NAPKIN WORDS #70 2011 - Dedicated to Mike Prevor

1. CONCEPT
When you breathe, you recall others.

That is the power of molecules.

More importantly, it is the power of you!

2. COMMUNIST LEADERSHIP IN CHINA
In January of 2011, a very large bronze statue
of the great Chinese sage, Confucius (5th century
BCE) was placed just in front of the recently re-
constructed National Museum located in the
World-renowned Tiananmen Square. This
statue stands thirty one feet high, and shows
the great sage wearing a classic Chinese scholar’s
gown.

Now, less than half a year after the massive effort
to place this statue in its very special location, it has
suddenly been removed to a location either in the
National Museum or at another location, but it no
longer can be found in Tiananmen Square.

We know from a recent article in the New York
Times, as from other sources, that Chairman Mao
Zedong, the key founder of the People’s Republic
of China, was very much against the thought and
ideas of Confucius, and stated that he considered
them to be old fashioned and a representation of
life under China’s old and ancient feudal past.

Now my question is this: In the past number of
years, I have been constantly reading about how
positive Confucius and his thoughts were
considered by the post Mao Zedong party leader-
ship. So much so, that the government, under this
party leadership, has set up hundreds of Confucius
Institutes all over the globe, so that other people
from other lands could also learn his wisdom, his
wise advice.

So why is it that now, the China that was opening
its doors and mindset towards a freer society, has
suddenly been arresting its most famous artists,
free rights activists, and just about anyone not
towing this new and unspecified party line?

Since the Communist party of China will soon
select new leaders, it is my belief that within the
party, a huge battle is being waged, and those who
are responsible for having the statue of Confucius
moved, are also in the dominating position to run
the party and the country.

This does not bode well for the Chinese public, or,
I fear, for the outside world.

Or, as Confucius supposedly said: “What the
superior man seeks is in himself, what the small
man seeks is in others.”

3. FACADE FACE
When beneath the smile we harbor a sneer!




SCULPTOR

Nothing

shapes

humans

like

that

chisel

of

love.


by Edward Hunter