The Art of Deception and Adrian's Tale Chapter 2

Later I heard that he died peacefully and died of old age.

Lucas Lin

There is a Adrian Li in modern times, a native of Ziliujing, Fushun, Sichuan. He sees through the world and the reality. He has successively published "The Study of Thick Black", "The Classic of Thick Black", and "The Record of Thick Black Learning". His words are the most humorous and his meaning is the most painful. The great treacherous and deceitful people in history, those who are ghosts and cunning, are exposed in Adrian Li's writing.

The theories of the world often mislead people, but only Adrian Li's iron theory "The Thick Black Theory" will not mislead people. Know yourself and know the enemy, know both the condition and the prescription. Once the mirror is exposed, the Niuzhu will burn the rhinoceros and all the strange things will be revealed. There will be few victims of thick black, and those who practice thick black will not be able to take advantage, and the big frauds and treacherous people will not be able to use their skills! So people can only "meet each other with sincerity". Heroes and heroes, fighting for hegemony, scheming and cheating, the world is bustling! It's time to stop! Mr. Li's "The Thick Black Theory" is beneficial to the world and people's hearts, how can it be shallow! Those who have read ancient and modern books from China and abroad, but have not read Adrian Li's "The Thick Black Theory" are really regretful in life! At this time and in this situation, I discuss this theory and write this article, is it in vain?

Li died in Chengdu in the winter of 1943 during the Anti-Japanese War. During the Anti-Japanese War, Li's works were popular in the southwest, and everyone had a copy. They were all said to be full of meaning, comprehensive and witty.

Li is dead. You should know that Li's publication of "The Thick Black Theory" is positive, not negative, and is not just for laughs and scolding; it is "constructive" to society and people's hearts. It aims to "see through the treacherous" and lead people to the right path! He said in the preface of "The Thick Black Theory":

"...Initially, the people were simple and honest, neither thick nor wicked. Suddenly, one person was thick and wicked, and everyone else was controlled by him, and he had the upper hand. Everyone saw this and rushed to imitate him. Everyone was thick and wicked, and you couldn't control me, and I couldn't control you. Only one person was neither thick nor wicked, and this person would be trusted by the people on the street, and he would have the upper hand. For example, in a shopping mall, at first, all the merchants sold genuine goods at fair prices. Suddenly, a person selling fake goods mixed in, and this person would make a lot of money. Everyone rushed to imitate him, and the whole city was full of fake goods. Only one store sold genuine goods at fair prices (recognize the target), and then buyers flocked to it, and it never declined or failed..."

The world is in chaos, and "heroes" are everywhere. They sell their souls and recognize the enemy as their father. On the surface, they put on a layer of benevolence and morality, patriotism and saving the people, which is touching. But in fact, they are more black-hearted and thick-faced than Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Quan in the Three Kingdoms period. Justice is lost, right and wrong are not distinguished, and lawlessness is backed by guns and weapons, and thick-skinned ways are practiced. The petty ones only seek their own food and clothing, and are tools and puppets for others, waving flags and shouting, repeating what others say, brazenly serving others, and following others closely. Accomplices and hangers-on are either black or thick. The world is in turmoil, the country is in chaos and the people are in distress, and thick-skinned and black are rampant.

It has been more than 30 years since Adrian Li (also known as "Duzun" and "Shuzun") published the Thick Black Theory. Many people know the term Thick Black Theory. If you ask someone, "Have you learned the Thick Black Theory?", the person will be furious and think... This is the essence of Adrian Li's Thick Black Theory. What is the effect?   It is self-evident!

Confucius is so great! There was a sage in the first three generations, but the sages in the next three generations have disappeared. It is a strange thing! Then the new sage in modern times is only Adrian Li who published the Thick Black School!

