This original letter is contributed by
People who love the Earth and books
Cover photo made by Hermione using KeynoteTo whoever loves the Earth and booksWelcome to the launch of an online event connecting Earth Day and World Book Day——Reading this, I feel connected to the Earth和你相似，我也爱着这颗蓝色星球，总是能够从阅读中汲取能量。我知道对于我们这样的人来说，其实每天都是我们的地球日和读书日，因为我们无法停止阅读，也一直在关心我们的星球。但在这个特殊的年份，我们中的许多人暂时无法和自己住处以外的人见面，更容易让人觉得与世隔绝。于是，我想趁着“地球日”和“世界读书日”的热度，做读书分享活动，让我们觉得自己还联结在一起。
Like you, I also love this blue marble and can always get recharged from reading. I know to people like us, in fact we everyday is earthday and bookday since we just cannot stop reading and caring about our planet. However, this year is special as many of us cannot meet anyone who does not live with us, easier to feel isolated. I, therefore, would like to make full use of "Earth Day" and "World Book Day" to start an online event to share the books we read, let us feel we are aparted but connected.
我邀请了自己认识的几位读书人，分享一本自己在阅读过程中觉得和地球产生联结感的书。在知情同意的基础上，我在这里一并分享给你。也期待你愿意给我回信，告诉我：I have invited some readers I know to share a book that they feel connected to the Earth when reading. With their consent, I am going to share their books with you. I am also looking forward to hear from you:When was the last time you feel connected to the Earth, what was the book you were reading?我希望这不会让你觉得有压力，而是会给你一股力量让你想要向更多生活在地球上的爱书人喊话。让我们开始这次奇妙的旅程吧：I hope you will not feel pressured but empowered to raise your voice for sharing the book you like to other booklovers who live on this planet. Let's start our wonderful journey now:
《The Secret Life of Trees》《Intervention of the other》
screenshot from: https://www./book/show/18078311-letters-of-note(time accessed: 23rd April 2020)在该网站目前有4503个评价与546篇书评，得分为4.34分4.34/4 by 4,503 ratings and 546 reviews at goodreads虽然这本书目前还没有中文版，但在中文的一个读书分享网站页面（虽然该页面错误地把编者放在了作者这一栏）也有：Although this book does not have a Chinese version yet, but on a website where Chinese readers rate books and write reviews, this book has a page (although the editor was put as author, which is a mistake):
9.1/10 by 28 ratings and 12 reviews
screenshot from: https://book.douban.com/subject/24833322/(time accessed: 23rd April 2020)Hermione's note with the book:This morning, I woke up and saw the sunlight just arrived at the book on my shelf. I took it as my breakfast companion. To be honest, I have not finished the book yet. But to me, this book can never be finished and there is no need to rush. And I still remember the first letter I read: Letter No.065 WHY EXPLORE SPACE?Photo by Hermione on 23rd April 2020I have felt connected to the Earth not just because this portrait of planet earth. This portait is also used as the first page of first topic- The Earth in the Universe- in the Geography Textbook for upper secondary school students in Shanghai, I knew it so well as I taught them the story behind this portrait and read the first page of this letter in my geography class. (In case you are interested in the Chinese version, I cannot trace the translator but I know many Chinese webpages have the translated letter, I will share one link at the end of my Chinese notes)It is the letter that helped me in realising: the noblest cause of helping other human beings in need are not just solving the poverty we can see, not just medical workers cure the disease, and also scientists to explore our visions to the unknown space. The space "holds out a mirror which we can see ourselves", and "provides us with the technologies, the challenge, the motivation, and even with the optimism to attack these tasks with confidence".From my perspective, that is why we begin geography with locating our planet in upper secondary school: geographers want to educate the younger generations the significance of planet Earth so they can appreciate more and imagine all the possiblities of their relationship with Earth.Photo by Hermione on 23rd April 2020今天早晨我醒来的时候就看到阳光刚好照到这本书上。我就拿它伴着我的早餐了。坦诚地说，我还没有读完这本书。但对我来说，这本书是永远也不会读完的，也没有必要急着去读。我至今还记得我随手翻开这本书看的第一封信：第65封信——为什么要探索太空？我感到这和地球有关不只是因为有地球升起的肖像。这幅肖像也用在我们上海高中地理教科书的第一单元“地球在宇宙中”的第一页。我知道这一点因为我曾经在自己的地理课堂上讲这张照片和这封NASA科学家写给修女的信。
