Virtual China translates Baidu's (a Chinese search engine) most popular questions for 2006 (hat tip, Roland). Here is the original Chinese page. What a great service! It gives us a sense of the kinds of questions people in China ask of the internet. It is almost oracular: Baidu as I Ching. People sit and ask, they seek wisdom from the vast and open universe....
They organize the search questions into four categories: "why" questions; "how" questions; "what is" questions; and "should I" questions. Let me comment on a couple.
The number one "should I" question asked of Baidu last year was: "Should I read the classics?" The term translated as "classic" - mingshu - is not strictly limited to the "four books and five classics" of the Confucian cannon (scroll down on this page for a summary of the canon at various historical moments). Rather, the term could be translated as "famous books" or "great books" and include other Chinese or, I think it is safe to say, "classics" from other cultural contexts.
But even with that caveat, it would seem that young Chinese (I assume the average age of Baidu seekers is under 30...) have some interest in great books, including the "classics" - not only the Analects and Mencius but also the Tao Te Ching, Chuang Tzu, Lieh Tzu and others.
And we know the answer to their question: Yes! By all means read the classics. Indeed, if you do, you might find answers to other questions on the Baidu list. For example, number 2 on the "Why" question list is: "Why are we alive?"
OK, then. This gets right to the heart of the matter. In short, Confucius would say our purpose in life is to cultivate our closest loving relationships in order to move toward the ideal of Humanity. In other words, we are alive to make ourselves and the people and world around us better. Taoists, of course, have a different take. They would say something like: we are alive because Way (or, as Chuang Tzu sometimes says: "this mighty mud-ball of a world") brings us forth. Tao gives us form. Our purpose, then, is to live out our integrity (te) without interfering too much in the natural unfolding of Way.
And how about number one ("what is love?") and number 9 ("what is happiness?") on the "what is" question list? Both can be answered in the classics - I won't go off on these now, but if anyone wants brief Confucian or Taoist answers, let me know...
The "how" questions might seem to be rather remote from the concerns of the classics: "how to lose weight?" "how to get pregnant?" (c'mon, do they really not know?) "how to kiss?" But, I would contend, the classics might turn the questions back on the questioner. To someone asking "how to get plastic surgery?" (number 10 on the list), both Confucians and Taoists would make it a "why" question: why do you want to get plastic surgery? And for those still unclear about the pregnancy thing, the religious Taoists would have a lot of pointers...
You can catch my drift. The answer to just about all of the questions is the answer to the very first "should I" question: yes, read the classics! Although there is a simpler answer to the number 5 "should I" question: "Should I join the Party?" No.
Very cool points. I love it!
I am a Chinese and I think "how to get pregnant?" refers to "How to prevent getting ..." according to our culture.
Posted by: mathena | January 12, 2007 at 08:13 PM
I was very intrigued to find your pages here. The questions are so similar to a lot of American searches on the internet also. I will be back to read more of your articles.
Posted by: Cris Delgado | February 02, 2008 at 01:05 AM