• Monkey King/Journey to the West and Dream of the Red Chamber is a classical story, akin to Cindarella or Romeo and Juliet
    • Monkey King was written during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), period where much of modern Chinese ideals were created
  • Chinese history
    • If a ruler was overthrown, then that was the decree of the heavens and that the person who overthrew the old emperor would become the new one
    • Ties into Confucianism; hierarchal rule, allows for a shifting of hierarchies
    • Continuity in rulers with advisors and civil servants, but not in land size
    • In Confucianism, government could be seen as a series of fathers; heaven is father of ruler, ruler is father of ministers, etc.
    • A common line of thought was that gods were assembled in a similar way to the Chinese bureaucracy
      • If there was a flood in an area, then that might have been the fault of the god of that area
      • Local officials would thus try to justify that natural disasters were the fault of the gods (deflecting blame somewhat)
  • Buddhism contrasted with Taoism and Confucianism; the latter two was more optimistic about life and being human, but Buddhism did not
    • Could blend the ideologies together
  • Key message behind Wasserstrom lectures: globalization, reinfusion of old ideas in new places (Indian Buddhism in China, German Communism in China, Hotel California and Winnie the Pooh repurposed)
  • This lecture in particular focuses on the exposure of Chinese culture to a Western audience due to globalization, specifically through Moneky (TV Series) and Kung Fu (TV Series)