是这封信让我意识到：人最高尚的事业是就是帮助处于困境中的同胞，而这种帮助不只是解决看得见的贫穷、医护人员去治愈疾病，也包括科学家去延伸我们的视野去探索未知的太空。太空“给人类提供一面审视自己的镜子”，还“能给我们带来全新的技术，全新的挑战和进取精神，以及面对严峻现实问题时依然乐观自信的心态”。在我看来，这就是为什么我们在高中一开始先定位地球在哪里的原因：地理学人想要在教育中让年轻的一代意识到地球的重要性，从而更能够欣赏、也能够想象自己和地球关系的可能性。
如果你对这封信的中文译本感兴趣，我也不知道是谁翻译了这封信成中文，但我知道挺多中文网页都有这封信，比如：https://www.douban.com/note/321442729/为什么要探索宇宙—1970年NASA给赞比亚修女的回信For now there is no Chinese translation, but there is a website:虽然暂时没有中译本，但这本书的编者有建立一个同名网站：My senior colleague Victor (currently international students in UK, from Chile) thinks of this book:我的师兄（目前在英国留学，祖国是智利）想到了这本书：screenshot from: https://www./book/show/234225.Dune(time accessed: 23rd April 2020)screenshot from: https://book.douban.com/subject/1481311/(time accessed: 23rd April 2020)Hermione's short summary:Comparing to its goodreads rating (4.34/5 by 689,469 ratings and 19,349 reviews), its douban rating (8.6/10 by 3806 ratings and 1559 reviews) are lower, I have not yet read the book but based on this rating, I guess it would be better to read the original English book if you can.相比英文评分，这本书的豆瓣评分要低一些，我也还没有读过这本书，所以基于这个评分，我猜想如果你能读到原文的话，或许会更好一些。The book I'd like to share is about a story out of this world. "Dune" is a game-of-thrones like space opera staging warring houses, political intrigue and space travel that is only possible because the spice. The most important commodity in the universe that can only be found in the planet Arrakis or commonly known as Dune. Thus, the main character of the book is ultimetly the planet and its ecology. Its harsh climate and desert like landscape that shaped the culture of its people -the Fremen- and the particular religiosity they have in connection with the future of the planet. Dune is a piece of science fiction that we all need to read to understand the scale of the changes ahead to find balance again in our planet.Photo by Victor on 22nd April 2020
我想分享的这本书是在这个世界里发生的故事。 “沙丘”是权力的游戏在太空的歌剧版，交战家族、政治阴谋和太空旅行交织上演，而这一切都是因为香料，这种全宇宙中最重要的商品，只能在行星阿拉吉斯——“沙丘”星中找到。因此，这本书的主要特征恰恰是行星及其生态。 恶劣的气候和沙漠般的景观塑造了居于其中的人民的文化-弗瑞曼人-以及他们与星球未来有关的特殊宗教信仰。 沙丘是一部科幻小说，我们大家都需要阅读它来了解未来变化的尺度，以便在我们自己的星球上再次找到平衡。(the Chinese is translated by Hermione; 中文译者：陶理)screenshot from: https://book.douban.com/subject/20427187/(time accessed: 23rd April 2020)“岩浆岩分喷出岩和侵入岩”是一名地理专业的师范生。我们是通过这个微信平台相识的。她发给我这本书以及中英文的随感：Rock is an undergraduate normal student in China, majoring in geography. We knew each other through this wechat platform. She sent me this book and her thoughts in Chinese and English:是在初三的时候，读到了柴静的《看见》，里面有一章是《山西 山西》，里面的文字至今还令我印象深刻。初三那年，特别是在秋末至初春的时候，每天雾霾都非常严重，几乎无法进行早操、晨跑和室外体育课的。要知道初三的我们是要面临体育中考的，而这样一来对于我们最直接的影响就是练不了800米和1000米的耐力跑……后来，到了高一的时候，有一节地理课快要下课的时候，老师给我们介绍了柴静的《穹顶之下》的纪录片，也播放了一小段。我一下就记起了初三时候读到的那本《看见》里的文章，曾经书中文字所呈现的污染情况，一下子直观、真实地展现在了自己眼前，那是一个比上海的雾霾情况不知道严重了多少倍的地方啊……以前，我们总认为冬季时雾蒙蒙的天就是因为被雾所笼罩着，但其实这其中有多少天仅仅是雾？又有多少天是雾霾？看到柴静的文章和纪录片的那两年，是我印象中雾霾天气最严重的两年；后来，空气质量慢慢随着大气污染的防治工作而一点一点在改善。我想：在这其中，她的文章和视频可以说是唤起了公众的环保意识、也在一定程度上推动了大气污染的防治工作吧！大气问题只是世界环境问题中的一个。身为一个地球人，我们需要真正关注到地球，爱护地球就是爱护我们每一个地球人。Photo by Rock on 23rd April 2020
Seeing such a topic, the first person that comes to my mind is Chai Jing.It was in the third year of my junior high school that I read Chai Jing's 看见(Kanjian), a chapter of which is "山西 山西(Shanxi Shanxi)", and the words in it still impress me to this day.Polluted river water, soil, groundwater .......Unseen blue skies and people's coughing.......And the problems of economic development and environmental governance........In the third year of my junior high school, especially in late fall and early spring, the daily haze was so severe that it was almost impossible to do morning exercises, take morning runs and have outdoor PE classes. You should know that in the third year of junior high school, we have to face PE examinations, so the most direct effect on us is that we can not practice 800m