Cultural and Intellectual History Tweets—Sacred Mountain Reflection

Click here for the "Cultural and Intellectual History Tweets" Resource Center (all posts available)
Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Cultural and Intellectual History Tweets"
This is a "small" (小) post—click here for an explanation of Round and Square post lengths.

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On this date on Round and Square  

10 April 2013—China's Lunar Calendar 2013 04-10
10 April 2012—Fieldnotes From History: Snake Alley
10 April 2011)—Katakana Culture: Slopes and Sunlight

Emei Mountain, Sichuan RF

This new Round and Square series gets right to the point...and then starts circuiting around it. We begin with a 140 character tweet about cultural-intellectual history. This is followed by an English-style haiku (with a few liberties taken here and there—hey...English ain't Japanese). We end with a nice recipe. Simple, and to-the-point (except that it really is neither of these...and that is the whole point). Oh, and I still believe in complete sentences and fully-formed wrdz (they can't always be exactly "complete" on Twitter, but, as I like to say, "you can see 'complete' from there." Sorry, but that's the way I roll. 

[b] Stairway to "Haven" RF

If the tweet is "informational" (as today), it is "true." The recipe is "real." The haiku is just, well, odd.

I would tell you more...if I had more than 140 characters with which to work (+ spld thngs fny).

Tweet
I'm busy writing a lecture on reflexivity, divination, and China's sacred mountains. That's a potent combination of incense and reflection.

Haiku
Sacred mountain peak
East, south, center, west, and north
What would Pierre (Bour)dieu?

Recipe
Here's a recipe for a long day of (reflective) mountain travel. This one is from an iconic mountain region in Anhui, which is home to Nine Flowers mountain and Yellow Mountain. The former is a Buddhist sacred mountain; the latter is probably the most talked about, and painted, mountain cluster in China. We have spicy walnut pork, fried shrimp, and farm egg dumplings. It's enough to cure any brooding reflection...

Full mountain meal from Anhui Province

[c] Mountain Spring RF

Erlangen 91052—Introduction

Click here for the "Erlangen 91052" Resource Center—All Posts Available 
One year ago on Round and Square (2013 02-01)—Asian Miscellany: Sacred Mountains
Two years ago on Round and Square (2012 02-01)—Seinfeld Ethnography: Dunkin' Joe (Dimaggio)

[a] Path RF

I am fortunate in my line of work. I get to travel a fair bit (as we say back home on the farm). I spent a good chunk of last summer on China's southern sacred mountain (衡山), returned to Alexandria, Virginia (my home), and then to Beloit, Wisconsin (where I teach). Even then, I "was able" to spend every other weekend in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, coordinating a research project on a world famous traveler named William Edgar Geil (1865-1925). It was exhausting, and the last details of the complex accounting for a five person project are still rolling in. 

Fun stuff. I love my job.

[b] Minor bustle RF

And now it begins anew, and that is the reason for this shiny new topic on Round and Square. You see, I spent a month at Beijing University in December-January, giving a long series of lectures and seminars on anthropology, history, sacred mountains, and that strange world traveler I have already mentioned. I raced back to the United States, where I spent seventy-two wonderful hours at home in Alexandria, Virginia. Alas, I spent much of that time packing and, by mid-January, I had settled into my new home at Carl Thiersche Straße N. 5 in Erlangen, Germany 91052. 

This is the story of the Prairie Ethnographer spending six months in central Germany. I know some German, and my goal is to become relatively fluent in the linguistic and cultural matters that, well, matter in Germany. Through it all, I hope to forever bust the ridiculous assumption that there is anything that can be defined as a "Western culture." Both words are so flawed, so ridiculous, that we need to move on. We'll start, instead, with very basic things, such as getting grocery carts out of locked metal lines...of locked grocery carts...and words in the supermarket that bowl one over with their ubiquity. 

We'll be little Bourdieuvians (trust me), strategizing and negotiating our way(s) through life in a place that seems familiar...but resists easy comparison.

This series will be about "culture" (whatever in hell that means), "language," and a good dose of personal idiosyncrasy. Let's get started. For those of you who recognize the reference in the topic title, just know that I am old. When "90210" began, I was already getting gray hair. 

Let's explore central Germany. Whether or not you speak German, this will be a trip. 

