Readers' Discussions, Comments & Inquiries


Archived pages


SUBJECT:
Grandma's painting
COMMENT:
Heather,

I took a look at your grandmother’s painting. It is very nice. However, the close-up shot didn’t give me more clue. A close-up of the Chinese words may help more. Anyway, the painting’s scenery is very common and there are lots of paintings on similar scenes.

Chinese paintings do no necessarily come in pairs, so you may not be able to find a "companion" painting of this one. You can commission an artist to paint a similar one for your grandmother if she wants it for decoration purpose. It is not a particularly difficult painting, not in my opinion anyway. So you should be able to find someone to draw one for you for a reasonable price.
FROM:Julian Yiu
Canada - Monday, November 16, 1998 at 07:50:05 (PS


SUBJECT:
Ancient Art Site
COMMENT:
Debbie Kung: I need your complete e-mail address. I attempted to send you information, but couldn't. - Levy 15 November 1998
FROM:Levy Jonasson III <klj3@pdq.net>
USA - Sunday, November 15, 1998 at 22:12:18 (PS
SUBJECT:
Meaning of »A·L
COMMENT:
Julian, Alfred, Ming,

According to the following the most ancient explanation for »A·L is what I cited. But Julian's explanation is also included as an alternative. See: ¤¤¤å¤jÃã¨å¡G¥¼¤Î¤s³»¦b®Ç«@ªû¤§³B¤ê»A·L, ©Îªx¨¥¤s¤][º¸¶®ÄÀ¤s]¡C ¤s¥¼¤Î¤W¡A»A·L¡C[²¨]¡C¡C¡C¤@»¡¡A¤s®ð«CÁe¦â¡A¬G¤ê»A·L¤]¡C A "shoulder" near the peak is call "cuiwei", not quite the peak. Or, the bluish green color of the mountain is also called "cuiwei".
I would go with the first explanation by º¸¶® which is the first dictionary ever for Chinese. Judging from the naming of »A·L palace by Tang Taizong ­ð¤Ó©v, I also believe he picked a name of profound meaning rather than just by the color.

Asiawind.com


FROM:SL Lee <sllee@asiawind.com>
USA - Sunday, November 15, 1998 at 16:34:15 (PS


SUBJECT:
»A·L
COMMENT:
Dear Alfred, Ming and S.L.,

I would like to enter this interesting discussion raised by Alfred.

»A·L , as S.L. said, means 'blue-green of a hillside' or 'halfway up the hillside'. I think the term is used to describe the particular tint or color of a mountain ( mid-way ) that one often sees from afar . It is not »A but a little off »A ; hence the term »A·L is used. »A·L , therefore, means ·L »A . I must say this is my own interpretation and it may not be correct.

Alfred, you asked for examples of ·L used in the sense of " lacking of ". I can offer one or two. This word is only used in ¤å ¨¥ ¤å , and rarely used in the modern Chinese writing. ·L ¬ê §^ ¨ä ³½ ¥G , meaning without ¬ê , we will all become fish. ·L §g ¤§ ¬G , if not for your sake. There are lots of such examples in the old classical Chinese writings.
FROM:Julian Yiu
Canada - Sunday, November 15, 1998 at 11:09:25 (PS


SUBJECT:
·L, Chinese language, aesthetics/philosophy
COMMENT:

Dear Siu-Leung, I'm glad having mixed up those two characters, thus getting knowledges even good old Mathews didn't seem to possess. Thank you. It's true, Chinese language and thinking (these two depend on each other and always go together) is concrete: as I've visited Hong Kong's observatory peak, I know exactly what you (and 'wei1' ·L) want(s) to say! I'd still like to know, if there - except of 'cuiwei' »A·L - are still other compounds or phrases with this specific meaning of 'wei' ·L (close to, almost, with deficit etc.).

