I would like to thank Miss Maria Fung for this invitation and the Chinese-American Librarian’s Association for making the arrangements!

I would like to welcome everyone!

Section 1: Starting from Lao Tzu

The famous ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu was a librarian!

He worked at the Royal Library during the Chou Dynasty.

After he retired, he wrote a book called Tao Te Jing (The Classic of Way and Power), and then he left China heading westward and was never again heard from.

This is how it was recorded in the Historical Record, a work by Si-ma Chien, a great historian during the Han Dynasty. His work, the Historical Record--honored as the first of its kind--has become the model for all subsequent writings about the history of China.

The Tao Te Jing written by Lao Tzu became a classic and served as the philosophical foundation of Chinese Taoism.

However, it was not Lao Tzu himself who turned his philosophy into a popular religion. Taoism, as a religion, was created by someone named Chang Tao-ling who lived near the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty. He honored Lao Tzu as the founder almost seven hundred years after Lao Tzu’s death.

Chang Tao-ling used Lao Tuz’s mystic teachings and images to recruit followers for a rebellion against the then Chinese emperor. His revolt failed; the religion survived. That is how Chinese Taoism as a religion started.

Lao Tzu was also a contemporary of Confucius. Yet Lao Tzu was supposedly older than Confucius.

According to history, Confucius learned ceremonies of the Chou Dynasty from Lao Tzu; because of that, some people say Confucius was also Lao Tzu’s student. It has become a controversial issue and it is yet to be settled.

Section 2: Appearance of Hua Hu

Another two hundred years passed after the Taoist religion had been created. Someone said that Sakyamuni, founder of Buddhism, was also a student of Lao Tzu. The person who said it was Wong Fou. It was in the year of 305 A.D. Wong himself was a Taoist who lived during the time of the Western Jin Dynasty. In addition to Taoism, Buddhism had been introduced to China and was spreading. Both Taoists and monks were competing to recruit followers and both sides argued frequently on the issues of their teachings.

One rumor was that Taoist Wong Fou had lost many religious debates. He decided to turn his argument into a book whereas he stated that having completed the writing of Tao Te Jing, Lao Tzu left China, going westward, and arrived in India, where he enlisted a young student. Since Lao Tzu wanted to educate the barbarians, he helped this young disciple created a new religion. This young student’s name was Sakyamuni; and his religion, of course, is today’s Buddhism.

Wong Fou named his book "Hua Hu Jing", simply because in Chinese "Hua" means "to educate" and "Hu" means the "Barbarians". At that time, the Chinese viewed their nation as the center of the world as well as the civilization of the human race. Everybody beyond the middle part of China were barbarians.

"Hu" is a term for "foreigners" or "barbarians". It also implied that Buddhism came from a foreign country.

The Taoists welcomed that story, since it raised the position of Lao Tzu.

At the same time, the Buddhists rejected it because it degraded the position of the Buddha.

So the arguments between both sides gradually intensified.

From the Jin Dynasty through the period of the so-called Southern and Northern Dynasties, then Sui and Tang, until the end of the Southern Sung Dynasty--for one thousand years--the debates were unsettled.

During that time, both sides came to the court in front of the Chinese emperor to stage their arguments as to whether or not the story inside Hua Hu Jing was true or false. At times, the emperor even acted as an arbitrator.

Sometimes the emperors would side with the Buddhists and other times, the emperors would favor the Taoists. Either way, they were ordered to stop arguing. Yet that was only temporary. After a few years, the debates started all over again.

At the same time, Hua Hu Jing not only became more popular, but its contents kept increasing.

One volume increased to ten volumes as others inserted stories.

The part about Lao Tzu enlisting Buddha as his disciple evolved further. A new version had Lao Tzu’s Chinese student reincarnated as the prince born in India who then created Buddhism when he grew up. This new version of the story had further downgraded Buddha’s position as a grand student of Lao Tzu. It was obvious that the Taoists wanted to raise Lao Tzu one level up.

So the polemic fight continued until the beginning of the Yuan Dynasty.

Section 4: The Mongol Emperor Intervened

From the standing point of the then Chinese, the Mongolians were foreigners who rose in the big desert under the leadership of Genghis Khan. After defeating the nearby Kingdoms of Gin (or Gold) and Western Hsia in the north of China, the Mongolians marched south, aiming to destroy the Southern Sung Dynasty.

When Kubilai Khan became the Great Khan of the Mongol forces, he wanted to build his empire to include the entire land of China.

By recruiting a group of renowned Chinese scholars into his Mongolian administration, he planned to adopt the ways and means of past Chinese rulers and used Han Chinese to rule Han Chinese.

One of the things he did to show his adoption of Chinese traditional culture was order a debate to be held in his presence while he acted as arbitrator.

That took place in the year of 1258 A.D.