[c] Trip RF

From the Geil Archives (27)–Thinking in Fives

Click here for the "From the Geil Archive" Resource Center
To learn more about William Edgar Geil, click here for the Accidental Ethnographer Resource Center
A year ago on Round and Square (15 October 2012)—Assignments (2)—Rice, Samurai, and Self

Two years ago on Round and Square (15 October 2011)—Asian Miscellany (5)—Work in Modern China

[a] Sacred RF

Click here for Rachel Johnson's other posts in the series "From the Geil Archive"

1-About Me                    2-Naming (Un-)Conventions                3-Out of the Frying Pan       
4-Jack of All Trades       5-Warring Pens                                    6-Thinking in Fives

Today's Round and Square Guest Contributor is Rachel Johnson. Rachel, from Burr Ridge, IL, just graduated from Beloit College with a BA in anthropology and a minor in Asian Studies. She was introduced to William Edgar Geil through a course taught by Rob LaFleur, and she is currently working in Doylestown, Pennyslvania with four other interns to research and digitize his archives with the Doylestown Historical Society. She and Geil share a mutual love of travel and of Chinese history and culture in particular, which is what drew her to study him further.

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Please note that all items marked "DHS" are property of the Doylestown Historical Society, and used with DHS permission. If you wish to use an image, you need permission of the Society. Please contact Robert LaFleur (lafleur@beloit.edu), and he will put you in contact with the appropriate people.

“5 is a number most remarkable to the man of the Central Kingdom.” So begins the introductory chapter of William Edgar Geil’s final published work, The Sacred Five of China, entitled, “The Magic of 5." In fact, from this point on he becomes obsessed with five. In his dedication, he cites the five people who made his book possible. He dates the dedication “5th sun of the 5th moon of the 5th year after visiting the Sacred 5 of China." His book is broken into five chapters (discounting the introduction and the epilogue), each broken down into five more subsections. 

[b] Handwritten DHS

He seems determined to boil everything down to five elements, and in doing so, takes his first, only, and ultimately too-late step from casual observer of Chinese culture towards serious Chinese scholar. Sadly, this movement towards a greater and more in-depth understanding of the culture he so admired was cut short—since he died in 1925 and Sacred 5 was published posthumously in 1926. However, there can be little doubt that Sacred 5 is Geil’s most important, and most impressive work, and the biggest reason for this, in my mind, lies in the importance of the number five.

In this chapter Geil touches upon one of the most profound, persistent, and complex theories that form the framework of Chinese philosophy and religion: wuxing (五行), known most commonly in English as the Five Elements, Five Phases, or Five Agents. 

Wuxing was first described to me (by none other than Rob LaFleur, in fact) as “thinking in fives." It is, very simply put, a system by which the patterns and movements of the universe can be broken down into five “elements” (or phases, or agents, et cetera) which represent totality. In Western philosophy there are commonly thought to be four elements: fire, air, water, and earth. These elements are the essence upon which everything else around us is based, according to ancient Greek thought. (Of course, Aristotle later added the quintessence, aether, though its addition was controversial and not wholly accepted at the time). In Chinese thought, however, there are always five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. So, too, are there five directions: East, South, Center, West, and North. In fact, everything from colors to planets to organs in the human body can be broken down into five literally quintessential parts, which represent, together, totality. More than just representing totality, they represent patterns, the movement between these parts, a continual cycle of flow and change which underlies every element of nature and the universe. 

[c] Turtle? DHS

Geil seems to have a surprisingly firm understanding of the basis of this philosophy, which was seldom studied in depth by Western scholars at the time. While his understanding is somewhat perfunctory, it is nevertheless astute. He has taken to heart the importance of “five," and this magic number permeates his entire book, which discusses the five sacred mountains of China: Tai Shan, Hua Shan, Heng Shan, Heng Shan, and Song Shan. (Yes, there are two mountains called “Heng Shan." The characters in Chinese are different, but they are pronounced the same way. English isn’t the only language that is allowed to be confusing). So obsessed does he become with five that he takes the time to hand write each “5” in his otherwise typewritten manuscript. He fills handfuls of pages with writing out the title of his last book, every time with a different five. Sometimes it is written as a tally, sometimes as a Roman numeral, sometimes as an Arabic numeral. On some there are drawings of an odd turtle (borrowed from the ancient "Luo River Chart") with the numerals one through nine on its back, with five highlighted. 

While Geil may not have been a world-class academic (there is still no evidence he ever graduated from Lafayette College, despite the pictures of him sitting at his desk writing while wearing his mortarboard) he was certainly on to something big here. His obsession with five showed that he had at least begun to understand and internalize this amazingly complex, intrinsically integral, and wholly fascinating theory, and with it, one of the most important foundations of Chinese culture and thought. 

And, in keeping with the theme of today’s post, it is worth noting that this is my fifth blog post as one of the five guest contributors for Round and Square. Coincidence? Entirely, but nevertheless fitting.