Alfred

http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de
"Traces of Butterflies' Dreams" - ½º¹Ú²ª

 


FROM:A.W.T. <Ti@fa-kuan.muc.de>
DE - Sunday, November 15, 1998 at 10:02:54 (PS
SUBJECT:
anicent chinese art
COMMENT:
I am doing a paper on anicent chinese art and was wondering if you know of any good relible websites thst could support my paper.Thanks.
FROM:debbie kung <kungdj>
usa - Sunday, November 15, 1998 at 08:30:18 (PS
SUBJECT:
·L, Chinese language, aesthetics/philosophy
COMMENT:
Dear Alfred,

You may think of wei ·L as the root pen- as in penultimate. It means "with deficit", not quite, hiding, low, base, unworthy,.... I am only giving a few of many more meanings of wei. »A·L has to be read as a whole. If you separate the two characters, »A by itself does not mean the peak, nor even a mountain! »A·L is not halfway to the hilltop though. More like >95% to the top. If you have been to Hongkong or have seen a picture of the the observatory pavillion near the peak on the island, that fits the exact description of a »A·L«F. A «F "ting" is a structure for temporary shelter and observation for the travellers. Based on the philosophy of Chinese aesthetics, Nature should be always higher than man-made structures. A "ting" being one for the use of common people should not override Nature. The peak is left to dominate the scene. A pavillion just short of topping it can show the height of the natural peak. It allow people to rest in the pavillion and still appreciate there is something higher above. The concept of »A·L«F appears in many Chinese paintings. I think that is why Tang TaiZong named the »A·L palace. Even though he was the Son of Heaven, he is still humble under the ultimate powerful Heaven. On the other hand, a temple ¼q or a ¶ð can be built at the peak, because these are structures symbolic of the ultimate power - Buddha or the heavenly deities.

The beauty and subtlety of the Chinese language is also its problem. One word can be used in so many ways that one has to read the rest of the context to realize what the author really means. On the other hand,if the choice of words is good, one can express ultimate subtlety few other language can match, on top of the dramatic effect of the pictogrpahic expression of calligraphy. The Inuit language has several dozen words for snow/snowing. You might think of Chinese language as one that manifests the same in many more situations, substantial and abstract.

I have not used a Mac before but on Internet Explorer 4.0 and Netsacpe 4.5, my webpage show up fine. There was some change taking place from NSCP 4.0 to 4.5 about Chinese reader. I only have to set the character to "western" if I have the Richwin on. If I also set NSCP to view/character/Big5, the codes are unreadable.

SL Lee
Asiawind.com

FROM:SL Lee <sllee@asiawind.com>
USA - Sunday, November 15, 1998 at 08:06:46 (PS


SUBJECT:
Cui Wei Ting »A·L«F
COMMENT:

Dear Siu-Leung, you're most probably right that "Ts'ui Wei Pavilion" would be fine, for one can hardly translate, just explain the name's content. Yet, to westerners this famous proper name doesn't mean nothing (but also "Pavilion on Top of the Hillside" wouldn't transport its real content: 'cui4' »A standing for the kingfisher's beautiful colors, hence is also a symbol for China's green-blue hillsides). Knowing the meaning of 'cuiwei' »A·L as the 'blue-green of a hillside', 'halfway up the hillside', I still could not imagine the exact grammatical meaning of 'wei1' ·L in this compound. Although its bandwidth spreads rather widely - microsoft, nuclear fallout etc. etc. - I didn't already know the meaning given by you (·L¨Sª¾·L·N¸q) :( Do you by chance have some more examples of 'wei's' meaning "short of, lack of"? I'd really appreciate to learn them.

> I guess the pavillion Yue Fei ©¨­¸ was referring to was the one built by Du Fu §ù¨j at south of Gui Ci Xian
> ¶Q¦À¿¤ (¦À¦{).

Yes, that's what "Song Shi Yi Bai Shou" §º¸Ö¤@¦Ê­º says.

BTW, I visited your site: it's beautiful, done all new with the new RichWin software. But somehow, I'm no longer able to read your Chinese encodings. I think it might depend on the fonts Macintosh cannot read.

