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appears to have been a general neglect
of the oral traditions of Sarnami by those
communities in the Netherlands. Although
Sarnami literature exists, there has been a
steady decline in the publication of books
and journals in this language. That said,
there are still many Hindustanis, and
indeed NRIs, in the Netherlands who have
retained their language and continue to be
influenced by subcontinental Indian cul-
ture, not least through Bollywood movies.
The Indian cinema has a huge impact on
both groups in the community (Verstap-
pen and Rutten 2007). Hindi, the state
language of India is the main language of
Bollywood productions, making the films
a primary resource for Hindustanis or sec-
ond generation Dutch-speaking Indians to
learn Standard Hindi. There are also Hindi
classes at local centres, as well as four
Hindi schools in the Netherlands. Of note
however, is the apparant shift from Surina-
mi to the Dutch language. Also, the emer-
gence of the English language as the lingua
franca of Europe, suits the emergence of
a culturally Indian but mostly English-
speaking Indian diaspora. Bollywood mov-
ies, remain one of the most popular and
important Indian exports, strengthening
positive feelings of Hindustanis towards
India. Their feelings towards Indians from
India in the Netherlands are more compli-
cated, however.
Despite a long history of Dutch-Indian
relations, (including episodes of tem-
porary Dutch colonial possession of the
Hoogly, Cochi and Pulicat in India), until
the last century Indians were rare guests
in the Netherlands. In fact, Indians from
the subcontinent of South Asia didn’t
really arrive in the Netherlands until after
1980. Up until then there were only 500
Indian families living in Holland (Madan,
1999). The Hindustanis community clearly
outstripped non-resident Indians in the
Netherlands in terms of number. However,
the NRIs who arrived brought with them
contemporary Indian traditions which
were able to breath new life into those
somewhat out-of-touch and out-of-date
traditions and practices of the Indo-Suri-
namese. It is important to add, however,
that the Hindustanis in Suriname were
not entirely isolated from subcontinental
Indian influences. For example, the previ-
ously-mentioned ‘Arya Samaj’ reformist
Hindu movement established a branch in
Suriname in 1912. 16% of Hindus in Suri-
name and an approximately similar per-
centage of Surinami Hindus in the Neth-
erlands adhere to the ‘Arya Samaj’ vision
of Hinduism.
The first influx of newcomers from India
to the Netherlands were diplomats, pro-
fessionals and entrepreneurs invited by
various institutions, government organi-
sations or multinational companies. They
brought with them the image of Indians
as successful engineers, doctors, profes-
sors, lawyers or business managers. The
second group of arrivals, those coming
after 1980, were mostly Punjabis of rural
origin (Madan, 1999). Those non-resident
Indians who came to the Netherlands as
professionals or businessmen tend to
have closer links with India. For example,
they often have their families in India; they
watch Zee-TV and read Indian newspa-
pers. However, the importance of NRIs in
the Netherlands is not confined to their
direct links with India. Among them is an
active group of politicians, economists,
lawyers and other intellectuals who devote
their time to the service of India from the
Netherlands. They have formed an asso-
ciation known as the Foundation for Criti-
cal Choices for India (FCCI). Founded in
1980, the FCCI is an independent, secular
non-commercial, non-partisan think tank.
It aims to identify, define and study critical
issues facing India and to work towards
long term, rational solutions. It also strives
to mobilise moral, intellectual and finan-
cial resources of Indians abroad for the
solution of critical problems facing India
and to effectively project and promote the
general interests of India and the Indian
Diaspora in local communities. The emer-
gence and effectiveness of an institution
such as this in the Netherlands, puts the
country with its significant Hindustani
(Indo-Surinami) and influential Non Resi-
dent Indian communities in an influential
position in the global Indian diaspora.
The above-mentioned information,
obtained from various publications gave
impetus to my research, which included
field-trips to the Hague, Amsterdam and
Utrecht, during which interviews with both
Hindustanis and NRIs were undertaken.
Further research is required. The author
thanks Dr. Theo Damsteegt (Leiden Uni-
versity), Dr. Dipika Mukherjee (IIAS, Lei-
den), Mrs Ingrid Grant, Dr. Vasant Mohar-
ir, Dr. Vikas Kohli, Mr. R.L.Lakhina, and
Mrs Lakhina, Dr. H.U. Qureshi, Dr. Wahid
Saleh, Mr. Chris and Mrs. Indra Gopal, Mr.
Hendrik and Mrs Ursi Poeram and many
others for their help and cooperation.
Igor Kotin
Gonda Fellow (1st November 2007 – 14 Janu-
ary 2008). Senior Research Fellow, Museum
of Anthropology and Ethnography (St. Peters-
burg, Russian Federation).
kotin_igor@hotmail.com
References:
Choenni Ch., Hindu Youngsters in the Neth-
erlands. http://www.hinduismtoday.com/in-
depth_issues/dutch_survey/index.html; post-
ed : September 30, 2001. entered: 09.11.2007.