[d] Thinking in fives DHS

Syllabic Cycles (5)—Advanced Seminar: Mountains-b

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Syllabic Cycles"

One year ago on Round and Square (28 August 2012)—The New Yorker and the World: Course Description (h)

Two years ago on Round and Square (28 August 2011)—Annals of Ostracism: Discovered Notes

[a] Circumscribed RL

Click here for the other half of this two-part syllabus post:
HIST 310/ANTH 375: Weeks 1-8                   HIST 310/ANTH 375: Weeks 9-16 

Mountains

History 310/Anthropology 375

Autumn 2013

T 7:10-11:00 p.m.

Robert André LaFleur                                                             Office Hours:

Morse Ingersoll 111                                                                 Tuesday           12:00-1:30

363-2005                                                                                   Thursday         12:00-1:30

lafleur@beloit.edu                                                                    …or by appointment

*Office hours will revert to the regular 12:00-1:30 time after autumn break.

Week IX

Chinese Mountain Travel

(October 24)

Note Special Thursday Meeting—No RSQ or NYRB Reading this week

Birrell, The Classic of Mountains and Seas 

            The Classic of the Southern Mountains

            The Classic of the Western Mountain

            The Classic of the Northern Mountains 

            The Classic of the Eastern Mountains 

            The Classic of the Central Mountain

             The Classic of Regions Beyond the Seas: The South 

            The Classic of Regions Beyond the Seas: The West 

            The Classic of Regions Beyond the Seas: The North

            The Classic of Regions Beyond the Seas: The East 

            The Classic of Regions Within the Seas: The South 

            The Classic of Regions Within the Seas: The West 

            The Classic of Regions Within the Seas: The North 

            The Classic of Regions Within the Seas: The East 

            The Classic of the Great Wilderness: The East 

            The Classic of the Great Wilderness: The South 

            The Classic of the Great Wilderness: The West 

            The Classic of the Great Wilderness: The North 

            The Classic of Regions Within the Seas 

Strassberg, Inscribed Landscapes (Reserve), 1-62; 151-194 

            Introduction 

            Ma Ti-po, From A Record of the Feng and Shan Sacrifice 

            Liu Kai, “Flat Top Mountain” 

            Fan Chung-yen, “The Pavilion of Yüeh-yang” 

            Ou-yang Hsiu, “The Pavilion of the Old Drunkard” 

            Ou-yang Hsiu, “The Pavilion of Joyful Abundance” 

            Sun Shun-ch’in, “The Temple of the Moon-in-the-Water at Grotto Mountain         

            Wang Anshi, “The Mountain Where Hui-pao Meditated 

            Shen K’uo, “Geese Pond Mountain” 

            Su Shih, “Red Cliff I” 

            Su Shih, Red Cliff II” 

            Su Shih, “Stone Bell Mountain” 

            Su Shih, From Tung-po’s Forest of Jottings 

Strassberg, A Chinese Bestiary (Shown in class—no extra preparations) 

            Introduction 

            Plates I-LXXVI of the Guideways Through Mountains and Seas 

1,000-word Preview of your Review Essay Project 

Due by 5:00 p.m. on Monday, October 28

Week X

Philosophies of Space and Place 

(October 29)   

Round and Square See separate Round and Square syllabus 
New York Review of Books See separate New York Review of Books syllabus 

Casey, Representing Place 

            Part One: Painting the Land 

                        From Landskip to Landscape 

                        Finding Place for the Elemental 

                        Apocalyptic and Contemplative Sublimity 

                        Pursuing the Natural Sublime 

                        Representing a Region 

                        Representing Place Elsewhere 

            Interlude: Material Conditions of Representing Place in Landscape Painting

            Part Two: Mapping the Land 

                        First Considerations 

                        Cartography and Chorography 

                        Discursive and Presentational Symbolism in Maps 

                        Far-out Mapping 

                        Rectangularity and Truth 

            Part Three: Re-Implacement in Mapping and Painting 

                        Re-presenting Representation 

            Epilogue: Landscape Experienced and Re-presented 

Casey, Getting Back into Place (Reserve) 

                        Preface 

                        Part 1: Finding Place 

                                    Implacement 

                                    Displacement 

—, Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills, 320-374 

                        Part IV—Snow, Ice, and Alpine Climbing 

                                    Snow Travel and Climbing

Week XI

Sacred Sites in China I 

(November 5)

Round and Square See separate Round and Square syllabus 
New York Review of Books See separate New York Review of Books syllabus 

