Thursday, January 11, 2007

From Siris comes an Illustrated History of Chinese Siege Warfare, as well as the best summation of the Mohists I've come across: "advocating the value of universal benevolence and catapults." If I had my books I would be able to bring up a piece that were left out of the guide, the name of which escapes me at the moment, but which spat fire, lead, and poison (which always seemed like overkill (rimshot) to me) at the unfortunate target.

3 comments:

Moro Rogers said...

It's kind of a pity they never made a really good Mohist movie...(They recently made one with Andy Lau, and it's fairly interesting, but the direction leaves a lot to be desired. Of course, maybe real Mohists would feel that movies didn't contribute to the common good.=p)

Odious said...

Historically, Mohists felt that movies were a really excellent contribution to the common good, as long as everybody shared their popcorn.

What's the title of that Andy Lau one? Sounds interesting....

Moro Rogers said...

BATTLE OF WITS. (I'd share popcorn with Andy Lau....)