I Visit My Ancestral Home in China For the First Time

I'm going to be taking you guys along as I visit my ancestral home in China for the first time ever. My

great-grandmother was from a great house uh in the empire. And I just finished reading this book on one of our ancestors, [music] Chiati. And I found a letter he wrote almost 150 years ago

that anticipated how my life turned out which I'll read to you soon. I will be taking you to Chindatiz to my great-grandmother's to my grandmother's hometown as well as visiting the museum

setup dedicated to his work. Uh I still remember my great-grandmother's 103 now.

It's incredible. I still remember as a kid she would always tell me about Chinati who was one of the greatest epigraphists in Chinese history. But

frankly, I was never that excited about his work. Uh because epigraphy what it

his work. Uh because epigraphy what it is is the study of ancient inscriptions.

Okay, so think ancient languages, but more often than not, proto languages scribbles that no one can make sense of.

And I didn't like it because it seemed like an intellectual puzzle, right? An

internal intellectual game. Whereas the

kind of humanities that attracted me reading the great books, philosophy was practical. It was about uncovering an

practical. It was about uncovering an art of life that would have immediate impact on us now, right? Not trying to decode what scribbles mean. This book

changed that conception. At least how Chindiati practiced epigraphy was precisely to uncover an ancient art of life that had been lost. In other words

in the same way that Socrates practices philosophy uh in a different very in a very different mode and for very different reasons than our current analytical philosophy departments.

Shinjiati practiced epigraphy in a very different way than modern scholars do today. For him, epigraphy was not just

today. For him, epigraphy was not just about decoding scribbles and inscriptions. He also had to be his own

inscriptions. He also had to be his own collector and get the antiques in the first place. He had to use his vast

first place. He had to use his vast wealth and his discernment to uh amass what eventually ended up being one of the greatest collections in Chinese history. And more importantly, he was a

history. And more importantly, he was a classicist. He was a mastery a master of

classicist. He was a mastery a master of the great books. And he actually believed by studying these antiques, by uncovering ancient languages, we would develop a much deeper understanding of

the most important text which would have a transformative effect. And so in fact Chintzi himself makes a distinction between

is merely collecting antiques whereas Chuang is transmitting antiquity herself. And his ambition was to use

herself. And his ambition was to use to use the collecting of antiques in service of the ultimate goal, the

transmission of antiquity, the rescuing of the most important ideas and arts of life. And he succeeded. That's the crazy

life. And he succeeded. That's the crazy thing. He laid the intellectual

thing. He laid the intellectual groundwork for some of the most important uh discoveries in the 19th and 20th century which would change uh Chinese civilization's own

self-conception.

But beyond all of those great scholarly achievements, what I found most heartwarming reading this book was stumbling upon uh a private letter he

wrote right before he passed away. The

name of the letter was and it was dedicated to his descendants his grandsons, great-grandsons, myself in some way. And it was an exhortation

to read the great books. I'll read it to you later, but it was about exhortation to read great books, how to read great books, why to read the great books, and the fundamental promise of the classics

that they will transform your life. And

when I read that, I got goosebumps because here you have someone 200 years ago, right? Uh my grandmother's 100 and

ago, right? Uh my grandmother's 100 and uh Chunati was born about 100 years before her. So you have my own blood.

before her. So you have my own blood.

It's 200 years ago doing not exactly the same but something very similar from what I'm trying to do now right? Rescuing, transmitting antiquity

right? Rescuing, transmitting antiquity rescuing the best ideas from the classical world for the modern day. And

then you have a letter addressed to me exhorting me to not let this flame die to carry on the legacy. Goosebumps.

That's why I'm taking you guys on this trip. But this trip begins not in

trip. But this trip begins not in Vayong, but in Beijing. And uh for anyone who's been in Beijing, you'll know that we're not just in any place in Beijing, but we're in the forbidden

city. So for Chindi and for the people

city. So for Chindi and for the people in this time, this was the central place of the central city of the central kingdom of the world. For all intents

and purposes, this was the heart not just of China, but of civilization itself. And it was here, it was right up

itself. And it was here, it was right up there where Chunditi had one of his most glorious days in the imperial exams. So if you're not familiar with imperial exams, the imperial exams were these

statewide tests mostly around the classics that uh China practiced, the imperial China practiced for over a thousand years. And one of its functions

thousand years. And one of its functions was to surface the best talent no matter what class you came from and propel you into the imperial bureaucracy. So by the

time of theQing uh empire, there would be statewide exams every three years.

