莊
莊 – Zhuang1 – Village
莊子 – Zhuang1 Zi5 – Zhuang Zi
Zhuang Zi is the guy who couldn’t figure out if he was Zhuang Zi dreaming he was a butterfly, or a butterfly dreaming he was Zhuang Zi. He also had a famous argument with another philosopher, “Hui Zi”. Zhuang Zi saw some fish swimming and mentioned to Hui Zi how happy the fish were. Hui Zi, sensing a possible philosophical duel, said “You aren’t a fish… how do you know if they are happy?” Zhuang Zi thought quickly and came back with this crushing blow: “How do YOU know that I don’t know that THEY are happy if YOU aren’t ME!?!?”
On our trip they told us that this exchange happened at the Happy Fish Pavilion at Yu Yuan garden in Shanghai, but apparently that pavilion is only supposed to REMIND you of this and is not where this historic argument actually took place.