Readers' Discussions, Comments & Inquiries
Archived pages
Evidence 5: Bendi (セ) and Hakka in Hong Kong In Hong Kong, there were two major groups of indigenous population living in the New Territories before the British occupation in 1898. The Bendis are speaking a variant of Cantonese, occupy the fertile lowland in the Northwestern part of the territory and claim to have come to Hong Kong between the 11th and 14th Century from Jiangxi, Guangdong and Fujian. The family name WEN (ゅ) is said to be the decendents of the brother of Wen Tianxiang (ゅぱ不), the great patriot who was captured by the Yuan army.
It seems to indicate that some of the Hakka people in Hongkong are related to Wen Tianxiang.
Ming
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Sunday, February 27, 2000 at 14:21:34 (PS
It is very interesting going back to the concrete meaning of words and characters
to get the real sense of an expression: In Chinese (at least ancient) society
the single person is *nothing*, because getting his value/rank from his familiar
compound he is integrated in. Much more than in Western society, he depends
on and defines himself by this structure. If cut off from his social compound,
he is isolated and 'lingding', somehow comparable to the last one of an extinguished
people ("Der Letzte der Mohikaner"/"The last Mohawk", as
we say in German).
BTW, in old Germanic society, it had been quite the same: criminals in severe
cases were not sentenced to death, but the jury just 'broke the pole' (of his
social membership) over him, thus condemning him outlaw. This ment that he no
longer was a 'man' (with all his duties and rights), but became 'vogelfrei'
(lit. 'bird-free'=outlawed): everybody could kill him without getting punished
for it. If nobody killed him, he most probably would die anyway, because he
was to live outside the society in the hostile woods - he was 箂!
Alfred 而纒
http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de
Traces of Butterflies' Dreams
- 胶冠勃 "Tieh Meng Hen"
My Poetry
The term "ling ding" should not translate to "solitude" at all. "Solitude" denotes "alone, not among many" but does not imply "bad or unhappy state." A scholar may like to retire to a quiet place and live in solitude, for example.
"Ling ding" definitely implies an unhappy and undesirable state of affairs. "Ling ding" and the full phrase "gu ku ling ding" conveys the full description of "alone in the world, with no friends and relatives, floating around with no roots, in need and poor."
"Ling ding" cannot be applied to a "tall mountain peak standing above all others" or a "single tree in a field".
BTW, I believe that the name of the location "Ling Ding Yang" existed before Wen Tianxiang went there. Wen did not assign the name to the place to reflect his sorrow state of affairs, but only pointed out the irony of the name of the location in relation to his state of mind.
I prefer "lonely" over "alone". Ling Ding Yang is definitely not "Sea of Tranquility"!
Ming
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei99>
- Sunday, February 27, 2000 at 11:30:18 (PS
As for Su Tung-p'o's poem: を - 垫ō. Could this refer to the Mongols and the Hans? Just a random shot.
Alfred 而纒
http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de
Traces of Butterflies' Dreams
- 胶冠勃 "Tieh Meng Hen"
My Poetry
Perilious Beach at Gan River, Wan-an County, Jiangxi Province. ﹁窾郡艬
Sorry, Su Dongpo's poem has a word ゆ added in by mistake. I append again:
ńを,
舮繷垫ō;
拘尺舧骋环冠,
磓舮﹖.
Xi3 Huan1 尺舧 apparently is a name.
Tin-Kay
磓舮瞷﹁蒃郡琌艬舮讽い. そじ1277﹁砆じ瓁ゴ毖...
箂瑅柑驰箂: Yes, 'lingding' has the meaning of 'solitary','lonely' etc. hence the place is called 'Solitary Sea'. Yet, reading these characters (=pictures) my imagination is quite different from reading the word 'solitary' or (German) 'einsam'/'verlassen' etc. In English, I have the image of a solitary peak, a lonesome single tree amidst a wide plain or desert; in German 'verlassen' is 'left (back) alone'. But 'ling ding' also implies 'single being/man' (ding) 'left over' 箂 (ling). So I translate it by 'the (lonely) rest of us', 'the rest of my men (fighting)'. Hence: "... (now) at Ling Ting Yang, at the 'Leftover Men's Sea', where the rest of my men is wailing..." (e.g. 驰炳笲ぱ or 驰璚).
Alfred 而纒
http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de
Traces of Butterflies' Dreams
- 胶冠勃 "Tieh Meng Hen"
My Poetry
Dear Siu-Leung, Yoon-Ngan & Friends of the Wen Tianxiang Discussion
Yoon-Ngan is right. It is in Jiangxi Province at present-day Wan4 An1 County on the bank of Gan River (Gan4Jiang1) ﹁窾郡艬﹁. Besides Wen Tianxiang, Su Dongpo also mentioned it in his poem "Crossing Gan River to Perilious Beach (HuangKongTan) on the Seventh of August" るら艬筁磓舮 as follows:
ńを,
舮繷ゆ垫ō;
拘尺舧骋环冠,
磓舮﹖.
I will leave you scholars to translate the poem.
Tin-Kay
Dear Alfred
I cannot find the word 郭 (posted by you earlier) in my Chinese simplified text dictionary which also shows the older text version. The word in the poem by Wen Tianxiang is liao2 归. Usually, when I encounter a missing word in the dictionary, the word is rarely used and is the name of a person or place. Is 郭 the name of a person? Please advise.
Tin-Kay
Dear Ming & Julian
Ming, thanks for pointing out the error 猠 instead of 猠 in the poem posted earlier by Alfred. Like you, I copied and pasted onto my write-up (the English translation by Prof. XYZ).
Julian, thanks for pointing out liang3 for weight unit ㄢ instead of yu3 獴. Just shows that one has to be careful reading Chinese words, especially when one is used to the new simplified text.
Tin-Kay
Zhuhai is propitious for giving birth to great men. A 3000-years cliff carving was found at Goulan Bay, the patriotic poet Wen Tianxiang wrote here his famous poem "cross the lingding Sea".
In GB code,
珠海人杰地灵，3000多年前
就有先人在高栏宝镜湾遗留下磨
崖石刻，爱国志士文天祥在这里
留下《过伶仃洋》的历史名篇。
The website is at http://fjnet.net.cn/16/16e/16e.htm
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Saturday, February 26, 2000 at 17:02:07 (PS
and his writings, started by a
question from Jen. I am not sure if Jen is still following
this thread or not, but I would hope that he is not misled
to think we are real experts on the subject, as some of the
stories are just "stories." 
has been translated
into many western languages. (My apologies to Jen.) I have
not seen these translations. The Association of Asian Studies
(AAS) in fact had a panel discussion on Wen TianXiang !!!
I have had a background story about Wen TianXiang' in
the Biography page for some time. I do
not know how historically accurate this page is.
In the meantime, let's continue with our fun.
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Saturday, February 26, 2000 at 13:40:42 (PS
Dear Yoon-Ngan, Julian, Siu-Leung & friends
Ha! Chinese history is truly interesting, but there are always different versions. Now, we have two versions of how Kowloon (Jiu3 Long2) 纒 came about, one from Yoon-Ngan and one from Julian.
From my reading, the Song Dynasty deserved its come-uppance, despite the sacrifice and patriotism of heroes like Yue Fei, Han Shizhong 龙┚, Lu You 嘲村 and Wen Tianxiang. With fun-loving and selfish emperors, compounded by traitorious Prime Ministers like Qin Hui and Jia Shidao 鸽笵, no number of patriots could save the declining Dynasty.
The final days of the Song Dynasty came with the rise of the Mongols under Genghis Khan, who was initially aided by the Song army to crush the Jins (predecessors of the Manchus). After destroying the Jins, Genghis Khan then turned on the Song. With his premature death, his grandson, Kublai Khan, consolidated the Mongol grip on China for his uncle, Mengge Khan 籜.
Jia Shidao, brother of the favourite concubine to the Song Li Zong 瞶﹙ Emperor, tried secretly to sue for peace without success. When Kublai withdrew temporarily to take over the Mongol court in Dadu (Beijing), Jia pretended he had repelled the Mongols and was rewarded with high titles at the Southern Song court in Hangzhou (then called Ling-an). He banished many capable and upright officials, including Liu Zheng 糂俱 and Wen Tianxiang. Despite the external threat to the Song Empire, he took a great interest in crickets, such that he wrote a treatise on crickets and was called the cricket prime minister. Later, when Hangzhou was put under seige, Jia, the villian of the day, was finally impeached for incompetence and exiled, but was killed by his escort.
The Song Li Zong Emperor had no male heir, so his nephew was installed as the Du Zong ﹙ Emperor. The Du Zong Emperor died early from a suspicious death. In 1275, his aunt, the wife of the Li Zong Emperor, Dowager Empress, Xie 谅び, took over as regent, with his five year-old son, Zhao Xian 化陪, as the new Song Gong Zong ﹙ Emperor. She surrendered to the Mongols in 1276, and was sent with the Gong Zong Emperor and the widow of the Du Zong Emperor to the north of China as captives.
The Gong Zong Emperor's two brothers, nine year-old Zhao Shi 化琌, and six year old Zhao Bing 化昔 escaped south to Fuzhou in Fujian. Zhao Shi was enthroned by the remaining loyal Song retinue as the Duan Zong 狠﹙ Emperor . On their way to Vietnam, Zhao Shi was almost drowned after a shipwreck. Under stress and in poor health, he died soon after in 1278, possibly at Lantao off Hong Kong. Zhao Bing, his step-brother was then appointed as the last emperor, known as the Bing Di Emperor.
As Yoon-Ngan has mentioned, Zhao Bing was cornered at the beach in South China by the Mongols, and his faithful prime minister, Lu Xiufu 嘲╭ひ, then carried him into the sea, rather than be captured. Apparently, the body of Zhao Bing was later retrieved by the Mongols.
