You asked a very immense subject. It is hard to start on this discussion. If you are doing reserach, Joseph Needham's volumes should be the best reference.

The eaerliest books were in fact turtle shells. Other than fortune telling, they provide some important records of history which is a verification of the written books. Then came the bamboo strips or wood strips. To date, the word "book" (Shu) "volumes" (Ce) as written in Chinese still bear the mark of pieces of strips tied together.

Before printing, all books were written in handwritings. The calligraphy of the early handwritings were extremely elegant, showing the technology of brush and ink production was already quite developed. The ink ball made 2000 years ago still can give great and shining ink today when grounded with water. Calligraphy is a special art in China because of the symbolic nature of the written language. Please visit my website http://www.asiawind.com and this website to find out more on this subject.

I just went to Lexington this weekend to see the Imperial China exhibit of horse relics covering from Zhou dynasty to Qing dynasty. There are more than 300 items estimated value 300 million USD. Many are seen for the first time. It is a marvellous exhibit. It might go around the world but nobody knows. Since the sponsor is the Kentucky Horse Farm and Horse Museum, this is really most appropriate.

Many of the facts are missed by the Kentucky Horse Museum and the exhibit clearly shows the gaps, e.g. on the horse harnessing technique and stirrups,etc. were developed in China hundreds of years earlier. In fact, this may be the reason for the high development of the culture, through fast communication.

Dear Wendy

There was a discussion on Chinese wood block printing some time last year. I remember Dr. Siu-Leung Lee mentioning a recent news write-up of the earliest movable wood block in China. Prof. Pei has a good section of the world's earliest printed book called "The Diamond Sutra" plus other printed works in:
http://www.chinapage.org/print1.html
http://www.chinapage.org/print2.html

The discovery of printing could only follow the invention of the easily manufactured paper sheets by the Han Dynasty eunuch, Cai Lun ½²­Û , in AD 105. In his prototype, he used bark, hemp, rags and fine old fish net and pounded them up before layering. This was unlike the papyrus paper invented earlier by the Egyptians. Recently, the earliest paper fragments in China, made from raw silk, were found in the Gobi desert and dated back to second or third centuries BCE.

Jacques Gernet's "A history of Chinese Civilization" (Cambridge Press ISBN 0-521-49781-7) mentioned that the first wood block print was dated between AD 764-770 in the form of Buddhist pictures discovered in Dunhuang (Gansu Province of China). The Diamong Sutra, also discovered in Dunhuang, but now in the British Museum, is a complete text dated AD 868. Gernet wrote that Shen Kuo ²`¬A noted in his book ¹ÚµE·Ëµ§½Í in 1086, on the history of science and technology, that a protege, Bi Sheng ²¦ª@ , was the inventor of the movable characters around 1041-1048. Gernet also wrote that at the beginning of the seventeenth century, Matteo Ricci (Catholic priest in China) noticed that wood-block printers in China took no more time to engrave their blocks that the European typographers took to compose their page.

If you can read Chinese, you will be able to get resources from Chinese websites about the history of Chinese and Japanese printing. However, for English readers, the following books will be helpful: Joseph Needham's Science and Civilization in China ( Cambridge Univ. Press), The Cambridge Encyclopedia of China (ed. Brian Hook & D. Twitchett ISBN: 052135594X), The Cambridge History of China (section on Tang & Song Dynasties), Encyclopedia of China by Dorthy Perkins (Roundtable Press ISBN 0-8160-2693-9 newly published).

In regards to book binding, the books were usually sewn up with thread at the spine, even as late as early this century, both in China and Japan. As for calligraphy, Siu-Leung, Ming and Alfred are the experts, so I leave them to advise you which websites or books to find.

Tin-Kay

Dear Sherron Christmas

Your query about the Chindits should be directed to the websites related to Burmese history or British military history of the World War 2 (Burmese operational area).