Alfred

http://www.fa-kuan.muc.de
"Traces of Butterflies' Dreams" - ½º¹Ú²ª


FROM:A.W. Tueting <Ti@fa-kuan.muc.de>
DE - Sunday, November 15, 1998 at 06:27:18 (PS
SUBJECT:
Cui Wei Ting »A·L«F
COMMENT:
Dear Alfred,
»A·L means "near the top but not quite the top of a peak". Other than smal/tiny, ·L can also mean "short of, lack of". Thus short of the peak. There are two pavillions »A·L«F in ¦wÀ². There are also two mountains call by the same name »A·L one near Beijing ¥_¨Ê one in Jiangxi ¦¿¦è. »A·L is also the name of the palace built by Tang TaiZong ­ð¤Ó©v. ( as in «Ò¤l­¼­·¤U»A·L) I guess the pavillion Yue Fei ©¨­¸ was referring to was the one built by Du Fu §ù¨j at south of Gui Ci Xian ¶Q¦À¿¤ (¦À¦{). Just use Cui Wei Pavillion would be fine as translation.
SL Lee
Asiawind.com

FROM:SL Lee <sllee@asiawind.com>
USA - Saturday, November 14, 1998 at 20:57:11 (PS
SUBJECT:
Vancouver Chinese Association
COMMENT:
Vancouver you said?
Michael, depending on what your interests are.
For general activities, drive to the shopping centres in Richmond, lot & lots of good food and activities.
There is a branch of SUCCESS (service centre for the Chinese Canadian community). In China town, Vancouver, there are many many associations. Julian's suggestion of the local news papers is certainly sound...
By the way, the US$ is worth a lot more in Canada....
Welcome to Vancouver, Michael!

FROM:R. Chiang
cdn - Saturday, November 14, 1998 at 20:03:19 (PS
SUBJECT:
Vancouver Chinese Associations
COMMENT:
Michael,

I am living in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada and I must admit I don't have the Vancouver Chinese associations addresses and phone numbers handy. I hope other readers from Vancouver can give you the information.

There are at least a few ways that you can find the information yourself:

1. Look up the telephone book and look for the Chinese associations names and phone numbers.

2. Get/Buy a Vancouver local Chinese newspaper(s) and you should be able to find the information in there.

3. Next time when you pay a visit to Vancouver downtown, just drop in one of the Chinese organizations and you'll find the information you need.

4. Make good use of the internet and search for the Chinese assoications information in Vancouver.

5. Contact UBC Chinese faculty and they should be able to help.

Welcome to Canada and wish you best of luck.
FROM:Julian Yiu
Canada - Saturday, November 14, 1998 at 18:17:24 (PS


SUBJECT:
'wei/hui' ΢£¬»Õ
COMMENT:
'wei' ΢£¬menas small, very small, as in microscope, and more recently micro-electronics. It is also the Chinese name of Microsoft Company.

I am, by virtue of my family, from Anhwei Province, even though I was born in Peking, now Beijing

Very confusing.

FROM:Ming Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Saturday, November 14, 1998 at 17:50:01 (PS


SUBJECT:
Vancouver Chinese Association
COMMENT:
My name is Michael Tan, I just moved to a town called Point Roberts WA, this town is only 30 min from Richman Vancouver BC Canada and 60 min from Vancouver downtown.i like to get invole with any Chinese cultural activities in this area. Can anyone tell me as to where about I can contact the Chinese association in these two areas ? Thankyou.
FROM:Michael Tan <caroltan@whidbey.com>
USA - Saturday, November 14, 1998 at 11:28:25 (PS
SUBJECT:
Yueh Fei poem's ³¾ & ΢
and other typos

COMMENT:

Dear Siu-Leung, ³¾ÍÁ¾ÍÊǻҳ¾£¬¿ÉÊdz¾²»ÊǼ⣡
Yes, I really mixed up something: I now remember, searching for the GB character 'chen2 in BIG5 I couldn't find it - and then somehow 'found' the similar-looking 'jian' :(.
As for 'wei/hui' ΢£¬»Õ - it came from Chih Chou ³ØÖÝ nowadays KueiChih ¹ó³ØÏØ in Anhwei province °²»Õ, hence the erroneous character »Õ with its 'beautiful' meaning. BTW, how would you translate Ts'ui Wei (T'ing) ´ä΢£¨Í¤£©?