What happened to the Emperor Gong Zong under captivity by Kublai Khan? He was well treated and entered a monastery in order to escape any further Mongol persecution. However, he died inexplicably in 1323, probably a forced suicide. There was a rumour, considered by many historians as untrue, that he was the father of the future and last Mongol emperor, Toghon Temur (1320-1370) also called the Yuan Shundi Emperor. As in the case of the latter Qing Emperor Qianlong, the Chinese like to get back at the invaders by claiming that their imperial line had some Chinese progeny.
Tin-Kay
The correct word is ㄢ , not 獴 . ㄢ is an unit for measuring weight and in the olden days, it was used to determine the weight of gold.
FROM:Julian Yiu
Canada - Saturday, February 26, 2000 at 08:54:42 (PS
your post (Feb 26) of the Chinese text of the poem is obviously taken from
an earlier post. This contains a number of typo errors, which
should be corrected. The corrections have been confirmed by
Aolung and S.L. The correct version of the poem is:
The three poems of Wen TianXiang can be found at the webpage:
of CTB
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Saturday, February 26, 2000 at 08:35:49 (PS
Dear Ming, Alfred, Siu-Leung & friends
Allow me to post the English translation (with some changes) by Xu Yuan Zhong aka XYZ 砛瞁侥 (his last name in Pinyin should be chong4 rather than zhong4). Prof. XYZ from Beijing University has translated many Chinese poems into English verses.
筁箂瑅
ゅぱ不钢
ǒ璚綝硔癬竒
む郭辅㏄琍
猠瘆窰钠刀
ō疊↖獴ゴ涤
纷舮繷弧纷
箂瑅柑鼓 箂
ネ街礚
痙うみ酚獵
"Crossing Lonely Ocean"
Delving in the Book of Change, I rose through hardship great,
And desperately fought the foe for four long years;
Like willow catkin, the war-torn land looks desolate,
I sink or swim as duckweed in the rain appears.
For perils on Perilious Beach, I heaved and sighed,
On Lonely Ocean now, I feel dreary and lonely;
Since olden days, which man has lived and not died?
I'll leave a loyalist name in history!
Siu-Leung, thanks for explaining 獵 the sweat from the green bamboo strips, which means historical records or annals. My little poetry book explains that the repetition of 箂 in the line 箂瑅柑鼓 箂is to emphasize on the loneliness and isolation.
Tin-Kay
The translation of Chinese poem with historical citations is probably the most challenging task in all translations. Each of the heros named in Zheng Qi Ge would require at least three pages of explanation. LingDing Yang is another difficult translation. It is a name of the sea (not river), but the name also indicates loneliness and helpless situation, exactly as what Wen was experiencing (This expression is still commonly used in Cantonese). I could not locate WangKong Tan, the Beach of Fear, in the neighborhood of Hong Kong. But if one translates just by sound, then the meaning is lost. If by meaning, the tonal quality is lost. So, Chinese poetry may be the worse of all for translators. And that is why Chinese literature never received world recognition. So few people can actually read the original to appreciate all the intricacies.
Siu-Leung Lee
Asiawind.com
FROM:SL Lee <sllee@asiawind.com>
- Saturday, February 26, 2000 at 04:50:28 (PS
The next question is why the word rain 獴 yu3 in the Chinese or Japanese phrase 窾獴 (ten million rain) on the figurine. Has 獴 yu3 another meaning in Japanese or it just signifies rain drops 獴翴 yu3 dian3?
Tin-Kay
Lingdingyang
translation
磓舮繷弧磓
箂瑅柑鼓箂
My German translation is *not* a word-to-word translation, as one has to grasp the sense plus giving it a poetical shape. Giving a word-to-word translation of those two lines most probably would result in mere nonsense. You're right, of course, that 瑅柑 means *in* Lingdingyang (river)... Yet the two places names are referring to two *events* (in Wen's life and Sung history), maybe like *Waterloo* or *Munich* etc. - it is not too important indicating that the poet actually was *on the river*, but that Lingdingyang - at that time the poem was written - was the last milestone of his (and the empire's) descent. It is also much more necessary transferring the poet's intention of referring to his personal/historical fate by indicating to the very meaning of the two places names: as you mentioned already, it is almost impossible - but luckily, I managed doing this in German, to a certain extent and in a poetical form, although - naturally! - not as concisely as the Chinese original poem. I wouldn't dare doing this in English. Please give it a try yourself - or anybody else will!
BTW, I bet: Discussing タ簈 line by line here in the forum will fill almost one year's time!
Alfred 而纒
http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de
Traces of Butterflies' Dreams
- 胶冠勃 "Tieh Meng Hen"
My Poetry
I have a suspicion that the cat figurine you saw in the restaurant is a ┷ 癩 窟 . ( A cat that can attract money ). This cat is a Japanese creation, according to my source. If I am wrong, please let me know. The Chinese words ( or Japanese words )indicate how much money this cat can bring to his/her master - 蒃 ㄢ millions !
As this cat is such 種 繷 ( of such good fortune ) that many business men or even lay people buy it and put it in their business loactions or in their homes. The biggest one that I have ever seen is one that in London, right in the Piccadily ( sp ? ) Square. That cat is 2 storey high.
FROM:Julian Yiu
Canada - Friday, February 25, 2000 at 11:52:07 (PS
I am back from my short vacation. Pretty relaxing. Glad to see there are so many discussions as usual in this forum.
As regards to the story of Kowloon, I heard a different version which says that when the last Sung emperor escaped to Hong Kong, he was told that if he could find a place with ten dragons, then he would be safe to reside. So he and his faithful followers walked to the top of a mountain and counted the number of mountain ranges in the area which resembled dragons. They could only count nine dragons ( or mountain ranges ). They were so disappointed that they committed suicide by jumping over the cliff. What they did not know was the emperor was considered as a "dragon" and the total number should be ten instead of nine. Kowloon ( or nine dragons ) would be the safe haven for them.
Just a story, if you ask me.
FROM:Julian Yiu
Canada - Friday, February 25, 2000 at 11:36:23 (PS
Wen T'ien-hsiang
poem correction
Dear Siu-Leung and Ming, thanks for the correction. I hate those silly typos,
yet, like I already had mentioned, entirely typing in the written version of
my anthology several years ago was a deadly boring job for many weeks.
But the piao character doubted by S.L. is correct and authentical: 钠刀, it's
taken from Ш钢κand equal in fantizi and jiantizi.
Alfred 而纒
http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de
Traces of Butterflies' Dreams
- 胶冠勃 "Tieh Meng Hen"
My Poetry
甲骨文曾影响中美洲文明
【本报讯】郑州二十七日消息：一些著名的 考古学家和古文字学家最近对近三百个从中美 洲收集来的古印第安文字符号初步鉴定发现， 这些符号与三千年前中国的甲骨文有著惊人的 相似。由此，专家推测认为，甲骨文曾远渡重 洋影响中美洲文明。
日前在郑州结束的「纪念甲骨文发现一百周 年国际学术研讨会」上，美国学者许辉展示了 他专门带来的古印第安文字符号资料。这是许 辉用了五年的时间，从印地安早期文物，诸如 玉器、石雕、陶器及岩石上收集到的。
专家发现，这些字符与甲骨文的相似用法不 仅表现在农业方面，例如雨、水、天、禾、田 、木、树苗、太阳及方位，而且还表现在拜祖 祭宗和巫术神法上，类似中国天干地支、数字 和卦画等符号。
一些专家相信，考察两者之间的关，将为 国际考古学界、人类学界探讨中国殷商文明与 中美洲文明之间的关，提供有力的实证。以 古文字为证的泛太平洋研究，还将对人类文明 的起源、美洲文明的起源以及泛太平洋地区古 文化转移的研究具有重大意义。
南京大学历史学教授毓周说，许辉带来的 文字，与甲骨文的相似不是个别的、孤立的。 这充分说明殷商文化与中美洲文化之间存在的 渊源关。因为文字是文明的重要载体，两种 或多种文化不可能独自创造出相同的文字。 毓周认为，根据历史纪载，殷纣王的儿子武庚 禄父在国家灭亡带领族人北奔，很可能这部 分人远在哥伦布之前，就渡过白令海峡，到达 过中美洲。
与此相对应，美国哈佛大学学者艾克荷姆曾 提出，亚裔移民和探险家早在哥伦布之前就达 到了美洲，使新大陆的宗教、艺术、天文、建 筑蓬勃发展，形成美洲历史上的第一个文明社 会。他推测，美洲文明可能起源於青铜时代的 商朝，因为太平洋两岸同时期拥有类似的艺术 风格和宗教意识。
Siu-Leung Lee
FROM:asiawind.com <sllee@asiawind.com>
- Friday, February 25, 2000 at 06:10:04 (PS
Thanks for pointing it out to me. At a moment of oversight, I took the poem from here instead of from my own webpage. It is corrected now.
However, I note that there is one word "piao" which is still different from your version. Will you take a look and verify for me?
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Wednesday, February 23, 2000 at 16:15:44 (PS
There were are few wrong fonts in the posted poem. I am including the correction here:
辛苦遭逢起一經，干戈寥落四周星。
山河破碎風瓢絮，身世浮沉雨打萍。
惶恐灘頭說惶恐，零丁洋里嘆零丁。
人生自古誰無死，留取丹心照汗青。
Siu-Leung Lee
FROM:asiawind.com <sllee@asiawind.com>
- Wednesday, February 23, 2000 at 09:15:19 (PS
Siu-Leung Lee
Asiawind.com
FROM:SL Lee <sllee@asiawind.com>
- Wednesday, February 23, 2000 at 07:52:52 (PS
纷舮繷弧纷
箂瑅柑鼓箂
which make these two lines impossible to translate perfectly into another language. Nevertheness, it shouldn't stop us from translating the poem for others to enjoy. Aolung deserves our thanks in his efforts to introducing Wen Tianxiang to the world.
