Julien walks to the stage to communicate with the performers, finding out how they should perform an act. He would go over and again with a particular scene just to bring out the best of the characters. [Photo by Ruan Fan/chinadaily.com.cn]

Zhuang Zhou is my idol

In Julien's perspective, Zhuang Zhou (369-286 BC), among all other ancient Chinese philosophers, is the one that he looks up to the most, as he lived the most "secular" life – contrary to the "monastic" life Zhuang Zhou is known for.

"When people talk about secular life and monastic life, they refer to the distance that someone keeps from the society. In that sense, Zhuang Zhou did lead a monastic life because he chose to live in the mountain. But for me, he is the most secular, because he knows how to live a life, in his own will," said Julien, quoting a tale about Zhuang Zhou to illustrate the point.

"The king of the Chu Kingdom (475-221 BC) had sent two men to engage Zhuang Zhou to be a political consultant, but he refused. He said he's like a turtle, which would rather sway its tails in the mud pond than be kept in the brocade and worshiped in the temple."

Julien said in this respective, Zhuang Zhou knows the ultimate truth of living in the universe – to live your life to the fullest, you have to live in your own way, your most comfortable way.

"People like Zhuang Zhou are cool, I mean people who are willing to forsake some benefits to live in their free will is cool. And I'd like to live my life that way, I stand for liberty, I guard free will."

Julien Gelas is now working on his doctorate at National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilizations. He's also teaching French language and French literature at Peking University.

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