The result was that Kubilai Khan sided with the Buddhists and declared Hua Hu Jing as a forbidden scripture that was to be banned and burned. The seventeen Taoists who had been participants in the debate were shaved bald and forced to become monks. Later they were put into prison. More than two hundred Taoist monasteries that were allegedly once the worship places of Buddhism in Northern China were converted back to Buddhist temples.

When Kubilai Khan finally defeated the Southern Sung in 1279, he ordered in 1281 another banning and burning of the Hua Hu Jing throughout his empire including the area that used to be ruled by the Sung.

According to the official writings and personal memoirs of Chinese scholars from the Mongol (or Yuan) period to the very end of the Manchu (or Ching) Dynasty, no one saw the text of Hua Hu Jing again.

Section 5: The Reason Behind Banning

Some believed the reason behind Kubilai Khan’s banning and burning of Hua Hua Jing was because he was a Buddhist believer.

My research on the subject did turn up evidence that Kubilai Khan honored a Tibetan Lama named Baisebar (or Phags-pa) as the National Teacher and later as the Imperial Teacher who was in charge of religious affairs. When Baisebar created the Mongolian writing system, he was granted a new title, the Treasure King of Great Magic.

Politically speaking that was not the vital factor for the banning of Hua Hu Jing.

I believe Kubilai Khan was not happy about the wide spread influence of the Tuan-Cheng (Absolute Truth) Sect in Taoism within the Mongolian domain. He looked for ways to weaken its growth and power.

The dramatic rise and flourish of Chinese Taoism during the Tuan-Cheng (Absolute Truth) Sect in the north was the result of Genghis Khan’s invitation of Taoist Chiu Chu-chi to his military camp for a private meeting. It was known as Taoist Chiu’s West Journey to the Big Desert in 1220-1223.

Genghis Khan called him "the immortal" and "the national teacher". With the support and help of the Khan, the Absolute Truth Sect developed rapidly and grew very strong. Even some monks with Buddhist temples converted to Taoism.

However, fifty years later, to Kubilai Khan, the Absolute Truth Sect of Taoism was still an organization of the Han people. It was not to be trusted.

Secondly, the Southern Sung Dynasty still existed. It could rally all the Han Chinese as its ally.

Thirdly, besides associated with followers of Buddhism, Kubilai wanted to win other allies of Taoism within the Sung proper. For instance, he sent an envoy to make contact with Tian-Shih (Celestial Masters) Sect by pretext of inquiring the future of his fortune. That was just a political gesture. And part of his preparation to defeat the Southern Sung.

Later development showed that Kubilai Khan released all the Taoists he jailed and honored some prominent figures of the Tuan-Cheng Sect posthumously. This proved that Taoism (or any Taoist sect) being the obvious opponent of Buddhism was not his target for elimination.

Yet, after all, I am just a storyteller, the real factors behind the banning should be the work of some real historians.

Section 6: The Sole Surviving Copy

Then, in the year of 1900, someone discovered a huge collection of ancient classics and scriptures in a cave in Dun-Huang beyond the Great Wall in China. Numbers are in thousands.

He reported his discovery to the local government. Soon an officer came and took a few pieces he had selected from the pile. He left and never returned nor cared to do anything about it.

The Taoist who made the discovery and lived there started to sell some of the items to sustain his living. Gradually, some foreign adventurers (including Russian, Swedish, French, and British) came to purchase items from the cave in large quantities. As a result, many books and other items were quietly shipped away.

Among them, one was later verified as the sole surviving copy of the Taoist scripture Hua Hu Jing. It was a hand-written copy from the Tang Dynasty. But it was incomplete. It is known that only volume one, two, eight, and ten still existing in fragments. Now they are kept partly in France and partly in England.

It is reported that after a very long time to negotiate the rights, the Two Fairies Monastery in the city of Cheng-tu in Szechwan, China has obtained photocopies of the remaining chapters.

However, when I visited Dun-Huang Museum in the beginning of the 21^st century, I saw a few photocopies of the surviving Hua Hu Jing displayed in a showcase. I also fortunately found out that this Taoist scripture had been stored in a Buddhist temple near by before it was kept with other classics inside a cave.

I later used my discovery as a twist in my story telling. So, by using the historical incident of Kubilai’s banning and burning of Hua Hu Jing as the story background, I created a Taoist girl as the protagonist, and gave her a mission as part of the last wish of her Sifu to save a copy the forbidden Taoist scripture.

Section 7: The Reason For Writing Hua Hu

I published two novels last year. I have them titled Hua Hu, which in fact implies other meaning.

I have already said earlier that Hua Hu in Chinese basically meant the Han Chinese wished to educate all foreigners. But, when it becomes a name (a title) and needs to be translated, the customs of both Chinese and English in reading the wording are in completely opposite direction.

Like my name is "Hanson Chan". But that is the American way; and the Chinese way, "Chan Hanson", the last name is put first then followed by the given name.

