想法 (xiangfa)

Anshun, Guizhou, 1 March 1984

Now here I'm afraid I must do a kind of passacaglia on xiang fa, or the well-worn grooves of thinking in the psychological landscape. I have with me a kind of China guide for the snide, supercilious, slightly footloose college student, purely fore information on which rules are bendable. It is full of this kind of crap, and manages to make China into a small place ful of small minds. On the contrary, China is such a great place that any attempt to grasp details usually loosens your grip on the scale; and vice versa: you are hopelessly outnumbered. But without grasping a little of xiang fa it is impossible to get a grip on the guiding, regulations and reregulations. And maybe, if it is done right, the xiang fa gives you a little glimpse of the image the Chinese have of themselves, and of the image the barbarians have of them.