The Chindits were a group of British-financed guerillas in WW2 working under the eccentric Brigadier Orde Wingate in Burma. Their aim was to disrupt the Japanese communication line between Myitkyina and Manadalay in North Burma near to the Chinese border. They were initially successful with assistance from the gliders provided by the US air force. Wingate was killed in an air crash soon after. Their mission, despite the initial success, proved futile and short of being encircled by the Japanese, they made back to India in small groups.

The American General, Joseph Stilwell, played an important role in trying to coordinate the military operation to link up the Alliance communication line between Yunnan and Burma to India. Wingate did not seem to get along well with his superior officers, and there was also hot air between the Americans military brass and the British command under Mountbatten. The glider drop to the Chindits was in such secrecy that it took Mountbatten by surprise.

How did the word Chindit come into use? I am not too sure about the relation to Pagoda, but you can refer to a Burmese dictionary for that. I think it is related to the Chin Hills that the Chindits set up their air-strip and base. Alternatively, it may have come from the Chindwin River, where they were operational.

Tin-Kay

Dear Siu-Leung

Many thanks for elaborating on the Wang Xizhi, his widely accepted calligraphy work Lan Ting Xu, and the ongoing controversy about the actual authorship of Lan Ting Xu. For a non-calligraphist to discuss this esoteric subject with you is like showing off an axe to Lu Ban ¯Zªù§Ë©ò, so I will hasten to another topic, i.e. Chinese history.

I am amazed that, despite the early documentation of Chinese historical events around 800 BC, many purported historical persons and literary works are still subjected to a debate of their very origin or existence. The famous Spring and Autumn Annals were said to be written or compiled by Kongzi (Confucius), but many historians consider this as conjecture, because many scholars might have been involved.

Controversy still shrouds the three famous Daoist classics, the Daode Jing, the Zhuangzi and the Liezi. Even Laozi as a person is not well documented, despite references from many authors after him. We are only told to accept that he was the author of Daode Jing, and that he was a librarian in the imperial household. Zhuangzi claimed that Kongzi (Confucius) met Laozi, giving a truly momentous meeting of great minds, but later historians were not sure whether such a meeting took place. Zhuangzi, as a person also seemed vague, though he is more accepted as the author of the Zhuangzi, yet some parts may have been refined or added by later writers. Sima Qian, historian emeritus, gave an account of him as having the surname Zhou, born in Henan and served as an official in the Chu Kingdom. As for Liezi, there is even more controversy, for no one is sure whether there was a Liezi. It is more accepted that Liezi is a fictitious character and that the Liezi, supposedly written by him, is the works of some writers around AD 300.

The controversies should have stopped after Sima Qian started to put historical events on a firm and objective basis. Yet, the historical mists still continued down till the Song and Ming Dysnaty, when printed books become more prevalent than in the preceding dynasties. Hence so many great works on Chinese culture and medicine have no confirmed authorship. Chinese respect and reverence seem to play a part, because later writers always made reference to previous authors, works and events as unquestionable and accepted "facts", when these "facts" were not checked and documented. China was so vast that it may not be possible for a poor scholar to travel all over the country, checking on the sources. Despite the advantages of early historical documentation in the Zhou dynasty and the subsequent Chinese imperial obsession for historical documentation, there is still so much gap in ancient Chinese history.

BTW, the proverb ¯Zªù§Ë©ò (showing off the axe in front of Lu Ban, the Master Carpenter) has an interesting origin. The Ming scholar, Mei Zhihuan, ±ö¤§µA was very upset when he saw Li Bai's tomb in Anhui province being littered with inferior poems and names of visitors. So he wrote the poem "Dedicated to Li Bai's tomb" ÃD§õ¥Õ¹Ó :

ªö¥Û¦¿Ãä¤@°ï¤g,
§õ¥Õ¸Ö¦W°ª¤d¥j;
¨Ó¨Ó©¹©¹¤@­º¸Ö,
¾|¯Zªù«e§Ë¤j©ò.

At the river quarry under an earthly heap,
Was Li Bai, the illuminant poet of old;
Each visitor, leaving a poem, was like,
Showing off his axe skills to Lu Ban.

