Download or read book Symbols of Anguish written by Helmut Martin and published by Peter Lang Gmbh, Internationaler Verlag Der Wissenschaften. This book was released on 2001 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The reception of China in the West is very often dominated by Chinese scholars like Lin Yutang who defined the Chinese people as «joyful beings» and Chinese civilization as a «civilization of joy». Nonetheless, in the history of Chinese thought since ancient times not only the expression of sadness itself but also guidelines to its expression can be found. How are we to understand this? These papers from the Bonn conference «Melancholy and Society in China» explore various aspects of this issue.