Keep in mind, there's like 400 million people at the the peak of theQing Empire. The top 200 in the entire

Empire. The top 200 in the entire country would be brought right there right here for the final stage. All the

200, two, 300, 400, they would be called, which is the highest rank you'd get as an imperial scholar. And you

would go up there to the final part of the exam called the which is the palatial exams. Why is it called the palatial exams? Because the emperor

palatial exams? Because the emperor himself tested and ranked you. Okay? And

the best of those few hundred of the tinure would be invited into the Halian Academy. The Halian Academy was one of

Academy. The Halian Academy was one of the most important uh intellectual institutions in the Chinese empire and it acted as the emperor's pen, the

emperor's mind, uh the emperor's tutors.

So, it satisfied all the intellectual functions you need for an empire [snorts] writing histories, being a think tank of of sorts, teaching the new emperor. Okay? And so Chindiati the Chun

emperor. Okay? And so Chindiati the Chun family the family which he came from produced about 19 of those tinure over a

span of around 700 years and uh 600 years and Chundati himself became tinure right here one day. Uh and not

only that he was invited into the Halian Academy and what was crazy was this also happened to his dad as well who was also a teacher and invited into the Halian Academy. And to give you an idea of how

Academy. And to give you an idea of how big of a deal this is, okay, I'm going to tell you a somewhat funny uh Chinese saying, it describes two of the greatest moments in life.

The first great moment is your wedding night. Okay, that's understandable.

night. Okay, that's understandable.

Okay, the first time, to put it very bluntly, you get to have sex with your wife.

The second one is when you do well in the imperial exams. Okay. So that's how important the imperial exams were uh for

the Chinese psyche. Um and so that said, Shinjzi was destined to make his mark uh not as a statesman as his

dad had done but in the realm of scholarship. In fact, right after one of

scholarship. In fact, right after one of his most glorious days here, right, uh performing well under the gaze of the emperor, he ended up in a few years time

being in a state of self-imposed political exile and he turned to scholarship. And to tell tell you that

scholarship. And to tell tell you that story, I need to tell you a bit more about who his dad was. So, Trinun like I said was also a teenager. He was also part, of the, Hingan, Academy., And, at, his

peak in his political career, he was the uh deputy grand secretary as well as the minister of uh Lee Bul which is minister

of of uh personnel. And that alone made him one of the most powerful men in the empire. But on top of that, he was the

empire. But on top of that, he was the tutor to the emperor Dwang. Uh when

Dwong was still a child, he became his tutor. And when he became emperor, he

tutor. And when he became emperor, he became one of his most trusted adviserss. But because of that, that's

adviserss. But because of that, that's why Chundi grew up like myself in Beijing and he didn't grow up in Vayong because of his dad's work with the

emperor. And because of that, uh

emperor. And because of that, uh Chunati got a firstirhand view of the rise and falls of his dad's political fortune. And that made him jaded about

fortune. And that made him jaded about the act of life already. It's almost

like how there's this trope where you see like an industrialist father and like a scholarly son, right?

Wickingstein is probably a good example that by having a father who's really successful in active life, you become jaded either by the success or by the

failure of that kind of life. Chunati

was and the final straw on the camel's back was when he was in his early 40s and the emperor was struggling to defeat a rebellion by a guy who claimed that he was Jesus's son. It's a fascinating

period in Chinese history. And so he demanded that the most powerful and wealthy great houses fund the war for him. Was given the biggest bill and

him. Was given the biggest bill and asked to cough up uh that's one and a half tons of silver a few months that uh really stretched the

the family finances. And he used that as an excuse including the death of his mother and other unfortunate events to be in self uh in exile to go into exile after he fulfilled his financial

obligations and because of that he gave up his political career. He left Beijing and he went to his ancestral home. We

are here in Vong of Shandong province which is where he is from. Um in fact if you look closely right here this is actually uh something that he wrote.