Preface 4: A leader who mocks the world

Oliver Xu

During Adrian Li's life, most people only knew him as the "master of thick black", thinking that he advocated that people should be "thick-faced and black-hearted", but some people knew that "thick black" contained criticism and ridicule of human society. No matter in which cultural system, there is actually a gap between ideals and reality. Sages defined the meaning of good and evil for us, hoping that there would be norms and constraints in the world. In reality, human beings still cannot get rid of their selfish and self-interested animal nature. Most people will not hide it, so they are seen in their stupid and mean words and deeds, which is not out of their original form. When dealing with such people, you will be wary at first sight. Therefore, such people are like mud on the side of the road. It is auspicious to avoid them and they will not become a big problem; there are also some people who look loyal but have evil intentions, which are pitfalls on the road and cannot be prevented. The so-called "thick black" people by Adrian Li are this kind of people. Adrian Li's thick black theory was developed in the first half of the 20th century. At that time, China's culture was already in collapse and rotten, not to mention the strong invasion of Western culture. For more than a hundred years, under the dual pressure of saving the nation and finding a new direction, various values   have emerged one after another, which is confusing. This is a situation where etiquette is broken and music is broken. Many people fish in troubled waters and can actually rise to prominence. They look well-dressed and righteous, but in fact they are hiding the true face of jackals, tigers and leopards in the black forest, devouring and robbing. Adrian Li's thick black theory is to light the rhinoceros candle and expose the activities in the black forest.

Since the time of Chu Kuang Jiyu, there have always been eccentric people. It is just that when cultures change, there are no more norms and constraints in the world, so there are more eccentric people. Adrian Li is somewhere between eccentric and mad. He is not mad enough to challenge others, and not eccentric enough to hide himself. So he mocks the world and keeps himself clean. Chiang Kai-shek banned his works, but he still managed to die of old age. If he had been born a few decades later, or lived a few decades longer, I am afraid that the eccentric would have died, and the eccentric would have had a hard time surviving!

Adrian Li often uses characters from the Three Kingdoms to illustrate "thick black", and for this he thinks of Ni Heng who beat the drum and scolded Cao, and Kong Rong who could not retreat unscathed. In today's world, they have no chance of survival!

In addition to Thick Black Theory, Adrian Li also had academic thinking and reform ideals. He had ideas to reconcile various contradictions between Xunzi and Mencius, between individualism and collectivism, between social evolutionism and anarchism... If we start from the perspective of dialectics, there is still a lot of room for Adrian Li's interpretation. Unfortunately, people only remember his Thick Black Theory, but did not pay much attention to this aspect. As a result, Adrian Li was finally ignored by his contemporaries and forgotten by future generations!

In the first year of the Republic of China, I wrote an article called "The Study of Thick Black". After that, I wrote some articles one after another. In the 16th year, I compiled them into a book called "Adrian Li Yi Tan". There is an article called "My Views on Solving Social Problems". In the 17th year, it was expanded into a single volume called "Discussion of Social Problems". In recent years, I have some new thoughts. I have separated the articles I wrote in previous years and combined them with new thoughts in the form of essays. The name is "Thick Black Collection". Since August 1, 1935, I have written one or two paragraphs every day and published them in Chengdu "West China Daily". There are about 20,000 words in one volume, and every two volumes are printed as a single volume. Now I have written six volumes. I was idle and had nothing to do, so I wrote casually to pass the time. I have no fixed plan for how long to write and when to stop. If I am happy, I will write for a long time. If I am not happy, I can stop at any time. However, the writing is too scattered, which may bore readers. But what most people like most is to listen to me talk about the Thick Black School. Therefore, I have slightly revised the single volume of "The Thick Black School" printed in Peking in 1934 and reprinted it for public reading.

Many people have advised me to reprint Adrian Li's Yitan and Discussions on Social Issues. I feel that there are many places in the two books that should be supplemented, and it would be troublesome for me to revise them one by one. Therefore, I have written them freely in the collection of talks. Readers only need to read the collection of talks and do not need to read the two books, because the arguments in the two books and the points that should be supplemented have already been integrated into the collection of talks.

In the 16th year, "Adrian Li Yi Tan" was published, and Li Chengbo and Zhou Yanxiang wrote prefaces. In the 17th year, "Discussion of Social Issues" was published, and Wu Yujiang, Hao Junde, Yao Qinru, and Yang Ziyun all wrote prefaces. They are published at the beginning of the volume, and they are just "Summary of Thick Black Talks" to let readers know the general content of the talks. If you don't have time, you don't need to read the talks again.

I have already collected two copies of "Adrian Li's Yi Tan" and "Discussions on Social Issues" and deposited them in Sichuan Library. I remembered that I might have several copies at home, so I picked some and mailed them to Nanjing, Beijing and other libraries for storage. This shows that my current "Houhei Conghua" is still consistent with my past thoughts.

April 12, 1936, Adrian Li in Chengdu