestors had

realized just too well that the only thing unchanged is

change itself. Oriental power is open, moderate and

tolerant, it absorbs, accommodates, and adapts to all

positive elements both inside and outside, which is the

very source of its everlasting life.

Oriental power lies in its unique perspective, its theory

and practice, which are typically reflected in the Traditional

Chinese Medicine, in its Kungfu cultivation, and in every

aspect of its social life; while its future lies in its imagination,

innovation and evolution.

What are the Jing, Qi, Shen and the Jingluo system in our

body?

What is the relation between spirit and material?

Where do all the particles, energy and power come from?

How can we control the double edges of modern science

and technology?

What is the road ahead for our economy, culture and life?

How can we blow the haze away, and maintain the

balance between environment and civilization?

The answers lie in the oriental power, which is forever

courageous enough to face the foreign challenge, to

criticize and renew itself, and the result will be the global

future.

Oriental power was deeply rooted in yesterday, oriental

power is here and now, and oriental power will be

tomorrow.

Rock Niu in Shanghai

2014/3/5