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Wednesday, February 23, 2000 at 06:41:32 (PS
Before paper was invented, writings were done on bamboo strips. The bamboo strips when raw is not easily inked. They have to be heated on fire to "sweat" it. Even when bamboo strips were quite readily available, writings were still treated with with great care, unlike the way we treat paper these days. HanQing here represents history and classics.
Siu-Leung Lee
FROM:http://www.asiawind.com <sllee@asiawind.com>
- Tuesday, February 22, 2000 at 22:03:01 (PS
Wen TianXiang was captured by the Yuan army in Shantou. He
was sent by ship from Shantou to Guangzhou. He wrote the
famous poem Ling Ding Yang (Passing Ling Ding Yang) on the
ship. Ling Ding Yang is near Hong Kong.
From Guangzhou, he was sent to Beijing.
The last two lines of the poem are indeed unforgetable. They
are to Chinese what the line by Patrick Henry
Give me liberty or give me death!
are to Americans.
Ming
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Tuesday, February 22, 2000 at 19:44:45 (PS
ネ街礚
痙うみ酚獵
Jen, those last two lines of Wen Tianxiang's (Wen T'ien-hsiang) poem Guo Lingdingyang
(Kuo Ling Ting Yang) indeed are talking of loyalty, and so is the whole poem's
historical background: Wen and his men were defeated and captured near Lingdingyang
somewhere in the south of China, near Hongkong I think, and then deported to
the north (Peking area), where he survived as a captive for some years, and
finally was executed.
The 'Right Force Canto' Zheng Qi Ge/Cheng Ch'i Ko mentioned by Prof. Pei is
a pretty huge poem talking about Wen's long miserable way up to the north as
a captive and his stay there until his death - in all his misery and pain always
keeping his 'golden heart' of loyalty (dan xin/tan hsin - cinnabar heart うみ).
The above poem's lines and the continuing canto is indeed touching: if you're
able to work with German, you sure can use my translation of Zheng Qi Ge and
the two poems translations notes. They can be found as #32 and #33 of my Sung
anthology "Tieh Meng Hen".
Alfred 而纒
http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de
Traces of Butterflies' Dreams
- 胶冠勃 "Tieh Meng Hen"
My Poetry
There are two diferent poems written by Wen TianXiang.
The one you are interested is the Real Force Canto, which
is in the classics page
You saw the photo. The full Chinese text, with Prologue, is
there also.
The Chinese names are often given in many latinized spellings. There is a concerted effort to end the confusion and adopt a standard system called pinyin.
The name of the poem is Zheng Qi Ge [ ] by Wen TianXiang [ ]. The sooner we conform
to this, the better off we will be.
The poem Kuo Ling Ting Yang with its German translation is not the one you wanted. BTW, the Chinese text of this poem is also given in this website as poem #99 of the "Selected 100 Song Poems."
FROM:Ming L Pei <webmaster>
- Tuesday, February 22, 2000 at 10:02:48 (PS
by is available
at
the Classics page.
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Tuesday, February 22, 2000 at 07:38:37 (PS
Dear Christine
On 1st February 2000, you posted a query about the tradition surrounding Pregnancy and Childbirth in China. Since there has been no reply to date, I will venture to give you an answer. However, I must add that, being a Western trained-doctor, I disagree with many of the traditional practices towards women in pre-Republic China.
Also, many traditional practices in present day China have been largely obliterated or modified following social restructuring by the Communist Party. Tradition may die hard in the villages, so these practices will be seen in more remote areas than in the cities. They may also vary from province to province, and dialectal group to dialectal group.
Before going on to pregnancy, let me mention the traditional but outmoded Chinese view of the status of women and marriage. The ancient Confucian teaching was that the woman must listen to her husband, and following the death of her husband, she must listen to her eldest son. (This may be paradoxical when the son in turn must be filial to his mother, and hence listen to her wishes. Usually, the mother had precedence over the son, as seen in the power of many Dowager Empresses.) Hence, in ancient China, the woman was generally born into servitude and bondage, initially to the parents, then to her husband and mother-in-law, and following the death of her husband, to a life of expected chastity.
A girl was not encouraged to be educated as her brothers, but should stay content in sewing, embroidery and house-hold duties. She could be sold to a richer house-hold, if she was lucky to escape infanticide in times of hardship. Men were allowed many wives and mistresses, but a wife would suffer a serious punishment if deemed unfaithful. In the film, Raise the Red Lantern, the second wife, who had an affair with her doctor, was killed by the husband as if expected by the prevailing society. In earlier times in the southern province of Guangdong, if the bride was 慺ound to have been a non-virgin, she was immediately put in a pig basket and drowned. I believe many innocent virgins were drowned on a basis of a torn hymen or suspicion.
Marriage in ancient China was not so much for love as for the continuing of the family name, for maintaining the ancestral rites and for having a good wife to help the mother. The ridicule is that some of the husbands might be children when married to their older betrothed. Also, if the man died prematurely, the woman was still forced into a marriage ceremony, with the cockerel as the representative of the dead husband抯 image. She would then stay in the dead husband抯 home to continue her submission to her mother-in-law. No wonder some Chinese girls preferred to take their lives than submit to a marriage, usually to husbands they had no idea of.
When the woman was pregnant, she would be given good care, if a male heir to the family was hoped for. She was not allowed to sleep side-wards or lean forward. Special food and herbs were given to strengthen her and the foetus. She had to see and think of beautiful things like paintings (e.g. Hundred Children, Chang Guolao on a donkey with a child), jewels and birds, listen to soothing music, avoid heavy work, refrain from disrupting the format in the room or house or furniture. Eggs and fish were not to be eaten because of 憄oison, rabbits because of hare-lip, black sauce because of darkened skin and tortoise because of short neck. Wine and strong spices were not consumed. Nails were not to be extracted, and silk-worm farms and funerals were avoided.
While awaiting delivery, the family might seek divine intervention in the various temples through offerings and promises. Fortune tellers might be sought to know the sex of the baby. The mother might wear a talisman like a small brass mirror to ward off evil. Small coins might be worn in the hope of an easy delivery. If labour was delayed, the family would burn incense and say prayers at the ancestral altar.
The greatest fear of a pregnant woman in ancient China was not being able to deliver a male child. To quote Mencius, 慣here are three ways in which one can be unfilial, of which the worse is to have no heir. Thus, the whole family, especially the mother-in-law, would be disappointed and blamed the pregnant woman for the misfortune of having no male child. Indeed, the poor pregnant woman might herself felt guilty and blameworthy, little knowing that the culprit was the husband, who gave the X sperm forming the female baby, instead of the Y sperm to form the male baby.
At birth, usually attended by a mid-wife, a horoscope book was then referred to, for a forecast of the baby抯 fortune. What elements considered lacking, such as metal, fire or wood, would then be used to incorporate the missing element into the baby抯 name. In more simplistic rural setting, names such as Cow, Dog would be given to avert a misfortune by fooling the evil spirit. Also, the child might be brought up as the opposite sex, wearing the wrong clothes to avert evil. If a deceased uncle had no children, a male baby might be given in adoption, to continue regular memorial services to the dead.
The baby would not be bathed till the third day after birth for fear of developing a cold, though this rule is now obsolete. Also, on the same day, some community might kill a cock as a sacrifice to the ancestors. The child was usually given a bagua (eight trigram), an amulet to ward off evil spirit, or a string of coins to usher in happiness and prosperity. A month after the birth, the child was shaven, leaving a ringlet of hair over the fore-head. Sometimes, the girl was shaven on the thirteenth day and the boy on the twenty-ninth day. A feast might be held in conjunction with the head shaving, and red eggs would be distributed to friends and relatives.
For the post-partum mother, she was given food prepared with heavy ginger and vinegar components, such as chicken, pig抯 feet or duck eggs. This ginger-vinegar tonic food is still prevalent among the Chinese. The tired mother would generally be rested for a full month, though in poor areas, the mother may have to drag herself to work a day or two after delivery.
Although many of us are sympathetic to the plight of Chinese women brought up in a strict Confucian house-hold, we must realise that most Chinese, even traditional Confucianists, do not practise such male chauvinism now. The most traditional Chinese today are actually the overseas Chinese and the Taiwan Chinese, since Mainland China has swept away the ancient Confucian teachings. Overseas Chinese, though more traditional by virtue of being cut off from the Mainland, have their views tempered by the liberalism of the West. In the Mainland, the one child policy introduced in 1979, and the emancipation of the women to be at par with the men in property distribution and divorce proceedings, have totally changed the Chinese social norms of yesteryears.
Notwithstanding Confucian bias against women, as well as its past stifling influence against innovation and progress in China, I fully subscribe to the Confucian teachings of family values, respect to parents, elders and teachers, and character building through loyalty, righteousness, benevolence and self-respect.
Tin-Kay
Siu-Leung Lee
FROM:http://www.asiawind.com <sllee@asiawind.com>
- Tuesday, February 22, 2000 at 04:11:26 (PS
Chinese poem
Jen, I could imagine the poem by "Huang Ting-jian (or Huang Tien Xian? It's hard with chinese names...)" talking about "loyalty, e.g., when a man is captured by the enemy" maybe is the following by Wen T'ien-hsiang:
筁箂瑅
ゅぱ不钢ǒ璚綝硔癬竒
む郭辅㏄琍
猠瘆窰钠刀
ō疊↖獴ゴ涤
纷舮繷弧纷
箂瑅柑鼓 箂
ネ街礚
痙うみ酚獵
Kuo Ling Ting Yang
Sung Wen T'ien-hsiang shih
Hsin k'u tsao feng ch'i i ching
Kan ke liao luo szu chou hsing
Shan ho p'o sui feng p'iao hsu:
Shen shih fu ch'en yu: ta p'ing
Huang k'ung t'an t'ou shuo huang k'ung
Ling ting yang li t'an ling ting
Jen sheng tzu ku shui wu szu
Liu ch'u: tan hsin chao han ch'ing
Wir kamen durch Ling Ting Yang
Manch Mühsal ist und Plag mir widerfahren, seit ich
von Meister K'ung die erste Schrift gelesen;
Vollendet viermal der Gestirne Kreis, daß ward
zerstreut von Schild und Lanze meine Welt.
