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Showing posts from May, 2011

Proverbs

Look before you leap; Too many cooks spoil the broth; Two's company, three's none; Birds of a feather flock together; A stitch in time saves nine; All that glisters is not gold; Strike while the iron's hot; Enough is as good as a feast;

Phenomenalist of Han epoch

Phenomenalist was a class of scholars, often mentioned in the Lun-hêng by Wang Ch'ung, who seem to have themselves to the study of natural phenomena and calamities, such as heat cold, inundations, droughts, famines, etc. to which, however, they did not ascribe natural, but moral causes, misled by the pseudo-science of the liking and similar works. Phenomenalist believes that natural phenomena or calamities was not the result of government or conduct, especially of the sovereign. When the sovereign is pleased, it is warm, and, when he is angry, it is cold. Heaven punishes a sovereign's wrongdoing by earthquake, inundations, droughts, and famines, etc. People could influence weather conditions, When Tsou Yen (邹衍), a scholar of the 4th cent, b.c, had been put into prison upon a trumped up charge, he looked up to heaven and wept. All of a sudden snow began to fall, although it was midsummer. Phenomenalism has influence on Chinese for many centuries. A famous tragedy, "