Unfortunately, the garden [music] is under construction, but I'll overlay some B-roll to give you guys a sense of what's what it's like. This is the family home of the Ding Clan. Uh my

great-grandmother's mother is from this clan. So, my great-grandmother, my

clan. So, my great-grandmother, my grandmother all grew up in [music] this exact family home. Grew up playing here uh before they moved to Beijing. Um

this is the last like great house style family home left in Mayong. And so I'm going to take you guys on a walking tour here before we actually go to Chundice's

house, which has been turned into a museum to give you guys a sense of what it must have been like uh living in in a family home like this. And what I'm going to do is I'm going to read to you

guys uh that letter that I said so moved me. It's called Dashi.

me. It's called Dashi.

So he wrote it for his dash rule. And

what is that? It's this. Each of the great houses would open up essentially their own schools. You can see little desks over here. Um and they would open

up these schools and hire the best tutors they can find to teach their sons and grandsons the classics so that they could eventually do well in imperial

exams. So, Chinati is writing this uh as an instruction manual for his private school, for his clan, for his great house essentially. And this is how he

house essentially. And this is how he begins uh that letter.

You guys probably don't know classical Chinese, but I'm I'm going to read it to you anyways because it is a very nice and rhythmic quality to it. And then I'm going to explain to you guys each line by English. These are selections, okay?

by English. These are selections, okay?

The ancients studied the classics and many were wise. The moderns do not study the classics and most of them are foolish.

He's saying that our innate talents are no lesser than the wisdom of the ancients and that our innate aptitudes have not yet been corrupted by the modern's foolishness. Okay. So he's

modern's foolishness. Okay. So he's

saying in essence there's nothing wrong with us. Why are we so foolish then?

with us. Why are we so foolish then?

It is because we do not apply our hearts to reading the classics and as a result we face the uh the wall. This is a Chinese saying to face the wall means

that you're you're wasting your life away, right? You're staring at

away, right? You're staring at absolutely nothing. Uh this is I believe

absolutely nothing. Uh this is I believe where they held their banquetss.

Next line.

You do not know that of all the things under heaven. The easiest thing is to

under heaven. The easiest thing is to rely only on yourself.

How?

To read according to yourself, you will be limitless.

This is the key line uh in this entire passage. To read according to yourself

passage. To read according to yourself means that you do not treat the classics as some intellectual puzzle, right? As

reading a story book as how many of the academic departments in in philosophy today treat them. There are many for example Stoke scholars who don't apply any of the principles to their own life.

Right? That's what being a detached scholar means. And he is saying you

scholar means. And he is saying you cannot read in this way. You must read according to yourself. You must use these books to examine yourself. And

then the next line becomes somewhat confusing given that to read according to proper order you will make progress daily.

The proper order is the order of the Chinese classics that uh great confusion masters have laid out for you to progress through. But that seems

progress through. But that seems somewhat contradictory with the previous line right that you should read according to yourself. So how do we reconcile this? To read according to

reconcile this? To read according to yourself does not mean read whatever book tickles your fancy. No, it means read these exact books in this exact order. However, each of these books are

order. However, each of these books are powerful enough that if you read them in this way, in the the way ti in the way that you are quoting to yourself, you will find things that are relevant to

your life. Okay? And this has been my

your life. Okay? And this has been my experience reading these books. Every

time I've read a a book and a few a great book, few years have gone by, it speaks to me in a new way, right? It it

has something to offer me in that exact moment. So this is the kind of middleway

moment. So this is the kind of middleway balance. Yes, you must read these exact

balance. Yes, you must read these exact texts because that's how awesome you are in this they are in this exact order but you must read them according to

yourself as if they are speaking to you in as a as a mirror to examine your own life. And this is exactly the opposite

life. And this is exactly the opposite way that the academy reads it, right?

Where you know the core core curriculums, right? Great books

curriculums, right? Great books curriculums are all but gone. You know

we're, going to, study, any, text, there., Any

text is just as good as any other text.

There's no order.