Damsteegt Th., De Sarnami-beweging. In: Van
der Burg C., Damsteegt Th. En Krishna Autar
(Eds.). 1990. Hindostanen in Nederland, Leu-
ven-Apeldoorn: Garant.
Lynnebakke, B. Contesting Equality. Social
Relations between Indian and Surinamese Hin-
dus in Amsterdam. In : Oonk G. (Ed.). 2007.
Global Indian Diasporas. Exploring Trajectories of
Migration and Theory. Amsterdam: Amsterdam
University Press for IIAS.
Madan, B.N., Indians in the Netherlands:
A Profile. In: R.L.Lakhina, V.V.Moharir and
H.U.Qureshi (Eds.). 1999. Fifty Years of Indo-
Dutch Cooperation. A Commemorative Volume.
Leidschendam: The Foundation for Critical
Choices for India.
Markovits C. Afterward. Stray Thoughts of
an Historian on ‘Indian’ or ‘South Asian’
‘Diaspora’(s). In Oonk G. (Ed.). 2007. Global
Indian Diasporas. Exploring Trajectories of Migra-
tion and Theory. Amsterdam: Amsterdam Uni-
versity Press for IIAS.
Oonk G. (Ed.). 2007. Global Indian Diasporas.
Exploring Trajectories of Migration and Theory.
Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press for
IIAS.
Verstappen S. and Rutten M., Bollywood and
the Indian Diaspora. Reception of Indian cinema
among Hindustani youth in the Netherlands.
In : Oonk G. (Ed.). 2007. Global Indian Diaspo-
ras. Exploring Trajectories of Migration and The-
ory. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press
for IIAS.
Chinese Confucianism gradually broadened its scope from traditional to modern owing to the influence of Ching Dynasty
scholarship. Tai-Chen (1723-1777), in particular, believed that sentiments and desires are a valuable part of human nature, an
idea in opposition to traditional Confucianism, notably to Sung-Ming’s Neo-Confucianists, who claimed that rationality is
good and emotions are evil. Modern Chinese scholars, however, continue to greatly value and appreciate Tai-Chen’s work.
An ‘aesthetic education’:
the role of ‘sentiments’ in the transition from
traditional Confucianism to modern aesthetics
Mei-Yen Lee
T
wo such scholars were Liang Chi-Chao
(1873-1929) and Tsai Yuen-Pei (1868-
1940), who saw sentiments in particular
as the foundation of aesthetic education.
According to them, sentiments in an aes-
thetic context are a combination of elevat-
ed feelings, beliefs and attitudes related
but not limited to altruistic personality.
Aesthetic evaluations are made based on
the sub-structure of sentiments. Thus they
are different from emotions, desire, love,
friendship or affection, and as a whole are
elevated forms of thinking derived from
the sublimation of the human spirit. They
drive us to make contributions to our
country and people.
Simultaneously, these two masters, under
the influence of Western approaches to
aesthetic education, responded to pub-
lic yearnings by developing a new way to
appreciate aesthetic values. Aesthetics
here refers to more than mere art; it’s
a more general appreciation of beauty,
of harmony and idealisation, or what is
termed in many areas of art as composi-
tion. Liang Chi-Chao and Tsai Yuen-Pei
created a sense of urgency to reassess the
importance of aesthetic education so that
it might play a constructive role in develop-
ing their beloved nation.
A means to a harmonious
society
Liang Chi-Chao was an emotionally
profound and colourful man. His ideas
about sentiments were derived from his
experiences, and also from the social
value of sentiments towards the end of
the Ching Dynasty: a social ‘aesthetics’
whose object is a harmonious society,
well ordered like a work of art. Like art,
it elevates us beyond the mundane and
self-centred. He often emphasised that
sentiments alone are what motivate
people to live and to work. If a man vows
to perform a great task, for example,
sentiments are like a demanding emperor
to which mere rationality should yield.
If a man is aware of his sentiments and
follows them to the end, then he can
achieve great things. Thus Liang claimed,
‘A good teacher should give judicious
guidance to students according to their
individual sentiments’. The most efficient
instrument for learning about sentiments
is art, such as music, painting and
literature, since they embody aesthetic
principles that are universal and elevate
the human spirit.
Tsai Yuen-Pei divided human spiritual
functions into knowledge, will and emo-
tions. He emphasised the importance of
sentiments in particular and, like Liang,
believed that music, painting and litera-
ture can help restore a person’s lost con-
tact with sentiments. He coined the Chi-
nese term Mei-Yu (‘aesthetic education’)
and advocated it as a means of educating
people to appreciate all forms of beauty.