Tin-Kay

I see what you need. If you are looking for Kaishu by Wang XiZhi, üSÍ¥¾­ and ˜·ÒãÕ“ would be good models for children. Whether it is really by Wang is still a question. I think it is most likely a fake. But it doesn't hurt though.

There are quite a lot of Wang XiZhi's calligraphy rubbings. I have quite a collection of them. But many do not come out good on scanning. Please see references at my calligraphy site:
http://www.asiawind.com/art/callig/index.htm
There are 8 copies of Lan Ting Xu, all by famous calligraphers in Tang dynesty (not original). The best rubbing of Lan Ting Xu are probably ­ð¯ð¤t¥» or ©wªZ¥» but the rubbings are too worn out. The most clear one is ¶¾©Ó¯À¥», but the strokes are too flowery and one page was misplaced in order (in my copy at least). It is not true to Wang's original to my opinion.
The best collection of Wang's calligraphy is by Beijing Classical publisher. ¥_¨Ê¥jÄy¥Xª©ªÀ¡C On just LanTing Xu, there is ªF®Ê¤ý¿ª¤§Äõ«F§Ç¤CºØ ¾ú¥Nªk®Ñ¿ï¿è ¥xÆW¤j²³®Ñ©± that includes 5 ink copies and 2 rubbings.

There was a site that has quite a few rubbings of the famous calligraphers, but I cannot find it any more.
Here is a site with the rubbing of Dingwu Ben :
http://www.nccu.edu.tw/museum/htm/123.htm

I have never heard of chindit. Will you tell us about it and what you know in other countries? After your stories, perhaps some thing will click. This Board is a two-way street, you know.

Hey Ming, c'mon: what *is* your (and Chuang-tzu's) opinion on this logic? ;))))

Alfred ¶øÀs

http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de
Traces of Butterflies' Dreams - ½º¹Ú²ª "Tieh Meng Hen"
My Poetry

I second S.L.'s sugggestion. Let us move the discussions to the Yahoo Club as this may go on (according to Zhuangzi himself) for ten thousand generations.

BTW, I will side with Zhungzi about the happy fish debate.

I read your article on Wang Xi Zhi again. He is undoubtedly the most studied calligraphy artist indeed. His influence on calligraphy can be traced all through Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing. Almost all the key figures in calligraphy have some of Wang's elements in them.

It is an interesting point that worth a bit of discussion. Huizi is Hui Shi, known as Ming Jia or YinYang Jia (school of logic and school of mathematics/astrology). He was really an ingenius mathematician and logician. Unfortunately, much of his work was lost. There is no single book attributed to his name. We can only find out about him from the works of Zhuangzi and other contemporary philosophers. I believe his philosophy should worth a significant research thesis. Huizi was famous for his debates with almost anybody, based on his rich imagination and logical thoughts. Because of that, sometimes he was mistaken to be arguing just for the sake of arguing. In the story about whether the fish was happily swimming in water, his role was in fact reversed with Zhuangzi. Yes, Zhuangzi was well known for his philosophy about life's uncertain meaning and uninterpretability, as expressed in his Dreaming of Butterflies (which you, Alfred, is so fond of to the extent of using it in naming your website :)). For a long time, we will probably not be able to find out what life is for, or how it happens, except resorting to the all mighty. We might think we are in charge, but in fact we are but a bunch of puppets/toys controlled by some superior force watching and playing on us. If we took this view, there would be nothing in this world that is worth commenting or fighting for. As we compare our short-lived lives with the age of the universe, it seems that everything we do is in vain. In fact, this is the basis for the hippie movement in the 1960-70s, which we all witnessed or participitated in some extent.

Alfred ¶øÀs

http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de
Traces of Butterflies' Dreams - ½º¹Ú²ª "Tieh Meng Hen"
My Poetry

This is a famous conversation taken from Zhuangzi's "Autumn Outing on the Water." I have planned to add it to the "Story / parable" series.