Alfred

www.fa-kuan.muc.de
"Traces of Butterflies' Dreams" - µûÃκÛ


FROM:A.W. Tueting <Ti@fa-kuan.muc.de>
DE - Saturday, November 14, 1998 at 10:58:41 (PS
SUBJECT:
Calligraphy of patriotic poems and Chinese softwares
COMMENT:
Dear Alfred,
I don't think you can find the book of Zhou Wei Jun ©P¼zÖs in Amazon :). It was published in Shanghai and I bought it at Duo Yun Xuan ¦·¶³°a, the famous Shanghai art gallery (equivalent to Beijing's Rong Bao Zhai ºaÄ_ÂN). I don't want to make any copy of it to the web because it is copyrighted. If you noticed, the materials in my web are either my original calligraphy or with permission.
I am writing some of these poems and will be posting them to my web too.

The software I use for Chinese is Richwin, which is produced in Beijing and the best selling Chinese software in mainland China. It is more cost effective and has more words and fonts than the others, I think. I used to use Twinbridge and Unionway until I found this. TB and Unionway have one space (one bit) between the characters, each is 2-bit. RW is the only one that does not have the extra space, which I think should be the correct thing to do. That could be the source of problem if read with other softwares. I don't know how to correct this. In some cases, I added a space to separate the characters. However, this is very tedious. Using Richwin, I read everybody's posting without any problem. I wish there is some standardization some day.
There is one more word ·L as in »A·L cui wei), not »AÀ² (cui hui). I saw the phonetics in your version as "hui".
Alfred, your Sinological expertise is good enough to put many native Chinese to shame. It is far beyond imaginable for a German professional judge. Please feel proud of yourself. The errors mentioned are common even for some Chinese college students. SL Lee
Asiawind.com

FROM:SL Lee <sllee@asiawind.com>
USA - Saturday, November 14, 1998 at 06:53:04 (PS
SUBJECT:
Doshu Kanayama = ª÷¤s¤g¬w
COMMENT:
Dear Ming,
The Japanese calligrapher Doshu Kanayama ª÷¤s¤g¬w was in Columbus for an exhibition of his work. I got a chance to meet with him. Some of his artworks are found in Professor Huntington's website. http://kaladarshan.arts.ohio-state.edu/exhib/kaney/pgs/kaneintr.html
SL Lee
Asiawind.com

FROM:SL Lee <sllee@asiawind.com>
USA - Saturday, November 14, 1998 at 06:02:34 (PS
SUBJECT:
Yueh Fei poem's ¹Ð &. ©º
and other typos

COMMENT:

Dear Siu-Leung, thank you for pointing at my silly typos - giving pure nonsens to the famous poem. They must have occurred some years ago when I had to do the boring job of typing in the whole anthology's texts. Sorry - but, nevertheless my translations of ¹Ð¤g and ©º¦ç into German are correct. (Just this moment, I'm experiencing a rather strange behavior while copying and pasting some Chinese characters of your posting: some have disappeared, others have changed, e.g. copy and past of 'chen tu' or 'zheng yi' - together - was not possible: the second character respective always had disappeared or had been altered.)

Thank you for the hint to that calligraphy book of Zhou Hui Jun (maybe she would allow me to put some of her brushes to my anthology. I initially wanted to have each of the poems published together with its calligraphy.) I assume that her book is available through amazon.com.

