January 4, 2003
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A Darker Side of C. S. Lewis
Known for his fairy-story series “The Chronicles of Narnia,” C. S. Lewis had a more serious — some might say darker — side.
His portrayals of science and scientists in That Hideous Strength give an accurate picture of moral degeneracy in that subculture. The hero of Lewis’s “space trilogy,” of which That Hideous Strength
is the conclusion, is a philologist — a student of
language. In keeping with Lewis’s interest in philology and in
fairy stories, and with the fact that today is Jacob Grimm‘s
birthday, here are some philological observations related to the word
“middle” — as in the “middle earth” of Lewis’s friend
Tolkien, or in “middle kingdom,” the Chinese name for China.From a bulletin board site, sciforums.com, that bills itself as an “intelligent science community”:
Forum: Art & Culture
Thread: Red Dragon
User: aseedrain
I’ve just watched “Red Dragon”. Not bad actually but
there was a triviality in the film that somewhat spoilt my appreciation
of it. In the film, the serial killer (played by Ralph Fiennes) leaves
a mark behind – a Chinese character. The character is explained as a
character that appear [sic] on mahjung pieces that
carries the meaning ‘red dragon’.Now I know for a fact
that the Chinese character that appears in the film means ‘centre’ or
‘middle’. It is one of the two characters that make up the name “China”
or its literal translation “Middle Kingdom”. I’m no expert on the
mahjung game but I do know that even in the game, the piece that carry
[sic] this character is also referred as “chung” meaning ‘middle’.
I have never come across any instances where this particular character
referred to dragons.Therefore, in the absence of any other explanation, I assume the film made a mistake with this little detail….
From the Four Winds Mah Jong site:
The developers of the classical Mah Jong were
educated and knew well the classical Chinese philosophical and
mythological tradition, particularly the Book of Changes and the Book of Surprises.
The elements of the game symbolize interaction of the three extremes of
the universe: Heaven, Earth and Man, expressed in many ways, not only
by images graved in the tiles, but also in a way the tiles form
numerically significant groups and combinations.Thus 144 is said to be the number of the plan of
Earth, and the square formed by the tiles can be seen as a symbolic
representation of the universe. Heaven is manifested in the Four
Seasons, Earth in the Four regions (East, South, West and North), and
Man in the Four Flowers (symbolizing motion or life). The Dragons (‘San
Yuan’ or ‘San Chi’ in Chinese, meaning “Extremes”) symbolize Heaven
(White Dragon, ‘Po’, meaning “white” or” blank”), Earth (Green Dragon,
‘Fa’, meaning “prosperous”) and Man (Red Dragon, ‘Chung’, meaning
“center”, i.e. “between Heaven and Earth”).From another mah jong site:
Red Dragon
Chinese Character: “Chung”The true name of this tile is represented by the Chinese character “Chung” which means centre or middle.
The “Chung” character represents interpretation an arrow striking the
centre of a target. The meaning of this tile is therefore – success or achievement.This tile is the counterpart of the “The Green
Dragon” tile which shows the arrow about to leave the bow. It is
commonly called “The Red Dragon” in western Mah Jong sets because the
“Chung” character is generally drawn in red ink.From a page on a pilot of the USAF China National Aviation Corp. (CNAC) Air Transport Command Group:
The significance of the chung on the plane is explained here. Suggested
as an insignia by General Claire Chennault in 1942, it may be imagined
to have signified — as on the mah jong tile — success or achievement in
this area as well.Let us hope that philologists and fairy-tale students
like Grimm and Lewis — rather than followers of the religion of
scientism — continue to inspire and guide those who must fight for our
values.