But we're going to study everything at arms length. Okay? The exact opposite

arms length. Okay? The exact opposite way you should be reading it.

Apparently, if after you read nothing has changed and you remain the exact same person as if you before you read, why is your heart like this? Why is my heart like

this?

He he's explaining now why he's writing this.

My youngest son is still an infant. who

will teach this, teach all of this to him when he grows up.

And thus I pen this for my family, for my for my private tutorial school, my private academy, lest the fragrance of

books fall from our family. Okay, this

is one of my favorite um nouns. Let's let's call it in Chinese.

nouns. Let's let's call it in Chinese.

The literal translation is book fragrance. But does not mean does not

fragrance. But does not mean does not just mean fragrance, a nice smell. It

means a yummy smell. Okay? So you use more often than not when you talk about food that's very yummy. This is the uh family theater.

And in the same way that when you go home and your mom has cooked you a great meal and you open up the door and you just

smell the delights, right? The the

Chinese treat the books in the same way.

They call these great houses that are able to consistently produce scholars throughout centuries.

the houses that smell of books, okay? In

a very yummy smell, the yummy smell of books. As if again you went home and

books. As if again you went home and your mom just cooked your favorite food and you can smell it right when you go home. He ends this

home. He ends this in times of trouble remember what I have written here and revive that ancient virtue.

And this is what he means by transmitting antiquity and not just collecting antiques. It is by studying

collecting antiques. It is by studying the great books in this very personal way to use it as a way to examine yourself as a mirror that antiquity and

ancient virtue is transmitted.

But then this opens up a very important question. If the classics are actually

question. If the classics are actually this powerful, why didn't he become a classicist? Okay. Why didn't he spend

classicist? Okay. Why didn't he spend his time uh trying to uh analyze the analcts? People did this. What Here's

analcts? People did this. What Here's

another way to put the question.

What does collecting antiques, what does analyzing ancient uh inscriptions right? This is epigraphy. What in

right? This is epigraphy. What in

addition does that have to add to reviving ancient virtue? And to answer that question, we're now finally going to go to Chiati's house.

This is Chiat's home or what's left of it and it's been converted to a museum.

Uh it's called the Yinl the tower of 10,000 seals. Uh and the reason is

10,000 seals. Uh and the reason is because he collected over 10,000 of these uh ancient inscriptions, ancient uh sorry antiques and the most numerous

important of which were seals. So his

one of his most important achievements without a doubt was uh collecting verifying, protecting and categorizing these important Chinese antiques which

laid an intellectual groundwork if you will for future archaeologists philologists uh to study antiquity.

Okay. So this was his old home. It's been there's a bust made

old home. It's been there's a bust made of him. Um however if we want to

of him. Um however if we want to understand what his accomplishments were beyond right just setting this this groundwork

and why he thought epigraphy was able to not only help us better understand the classics but rescue ancient virtue we need to talk about two of his most

important intellectual achievements. Um

one of them is that he was the first person to uncover an ancient Chinese script called Pottery Script. Pottery

script is a proto language. It's a

little bit more advanced than like tying knots on a string to record. Uh, but it doesn't fully rise up to the full power

and development of a language. Pottery

script is the most uh ancient form of what has now evolved into the modern Chinese language. And I'll give you guys

Chinese language. And I'll give you guys an idea of what it looks like.

So this is pottery script. It's this

ancient language that was engraved on scraps of pottery and you can barely recognize like for example this is the Chinese character Leang. That's what it

looked like um in the original form. So

pottery script is some scholars believe one of the earliest forms of Chinese the written script of Chinese. Uh and

that alone is a grand achievement to have uncovered to be the first one to identify and decode some of that. It

would be like if uh we were to discover right the this kind of protoindo-uropean language that some people theorize that

there is. Um however I would say that

there is. Um however I would say that the greater achievement was treneti laying the groundwork for the discovery of what is called the oracle bone

script. So pottery script about the

script. So pottery script about the earliest 4 and a half thousand years.

