Fanfusuzi's Wiki Page

Greetings from north china!

I haven't logged on here for a while, and I wanted to check out your new work.  Those photos are great!  An essay with window dressing next to cigs/hose/twist-tie would be fantastic -- the grit and overthetop glamor of the big city that real people just happen to live in.

I really enjoyed reading entries on your site. I think I'll need some time to read more and formulate a decent response, but so far I am intrigued. Although I understand clearly that the content is supposed to operate successfully on any level, I can't help but wonder what the "optimal" level is. Perhaps I am at one optimal point -- the foreign person with a broad and shallow knowledge of Chinese culture and history, and an acute awareness of the current state of the country. In any case, I'll come back to read the rest, and I hope we can strike up a dialogue about the themes and meanings in your writing.

Thanks!

Your comment about wondering what "the 'optimal' level" for understanding is connects directly to one of the main themes on this blog: the inherent imperfection of knowledge. To know anything requires that it be incomplete and therefore never comprehensive, if you will allow the pun. The way we are able to put knowledge to use is exactly our awareness of its incompleteness - we use it to do a lot of educated guesswork. This is true even on a perceptual (i.e. preconscious) level.

You login name makes me think of the Pali word 'panya', which can be translated as 'wisdom'. I was once told by a Burmese Buddhist that the literal meaning of this word was something like 'to see from every possble angle'. This makes me think of Renaissance perspective in painting and cubism. Can we really say one is more optimal than the other? On a certain level, it seems to me that every position is optimal, in the respect that every position is relative. I imagine optimality then depends on what it is you want to be close to.

I appreciate your offer of a dialogue, and certainly want to learn more of your thoughts. I don't know how much this discussion needs to focus on my writing on this blog per se, but perhaps some of the entries might provide meaningful touchpoints. If this page were to become a forum for useful communication, I would be very happy even if it had little or no reference to my work at all.

best regards

yisa

Great site! Found you via Asiapundit... I am also glad to learn about Mindsay... Greetings from Guangzhou... Lonnie from Onemanbandwidth.com

Thanks professor! Sorry for the belated reply. Your site maintains a interesting mix of levity and gravity. The photo of the children's handprints was especially striking. I look forward to reading more.

best regards

yisa