Zerrissen sind Gebirg und Strom - von Weiden
Samenflocken, die im Winde jagen;
Mein Lebensschicksal - treibend, untergehend, wie wenn
auf Wasserlinsen prasselnd Regen fällt.
Huang K'ung T'an T'ou - 'Klippen der Angst', die auch
für uns nur Angst und Schrecken hießen;
Nun Ling Ting Yang - 'am Ozean der letzten Männer', wo
meiner letzten Männer Trauerklage gellt.
Der Menschen Los: wem wär von Anbeginn
der Tod nicht beigegeben!
Bewahr' ein Herz von laut'rer Treu mir doch, auf daß
des Reiches Chronik leuchtend einst davon erhellt.Wen T'ien-hsiang (1236-1282)
Sorry, I just have my own German translation, maybe anybody else can translate it into English.
Alfred 而纒
http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de
Traces of Butterflies' Dreams
- 胶冠勃 "Tieh Meng Hen"
My Poetry
You have to download IE5.
Microsoft wants you to download their Internet Explorer 5, not just to give you the Chinese fonts for free. It is their business.
Take a look at Yahoo's webpage at here. Yahoo gives you the same advice.
Kindly report back in this space your experience.
FROM:Webmaster <webmaster@chinapage.org>
- Saturday, February 19, 2000 at 12:52:49 (PS
The animal years are rat, ox, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and boar.
No cats. The URL of this page is also in the New Year page.
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Thursday, February 17, 2000 at 07:20:48 (PS
I quote from Dang Anh Tuan:
Each year is symbolized by a cycle of 12 animals:
Ty', Su*?u, Da^`n, Me.o, Thi`n, Ti., Ngo. , Mu`i, Tha^n, Da^.u, Tua^'t , Ho*.i
Rat, Buffalo, Tiger, Cat, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig
I have mentioned his excellent site before. Its URL is
at the New Year page.
Or, you can go there directly from
here
BTW, if you use Microsoft Windows 98, you can have Vietnamese font installed free on your computer.
Ming
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Thursday, February 17, 2000 at 07:02:06 (PS
When you bought Microsoft Windows 98 English edition, you already paid for Chinese-reading capability.
You can freely switch from English to Chinese and back at any time!
Click here for a very detailed illustrated instruction about how to do it.
Ming
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Wednesday, February 16, 2000 at 15:28:11 (PS
It does takes a good deal of thought to select a gift
on such an important occasion. I can only offer some suggestions.
Since it is for a baby girl, it would seem a gift should have some long-lasting value so she will appreciate it more after she grows up. Some kind of jewelry perhaps. Gold or jade of Chinese design might be appropriate. My personal inclination is a small Chinese jade piece.
Depending on where you are, finding a good store is not easy. There is store I happend to notice on the internet called www.goodorient.com which you might want to take a look. Please understand that I know nothing about this store, and have never bought anything from them. But they have been on the Internet for
a year or more, and their webpage looks reasonable to me.
If you are new New York or San Francisco, or some larger cities, there are good Chinese jewelry stores.
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Wednesday, February 16, 2000 at 08:16:31 (PS
Correction.
I mentioned wrongly that Siu-Leung explained that the Vietnamese substituted the Cat for the Rat. Actually, Siu-Leung wrote that the Cat was substituted for the Rabbit.
A friend told me that the Cat symbol is featured commonly by the Koreans and Japanese. Are they cat lovers, or is there some meaning in the Cat?
Tin-Kay
During this Chinese New Year, I was at a Cantonese restaurant and I was puzzled by seeing a figure of a cat carrying a red packet with Chinese writing . Siu-Leung has explained the cat replacing the rat in the Vietnamese calendar. I wonder whether the Cantonese also have done the same, or given some recognition to the cat. There are close ties between Vietnamese and Cantonese, since Vietnam was under the jurisdiction of Guangzhou (Canton) in the ancient times.
Is there any Cantonese reader who can explain the Cat symbol with the red packet (hong pao) in the Chinese New Year? Maybe Julian or Rudy can help.
Tin-Kay
The Mongolians used to call the years by the animals and did not use the "Stem/Branch" system.
Vietnam: same as Chinese, but replace rabbit with cat (Yoon-Ngan please note this. :))
Yi ethnic group: tiger(starting), rabbit, armadillo(not dragon), snake, horse, ram, monkey, chicken, dog, pig, rat, ox.
Other countries also have similar customs but obviously not related to the Stem/branch system:
Egypt/Greek: ox, goat, lion, donkey, crab, snake, dog, cat, crocodile, red crane, gibbon, eagle.
Babylon: same as Egypt, but replace crab with cockcroach.
The earliest record of calender animals in other countries are later than 100 AD.
Siu-Leung Lee
FROM:http://www.asiawind.com <sllee@asiawind.com>
- Tuesday, February 15, 2000 at 07:10:54 (PS
Alfred, the best (and almost only) software you can use for *input* on Mac
computers is "Chinese Language Kit" (CLK) of Macintosh. I am using
it myself now since about 4 years and I think it's very good (with quite a couple
of different 块猭 like pinyin, cangjie, wujiao, zhuyin etc.) But you have
to pay for it (don't know the current price, but it'll be more than 100 $).
If you just want to *read* Chinese (BIG5 or GB), you have the fonts included
in the new MacOS 9 (that you also have to buy if updating - I had to pay about
200 Deutsch Marks for it).
Good luck with your iMac!
Alfred 而纒
http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de
Traces of Butterflies' Dreams
- 胶冠勃 "Tieh Meng Hen"
My Poetry
Just and a note. At this website, China the Beautiful, there
are many ancient texts dating back hundreds and thousands of
years, digitized and reproduced in full.
These include treatises in mathematics, geography, agriculture,
medicine as well as military tactics. These are in Chinese,
so you may not be able to read them. They are listed as
the last category on the Homepage.
Ming
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Sunday, February 13, 2000 at 06:51:50 (PS
Dear Lyndsey
It is very academic of you to do research on Science and Maths in China. The ancient Chinese discovered the compass, metal coin and paper currency, gunpowder, silk and paper manufacture, the printing of paper, the rudder controlled astern, cast iron, double bladed plough, horse harness, and numerous other inventions.
Massive engineering projects involving building of dams for flood control along the Yellow River and Yangtze River, the impressive hydraulic works at the Zheng Gou Canal in Shaanxi, the Dragon Head Canal passing 3.5 miles under the Shangyang Mountains in Shanxi, and the water conservancy at Dujiangyan (by Li Bing in Sichuan Province), were already in place over two thousand years ago. Astronomy, architecture, pharmacy and alchemy were already under serious study.
Maths was also at a high level with the discovery of decimal places. The Chinese had already calculated the calendar using the moon and the eclipses, and also designed the Bagua Trigrams and the YingYang complementary symbols (two tadpole-like figures in a circle). Pi was calculated independently by Liu Xin (50-23 BC) at 3.1547, by Zhang Heng (AD 78-139) at 3.1466 and 3.1422, by Wang Fan (AD 230-266) at 3.1566 and by Zu Chongzhi (AD 429-500) at 3.1415926927. Zu Chongzhi was only surpassed in accuracy by an Arab mathematician some one thousand years later. Incidentally, Zhang Heng is the Chinese equivalent of Leonardo da Vinci and Archimedes/Euclides, and he invented the first odometer, weather vane and seismoscope.
In his book, China: Land of Discovery and Inventions, Pub. Multimedia Books Ltd., London, Robert Temple wrote 卪ore than half of the basic inventions and discoveries upon which the modern world rests came from China, but few people know this. It is one of the greatest secrets of history. Chinese science started to go downhill with the demise of the Song Dynasty.
Besides Robert Temple抯 book, you can also find more material in:
1. The Shorter Science and Civilization in China by Joseph Needham, Pub. Cambridge University Press.
2. Half the World: The History and Culture of China and Japan, Ed. Arnold Toynbee, Pub. Thames & Hudson, London.
3. Roads to Xanadu by John Merson, Pub. Child & Associates and ABC Enterprises, Sydney.
4. A History of Chinese Civilization by Jacques Gernet, Pub. Cambridge University Press.
5. Unlocking the Chinese Heritage by Y.K. Wong, Pub. Pagesetters, Singapore.
Since you are a student, I suggest you borrow the books from your neighbourhood library as they are rather expensive. You can also search the internet for more data.
If you look through the Archived Pages at the bottom of this Discussion Page, you can find the Chinese discoveries previously discussed by Prof. Pei, Dr. S.L. Leung et al. This was related to a CNN feature on China and her inventions. I hope you can still find the link current. We have also discussed about Zhang Heng and some Chinese physicians and pharmacologists in this page some few months ago.
Best wishes for a successful completion of your project.
Tin-Kay
There is good essay on Chinese mathematics by Stapleton and Tripodi. Some of the materials may be over your head, but you can read about the fact that Chinese discovered Pythagoras Theorem before Pythagoras, or Pascal's triangle before Pascal, etc.
Go to the library and do a bit of research on authors such as Needham, or Bell, etc.
Webmaster
Ming
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Saturday, February 12, 2000 at 17:18:33 (PS
From the homepage, click on "Calligraphy" will take you to the Calligraphy of Master page. From there, click on "Calligraphy of Poetry" will take you to the page with many examples of calligraphy of poetry. You should study them to get an idea of what you are looking for.
There is a page on Qu Yuan (new spelling of Chu Yuan) and his poetry as well. You can click here to read the story. But the poetry requires you to install Chinese software.