Dear Julian, thanks to you too for the correction. Just one note to the character 'wu' µL in Lu Yu's poem: My anthology's texts all go back to 'One hundred Sung poems' (§º¸Ö¤@¦Ê­º) a small booklet, first published Dec. 1, 1959 in PRCh and also used for educational purposes. The texts all are in GuoBiao, so I had to (wanted to) transfer them into BIG5 encoding. I'm not sure if it's right or wrong, but in this edition the negative 'wu' is written GB 'ÎÞ' (2nd tone - I'm not sure it displays correctly), hence in BIG5 'µL' and not '¤ð' (3rd tone). Since both characters are negatives with about the same meaning, they easily might have been mixed up with each other. If I find the time, I'll look into other sources. Since the 'shih' form of poetry is ruled by strict orders of composition, one also ought to be able to decide wether 'wu2' or 'wu3' is correct.

Alfred

"Traces of Butterflies' Dreams" - ½º¹Ú²ª


FROM:A.W. Tueting <Ti@fa-kuan.muc.de>
DE - Saturday, November 14, 1998 at 05:57:55 (PS
SUBJECT:
Yue Fei's poem ¦À¦{»A·L«F
COMMENT:
Dear Alfred, The first sentence you quoted had a couple of typos. The following is the poem again:
¦À¦{»A·L«F
©¨­¸¸Ö


¸g¦~¹Ð¤gº¡©º¦ç
¯S¯S´MªÚ¤W»A·L
¦n¤ô¦n¤s¬Ý¤£¨¬
°¨¿á¶Ê¶X¤ë©úÂk
(It is easy to err switching between GB and Big5)
I have a book of 23 patriotic poems calligraphied by Zhou Hui Jun ©P¼zÖs, a lady calligrapher from Shanghai. All the ones just mentioned in this forum are included. You can find that in the reference section of my calligraphy site. http://www.asiawind.com/art/callig/calliref.htm SL Lee
Asiawind.com

FROM:SL Lee <sllee@asiawind.com>
USA - Friday, November 13, 1998 at 21:45:24 (PS
SUBJECT:
Have you seen this before???
COMMENT:
I am searching as a favor for my grandmother. She has this picture located here. And would like to find a companion picture for it and/or the history of the picture, or pictures similar to it. A close up of the detail in the picture is located here. THANK YOU for any help!! EMAIL ME with any answers please...
FROM:Heather <ten96@iname.com>
USA - Friday, November 13, 1998 at 17:08:25 (PS
SUBJECT:
e-mail to Ming lung Pei
COMMENT:
Dear Professor Pei. I have been trying to send you this at pei@chinapage.org It was returned both times. I then tried the "webmaster" address. it failed too. I hope this reaches you through the comments section of the site. I am replying on behalf of Janice M. Glowski to your request for Kanayama Dosho's name in kanji . The appropriate Japanese code follows. ‹àŽR “yF I had attached a smnall gife file but it is not possible to include it here Thank you for your kind words and interest. John C. Huntington, Professor
FROM:John C. Huntington <huntington.2@osu.edu>
USA - Friday, November 13, 1998 at 14:38:56 (PS
SUBJECT:
¥Ü¨à
COMMENT:
Alfred,

There are two words not very clear in the last sentence, so I re-post it here. Great poem.

¦º ¥h ­ì ª¾ ¸U ¨Æ ªÅ

¦ý ´d ¤£ ¨£ ¤E ¦{ ¦P

¤ý ®v ¥_ ©w ¤¤ ­ì ¤é

®a ²½ ¤ð §Ñ §i¤D ¯Î
FROM:Julian Yiu
Canada - Friday, November 13, 1998 at 13:08:25 (PS


SUBJECT:
China for teachers
COMMENT:
love your site hope mine can help teachers please reference it if you think it is worthy http://www.newton.mec.edu/Angier/DimSum/chinadimsumaconnection.html
FROM:Janet Panaggio <janet_panaggio@newton.mec.edu>
USA - Friday, November 13, 1998 at 04:04:57 (PS
SUBJECT:
¥¿®ðºq - etc.
COMMENT:

Paul, I think you're certainly right: I also like Yueh Fei's poetry, (especially the one quoted below for its lapidar poetical strength), not to speak of Lu Yu and his famous shih (see below). But these (very 'poetical') poems don't 'tell you a story' the way 'Cheng Ch'i Ko' does, the tragic story of Wen's very own life that - after suffering for at least 3 years - ended with his execution. Esp. in Wen's case, real life and 'words' (i.e. poetry) fit together as a convincing congruent 'whole'.