Here's what you are looking for:

Alfred ¶øÀs

http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de
Traces of Butterflies' Dreams - ½º¹Ú²ª "Tieh Meng Hen"
My Poetry

Here's the poem from ¸Ö¸g quoted by Siu-Leung with translation. Legge translated 'Yuanyang' by 'yellow ducks' (maybe a bit more poetic than 'Mandarin ducks'):

216. ÀpÀm YUAN YANG

ÀpÀm¤_­¸¡B²¦¤§Ã¹¤§¡C
§g¤l¸U¦~¡BºÖ¸S©y¤§¡C
ÀpÀm¦b±ç¡B·a¨ä¥ªÁl¡C
§g¤l¸U¦~¡B©y¨ä¹IºÖ¡C
­¼°¨¦b´\¡BºR¤§¯°¤§¡C
§g¤l¸U¦~¡BºÖ¸S¦ã¤§¡C
­¼°¨¦b´\¡B¯°¤§ºR¤§¡C
§g¤l¸U¦~¡BºÖ¸S¸k¤§¡C

The Yellow ducks fly about,
And are taken with hand-nets and spread-nets .
May our sovereign live for ten thousand years,
Enjoying the happiness and wealth which are his due !

The Yellow ducks are on the dam,
With their left wings gathered up.
May our sovereign live for ten thousand years,
Enjoying the happiness and wealth which are his due !

The teams of steeds are in the stable,
Fed with forage and grain .
May our sovereign live for ten thousand years,
Sustained in his happiness and wealth !

The teams of steeds are in the stable,
Fed with grain and forage .
May our sovereign live for ten thousand years,
In the comfort of his happiness and wealth !

The translation is taken from The Chinese Classics, vol. 4 by famous James Legge (1898)

Alfred ¶øÀs

http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de
Traces of Butterflies' Dreams - ½º¹Ú²ª "Tieh Meng Hen"
My Poetry

¦b¤ÑÄ@§@¤ñÁl³¾
¦b¦aÄ@¬°³s²zªK
¤Ñªø¦a¤[¦³®ÉºÉ
¦¹«ëºøºøµLµ´´Á
What kind of love birds did he talk about? Or, are they just a pair of nameless birds?

I pity any poet who has to somehow write a pair of Mandarin ducks into his poem. And our good friend saying to his girl friend, "Look what I bought for you Honey - Mandarin ducks!" How do you make this sound romantic?

http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de
Traces of Butterflies' Dreams - ½º¹Ú²ª "Tieh Meng Hen"
My Poetry

The love birds are commonly known to the Chinese as "yuan yang" [ Àp Àm ]. I don't the English name for them, but "Mandarin duck" just doesn't do them justice. I would use their Chinese name Yuan Yang instead.

They are of the duck family, with flat beak, web feet and beautiful colored feathers. They always swin in pairs and mate for life.

These are not plain ordinary ducks.

Allow me, an ignoramus in Chinese calligraphy, to post some interesting stories on the famous Wang Xizhi ¤ý¿ª¤§ (AD 303-361). I was reading up on Shaoxing, a city between Hangzhuo and Ningbo in the province of Zhejiang, famous for being the home to Lu Xun, Qiu Jin (female anti-Qing revolutionary), Zhuo Enlai's ancestors and the Shen Family Garden of Lu You-Tang Wan's ci love poems. I then realised that it is even more famous for the Orchid Pavilion Äõ«F of Wang Xizhi, which is the Mecca of Chinese calligraphists.

The most interesting of many Wang Xizhi's story is the theft of his famous masterpiece called Lan Ting Xu Äõ«F§Ç (Orchid Pavilion Record or Preface) written at the age of fifty years. This calligraphic work was passed to his seventh son, Wang Xianzhi, and was reputed to be lost till discovered some 300 years later to be in the hands of a Wang descendent, Bian Cai, who was a monk. The Tang Dynasty, Taizong Emperor, a lover of calligraphy, tried to get Bian Cai to surrender the masterpiece without avail.