I am not so sure about your idea to start learning Chinese by learning calligraphy of Qu Yuan. This is akin to a Chinese wanting to learning English by reading Chaucer as Chaucer wrote it in Middle English.
Why not begin with poetry by Li Bai, and learn a bit of Chinese A,B,C first?
Ming
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Saturday, February 12, 2000 at 17:09:21 (PS
FROM: Muskogee , Okla USA - Friday, February 11, 2000 at 07:43:32 (PS
Julian offers a second alternative, which is as follows:
This is a more literary expression. Most 10-th grade Chinese
students in China may not understand it.
Take your pick.
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Thursday, February 10, 2000 at 13:55:00 (PS
Siu-Leung's translation is very good. I like to offer you an alternative.
I would translate your title as 盢 眘 纒 . I can't make it a gif for you. May be Ming can help.
FROM:Julian Yiu
Canada - Thursday, February 10, 2000 at 13:31:26 (PS
Yoon-Ngan, Julian and Siu-Leung and Friends
Yoon-Ngan, thanks for the compliments which I do not deserve. Unlike your goodself, Prof. Pei, Siu-Leung, Julian, Alfred, Rudy and Stephen, I am a student not a scholar. Learning from the Three Characters Classic in which Mencius' mother changed their abode three times so that Mencius will have the correct company, I must admit that I am hanging on to the tail-coats of this enlightened group so that I may pick up more on the Chinese culture.
Julian and Siu-Leung, I have found the reference for the naming of West Lake. In the book 'West Lake Reflections: A Guide to Hangzhou' by Sara Grimes, pub. Peoples Pub. House, Zhejiang Province and Foreign Language Press, Beijing, ISBN 0-8351-1012-5, at Page 21, the explanation is rather elaborate.
I quote:
West Lake has different names over the centuries. During the Han Dynasty, when a golden ox was said to have emerged from the lake as a 'happy omen for the imperial reign', the lake was called Golden Ox Lake (Jin Niu Hu) and Splendid Reign Lake (Ming Sheng Hu). Since it is on the Qiantang River (Qiantang Jiang), it has been called Qiantang Lake (Qiantang Hu). After poet-governor Bai Juyi (772-846 AD) built a stone culvert here to release water from the lake, it became known as the Stone Culvert Lake (Shi Han Hu). The poet-governor, Su Dongpo (1037-1101 AD) also contributed a name when he compared the lake to a classic beauty, Xi Zi, and the lake took on that poetic name. But generally, the lake is known as West Lake, simply because it lies west of Hangzhou.
Hence this answers the question of the origin. It also explains why West Lake was not mentioned in the Tang poems because it was then not known as West Lake. In fact, Bai Juyi of the Tang Dynasty, did composed a poem in recognition of the serene beauty of the lake.
I also read of a story in which the iron statues of arch-traitor, Qin Hui, his wife Wang Shi, his followers, Mo Qixie and Zhang Jun, were thrown into the West Lake by his descendent, but the tide receded and revealed the iron statues, which again had to bear the physical insults of Chinese, aggrieved by the infamous act of killing the patriot, Yue Fei.
Sara Grimes wrote that a Ming Dynasty governor, Wang Ruxun, related to Wang Shi, had her statue and that of Zhang Jun sunk in the lake. The four iron statues were again restored for punishment by Zhejiang Commissioner, Fan Lai, in 1602. During the cultural Revolution, Yue Fei's tomb was desecrated in 1966 and the four kneeling figures disappeared. The present four iron figures were recast in 1979, to continue receiving the spit and beatings of the angry Chinese. Funny! Punishment, even after death! Chinese Traitors beware!
Tin-Kay
This is the sentence in GIF in case you do not
have Chinese software.
The book "Who can ride the dragon" is a 1999 book
and can be found here.
Good luck and visit often.
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Wednesday, February 09, 2000 at 17:57:57 (PS
It is amazing to hear that you are so dedicated to learn about Chinese culture. The translation of the phrase into Chinese should be : и饼纒, literally it is "I want to ride the dragon". you would need to have a Chinese font (Big5) reader to see this correctly.
I also applaud to your wish to study Chinese medicine which is a tremendous treasure of empirical successes that need to be theoretized and standardized for the benefit of all people.
I wish you all the successes in this area and we will be glad to help you out any way we can,
Siu-Leung Lee
FROM:http://www.asiawind.com <sllee@asiawind.com>
- Wednesday, February 09, 2000 at 15:01:38 (PS
I am sorry if this is long-winded but I wanted you to know that I am sincere both in praise and request.
Thank You
Jeff Craft
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Wednesday, February 09, 2000 at 14:51:19 (PS
Thanks for the information.
I am inclined to believe the original name of West Lake is ﹁ 打 as Ming said it is located at the west side of the city. Later, when 默 庚 wrote that famous poem, people also called ﹁ 打 as ﹁ 打 in honor of ﹁ 琁 .
FROM:Julian Yiu
Canada - Wednesday, February 09, 2000 at 09:34:39 (PS
I have been to Hangzhou twice. It was really beautiful and one can go around a lot of places in a day. Every angle has its own reward. We took a bus to Nine Streams and Eighteen Brooks, hiked all the way through streams and woods for 2 hours to 纒か Long Jing (the famous well and tea producing region) caught a taxi back to LingYin Temple, and then walked back to Hangzhou Hotel. That was quite a day's trip. I highly recommend it. Don't know if they have done anything further on this route.
The only problem I found was the commercial stuff that destroyed the natural beauty. They had a firework wheel at night and an amusement park or something on the lake. It was really 焚春.
Siu-Leung Lee
FROM:http://www.asiawind.com <sllee@asiawind.com>
- Wednesday, February 09, 2000 at 06:01:26 (PS
It seems that IE5 likes to have the Chinese software open first before itself. If the order is reversed, it might crash. It has done quite a few times to me. Also, before you write in IE5, make sure the font in IE5 is set to the Chinese font. Or, it will crash too. I have lost quite a few posts. Third, if you have both netscape and IE5, try not to open both at the same time. I find IE5 is now much faster and my reservation to use it is reduced. I would reset the default browser to IE5 (sorry Netscape). Go to IE5, follow Tool/InternetOptions/Programs and click "reset Web setting". Because if you install netscape after IE5, Netscape can set itself as the defult browser, and it would crash every time IE5 and netscape are opened simultaneously. The error message also won't go away until reboot. I have suffered from all this lately. Now I reset it to IE5 as default browser. It seems to work fine. Tin-Kay since you are using Richwin as I do, you might try the above. A last resort is to remove the Chinese software and re-install, which I have also done. They don't make it easy for you.
Siu-Leung Lee
FROM:http://www.asiawind.com <sllee@asiawind.com>
- Wednesday, February 09, 2000 at 05:40:21 (PS
You are right that Xi Shi was involved in the destruction of the Wu Kingdom and the dissipation of my ancestors of the Wu (Goh) clan. The two greatest Chinese military strategists besides Sun Bing, Sun Wu (popularly called Sun Zi of the Art of War) and Wu Zixu (also called Wu Zi), helped Helu of Wu Kingdom to conquer the Kingdom of Chu in 506 BC. Wu Zixu personally gave the corpse of the dead Chu king a number of whip-lashes for having killed his own father.
Following the death of Helu in the war with the Yue king, Goujian, the Wu kingdom revitalized under Helu 's son, Fuchai. In 404 BC, Fuchai defeated Goujian, who was then humiliated by servitude in Fuchai's stable. By pretending to ingratiate himself with Fuchai, Goujian was released from captivity to return to Yue, where his able Prime Minister Fan Li, hatched a plot of bringing down the Wu Kingdom with the pretty Xi Shi, one of the Four Famous Beauties of China.
Xi Shi, the belle from Zhuji County in Yue, under instructions from Fanli, utterly destroyed the Wu court by flirting with Fuchai till he lost interest in his kingdom and executed his own loyal military commander, Wu Zixu. With the help of the traitorious Wu Prime Minister, Bo Pi, Goujian finally conquered the Wu kingdom in revenge for his previous humiliation. The two kingdoms then were welded into the state of Yue-Wu. Geographically, Wu in Spring and Autumn Period was centered around Suzhou and Hangzhou, and Yue further south, stretching down the coast to Guangdong. A diiferent Wu kingdom of the Three Kingdoms Period (AD 220-280)in the dying days of the Han Dynasty was under Sun Qian, and incorporated the section of the Yangtze (Changjiang)from Wuhan to the estuary (near present day Shanghai), as well as the previous Yue-Wu entity of Goujian's time.
I think Fan Li was one of the world's smartest statesmen and survivalists. When he had helped Goujian to destroy Kingdom of Wu, he decided to call it quits, lest he fell a victim to Goujian's unpredictable temper. He was often quoted as writing to his colleague, Wen Zhong, 慒ei1 niao3 jin4, liang2 gong1 cang2; jiao3 tu4 si3, zou3 gou3 peng1 meaning that when the birds have vanished, the good bows are stored; when the crafty hares have died, the hunting dogs will be cooked. This was a warning to Wen Zhong that when the enemies have been exterminated, the advisers will be the next victims of the overlord. Wen Zhong stayed loyally with Goujian, and was later rewarded with execution. The same saying was also attributed to Han Fei Zi (280-233 BC). Apparently, Han Xin also used the saying when Liu Bang (206-195 BC), founder of the Han Dysnasty, accused him of treason. Liu Bang absolved him, but Han Xin was later recalled to court by Xiao He (Liu Bang's Prime Minister)in conspiracy with Liu Bang抯 wife, without Liu Bang's knowledge. On arrival, Han Xin was immediately beheaded in Liu Bang抯 absence.
What happened to Xi Shi and Fan Li? One version had them spending their loving days together at the Tai Hu (Lake Tai) off Suzhou. Another version was that Xi Shi commited suicide when she realised that Fuchai was the one who actually loved her. The most popular version was that Fan Li became a wealthy merchant in another state, and spent his life in comfort and luxury, away from Goujian. Fan Li was a rare Chinese Prime Minister to enjoy the fruits of his labor.