and 1000m endurance running.Later, in the first year of my senior high school, when a geography class was about to end, the teacher introduced us to the documentary film Under the Dome by Chai Jing and also played a few minutes. I immediately remembered the article in the book 看见(Kanjian) that I read last year and the pollution situation presented in the text of the book was immediately intuitive and real before my eyes. In the past, we used to think that the foggy days in winter were just because they were covered in fog, but how many of those days were actually just fog? How many days are haze?The two years I saw Chai Jing's article and documentary were two of the worst years of hazy weather in my memory. Later, the air quality slowly improved little by little with the efforts to combat atmospheric pollution. I think that her article and video can be said to have aroused public awareness of environmental protection and to a certain extent, to promote the fight against atmospheric pollution.The atmospheric problem is just one of the world's environmental problems. As individuals who live on the earth, we need to really care about the earth, and to love the earth is to love every one of us.Hermione's additional message for English readers:I read this book when I was in my undergraduate days too. However, none of us find the English version of the book, so I am sorry to English readers, this maybe a good motivation for you to learn Chinese. Feel free to know the author via her wikipedia: https://en./wiki/Chai_JingNo sign of English publication, but the wikipedia provided the translation of the book's information:Chai Jing. (2013). Kanjian or Insight Autobiography. (Chinese:看见). Guangxi Normal University Press.《The Secret Life of Trees》My friend Alice is a primary school teacher here in UK. And this is the book comes to her mind:我的朋友Alice（英国一位小学老师）想到了这本书：screenshot from: https://www./book/show/811596.The_Secret_Life_of_Trees(time accessed: 23rd April 2020)screenshot from: https://book.douban.com/subject/26423783/(time accessed: 23rd April 2020)Hermione's short summary:Comparing to its goodreads rating (4.02/5 by 388 ratings and 44 reviews), its douban rating (8.1/10 by 129 ratings and 4 reviews) are lower, I have not yet read the book but based on this rating, I guess it would be better that you can compare Chinese and English together.相比英文评分，这本书的豆瓣评分要低一些，我也还没有读过这本书，所以基于这个相差不大的评分，我猜想你可以进行中英文对照阅读。And I accidently found a similar book（and with a higher rating in the Chinese translation):另外我偶然发现一个相似书名的书（而且中译本评分更高）：screenshot from: https://book.douban.com/subject/27025200/(time accessed: 23rd April 2020)8.9/10 by 86 ratings and 12 reviews screenshot from: https://www./book/show/28256439-the-hidden-life-of-trees(time accessed: 23rd April 2020)4.06/5 by 30,156 ratings and 4,056 reviews 让我觉得译本品质有保证的该书译者信息：钟宝珍，台湾师范大学地理系及地理研究所毕业，曾任中学地理教师及地理教材作者，关注环境议题，喜爱阅读、旅行和大自然。现定居德国，从事中文教学与翻译。The introduction of the translator makes me feel like this will be a quality translation as she has two geography degrees and edited geography textbooks. She focuses on environment issues, love reading, travelling and the nature. Currently she lives in Germany and teaches Chinese and do translation.VV是研究科学教育的硕士生。我们是通过微信公众平台认识的，去年七月在上海我组织的一个读书会上见过面。VV is a master student in science education. We knew each other through this wechat platform and met at an offline reading club I organised last July in Shanghai.screenshot from: https://book.douban.com/subject/30116399/(time accessed: 23rd April 2020)二月份的时候读了人类学家项飚老师的《跨越边界的社区》，书里详细记录了北京“浙江村”的生活史，尤其是社区内非正式权威形成的复杂过程，包括大人物和帮派、和各级政府之间的千丝万缕的关系。项飚是温州人，我也算是项老师的老乡（下辖县市不同），从书里可以真切地感受到温州人敢闯敢拼、互帮互助的特质，其中的细节也是我家人亲身经历过的。读这本书是在疫情期间，而温州在国内外的人口流动性十分突出，确诊人数曾是湖北省外第一，而又因为强大的自救互助能力，顺利度过难关。因此，这本书给我一种过去和现在的映照感，只是面对的难题不同。此书的一大关键词是“流动”，从这次疫情的发展，我们也可以感受到全球各地间高速流动的可能所带来的空前危险。项老师在接受澎湃新闻采访时提到，疫情之后我们要重新考虑不同流动之间的组合、流动机会的分布等问题。结合疫情，我们可以看到“流动”中的复杂意义。因此，对于结束或尚未结束“停工停学”的人们，这本书也许能够提供这样的可能性——从一个独特的角度思考这次全球公共卫生事件的丰富启示。