Ultimately, the practice of aesthetic educa-
tion aims to cultivate the sense of senti-
ments in order to experience the sublime
of the human spirit. ‘Man can be fearless
in any “life or death” situation’, Tsai stat-
ed, ‘ignore the fact of whether he or she
is blessed, treat anything with enthusiasm,
share enjoyment with others, sacrifice
himself for others, etc., if the instruction of
aesthetic education is properly provided’.
He was referring to art’s moral aspect and
sacrificing of ego; art, like society, takes
us beyond the self or the limitations of
the individual to the level of species. In
this way it elevates us to the realm of the
universal. Therefore, aesthetic education
complements intellectual education, and
subsequently ends with the completion of
moral education. They are all linked in the
sense of achieving a harmonious and sat-
isfactory result.
Freedom from the phenomenal
Tsai’s aesthetic views are not so much
linked to Western aesthetics in general
as to the aesthetic thoughts of Immanuel
Kant (1724-1804) in particular. According
to Kant, humanity’s sentiments are
based on the nature of one’s freedom.
Anything, whether it’s pleasant or
not, is determined by whether it’s
beautiful. Beauty, to Kant, is defined
by transcendence (with no external or
secondary ‘purpose’; art for art’s sake);
universality (human nature and things
common to all people); spontaneity
(determined by free will); and inevitability
(led by human nature without effort).
Tsai held that all men experience love,
hatred, fear, happiness, anger, sadness,
etc., in the ‘phenomenal world’. Our emo-
tions rise and fall like waves in response to
the phenomena of life, death, fortune, mis-
fortune, gain and loss. Art can prevent us
from being distracted by the phenomenal
world and thus help us to maintain a purer
aesthetic sensibility, ‘to see the world in a
grain of sand’. Art can dissolve prejudice
against others and reconcile the differ-
ences between gain and loss. When a man
frees himself from the ‘relative’ emotions
of this phenomenal world, and sublimates
his emotions to form an aesthetic whole-
ness, then he can realise the meaning of
the world beyond the individual, mundane
or corporeal.
It is, therefore, obligatory for an educator
to lead us beyond the phenomenal world
through the introduction of aesthetic edu-
cation, whose aim is to cultivate one’s
disposition and soul. Tsai devoted himself
to the promotion of aesthetic education,
especially during the period of Japanese
invasion. He thought the best way for
people to love and help one another is by
extending sympathy, and that the aesthetic
function of ‘empathy’ is the key to uniting
people. That is why Tsai tried so hard to
promote aesthetic education. He thought
aesthetic education should not only be
provided in the form of art education in
schools, but also within the family and
across society as a whole.
From theory to implementation:
combining east and west
There was an inevitable contradiction
between Tsai’s theory and that of Kant.
For example, in Kant’s theory, sentiments
are the essence of ‘aesthetic sense’, and
the disinterested nature of aesthetic senti-
ments helps to make a man disinterested
in gain or loss and even helps to eliminate
the obsession of self-interest. Yet, to both
Tsai and Liang, it’s inevitable that senti-
ments as the foundation of aesthetic edu-
cation had no subjective purpose, while
aesthetic education as the tool of cultivat-
ing man’s spirit includes the property of
being purposeful.
According to Tsai, ‘aesthetic sentiments’
are derived from the interaction between a
human’s inner sentiments and his external
environment. In Kant’s opinion, however,
aesthetic sentiments are neither inner
emotions nor experiential, and they are
certainly not concerned with the material
objects in question. Rather, Kant believed
that when people bracket physical sensa-
tions and practical utility derived from
external stimulations, they will acquire a
free mind capable of experiencing pure
aesthetic sentiments.
In sum, Liang and Tsai claimed aesthetic
sentiments were experiential ‘products’,
whereas Kant stressed that they were
transcendental and pure. The difference
may lie in their focuses, with Liang and
Tsai looking towards the source and Kant
at the result. Yet, in spite of these differ-
ences, Tsai laid the foundation for modern
Chinese aesthetic education by adapting
some of Kant’s viewpoints, and Tsai’s the-
ory of human sentiments injected new life
into a traditional Confucianism that had
always valued rationality and disparaged
emotions.
Liang and Tsai initiated a series of plans
to introduce lifelong aesthetic education to
families, schools and society, to make aes-
thetic education a necessary tool for build-
ing the nation. Unfortunately, their plans
failed to come to fruition, mainly because
the Chinese were hard pressed by political
unrest and economic hardship. But they
undeniably made a great contribution by
laying the groundwork for modern Chi-
nese aesthetic education. Because of their
efforts to promote the paramount value
of human sentiments, modern Chinese
thinking regarding aesthetic education can
develop into a new and promising field.
Mei-Yen Lee
is a Professor in the Department of Chinese
Language and Literature at National Pingtung
University of Education, Taiwan, Republic of
China.
melee@mail.npue.edu.tw
angel_sheny516@yahoo.com.tw