The Seven Sages of Bamboo Grove

[beyonder]

Interesting (or synchronicity?) that just this morning, elsewhere on here; one of the chums has begun a thread on conformity.

Those seven sages lads were privileged 'by' and well connected enough 'to' the Confucian hegemony of their day.

Except that the Cao clan (I take it you're talking about Yi Kang being married to someone from the Cao clan...) was in the process of being deposed (Sima Yi feigning illness, incident at Gaoping tomb, etc)...

 

Those guys where alive during the tail end of the Three Kingdoms period, not exactly a politically stable situation.

They were lucky to be able to have been born who they were, where they were and when.

These bamboo grove guys seem to have been similarly privileged and singularly blessed to be born to a rank and in a time that permitted their 'non- conformity' to the Confucian norm that succored and supported them.

I suggest reading up on Chinese history, starting with He Jin.

Edited April 13, 2014 by beyonder

[Marblehead]

 

I suggest reading up on Chinese history, starting with He Jin.

I will be doing more reading and posting in this thread as time allows, first, for my own curiosity, and then to see if what I post will lead to further discussion of the "Seven".

[CloudHands]

Interesting.

 

Edited April 13, 2014 by CloudHands

[GrandmasterP]

Except that the Cao clan (I take it you're talking about Yi Kang being married to someone from the Cao clan...) was in the process of being deposed (Sima Yi feigning illness, incident at Gaoping tomb, etc)...Those guys where alive during the tail end of the Three Kingdoms period, not exactly a politically stable situation. I suggest reading up on Chinese history, starting with He Jin.

Thank you for that welcomed advice.

I'd rather steered my comments towards the current political actuality of those seven short films.

My call is that they are nasty pieces of Chinese government propaganda featuring bought and paid for academics parroting the Party line.

" Quietly comply and be left alone. Buck the One Party system and suffer the consequences."

No biggie though, all history is to some extent fictive; and we each read 'text' in our own chosen ways.

Edited April 13, 2014 by GrandmasterP

[Harmonious Emptiness]

Thank you for that welcomed advice.

I'd rather steered my comments towards the current political actuality of those seven short films.

My call is that they are nasty pieces of Chinese government propaganda featuring bought and paid for academics parroting the Party line.

" Quietly comply and be left alone. Buck the One Party system and suffer the consequences."

No biggie though, all history is to some extent fictive; and we each read 'text' in our own chosen ways.

 

There's always a bit of that in these types of productions. You just need to read between the (party) lines. It's almost like bootleg recordings. Kind of hard to listen to, but still worth it.

[GrandmasterP]

Yep that's a fact and no mistake.

Far as the content went about those seven guys, frankly; I couldn't see where the issues lay.

Seven guys doing their own thang in a bamboo grove.

Good call.

Edited April 13, 2014 by GrandmasterP