Jaguven is a bit younger oracle bone script uh almost more than a thousand years younger but it was more important because it unlike pottery scripts which are just scraps there's a lot of full

texts that were written um and could only be deciphered once we under understood uh oracle bone script and soi

one of his relatives one of his in-laws was a man by the name of Vanir who was the discoverer of oracle bone script.

They were not only in-laws but they were good friends. Uh he was Vangiong was

good friends. Uh he was Vangiong was about 30 years uh his Junitiz Jr. and he discovered oracle bone script about 30 years after Chanditi discovered pottery

script. Um and so during these 30 years

script. Um and so during these 30 years we have about 200 or so letters written between the two of them. So, Chenzi laid the intellectual groundwork and inspired

the interest in these ancient Chinese languages that eventually uh uh blossom manifested in Vangong as he uh uncovered

dagen and uncovering these classical Chinese scripts has I would say already transformed Chinese self-conception uh in two ways. Number one is it's

etmology, right? If you're able to

etmology, right? If you're able to understand the more ancestors of a of a current word used today, you will be able to understand that word better. And

more importantly, like I mentioned with Daguven, there were a lot of texts that we weren't able to read before that now we can read after deciphering these uh

uh what is calledin pre-tin classical languages. And think about how long it

languages. And think about how long it took for uncovering of the Greek texts to engender the Renaissance, engender modernity. This is we're still in the

modernity. This is we're still in the early innings here. This only been a bit over a hundred years, but already it has transformed Chinese self-conception. I

would say uh I'll give you two examples.

The first one is that the Shan dynasty was not recognized to be legitimate as a real historical thing. It was was thought to be legendary mostly by western academics and scholars before

the uncovering of Jaguven. But Jaguven

became this undeniable evidence because it recorded uh many things about the Shan emperors of the existence of the Shan dynasty which pushed back the

Chinese historical consciousness by a few hundred years. Another example is that um Confucian Orthodoxy. There was a Confucian Orthodoxy formed in the Sun

Emperor at the Sun Empire and this became the gospels. This became the true reading, the canonical reading, the only reading for the imperial exams and it

led to a very sterile intellectual environment., Okay?, And, one, of the

environment., Okay?, And, one, of the reasons that this orthodoxy was uh destroyed, it's certainly not the only reason, right? There's the new cultural

reason, right? There's the new cultural movement. There's the collapse of the

movement. There's the collapse of the empire. But one of the reasons that this

empire. But one of the reasons that this orthodoxy was overturned was because of the uncovering of these ancient languages because suddenly you have one of these orthodox interpreters say this

word means a. But now we actually have better access to the original text to the linguistic environment. And keep in mind classical Chinese is notorious for a word being able to mean so many

different things. So being able to

different things. So being able to triangulate with a better understanding of the linguistic environment and the etmology of words made us just realize okay like this some of these orthodox

interpretations are just wrong which led to a questioning of the entire enterprise. Okay so it's again it's only

enterprise. Okay so it's again it's only been a little bit less a little bit more than a hundred years and it's already engendered these transformations of self-conception.

by studying these proto languages uh wrote a poem which I'll read to you [snorts] from chaos to heavenly order was from language and so too does language light

up wisdom and understanding in man.

Okay, if I feel extra naughty, I would translate this as in the beginning was the word and the word was the light that lit up the soul of man. And he he

continues, if we do not understand the exoteric and the esoteric meaning of these words, we too will return to the chaos.

What his insight was from a life of studying these ancient proto linguistic forms was he anticipated one of the key

insights of of 20th century thought the importance of words in forming not just civilization but intelligence and man himself or the centrality of words

linguistic philosophy effectively. Okay.

And I'll just say one more point right about the radical transformations that are possible by studying these ancient languages. It's like uh in the Septuagen

languages. It's like uh in the Septuagen the word for virgin I believe in in the Hebrew this is the the prophecy of Jesus actually just means young woman right so

it's these kinds of challenges of orthodoxy that studying these ancient languages can provide okay so this is one way that his discipline epigraphy is

able to help us better understand original texts help us to under to grasp and revive ancient virtue from antiquity it's through number one better grasping the language and number two accessing

texts we couldn't access before. But

these aren't the only ways. Okay. So to

understand the other pathways that his discipline in his own self-conception can rescue ancient virtue, we need to talk about his most uh uh his most

impressive most important achievement which is also his most precious collector's item, Molung.