I apologize for not being able to post my Chinese text, since my Chinese software and Window 98 are not talking to each other.
Tin-Kay
Dear Ming, Julian and Alfred
The Zhejiang Provincial Association write-up is incomplete in regards to the name of West Lake.
I have been to Hangzhou twice, and Suzhou three times, because of the interesting historical sites in relation to the Kingdom of Wu (Goh in Ming-nan or Taiwanese) during the Spring and Autumn Period. The different Hangzhou tour-guides that I met told me that West Lake's name has two origins, one geographical and the other historical. This explanation is featured in a number of Chinese tourist books, as well as 'The Incomplete Guide to Hangzhou' by Zhejiang Photographic Press ISBN 7-80536-140-1 Page 88.
The simple geographical explanation is that West Lake is to the west of modern Hangzhou city. However, from the historical perspective, West Lake has a romantic association with Xi Shi. When Su Dongpo wrote the poem, it was popularly accepted by scholars and officials that the word West (Xi) in West Lake came from Xi Shi. Julian, maybe I have given you the impression that Su Dongpo named the lake after Xi Shi. I simply stated that Su Dongpo wrote about the association of West Lake and Xishi. I do not know whether Su Dongpo's poem actually triggered off the name of the lake. Maybe some-one from Hangzhou can verify whether West Lake was named before or after the town of Hangzhou was founded, or whether Su Dongpo's poem started the name.
I cetainly prefer the Xi Shi version.
Tin-Kay
See: Zhejiang Provincial Association for cultural Exchange with Foreign Countries
Address:1 Shengfu Road, Hangzhou City P.R.China
at
their
website
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Tuesday, February 08, 2000 at 18:27:23 (PS
I never know that West Lake is named after ﹁ 琁 默 庚 's poem says," I would like to compare West Lake to Hsi-tzu". This may be an indication that West Lake is not named after Hsi-tzu afterall. Perhaps you can tell me your source.
FROM:Julian Yiu
Canada - Tuesday, February 08, 2000 at 16:13:28 (PS
Thanks for pointing this out. Somehow I overlooked it.
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Tuesday, February 08, 2000 at 14:33:19 (PS
Alfred 而纒
http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de
Traces of Butterflies' Dreams
- 胶冠勃 "Tieh Meng Hen"
My Poetry
I don't know this one quoted by Tin-Kay
揜ippling water, shimmering on a sunny day,
Misty mountains gorgeous in the rain;
Plain or gaily decked like Xizi,
The West Lake is ever alluring!.
What's the Chinese text?
Ming
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Tuesday, February 08, 2000 at 07:37:54 (PS
I am very pleased that you are introducing Chinese culture to
your students.
I have re-formatted my vita page
to be more "printer friendly." Let me know if you have any
suggestions and recommendations.
China the Beautiful has a wide spectrum of readers ranging from
Chinese, Chinese scholars, to young students and people who
are researching about China for the first time. I have tried
to provide reliable source materials for all. As a result,
the organiziation of the entire website has become increasingly
mixed up and confusing. Especially for those who do not read
Chinese.
As a first step to deal with this, I am trying to provide a "Starting Page" that will navigate to only pages written in English. You can see a draft of it here. I would like to have your comments and feedbacks, as well as many other teachers who wrote to me.
Ming
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Tuesday, February 08, 2000 at 06:52:17 (PS
Iam stumped tried everywhere. Recently I seen a saying that goes like this: TELL ME I MAY FORGET SHOW ME I WILL UNDERSTAND INVOLVE ME AND I WILL ???? I believe in this saying completely and teach members of my company and would like to share this with them If anyone could finish saying I would be eternally greatful
Thank you Rod Hartlen
I think this is part of the "Motto" by Zhu Xi. Sorry I don't have English translation.
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Tuesday, February 08, 2000 at 06:30:49 (PS
都打锤獴 默庚钢
膋锤よ
︹籜獴ョ
饼р﹁打ゑ﹁
睭杆緻┵羆﹜
Shui kuang lien yen ch'ing fang hao
Shan se k'ung meng yu: i ch'i
Yu: pa Hsi-hu pi Hsi-tzu
Tan chuang nung mo tsung hsiang i
Der West-See - bei klarem Wetter zuerst und danach im Regen
Des Wassers hellglaenzende Flaeche - so blendend und schoen,
wenn heiter der wellenglitzernde Tag;
Der Berge zartfarbige Toenung - nicht minder ein Traum,
im Aether verschwimmend, bei Regen.
Landschaft am West-See - Stell' sie mit Fug
neben Hsi Shih, die hinreissend Schoene!
Mag sie einhergeh'n in schlichtem Gewande, gleichviel,
oder prunkenden Zierat anlegen.
Su Shih (1036-1101)
Happy New Year to all of you!
Alfred 而纒
http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de
Traces of Butterflies' Dreams
- 胶冠勃 "Tieh Meng Hen"
My Poetry
Dear Yoon-Ngan
Happy Chinese New Year! Since most members of the group are still enjoying the CNY, I might as well add in to your comments. You are most correct about the Lei Feng Pagoda. The remains are to the south of the West Lake (Xihu), in Hangzhou. It is at Xizhaoshan (Sunset Hill), where the temple, Jingcisi, has its entrance door-way.
In the fictitious Story of Madam White Snake, Lei Feng Pagoda was where the abbot of Jinshan imprisoned Madam White Snake until her maid, the Green Snake, came to rescue her. It was built in the tenth century, but was burnt by the Japanese pirates in the 16th century, to prevent any relaying of messages from Xizhaoshan. As you mentioned, the locals were 慴orrowing bricks from its base, till it finally collapsed in 1924.
Further south is a Daoist temple at Yuhuang Hill, where seven Qing bronze jars were said to have been placed on the hilltop in the formation of constellation, Ursus major. Viewed from the top, the plain below showed an irregular circle resembling the Field of Eight Trigrams (Baguatian), where the Song Emperors prayed at the altar during the Winter solstice. Rudy will be most interested about this site.
The Story of Madam White Snake started with her meeting her future husband at the Broken Bridge (Duan Qiao) of the Bai Causeway (named after Bai Juyi). The Bridge is and was never broken, but seen from afar when the snow is melting, it appears to be separated off the Causeway.
West Lake (Xihu) was named after Xizi, the beauty given by the Yue king, Goujian, to his arch enemy, Fuchai, the king of Wu. Su Dongpo wrote 揜ippling water, shimmering on a sunny day, Misty mountains gorgeous in the rain; Plain or gaily decked like Xizi, The West Lake is ever alluring!. Every Chinese schoolboy knows that Goujian was the king who tasted a bitter drop of bile every day till he had avenged the insult of serving as a stable servant to Fuchai.
Tin-Kay
Dear Ming
Sorry for this third post. I feel bad to hog the page, but these are excitng topics. I will have to take a rest after this. Lifeng Wang's website on Yuanmingyuan is fantastic. This link should be advertised!
The destruction site of Yuanmingyuan must remain as a reminder to the British and the French, and other powers, that relics of culture and works of art are sacrosanct in any language. Not only did the troops destroy the beautiful Chinese buildings of the Kangxi and Yongzhen era and the neo-classic buildings designed by Castiglione, they also burnt the library with many rare books, causing a great loss to the Chinese language and literature.
The first act of barbaric plunder and vandalism in 1860 was under the direct order of James Bruce, Earl of Elgin and carried out by Charles Gordon. This is the same Lord Elgin who pilfered the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Greece. The Elgin Marbles are now the subject of a diplomatic and cultural row UK between and Greece, which is seeking their return.
Charles Gordon was later to be killed by the Sudanese under the Mahdi in Khartoum. Zhou Enlai, on a trip to Khartoum, thanked the Sudanese people for extirpating this scourge of the Chinese, who, paradoxically, liked to dress in Chinese clothes, and was called "Chinese Gordon". Victor Hugo wrote a scathing letter calling the action 'barbaric'. A magnified copy of his letter can been seen in the small museum at Yuanminyuan.
The second act of 'teaching China a lesson'in 1900 was a re-run of the first, but this time by the combined weight of eight nations allowed to run wild. The Yuanminguan, Summer Palace and the Forbidden City were again vandalised by looting troops. It is puzzling that we call nations civilized when they only think of domination and teaching other people a lesson. What would the British have felt if Buckingham Palace was razed to the ground? What would the French react if Versailles were to be burnt off? Double standards did persist, and unfortunately is still persisting today.
I was in Yuanmingyuan a month ago and I feel the compound is not well looked after. Instead of preserving the whole compound as a national historical site, it is now hosting Western-looking children's playground, South Seas and Red Indian totems and thatched Melanesian houses and boats for hire. No tourist can feel serious that this was a site of grave historical vandalism. For a history buff like me, it was a great insult. The area should have a plan for the splendour of the Qing Dynasty, with manicured gardens and halls dedicated to the Kangxi, Yongzhen and Qianlong Emperors. (Even tiny Singapore did a better job with her Tang Dynasty site.) Of course, the ruin areas are best left untouched.
Tin-Kay
I think the most beautiful, yet painful love story, is that of Lu You and Tang Wan. It is a true story, surpassing the physical and youthful attraction of Romeo and Juliet by the very depth of feelings, the sufferance, the self-sacrifice and the endurance of pain and pretension. To me, the love of Romeo and Juliet is kindergarten, and the love of Lu You and Tang Wan is university level.
Lu You (AD 1125-1210), a prolific Song poet of patriotism, second only to Yue Fei, had a love tragedy that he was to suffer till his old age. He fell in love with his cousin, Tang Wan, whom he married. He was then at the age twenty, and the bride at seventeen. Despite their deep affection for each other, they were prised apart by Lu You抯 mother, who was the aunt of Tang Wan. Apparently, the mother objected to the continuation of their marriage because Lu You抯 ambition and future were overwhelmed by his love for the wife. Forced into a separation, Lu You continued seeing the wife secretly, till discovered by the mother, who insisted on their divorce in AD 1148. Later, both the lovers remarried different partners.