这本书对我产生的最大影响是发现了人类学、民族志的魅力，自《跨越边界的社区》之后，我开始接触人类学家的作品，了解民族志的研究和写作方式。学习自然科学，或许会让人感受理性之美；学习哲学，或许会让人享受思辨的能量。接触了人类学，我开始发现人类生活的复杂性和细腻性，生活在地球上的每个角落的社群有自己的习俗仪式、生活秩序、话语体系，我们如此不同，而作为地球人，我们又是如此相似。时空的分离，让地球更加多元和精彩，”流动“和交流，又让地球的每一处紧密联结。Photo by VV on 23rd April 2020Hermione's words for English readers:This book is written by an anthropologist, there is a page of his works on goodreads, I would say Transcending Boundaries. Zhejiangcun: The Story of a Migrant Village in Beijing is a hidden gem for English readers who want to learn about migration in contemporary China.screenshot from: https://www./search?q=xiang+biao&qid=guJUFQDw5c(time accessed: 23rd April 2020)Hermione's translation of vv's book review:In February, I read the anthropologist Xiang Biao's Transcending Boundaries, which recorded the detalied life history of "Zhejiangcun" in Beijing, especially the complex process of informal authority formation in the community, including big names and gangs, as well as the inextricable relationship between governments at all levels. Xiang Biao is from Wenzhou, and I am also from Mr. Xiang ’s hometown (but in different counties). From the book, I can truly feel the qualities of Wenzhou people who dare to fight and help each other. I was reading this book during the epidemic, and Wenzhou's population mobility domestic and abroad is very prominent. The number of diagnoses was the highest outside Hubei Province, and because of its strong self-help and mutual assistance capabilities, we successfully passed the difficulty. This book, therefore, gives me a sense of reflection in the past and the present, but the difficulties are different.One of the key words of this book is "mobility". From the development of this epidemic, we can also feel the unprecedented danger of the possibility of high-speed movements around the world. Professor Xiang mentioned in his interview with Paper News: after the epidemic, we have to reconsider the combination of different flows and the distribution of flow opportunities. Combining the epidemic situation, we can see the complex meaning of "flow". Therefore, this book may provide the possibility for those who have ended or have not yet completed the "stoppage of work and school" to consider the rich revelation of this global public health event from a unique perspective.The biggest influence this book has had on me is the discovery of the charm of anthropology and ethnography. Since Transcending Boundaries, I started reading the works of anthropologists to understand the research and writing methods of ethnography. Studying natural sciences may make people appreciate the beauty of reason; studying philosophy may make people enjoy the energy of speculation. As for anthropology, I began to discover the complexity and delicateness of human life. The communities living in every corner of the earth have their own custom rituals, order of life, and discourse system. We are so different. As human beings on earth, we, again, are so similar. The separation of time and space makes the Earth more diverse and wonderful, and the "flow" and communication also make every part of the Earth closely connected.我和赵老师（豆瓣 @短章）联系的时候他说要推荐Dorren Massey的书，并且还分享了一篇他之前接受的三联专访（“85后”的日常阅读 11丨赵益民：大卫·哈维的书让我感触最深），这里面也有提到For Space（考虑到版权和原创性，我就不搬运了，感兴趣可以点进去看，在采访中段）。但据我目前所知，这本书好像还没有中文版。Dr. Zhao is famous in Douban, known as Duanzhang. It is easy to find his book review as he has a good habit of sharing his thoughts on Douban. getHe also had an interview sharing about his daily read, For Space also get mentioned as one of his personal inspirational books. Sadly, the review only available in Chinese. Sorry to my English readers. The book he wants to share is: Doreen Massey's For Space. screenshot from: https://www./search?q=xiang+biao&qid=guJUFQDw5c(time accessed: 23rd April 2020)screenshot from: https://book.douban.com/subject/2174090/(time accessed: 23rd April 2020)In view of his copyright, I made the screenshot of his douban review.
