Telling It Straight - “不說鬼話，不說神話，只說人話”

I really appreciate Prof. Gary M C Shiu for posting the entry “不說鬼話，不說神話，只說人話”. Where I got a chance to learn from a great thinker, teacher, and US Library of Congress 2006 Kluge Prize winner Prof. Yu Ying-shih (余英時) in the RTHK Cantonese program (傑出 華 人 系 列 節 目) .

I am including here an enhanced (with additional research and links) version of my comments to Prof Shiu’s original entry.

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Hi Gary,

Thanks for linking to the wonderful RTHK program.

With the massive destruction of Chinese culture during the Cultural Revolution, it was understanding for Prof. Yu to feel depressed and even considering his beloved “old China” a part of history, as something he can only commiserate in his own memory.

Allow me to reply to Prof. Yu’s claim that “it is dangerous for someone to think that society can be changed according to one’s wishes” with this video,

“Heres to the crazy ones” (YouTube video)

It will be a sad world if we don’t at least give our best shot to try to change the world.

P.S. I love that special touch of seeing the Go (board game) master Mr. Rin Kaiho (林海峰) chatting with Prof. Yu. I’ve enjoyed my games of Go (board game) when I was much younger (I sucked at the game). Incidentally, I wonder how many Go handicap stones did the master let Prof. Yu have? It is really hard to tell based on the game footage that we saw. Mind you, if I am determined to know, I think I can probably count the stones and give a reasonable “guestimate”. (big smile) And it was lovely to see master fiction writer and former newspaperman Mr. Louis Cha (查良鏞) talking about the game of Go so excitedly.

P.P.S. I just did some stones counting in one of the game (the one at time code 1:48). Looks like we had 31 black stones vs 29 white stones on the board. And at this kind of master level game play, captured stones (see basic rules) are less frequent. With this, I think Prof. Yu is probably at a 2 stones handicap level against master Rin. Wow, thats quite a high level of expertise.