So, if "Hua Hu in Chinese" should become "Hu Hua in English", then, of course, it carries an opposite meaning. Now, instead of "Chinese educate the foreigners", the English wording becomes "the foreigners educate Chinese". Like it or not, here, "Chinese is educated by foreigners".

Another way to look at the wording of Hua Hu is that "Hua" in Chinese grammar can be "a verb" or "a verbal adjective". Either way, it means, "educated foreigners" or "in the process of becoming foreigners". It is because in Chinese grammar, verb has no tense; it can be present, past, or the past participle. So much for all the explanations. I guess you all catch what I meant for now.

My novels Hua Hu have both Chinese and English editions. You can read either one or either way.

By flipping it through, it is simply a historical story.

Yet, seriously speaking, it is also an allegory.

Because my two novels have a bigger framework that I would like to disclose to the audience.

The story of my novels Hua Hu starts with the dream of a modern girl living in America. She had a repetitive dream of strange things that once related to Hua Hu. She couldn’t understand what her dream was about. So she started her quest for an answer, which later brought her all the way to Dun-Huang in China. She was following something she thought might have been a legacy from her family roots.

So, you see, Hua Hu is also a story of "root searching". It is also a modern story.

No matter it is the story of a girl’s "root searching" or the story of telling some aspects of a "cultural root", my Hua Hu story introduces the modern phenomena of mixed races.

It is not just a historical fiction with a few chapters of actions in Chinese martial arts. I actually used my stories to introduce Chinese culture and tradition to the younger generation of Chinese-American families in USA and other parts of the world. By using simple terms and stories, I tried to unmask the mysteries of Taoism to all my readers.

That is the main reason I wrote Hua Hu stories.

Section 8: Other Meaning for Hua Hu

In reviewing some of the surviving text of Hua Hu Jing, I found sentences of descriptions on Lao Tzu as the incarnation of the Grand Supreme Lord of Tao.

There are also other sentences on other subjects.

Let me quote some from the surviving text:

(quoted) "…I changed myself into lighting, flying westward and arrived at a nearby kingdom. I was soon born into a royal family; showing up as a prince. Later, I left the family and showed others ‘Tao’. I starting called myself a name with the ending of "Muni". I dressed simply and created a religion…"

"Soon, ‘Tao’ became popular. A few years later, I returned to China to further spread ‘Tao’. I also taught Confucius…"

"Then it came time for all the teachings to merge. The three religions (Taoism, Buddhism, Confucianism) were to combine into one. It was ‘Tao’ that the three evolved in the beginning. Regardless if it was Heaven or Hades, ‘Tao’ will eventually save all living things in the universe."(unquoted)

Although the text above dealt with a Taoist idea of the so-called "three religions from the same source", it also implicitly implied a wish of all peoples merging together at the end.

This was also to re-enforce a Chinese Confucian concept of "the grand union of all human under the sun".

That is to say, we, peoples of the world, will sooner or later merge together, regardless of Chinese Hans or foreigners, regardless religion, culture, color, and language. We will become members of a big family.

We, human, started out believing the world was a flat land to accept the world is a bigger universe. Our ancestors, the Chinese, started out believed that "the Middle Kingdom was the center of the world and the most advanced" to realize "China is a part of the whole world". And China, as a nation, traditionally only regarded "Han Chinese the real Chinese" to modern times include "Manchurians, Mongolians, Muslims, Tibetans, and fifty more minorities" are members and citizens of China. It is a big change from the past to present, from inside of China to outside of China.

At the same time, we, the so-called "Chinese living over seas", are also changed. We witness all the Chinese outside of China are in the process of changing.

We came to America.

From speaking Chinese to speaking English.

From living in Chinese way to living in American way.

Some of us become US citizens. Some Chinese married non-Chinese. They and us, their children and our children, are all in the process of "Hu Hua"—educated (or assimilated) by the foreigners here in the USA.

Some of us may still call ourselves "Chinese". Perhaps, at the same time, they will become "Chinese-Americans" soon. This is actually a way of going to "Hu Hua".

In short, it is a march towards a worldwide assimilation. Just like Confucius said, "A thousand miles starts with a single step."

Regardless of going to be "Hua Hu" or "Hu Hua", we all objectively strike hard towards a life goal; we all subjectively go after a dream of better tomorrow.

Chinese pioneers in the past came with a dream of getting rich and returning home; Chinese new immigrants of today come with a dream of settling down and becoming part of the melting pot in America.

It is a modern trend of "Hu Hua"; another new meaning I meant for my Hua Hu novels, which have been published both in Chinese and English editions.

I wish -- with helps of all of you, the librarians -- they will be fortunately put on the shelf of every library throughout the USA as part of my work and your work to bridge the cultures of Chinese and American.

Thanks!