¦À¦{»A÷³«F
©¨­¸¸Ö

¸g¦~¦y¤gº¡¸C¦ç
¯S¯S´MªÚ¤W»AÀ²
¦n¤ô¦n¤s¬Ý¤£¨¬
°¨¿á¶Ê¶X¤ë©úÂk

 

Ching nien chien t'u man cheng i
T'e t'e hsu:n fang shang ts'ui hui
Hao shui hao shan k'an pu tsu
Ma t'i ts'ui ch'en yu:eh ming kuei

¥Ü¨à
³°´å¸Ö

¦º¥h­ìª¾¸U¨ÆªÅ
³æ´d¤£¨£¤E¦{¦P
¤ý®v¥_©w¤¤­ì¤é
®a²½µL§Ñ§i¤Î¯

Szu ch'u: yu:en chih wan shih k'ung
Tan pei pu chien chiu chou t'ung
Wang shih pei ting chung yu:en jih
Chia chi wu wang kao chi weng

 

Alfred

"Traces of Butterflies' Dreams" - ½º¹Ú²ª


FROM:A.W. Tueting <Ti@fa-kuan.muc.de>
DE - Friday, November 13, 1998 at 00:07:32 (PS
SUBJECT:
Reflections to China the Beautiful
COMMENT:
China the Beautiful is one of the best www pages I've ever discovered.To me,an oversease Chinese student,it's a sort of spiritual food .While reading it,I constantly feel proud of being a Chinese,and less home-sick...
FROM:Xiao Qi <xiaoq@ goshen.edu>
P.R China - Thursday, November 12, 1998 at 19:53:42 (PS
SUBJECT:
BYE
COMMENT:
Though i walk through this valley i will see on top. The mount where NO man xan xee;because of greed,U become blind of what is [x] the valley indeed/??????? MAY FATHER OF ALL BE W/U/:xoxoxo 4ever uno?
FROM:Djx <whytjade@bluemoon.net>
amerixa - Thursday, November 12, 1998 at 17:29:34 (PS
SUBJECT:
Chinese input
COMMENT:
Paul:
Regardless of which software you use, there is always a fall-back method which always works.
All Windows applications can use "copy and paste". You can use Unionway to type your Chinese text, select the text by highlight it, "edit", "copy" then open to Discussion here, and simply "paste" it into the proper area!
You do no have to close one window before you open another window. The technique is particularly useful, when you wish to copy some passage from any file on your disk, and paste it into the discussion.
You can also copy parts of other people's discussion, and paste it into your discussion.
Happy writings!

FROM:Ming Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Thursday, November 12, 1998 at 08:19:05 (PS
SUBJECT:
Unionway
COMMENT:
Paul,

You can use Unionway to type in the Chinese words. That is the software I use. It is not the greatest and it takes longer if you are not familiar with the input methods.

Call up the Unionway, click on ­^ ¼Æ , then choose your input method. ( Unionway offers 7 different types of input method. I use the Cantonese one. ) It is quite easy to use one you get used to it. Give it a try.
FROM:Julian Yiu
Canada - Thursday, November 12, 1998 at 07:12:08 (PS


