2 Introduction
Apart from the familiar argument (often found in contemporary
complaints by “patriotic” citizens, who question the employment
of foreigners, particularly in high offices), we can detect here the
additional undertone of cultural supremacy: why appoint a “bar-
barian” (viz., “an uncivilized person”) when you can appoint a
Chinese, imply those who disapprove of Li’s appointment.
Chen An, a Tang intellectual of little fame, answered:
The governor in truth recommended this man for his ability, without re-
gard to his origin. If one speaks in term of geography (di 地), then there are
Hua and barbarians. But if one speaks in terms of education, then there can
be no such difference. For the distinction between Hua and barbarian rests
in the heart and is determined by their different inclinations.
If one is born in the central provinces and yet acts contrary to ritual
and propriety, then this is to have a look of a Hua but the heart of a bar-
barian. If one is born in the barbarian lands and yet acts in accordance
with ritual and propriety, then this is to have the look of a barbarian and
the heart of a Hua.
There was, for instance, the rebellion of Lu Wan. Was he a barbarian?
And there was the loyalty of Chin Jih-ti. Was he a Hua? From this we
can see that all depends on inclination.
Now Li Yen-sheng came from beyond the seas yet was able to make
his virtues known to the governor, who singled him out for recommen-
dation so as to encourage the Jung and Ti and to cause all the world to
submit to the influence of our bright culture. For one is Hua by heart and
not by geography. And since there are still barbarians among us, I have
composed “The Heart of Being a Hua.”^3
This anecdote is connected in more than one way to the story
told in this book. At the most superficial level, the protagonists of
this study are linked to this anecdote by virtue of the fact that they
also are “Arabians,” people who were identified as Muslims by those
around them and who self-identified as such. More profoundly, this
anecdote is germane in that the men with whom this book is con-
cerned, literati living in China’s large eastern urban centers in the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, were, like Lin Yansheng,
caught in a heated debate about the meaning and nature of being
“Hua,” or “Chinese.” Like him, they were well versed in the Chi-
nese classics, and many of them held official Chinese degrees.
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- Hartman, Han Yü and the T’ang Search for Unity, p. 159.