对于我的读者（大部分应该不是专门做城市和批判理论研究的），考虑到这个阅读平台（不是学术探讨就是有着普通的、广泛的阅读兴趣），我在这里引用艺术家Olafur Eliasson的描述，帮助还不太了解多琳·玛西（Doreen Massey）的普通读者来了解一下这本书为什么不做学术研究的大多数人也值得一读：我对这本书充满热情的原因是Doreen Massey描述了一种感知空间中流动的特定方式，而这种方式在我的工作中也一直都在不同层次中存在着：空间不是静止的、中性的、冰冻的实体，而是和时间交织在一起从而不断变化着的，这也是为什么我们并不拥有空间。Doreen清晰具体地描述了她在英格兰的经历，同时她又非常敏锐地勾勒了空间的特征，使其不至沦为一种乌托邦的念想或者思乡愁绪。For my readers (most of them who are not specialising in urban/city and crticial theories), and considering of this platform we are using is not academic but for general and ordinary reading interest, I would like to quote the description from an artist Olafur Eliasson:The reason for my enthusiasm for this book is that Doreen Massey manages to describe a certain way of perceiving movement in space which I have been - and still am - working with on different levels in my work: i.e. the idea that space is not something static and neutral, a frozen entity, but is something intertwined with time and thus ever changing - also when we are not occupying it. Doreen's descriptions of her journey through England for example are clear and precise accounts of this idea, and she very sharply characterizes the attempts not to recognize this idea as utopian and nostalgic.https://www./book/show/332312.For_Space?from_search=true&from_srp=true&qid=G0D1Gq3pak&rank=1其实在赵老师决定分享For Space这本书之前，他还和我提到了一篇Doreen Massey在1991年6月发表的文章：A Global Sense of Place (地方的全球感）
In fact before Dr. Zhao decided to share the book For Space, he also mentioned to me an article by Doreen Massey in 1991: 我也非常喜欢这篇文章，甚至在我参编的书籍中也有翻译一小段，这篇文章我也想放一个链接在这里：This article is one of my favourite too, and I even translated part of it in a book I edited, so I am here to put the link:http:///collections/mt/pdf/91_06_24.pdf以及随信附上Doreen Massey的维基百科页面：And I also want to attach the wikipedia of Doreen Massey:https://en./wiki/Doreen_Massey_(geographer)#Sense_of_place 《Intervention of the other》screenshot from: https://www./book/show/262631.Intervention_of_the_Other(time accessed: 23rd April 2020)screenshot from: https://book.douban.com/subject/2556513/(time accessed: 23rd April 2020)screenshot from: https://book.douban.com/subject/3741260/(time accessed: 23rd April 2020)这本书暂时没有英译本，但是叶朗教授有一本英文著作：This book is not yet translated but here is a English book by the same author:
screenshot from: https://www./book/show/19875424-insights-into-chinese-culture(time accessed: 23rd April 2020)小廖（豆瓣@小廖）读了两本书，并且用双语写了自己的感受：Xiaoliao (Douban @Xiaoliao) read two books and wrote down her thoughts in both Chinese and English:今天推荐最近在看的两本看似没什么关系但读完便会觉得紧密相关的书。第一本书是David Ross Fryer比较拉康和列维纳斯理论的<The Intervention of the Other>。第二本是叶朗的美学导读《美学原理》。从“男女对立的性别二分”到“我们与自然对立的二元关系”，笛卡尔的“主客二分”的认识世界的模式，自从它成为了西方哲学的奠基石后，无时无刻在影响着我们的生活和思维方式。这种二元对立的思维潜在的危害在于，为了稳固“自我”的概念，而要去压迫所塑造出来的对立的“他者”。种族和性别歧视、对同性恋和酷儿的压迫、以及对环境的破坏，实质上都是这样的例子。把在哲学家列维纳斯的眼中，西方的哲学是有关本体论的哲学，在论证的过程中，要通过把“他者”的异质性抹去，使其最终纳入“自我”之中。而形而上学则是相反的，是能够在不抹杀和忽视他者的异质性的情况下，全盘接纳对方。列维纳斯给过两个例子。第一个例子是奥德赛出征特洛伊战争后，历经多年艰辛痛苦的流浪，终于地从“他者的一方”回到了“属于自我的一方”。第二个例子是亚伯拉罕欣然接受上帝的呼召，离开了安逸的家乡吾珥前往属于“他者的一方”迦南。前者是对于他者的恐惧，是本体论和“主客二分”的哲学；而后者是对于他者的欣然接纳，是超越自我和主体的形而上学。现在就可以引出推荐的第二本书《美学原理》了。不同于西方传统的美学研究，叶朗的这本书从“主客二分”的模式中脱离了出来，进而纳入了中国“天人合一”。叶朗所认同的审美理论是对美学家朱光潜和宗白华理论的延续，即“人的心灵超越了个体生命的有限存在和有限意义，得到一种自由和解放，从而回到人的精神家园”。