Naquin, Pilgrims and Sacred Sites 

    Introduction 

    Women Pilgrims to T’ai Shan 

    An Ambivalent Pilgrim to T’ai Shan

    Ch’ang Shang-ying on Wu-t’ai Shan 

    Relics and Flesh Bodies 

    P’u-t’o Shan 

    Huang Shan Paintings      
    The Pilgrimage to Wu-tang Shan 

     The Peking Pilgrimage to

     Reading the Chairman Mao

—, Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills, 375-439 

       Part IV—Snow, Ice, and Alpine Climbing (continued) 

                                    Glacier Travel and Crevasse Rescue 

                                    Alpine Ice Climbing

 Week XII

Sacred Sites in China II 

(November 12) 

Round and Square See separate Round and Square syllabus 
New York Review of Books See separate New York Review of Books syllabus 

Nan, China's Sacred Sites
                         Foreword 

             Part One: Mountainscape Culture and Architecture 

                       The Silent Music of Architecture 

                        Mountainscape Culture and Feng Shui 

                        Geography and Building Layout 

                        Architectural Elements 

            Part Two: Selected Sites 

                        Spacious Summits 

                        Cliff Structures 

                        Cave Sites 

                        Mountainside Temples 

                        Mountain Villages 

                        Riverside and Lake Sites 

—, Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills, 440-484 

                        Part IV—Snow, Ice, and Alpine Climbing (continued) 

                                    Waterfall Ice and Mixed Climbing 

                                    Expedition Climbing 

                        Part V—Emergency Prevention and Response 

                                    Leadership

Week XIII

Framing and Representation 

(November 19) 

Round and Square See separate Round and Square syllabus 
New York Review of Books See separate New York Review of Books syllabus 

Fu, Framing Famous Mountains 

       Part I: Historical and Cultural Backgrounds 

            The Ideological and Literary Framings of Famous Mountains 

            Pictorial Framings of Famous Mountains Before the Sixteenth Century 

            The Vogue of the Grand Tour in Late-Ming Society 

       Part II: Studies of Three Painters 

            Ye Cheng: Commemoration of Travel and Travel Painting 

            Xie Shichen and the Four Great Views 

            Song Xu: Paintings of Famous Mountains for a Scholar’s Studio 

            Conclusion 

—, Mountaineering: Freedom of the Hills, 485-531 

                        Part V—Emergency Prevention and Response (continued) 

                                    Safety: How to Stay Alive 

                                    First Aid 

                                    Alpine Search and Rescue

3,000-word “Lead” for Seminar Papers and Review Articles

Due as E-mail Attachments by 10:00 p.m. on Sunday, November 24

Week XIV

No meeting, but do the "letter rewrite"

Letter assignment rewrite (equivalent of two hours of class time). No actual class meeting. 

Week XV

Longevity Mountain 

(December 3)

Round and Square See separate Round and Square syllabus 
New York Review of Books See separate New York Review of Books syllabus 
LaFleur, Longevity Mountain (book proposal)
The book proposal (a version of it for a more "popular" audience—which may or may not be its final destination) is available on Round and Square. Please be aware that the version you will be reading is about "fifteen percent more 'bloggy'" than the draft versions I have been revising...and the entire project is still in flux, as we will discuss. Just concentrate on (and around) the mountains. Note that there is a bit of telescoped redundancy in the beginning of the "Divinatory Economics" essay, which compresses some of the material in the opening scenes of the longer manuscript. This will all be smoothed out before publication. You "get to" confront the messiness of creation, for better or worse.
            "Divinatory Economics" Essay (e-mailed to you on 11/29)

            Introduction 1: Book Proposal
            Introduction 2: Table of Contents
            Longevity Mountain (Writing Sample—Scenes 1-12)
The readings should be easy to navigate. After reading the introduction and table of contents, make your way through all twelve "scenes" (these are available through links on the top and bottom of each page). This is less reading than usual, but still formidable (about 30,000 words, or ninety pages in manuscript form).

All Late Work Due by Wednesday, December 11 by 10:00 p.m. 

You must e-mail these to me (lafleur@beloit.edu) as attachments!

Research Papers (or Review Articles) Due Tuesday, December 17 by 5:00 p.m.

No Exceptions—This is the last "moment" of the term, 

and I have only forty-eight hours to grade the assignments.

You must e-mail this to me (lafleur@beloit.edu) as an attachment!

Click here for the other half of this two-part syllabus post:

HIST 310/ANTH 375: Weeks 1-8                   HIST 310/ANTH 375: Weeks 9-16 

[c] Birds-eye RL