Then, the Emperor sent a cunning official, Xiao Yi, disguised as a scholar, to show Bian Cai some other Wang Xizhi's calligraphy, boasting that no other work could matched his collection. Bian Cai, to dispute this boast, revealed he had the precious Lan Ting Xu, which he promptly showed Xiao Yi. Unfortunately for the monk, he was called on some urgent business, and the unscrupulous Xiao Yi stole the work for the Emperor, who had it buried with him. However, many copies were made before the Emperor departed his worldly affairs. I find it hard to believe why nobody open his grave to retrieve this masterpiece.

Another story featured Wang Xizhi losing a pearl from his pearl game, while seeing some brushes presented by a monk. He accused the monk of theft, for which the poor man promptly committed suicide to show his innocence. Wang Xizhi later found the pearl swallowed by his pet goose, and in repentance, he donated a piece of land to build the temple called Jie Zhu Si §Ù¯]¦x, Warning against pearl playing Temple.

Another strange story related to Wng Xizhi writing some words on a new table in his student's house. While the student was away, his father, unaware of the beautiful words from the master, got a carpenter to erase off the brush strokes. On returning home, the student was aghast, but fortunately could still see the words, despite 3 mm of wood being sand off. This gave rise to a proverb "enter wood for 3 mm" ¤J¤ì¤T¤À, meaning words that penetrate with forceful hand or meaning.

Wang Xizhi apparently was selected by an influential Jin Dynasty minister, Xi Jian, as his son-in-law because Wang pretended to show little interest at the minister's home by resting leisurely and being unconcerned during the selection process. Xi Jian chose well because Wang became a top calligraphist and produced a treatise on the eight strokes of the character Yong ¥Ã (forever), a calligraphic work on the Daoist book Huang Ting Jing ¶À®x¸g and started a one stroke style called the goose stroke ¤@µ§ÃZ.

His son, Wang Xianzhi, a renown calligraphist in his own right, was also an interesting person, He was considered good for calligraphy when his father came from behind him and tried to snatched his brush without avail, indicating that Wang junior had good finger grip. Apparently, Xianzhi once fell asleep while writing and his father helped him by putting a dot onto the character da ¤j (big) to make it into tai ¤Ó (highest). When Xianzhi showed his mother his calligraphy work, his mother remarked that the dot in the word tai ¤Ó looked like that of his father. How fascinating! Even a dot can be identified!

Wang Xianzhi once imitated his father's work, and supplanted his own writing. When Wang Xizhi returned, he was confused and remarked that he must have written the words when he was drunk, since it was not good enough. This embarrassed Xianzhi, who was even more determined to improve. Unfortunately, Wang Xianzhi died at the age of 43 years, before his peak.

Tin-Kay

Dear Dean Hedley

The bird that symbolises love is the colourful Mandarin duck. A pair of Mandarin ducks, also called the perching ducks (Aix galericulata), moving gracefully in water, suggests the harmony of two lovers. The film show on the famous but tragic love story of the Butterfly Lovers, Lian Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, showed two Mandarin ducks when the lovers were singing their parting song. Two swifts flying together may also have that effect, though not as profound.

Tin-Kay

You can try a web search and look at WWW Virtual Library under China. There might be something listed there. I don't know of any good source off hand about studying Chinese in Latin America or Spanish speaking countries. Ther are quite a few German institutes though, of very high calibre (U Heidelberg). In 0fact, the WWWVL of China is managed out of this university. You can click on my signature to go to WWWVL HongKong at my site, which is linked to other WWWVL.

This may be a somewhat bizarre request.

I am an Asian Studies major, and studied for six months at Tsinghua Da Xue in Beijing this past year. Currently, though, I am looking to study Chinese/ Asian Studies in a spanish speaking country (preferably somewhere in Latin America). My notion is that there's a strong connection between Latin America and Asia, and I want to try to get a better understanding of that first hand. (I should note that I speak spanish fluently, so finding courses taught in English shouldn't be a concern.)

My question to you is 'do you know which universities in Latin America have solid Asian Studies departments or at the very least offer courses dealing with Asia?' (I don't know if it'll make a difference, but I'm still an undergraduate.)

If you could throw any light on the subject, or if you can think of someone else who could, I would greatly appreciate it!

Best Regards,

Nicole Schaeffer-Sanchez