他对于“主客二分”的审美（包含对于自然的态度）的批判类似于上段提到的列维纳斯对于本体论的批判，也与海德格尔通过现象学并提出“诗意地栖居”来推翻传统西哲的根基是一致的。在叶朗看来，唯有进入到“天人合一”的状态，才能真正体会到美感：因为美感是无功利性、直觉性、创造性和超越性的。倘若自然环境于人类而言只是一个隔绝于个体之外的“他者”，我们看待自然将会是功利性的，而笛卡尔式的认知会让我们不由自主地想通过破坏和压迫环境来壮大自我。当我们再回头看第一本书的时候，会发现列维纳斯对于“他者”这个问题的探讨实际上是对于伦理的探讨。作为犹太哲学家的他对于这个问题的思考起源于目睹二战时期德国对于犹太人这个“他者”的压迫和屠杀之后的痛心疾首：“自我”究竟应该如何面对“他者”的存在？他所提出的要“完全接受他者的异质性”，亦不是和我们所说的“和而不同”有异曲同工之妙？而我们对待环境的态度，是不是应该脱离“主客二分”的思维，从而进入到“物我两忘”“情景契合”的审美境地？或许，我们也可以以中国传统哲学作为对环境保护讨论和思考的根基：从庄子的“游”，到孟子的“仁民而爱物”，再到朱熹的“天地万物本吾一体”，无不透露着这种“天人合一”的非二分法的思维方式。最后，引用郑板桥的一句话：“我图娱悦，彼在囚牢，何情何理，而必屈物之性以适吾性乎。”美的感受，并非来源于对于“他者”的征服，而是把“他者”与欲望隔离开并对其异质性有无穷的包容。The two books that I would like to recommend are David Ross Fryer’s The Intervention of the other and Ye Lang (叶朗)’s Principles of Aesthetics (《美学原理》in Chinese). The first book is a theoretical comparison between psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan and philosopher Emmanuel Lévinas, and the second one is an introduction book for aesthetics theories. The two books appear to have no relevance at the first sight, but the readers are able to draw their connections once they finish reading them. As a foundation of Western philosophy, Descartes’ 'mind-body’ dualism has influenced how we understand and approach the world, by creating a binary relation between the 'I’ and the 'other’[1]. Examples of such dichotomy include the 'us-them’, 'heterosexuality – homosexuality’, 'men-women’ and 'us-nature’ relations. What Descartes was also saying is that, the former item of the binary relation should dominate the latter, due to its superiority. As a result, it to a certain extent legitimises the domination of men over women, of human over nature as well as racial and sexuality discriminations in the past few centuries. To Lévinas, Western philosophy is the philosophy of ontology, which eventually aims to reduce the 'other’ to the same, in order to have it incorporated into the 'self’. In contrast, metaphysics is able to fully incorporate the other without such reduction. Lévinas gave two examples. The first example refers to how in the story of Odyssey, Ulysses returned home following a long time spent on the lands of 'the other’. The returning to home symbolises the returning to the self or to the same. The second example refers to when Abraham was called by the God to leave his hometown and embarks a journey to a far distant island, instead of resenting, he happily accepted the call. The first story is a story of ontology philosophy, whereas the second is a story of metaphysics which surpasses and transcendences the 'self’.We can therefore turn our attention to the second book Principles of Aesthetics. The book differs from a conventional book on aesthetics written by Western philosophers. Even though it talks about the 'mind-body’ dichotomy when speaking about the experience of aesthetics in relation to beauty, the book eventually aims to break away from such mode of thinking and thereby incorporates what the Chinese refers to as 'the unity of heaven and the man’ ('天人合一’). Ye’s aesthetic theories can be viewed as an extension of theories by early theorists Zhu Guangqian(朱光潜) and Zong baihua(宗白华). To a certain extent, it also aligns with