“Knowing, Changing, Resisting, and Resigning to Ming 命: Evolving Narratives of Fate Amid Socio-Economic Shifts in Contemporary China”
By Dr Mieke Matthyssen, Department of Chinese Studies, Ghent University
The concept ming 命 , usually translated as “command” or “fate”, has up till today deeply pervaded Chinese culture. Within the history of ideas, ming has seen most of its intellectual debate in (Neo-)Confucian thought. In folk religion, more down to earth fate beliefs and fate management practices have always constituted vital aspects of daily life. Despite the vast web of ming related convictions and practices, they rarely relate to fate and fatalism as they are usually understood in the West. In Western contexts, fate is often linked to religious beliefs involving a divine creator or, alternatively, framed in philosophical discussions as fatalism in opposition to free will. Fate then becomes either divinely ordained, or a deterministic force that limits human agency. Likewise, Western perspectives often assume that Chinese people are generally resigned and fatalistic. However, from a Chinese viewpoint, ming (fate) has multiple dimensions, as reflected in various sayings that incorporate the concept of ming. These sayings often convey paradoxical advice and wisdoms and promote both surrender to and changing fate as a moral imperative. With such common ming-related sayings as starting point, this paper will focus on how ming is discursively deployed in contemporary narratives on fate, and how these can be linked to the changing socio-political and economic environment.
Dr Mieke Matthyssen is a lecturer in the Department of Chinese Studies at Ghent University. Her research focusses on Chinese health strategies and life wisdoms, examining how traditional conceptions of well-being, health, and the body are reshaped by the forces of modernity, globalization, migration, and urbanization. Adopting a cross-disciplinary approach, she integrates linguistic and medical anthropology, indigenous Chinese psychology, philosophy, and intellectual history in her work.
This is a United Nations International Chinese Language Day event.
This is also part of the UCD Irish Institute for Chinese Studies Public Lecture Series.
This event is held both in-person and online, with the lecture delivered in English.
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