This here is the Molund. one of the most important artifacts of Chinese antiquity. It was created in the middle

antiquity. It was created in the middle of the Joe Empire. Uh that's which is about 3,000 years ago. So it's so surprising that it's come down in out of the box condition, right? This is

actually just a replica. Uh now the Mundin is a tripod as you can see and it has the most amount of inscriptions

ancient language written in the inner belly of the tripod. And Chiti was the first person not only to recognize the historical significance which I'm going to tell you about but also the first one

to successfully decode what the inscriptions in its belly were about.

Okay. So what is it about? In the middle of the Joe Empire, um the empire was heading towards collapse. And so the

ruling emperor at the time, Joe Mong uh named as minister Mong whom this tripod is

named after. And he uh basically

named after. And he uh basically exhorted Mong to help him resurrect the lost virtue of his empire. Right? and

Mong was successful because of these two figures. Josu Mong aided by Molung, they

figures. Josu Mong aided by Molung, they were able to extend uh extend the Joe Empire so that Josu was not the ending emperor but a middle emperor. Right? And

so I think this tripod is emblematic of the spirit of transmitting antiquity in at least, three, ways., The, first, way, is, in the inscription itself in what the text

is about itself. The text begins with the Joe emperor exhorting Mong to imitate the Joe emperors the founding

emperor of Joe right so Mong again was a minister and he was asked to be ministered by the middle emperor Joan Mong and this is Joan saying hey help me imitate the ancient virtue of my great

great great-grandfather Jovong the founding emperor so it's an exhortation to imitate the virtue of his antiquity of his ancestors and this is

very similar right to the the the, the, letter, to, the, private academy I was reading to you the idea is that the ancients are virtuous the

moderns are foolish we must imitate the ancients and this tripod is proof if that's not too strong a word of the

power of imitating antiquity because he was successful mo and again they were successful in resurrecting the empire

effectively. That's the first level. The

effectively. That's the first level. The

second level is who, why, and for what this tripod was made. This tripod was not made by the Joe Empire Emperor, but

by Molung himself to commemorate to record the series of events and the great honor that the Joe Emperor gave him for his descendants. So the ending of the text, we talked about the

beginning of the text in the belly. The

ending of the text of the in the belly of the tripod is again much like the private academy letter. It's a direct exhortation to his sons, his grandsons

and his future descendants to remember these events. Okay. And of course the

these events. Okay. And of course the third level which this is emblematic of transmitting antiquity is in the story of Cheneti himself that after being

buried and lost for thousands of years he was the one to identify its importance and uncover its historical significance and what was written in its

belly. Right? And that is so cool that

belly. Right? And that is so cool that after dedicating his entire life to transmitting antiquity, his greatest achievement was to uncover something

that both in its text and it in its construction was a testament to the power of transmitting antiquity. And

here in lies, I think the importance of epigraphy, his discipline for rescuing ancient virtue beyond what we talked about for mastering language

and being able to read text better that we already have because uncovering antiques like this which have inscriptions written into it, it is a text in itself. It is a new text. But I

don't just mean the the actual characters written in the belly. I'm

talking about the form itself is a text that deserves to be studied. Okay. So

there's all these different layers to this that is so cool. And I'm going to end the video by highlighting another layer, which is everything we talked about today has happened in my my maternal line, right? It's my

greatgrandmother on the maternal side who's part of this Chin family.

Now on my paternal granddad, he always told me ever since I was a kid that we had got our last name from the Joe Emperor, the founding Joe Emperor who gave the land of bee to his 15th son.

Okay, this is this is legendary. No one

has verified this. I don't think anyone can verify this. It's more than 3,000 years old and it's unlike the maternal line which is only six generations up.

I've never even bothered to verify it.

But it is very cool to think that this tripod was created in relation to my paternal line 3,000 years ago. It was

lost for thousands of years and it was uncovered by my maternal line. Yeah. So

I I had so much fun, if you can't tell already, making this video for you guys.

I hope you enjoy it and uh see you in the next one.