SUBJECT:
Wen Tian Xiang kind of people
COMMENT:
Hi, First of all, allow me to thank the webmaster for such a wonderful page. I have Unionway chinese wp, but i can not type chinese into this page. That's why i have to write in English. I totally agree to what everyone said about WenTianXiang, but i have to say that he was not the only great human being of the 5 thousand yrs of chinese history, and ? ? (copied and pasted) was not the only great poem. Throughout Chinese history, there were plenty great poets who worried about their country and even fought and gave their lives to their country. For example, one of my favorite character is ©¨ ­¸ and his famous chi º¡ ¦¿ ¬õ is a poem of spirit. I also want to say something about ?? and ? ?. I think wine in poems express »¨ ®ð ©M ¶Æ °© , and saddness in poems express unwillingness to settle as it is. ¨¯ ±ó ¯e expressed »¨ ®ð ©M ¶Æ °© throughout his chi and ³° ´å and §ù ¨j were famous of their ïÊ °ê ïÊ ¥Á poems. I think that their poems, maybe not better, but certainly can be ¬Û ´£ ¨Ã ½× with ? ? ? . Paul Jiang ps. can someone tell me which chinese wp i can use to type more easy? thank u
FROM:paul <pxjiang@uclink4.berkeley.edu>
USA - Wednesday, November 11, 1998 at 23:03:32 (PS
SUBJECT:
Calligraphy name
COMMENT:
Dr. Lee, Thank you so much for taking the time to offer me a Chinese translation of my name. It has taken me this long to find a software program to read the Chinese characters. Now I need to find someone to show me the seal style of the characters. I will come back to your site again. Many thanks. Carla Jaranson
FROM:Carla Jaranson <cjaranson@fc.fcps.k12.va.us>
USA - Wednesday, November 11, 1998 at 19:05:33 (PS
SUBJECT:
the goverment
COMMENT:
how is it?
FROM:jessica brown <jessia@hotmail>
us - Wednesday, November 11, 1998 at 06:18:22 (PS
SUBJECT:
¥¿ ®ð ºq &.
the meaning of 'tiger'

COMMENT:

Ming, thank you for offering me the Chinese text of the canto from your Classics page, but the 'shih' is already part of my anthology, in both German and Chinese (yet the original texts are gathered in separate pages on my site). Except of the titles overview, the originals are in BIG5 encoding only - so I'll have to add gif-files some day. (After at least having the preface and the footnotes translated also into English, I hope once finding the time to make also the poems' huge notes and the poets' biographies added available to an English speaking readership.)

Wendy, running through my sources I couldn't find the saying '¤@¤s¤£¯àÂäGªê' (yi shan bu neng cang er hu). But, as the tiger in Chinese thinking is a most powerful and frightening being (people often didn't even dare to pronounce his proper name, hence e.g. calling him '¤j¦ä' big insect), he was regarded as the 'Mountain King' ¤s¤ý, so I'd guess the statement could mean: 'two (mighty) rulers never are willing to share one kingdom'.

Alfred

"Traces of Butterflies' Dreams" - ½º¹Ú²ª


FROM:A.W.Tueting <Ti@fa-kuan.muc.de>
DE - Tuesday, November 10, 1998 at 00:22:50 (PS
SUBJECT:
¥¿ ®ð - ¹L¹s¤B¬v
COMMENT:

Dear Julian, that's exactly the poem of Wen T'ien-hsiang that really touched me by its poetical profoundness and lapidarity. That's opposite to western maudlin talkativeness - Wen tells of his fate's tragic decline through some plain 'pictures', at the same time professing his firm belief in the virtue of 'pure heart'. This was one of my poetical translations I really was satisfied with. I'd wish somebody could translate it adequately into English. thank you for pointing to this excellent piece of poetry.

 

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 Muehsal 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 faellt.
Huang K'ung T'an T'ou - 'Klippen der Angst',
die auch fuer uns nur Angst und Schrecken hiessen;
Nun Ling Ting Yang - 'am Ozean der letzten Maenner',
wo meiner letzten Maenner Trauerklage gellt.
Der Menschen Los: wem waer 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)

 

Alfred

"Traces of Butterflies' Dreams" - ½º¹Ú²ª


FROM:A.W. Tueting <Ti@fa-kuan.muc.de>
DE - Monday, November 09, 1998 at 13:32:26 (PS
SUBJECT:
¥¿ ®ð ºq
COMMENT:
Alfred:
I agree with Julian, except that he and few others can still recite the whole song.
With my non-existing knowledge of German, I overlooked your translation!
I have the Chinese text in my Classics page. You are welcome to include it for your readers.