Lévinas’ criticisms toward Western ontology, as well as Heidegger’s phenomenology. In Heidegger’s terms, the “mind-body” and “the unity of heaven and the man” are two ways of 'revealing’ the world. Akin to technology, the former sets a subject-object distinction. On the other hand, the latter is similar to what Heidegger calls 'genuine poetry’. Ye thinks that due to the nature of aesthetic experience, which is non-utilitarian, intuitive, creative and transcendental, we are only able to experience beauty by entering the state of “the unity of heaven and the man”. The same argument also extends to how we view the environment and nature. If we are only able to see nature in a utilitarian way, we will fall into the Cartesian thinking and post the danger of damaging the 'other’ (which is the environment in this case) in order to fulfil the 'self’.When we return to the first book, we will realise that when Lévinas talks about the 'other’, it is in fact a discussion on ethics. As a Jewish philosopher, his thinking and research on the topic started after witnessing the deadly oppressions that Jewish people, as the 'other’ to Germans, faced in Europe. To a certain degree, both Lévinas’ research project and Ye’s book are studies of ethics: How should 'self’ face the 'other’? When Lévinas talks about that we should fully accept the alterity of the 'other’, it is in fact very similar to what the Chinese talk about 'harmony in diversity’ ('和而不同’). Perhaps, in order to fully address the environmental problem, we should have a paradigm shift, or even an épistémè shift – from the 'mind-body’ dichotomy to the 'heaven-man’ unity. Perhaps, we can use Chinese philosophy as the foundation of our discussion on environmental issues. From Zhuangzi (庄子)’s ecstatic journey, to Mengzi (孟子)’s 'love for things, animals and the environment’ (“仁民而爱物”), to Zhu Xi (朱熹)’s 'everything in the world used to be in unity’ ('天地万物本吾一体’), traditional Chinese philosophy is full of the wisdom of accepting the alterity of the 'other’ and striving for 'harmony in diversity’. Finally, I would like to quote what Chinese painter Zheng Banqiao (郑板桥), who is famous for painting bamboos, said about keeping birds in cages, 'If I keep birds in cages because of my own desire and for my own entertainment, how is that even a legitimate reason? Do we have to change the 'other’ to meet the desire of ourselves?’ Indeed, true aesthetic experiences do not come from the successful conquering of the 'other’, but arise from distancing the 'other’ from our own desire and accepting the alterity of the 'other’.
[1] Lacan distinguishes between 'the other’ and 'the Other’, which I won’t elaborate here. 最后列一下今天7位读书人在阅读中感到自己与地球有联结感的书：Finally, let's put into a list of the books mentioned by our 7 readers:(暂无中译本，but it has a website 但有同名网站：Colin Tudge's The Secret Life of Trees（This book has an English version: Xiang biao's Transcending Boundaries. Zhejiangcun: The Story of a Migrant Village in Beijing)Doreen Massey's For Space(暂无中译本，同时还有一篇 A Global Sense of Place的文章值得看）
David Ross Fryer's Intervention of the other（暂无英译本，但作者有本英文专著 Insights into Chinese Culture)
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