In AD 1155, seven years after their divorce, Lu You happened by chance to meet his ex-wife in the Shen Family Garden in Shaoxing, not far from Shanghai. They did not exchange salutations since Tang Wan was in the presence of her husband, Zhao Shicheng. Nevertheless, Tang Wan was still reminded of her deep love for Lu You. She secretly and discretely asked her maid servant to bring some food and a choice wine to Lu You. Upon receiving the food and wine, Lu You was overcome with emotion, and wrote a very beautiful ci poem on the garden wall to express his love and grief. This ci poem is in CTB, but my Chinese font software is down, so I cannot locate it. (I am now suffering the Alfred Tueting Syndrome.)
In the poem, the wine is referred as 憏ellow sealed, indicative of an expensive wine sealed in yellow paper under government order. He also referred to the unfair East wind, which is his mother, and the incarceration of the lovers, akin to the wall of willows in the palace ground. He lamented their separation and the long years of pain and loneliness, alluding to fallen peach blossoms and deserted halls. He also felt for his lover抯 tears and her thin frame, ending the two stanzas with remorseful words of 慦rong! Wrong! Wrong! and 揘o! No! No!.
Tang Wan (AD 1128-1156) was informed of the poem soon after, and equally moved, she wrote a beautiful ci poem in reply, on the same wall in Shen Garden. She questioned the fairness of her society and the weakness and failure of her loved one. She compared her dire situation to falling rain at dusk and the shedding of the petals. She had a message from her heart, but felt so hard, hard, hard to deliver. Their days were gone in separate ways. She bemoaned her tormented soul as a swaying chain, with the retreating sound of the horn and the incoming cold night. Whilst bearing her grief, she still bravely carried on to hide, hide, hide her tears. Tang Wan died in AD 1156, a year after writing her poem, which can be found in CTB.
In AD 1200, at the age of seventy-five, Lu You paid another visit to the Shen Garden, where he wrote a shi poem, reflecting on his feelings at the sun-set of his life. He again painted a picture of desolation, reminiscing her swan-like shadow and her fragrance, and voicing that in spite of his ending years, he came to find her traces. (Ming, I cannot find this lovely shi poem in CTB.)
There was yet another shi poem by another wife or mistress of Lu You, which also expressed the deep feelings of a lover抯 grief. The poetess was not identified, but simply called Lu4 You2 Qie4 Mou3 Shi4 starting with 慜nly knowing the eye brow抯 frown, Not knowing where the grief is from ( zhi3 zhi1 chou2 shang4 mei3, bu4 shi2 chou2 lai2 lu4).
I feel that Tang Wan is the real heroine, sacrificed by protocol and societal expectation to bow to the unfair and cruel mother-in-law. How can a woman not be sensitive to the feelings of another? What a brave Tang Wan to put her feelings publicly on a garden wall, and for a man who had rejected her openly for seven lonely years! By telling all asunder that her real love was still Lu You, she would have shamed her husband, Zhao Shicheng, Who was Zhao Shicheng? How did Zhao take the insult and would not the Zhao family bring repercussions to bear, with a real possibility of a death threat. Was Tang Wan survived by any children? What were the circumstances leading to her death, only one year after her poem? Was it by pining away for the elusive Lu You, or by poison or suicide?
I am surprised that Lu You did not protect Tang Wan or protest their separation and eventual divorce, since his marriage must have been initially approved by his mother. Was Lu You under the pain of being disowned by his own mother? Did Confucian respect for the mother supersede his own feelings for his wife? Yet Lu You still burned for her after so many years. He wanted Tang Wan so desperately after her poem was written, but he was hopeless, awaiting her fading days. He must have carried a sense of guilt, and certainly, when he wrote his second Shen Garden poem at the age of seventy-five, a relief that he was soon going to join her in death.
Lu You must have had some minor wives or mistresses as expected of the Chinese society then, but this did not diminish the love and pain he had for Tang Wan. I do not think Lu You抯 wives and his sons, as well as his political interest and affiliations, could compensate and distract him from his loss of Tang Wan? The big question is why he did not stand up for his true love as he stood up for his nation?
Tin-Kay
I remember we had this discussion a year ago. Ming and I disagreed on this term
Ming maintains that ぱ means "earth". I insist it only means "China" 炊 ぱ ぇ 馋 獶 . Here ぱ can only mean China. Same goes to the famous Guilin poem. The poet cannot possibly have traveled all the world, so he is only referring to China. I do believe there are some places in this world more beautiful than Guilin.
FROM:Julian Yiu
Canada - Saturday, February 05, 2000 at 10:47:38 (PS
First, let me wish you all a Happy Chinese New Year.
In the Mulan poem, I take the terms and ぱ aer interchangable. び ﹙ has been given the supreme title of ぱ . This indicates that the emporers of China have two titles. That is my interpretation.
FROM:Julian Yiu
Canada - Saturday, February 05, 2000 at 10:33:51 (PS
Dear Siu-Leung
Many thanks for correcting me about the origin of Mulan. After all the contributions by your goodself, Ming and Yoon-Nyan, the issue has been largely unsettled.
I have checked up on some references, and prominence must be given to your assertion that the word Khan (Kehan) is an important clue. The Ballad of Mulan, as a folk story of unknown authorship, appeared in the Northern Dynasty period (AD 386-579), i.e. after the Jin Dynasty following the Three Kingdom Period. This Ballad was one of the two most famous 憏uefu poems, the other being the 慞eacocks Fly To South-East (kong que dong nan fei), 畗孔畗ゅ砍骨瑌 , also translated as 'Parting of the Peacocks' by Su Wu (140-60 BC). The Ballad of Mulan referred to Mulan being acknowledged for her deeds by her ruler, the Khan. Hence, the heroine, if a true person, must have lived during or before the Northern Dynasties.
It is unlikely to be the Han Dynasty because the Emperor was not called a Khan by his own subjects, nor is it likely to be the Wei (of Cao Cao抯 descendents) or the succeeding Jin Dynasty, which fashioned themselves in the image of the Han Dynasty. It is more likely that the Khan referred to the the ruler of the Tuoba Wei, also called the Xianbei, Later Wei or Northern Wei, the first of the five Northern Dynasties. Linguistically, the word Khan is rooted more in the Mongoloid than in the Han (Chinese) language, and the Xianbei had Mongoloid, Tungustic and Turkic spoken words, but no written text. Maybe, Stephen Hwang can comment on this, since language is his forte.
The Tuobas or Xianbei, were a Mongoloid tribe which moved from the north to the Central Plain, and by capturing the surrounding Han (Chinese) and non-Han people, forced them into an agrarian base. This resulted in the state of Dai, later renamed the Northern Wei Dynasty in AD 386, with Luoyang as the capital. Tuoba Gui or Emperor Daowu, was the architect of this land reform, which saw equal land distribution and fairer taxation, thereby contributing to the rise of the sinophilic Tuobas, who later adopted the Chinese language and even discarded their own dress for Chinese costume.
In 1980, excavation at Gaxian Cave 砍 revealed the ancestral temple of the Tuobas, with intact altar stones, proving that the Xianbei people were from Daxing An 骨瑌 mountain area in the south of Inner Mongolia.
Mulan, if of Han (Chinese) origin, might have been used as a rallying cry to unite both the Han and Xianbei people under the banner of the Tuoba family. It is also possible that Mulan was of Xianbei origin, and was fighting against enemies of the Northern Wei, and many of these enemies were actually Han people though the Tiefu Tribe of the Xiongnu were their greatest enemies.
The Northern Wei later spilt into the Eastern Wei and Western Wei, the former fell under the control of the Gao family and renamed Northern Qi, while the latter came under the Yuwen family and was called the Northern Zhou. The commanding officer of the Northern Zhou, Yang Jian, usurped the throne in AD 579, and proclaimed his Sui Dynasty in AD 581.
The popularity of Mulan in China was due to a Ming scholar, Xu Wei 畗孔, also called Xu Wenzhang 畗ゅ, who set the Mulan Ballad into a musical drama or zaju. Since then, Mulan has been a Chinese heroine, and an example of patriotism and filial piety. Her origin is still debatable.
Tin-Kay
I guess the teacher expected the students say Liang ShanBo and Zhu Ying Tai 辩蒓璣 rather than Romeo and Juliet. In fact there are more Chinese love stories : Meng JiangNu ﹕, the "Cowboy" and the Lady Weaver 麓, BaWang Bie Ji 臦甐, ... There are even more love stories about love between family members, friends, .... BoYa and ZiQi 戳, Liu Guan Zhang 糂闽眎, Two Peaches and Three Militarymen ㄢ.....
There are a lot of Chinese novels and other forms of literature that never receive the worldwide recognition as they should because of the language barrier and political maneuvering. There is so far no Nobel laureate of literature for a Chinese.
For that matter, I just watched the documentary of Nixon's sceret trip to China the other night. Kissinger was awarded a peace prize for the US-China thaw, while Zhou Enlai ㏄ㄓ was never given any credit in this monumental event. His role and pressure under the environment was only greater and more complicated than Kissinger's. Not that Zhou Enlai would have cared about a Nobel prize, but international justice is not done for his effort in many areas to promote international peace.
Siu-Leung Lee
FROM:http://www.asiawind.com <sllee@asiawind.com>
- Saturday, February 05, 2000 at 06:34:32 (PS
[Oops, I missed some codes and words in the last posts. Please discard that. Here is the post again.]
You raised a very good question. Hakka is considered Han majority, not minority. So it is not protected as a minority. However, Hakka as a preserved ancient Han heritage is really diminishing and ought to be protected. To find out more about Hakka, you can visit my Hakka homepage.
Hakka by blood probably is more than Han. They were the ones living at the critical plane between Han and the nomadic tribes. The history of Hakka is a continuous migration to the south, fleeing from the non-Han from the north. They carried adamantly with them the ancient Han/Tang culture, including dialect, custom, and family structure. 7% of China' population still consider themselves as Hakka. However, there are a lot more Hakka Han who have lost identity due to repeated migration and settlements.
There are a lot of Hakkas in Europe (Britain, Netherlands, Belgium...). Obviously you have some Hakka friends.
Siu-Leung Lee
asiawind.com
FROM:http://www.asiawind.com <sllee@asiawind.com>
- Friday, February 04, 2000 at 13:43:45 (PS
I am afraid my presentation of this sculpture is somewhat misleading. It is not a photo of a real sculpture, but only a picture created using computer graphics techniques by Lifeng Wang of the Univ. of BC.
History's most magnificent garden, the great Yuan Ming Yuan (Garden of Perfect Brightness), was tragically burned in 1860. Built by six generations of Qing emperors, the garden spanned a three-hundred-fifty hectare area with a fairyland of hills, ponds, lakes, ancient trees and palaces filled with one and half centuries of imperial treasure collecting.
Mr. Wang has a most beautiful website presenting the Garden of Yuan Ming Yuen, which is at this location. I recommend a visit. In the meantime, I shall remove the picture from my webpage, and maybe re-introduce it elsewhere in the future.
Ming
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Friday, February 04, 2000 at 10:53:12 (PS
If you dismiss this as far-fetched idea, then read the story reported in Sinorama Magazine February 1997
"W hat is the greatest love story ever written?"
This was the topic that Yeh Ching-ping, the late chairman of National Taiwan University's Chinese Literature department, assigned to his class. He had asked his students to think seriously about this topic but he was unprepared for their answer. The result was that, with the exception of one student that turned in a completely blank page, all of his Chinese literature students wrote that the greatest love story ever written was Romeo and Juliet.
BTW, Professor Yeh lost his bet to his friend on this.
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Friday, February 04, 2000 at 07:53:26 (PS
Lao Tze used the term in Chapter 47, see here
Confucius admonishes us to " first become a good man, then fix up the Nation, and finally bring peace on earth."
Thus Guilin claims to be the most beautiful place "under the Sun" and not just within the confines of China.
Ming
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Thursday, February 03, 2000 at 12:16:18 (PS
Ming
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Thursday, February 03, 2000 at 11:51:22 (PS
Guilin poem
Dear Ming, thank you for your help. After re-reading my sources on Guilin's
history and surroundings, the translation pointed out by you is obvious:
- The ancient county capital Yangshuo's past 锭 (situated 65 km southeast
of Guilin 狶 and under the jurisdiction of the city of Guilin) can be traced
back to Jin dynasty (265 - 420) when the county seat was moved here from Xingping.
It is surrounded by the Li jiang and the Tianjiahe River. Yangshuo county embraces
12 rivers, large and small, and so it is called 'river town' and also known
as 'mountain town' for it is bounded by many famous mountains like Longtou 纒繷
Hill, Yangjiao οà Hill, Tian 'e ぱ肸 Hill, Tianma ぱ皑 Hill, Ma'an 皑綽 Hill,
Green lotus peak. The ancient traveller Xu Xiake once praised it as the "world
of green lotus and jade bamboo shoot". And also for myself this landscape
seemed to be a real wonderland "under the sky" ぱ - how could I
almost forget Yangshuo and just think of Guilin!
- Your translation of the first two lines also gives a parallel construction
(... ぱ - ...狶) because of both words locative function (*on* earth - *in*
Guilin), what is better than the 2nd verse's translation with a comparative
function (*than* Guilin).
BTW, how do you native speakers of Chinese feel when using terms like ぱ 'tian xia'? Do you feel kind of 'romantic touch' like western people do speaking of "under heaven/under the sky" (unter dem Himmel), or is it just plain "on earth"? I remember, when poetically translating る yue4 (month - Monat) in a poem with "moon - Mond", a Japanese lady thought this was wrong in German.
Alfred 而纒
http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de
Traces of Butterflies' Dreams
- 胶冠勃 "Tieh Meng Hen"
My Poetry
Siu-Leung Lee
FROM:http:/www.asiawind.com <sllee@asiawind.com>
- Thursday, February 03, 2000 at 05:46:25 (PS
You are right the first time that the word Hua was not available until after Han. The word 地 was used to represent flowers. There was no such word in pre-Qin literature 窖 and the Classical 13 竒. It did appear in Shiji 癘, but probably was introduced by printers later rather than the original word of Sima Qian 皑綞. because Han History by Ban Gu 痁㏕ also did not have the word. The first time both words 地 were used was in ZiZhiTongJian 戈獀硄懦 written by Song scholar Sima Guang 皑. In the early sections of his Han history, only 地 was used. Only in South-North dynasty histories were both words used, and often expanation was made for the pronunciation of 地 when used as flower. Frequent use of only started in Tang dynasty. Thus if Mulan did have a surname Hua , she should be a character after Han, And since MiFu μ wrote the calligraphy in Song, Mulan should lived between Wei-Jin and Tang.
Siu-Leung Lee
FROM:http://www.asiawind.com <sllee@asiawind.com>
- Thursday, February 03, 2000 at 05:31:58 (PS
The great Song Dynasty calligrapher Mi Fi (1051-1107) had the very well known calligraphy of the Ode of Mulan long before him.
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 18:29:39 (PS
Siu-Leung Lee
FROM:http://www.asiawind.com <sllee@asiawind.com>
- Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 16:15:11 (PS
Hua Mulan - The Female General
A historical figure who is famous for disguising herself as a man is Hua Mulan. Her name has long been synonymous with the word "heroine", yet opinions differ as to whether this is her real name. According to Annals of the Ming, her surname is Zhu, while the Annals of the Qing say it is Wei. Xu Wei offers yet another alternative when, in his play, Mulan Joins the Army for Her Father', he gives her the surname Hua. Others using The Ballad of Mulan as their guide have attributed her surname to be Mu.
There is also some confusion concerning her place of origin and the era in which she lived. She is said by some to have come from the Wan County in Hebei, others believed she came from the Shangqiu province in Henan and a third opinion is that she was a native of the Liang prefecture in Gansu. One thing seems certain though. Hua Mulan was from the region known as the Central Plains.
Cheng Dachang of the Song Dynasty recorded that Hua Mulan lived during the Sui and the Tang Dynasties. Song Xiangfeng of the Qing Dynasty asserted that she was of Sui origins (AD 581-618) while Yao Ying, also of the Qing Dynasty, believed she was from the time of the Six Dynasties. No record of her achievements appears in official history books prior to the Song times. Stories circulated in China's Central Plains indicate that she must have lived before the Tang Dynasty.
There is an old print of the Ode of Mulan at this page
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 14:29:38 (PS
You quoted the well-known saying:
Kui-lin shan shui chia t'ien hsia
Yang shuo k'an ch'eng chia Kui-lin
Ch'黱 feng tao yingshan fu shui
Wu shui wu shan pu ju shen
I have it slightly differently:
Kui-lin shan shui chia t'ien hsia
Yang-shuo shan shui chia Kui-lin
A stright translation:
Quilin's landscape is best in the world.
And Yongshu's is best in Quilin.
In other words, "best of the best."
Ming
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 14:19:37 (PS
There is a good list just for you.
Asian-American Literature:
History, Classroom Use, Bibliography & WWW Resources
compiled by Prof. Brenda Hoffman.
click here.
Ming
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Wednesday, February 02, 2000 at 14:08:25 (PS
Weiwei, sorry I do not know anything about the book 'Days' mentioned by you. Yet, I just want to tell you that I saw the movie "Farewell My Concubine" (Lebwohl, meine kleine Konkubine!) about six years ago and that I was very impressed by it. The actors were excellent, the story was touching and also giving an insight into the cultural, historical and political developments in China. It was that movie that had stirred up my interest regarding Peking opera, so after it, I was reading quite some books on this ancient art and those enthusiastic people performing and watching the performances, but I still don't have much knowledge on this art. (BTW, I am still listening to Julian Yiu's tapes with his Canton opera pieces to learn more about it - and maybe get some more feeling for this kind of music so much admired by Chinese people. Julian 瓣 is a very skilled singer of the Canton opera - thank you again for sending me your tape!)
(BTW, the Chinese headline above is taken from my one and only ancient style Chinese piece of poetry I ever wrote.)
Alfred 而纒
http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de
Traces of Butterflies' Dreams
- 胶冠勃 "Tieh Meng Hen"
My Poetry
Ming
FROM:Ming L Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Monday, January 31, 2000 at 18:22:22 (PS
The term Khan did not appear until after HanShu. Before then, the king of the Nomadic tribes were called 虫 ShanYu. The following quote is from 戈獀硄挪 ZiZhiTongJian. 肣 材077肣AD256AD261 じ
よぇ碙嘿礢簙ぇ虫Шフり父玌㊣ぱ弄戴陆
The poem was written by a Song dynasty calligrapher MiFu. So the story should have happened after Han and before Song. It might in fact be telling a story of a heroine of the nomadic tribes.
I agree with Tin-Kay in his assessment of the film. I might add that portraying Mulan as a sharp-chin lady is contrary to what Chinese would for a heroine. Usually, they have a squarish jaw. It just doesn't feel right with that face in the film. It is a kid's film, so I don't ask much about the inclusion of dragon and cricket (or the film would be only 30 minutes). As for the "barbarians", they have been integrated with Han for a long time now.
Siu-Leung Lee
http://www.asiawind.com
FROM:http://www.asiawind.com <sllee@asiawind.com>
- Monday, January 31, 2000 at 06:50:09 (PS
Earlier discussions have been moved to a separate file..
To read earlier discussions, click on a button below.
Archived pages