FROM:Ming Pei
- Monday, November 09, 1998 at 13:26:29 (PS


SUBJECT:
the meaning of 'tiger'
COMMENT:
Hi! I have a question regarding the exact meaning of 'ªê' in the statement '¤@¤s¤£¯àÂäGªê'. Would anyone please give me some hints? Thank you.
FROM:wendy <ydenw1@mailexcite.com>
canada - Monday, November 09, 1998 at 10:01:47 (PS
SUBJECT:
¥¿ ®ð ºq
COMMENT:
Alfred,

¥¿ ®ð ºq was one of the must read poems in my high school days. And for that matter I can still recite a good part of it by heart.

This poem has a very unique place in Chinese classical poems because of its historical background and subject matter. Many of the Tang poems and Sung Cis " ¤£ ¬O ¯f °s ¡A «K¬O ´d î ¬î This poem is on the "righteous spirit" ¡] ¥¿ ®ð ¡^ of mankind ( not just Chinese ) and how it influences us during the most difficult times.

¤å ¤Ñ ²» is one of the most revered historical figures in Chinese history. Many people rank him the same as ½Ñ ¸¯ «G and ©¨ ­¸ . I certainly agree to that. He wrote a few famous poems and I would like to share the following one with you

¨¯ ­W ¾D ³{ °_ ¤@ ¸g

¤z ¤à ¸¨ ¸¨ ¥| ©P P ¬P

¤s ªe ¯} ¸H ­· ©ß µ µ¶

¨­ ¥@ ÄÆ ¹s «B ¥´ µÓ

´q ®£ Åy ÀY »¡ ´q ®£

¹s ¤B ¬v ¸Ì ¹Ä ¹s ¤B

¤H ¥Í ¦Û ¥j ½Ö µL ¦º

¯d ¨ú ¤¦ ¤ß ·Ó ¦½ «C
FROM:Julian Yiu
Canada - Monday, November 09, 1998 at 08:17:35 (PS


SUBJECT:
¥¿ ®ð ºq
COMMENT:
Alfred,

¥¿ ®ð ºq was one of the must read poems in my high school days. And for that matter I can still recite a good part of it by heart.

This poem has a very unique place in Chinese classical poems because of its historical background and subject matter. Many of the Tang poems and Sung Cis " ¤£ ¬O ¯f °s ¡A «K¬O ´d î ¬î This poem is on the "righteous spirit" ¡] ¥¿ ®ð ¡^ of mankind ( not just Chinese ) and how it influences us during the most difficult times.

¤å ¤Ñ ²» is one of the most revered historical figures in Chinese history. Many people rank him the same as ½Ñ ¸¯ «G and ©¨ ­¸ . I certainly agree to that. He wrote a few famous poems and I would like to share the following one with you

¨¯ ­W ¾D ³{ °_ ¤@ ¸g ¤z ¤à ¸¨ ¸¨ ¥| ©P P ¬P ¤s ªe ¯} ¸H ­· ©ß µ µ¶ ¨­ ¥@ ÄÆ ¹s «B ¥´ µÓ ´q ®£ Åy ÀY »¡ ´q ®£ ¹s ¤B ¬v ¸Ì ¹Ä ¹s ¤B ¤H ¥Í ¦Û ¥j ½Ö µL ¦º ¯d ¨ú ¤¦ ¤ß ·Ó ¦½ «C
FROM:Julian Yiu
Canada - Monday, November 09, 1998 at 08:16:17 (PS


SUBJECT:
Dr. Eye Chinese Dictionary
- once again -

COMMENT:

Thank you Ming for your hint: yesterday I happened to go there also and, to my surprise, learned that 'Okano' now also provides Dr. Eye products for the Macintosh platform. They have a really comfortable and good-looking website in several languages (Chinese BIG5/GB, Japanese and English). Anybody interested in these tools might pay a visit and have a look! (Up to the moment, I just don't know how shipping etc. will work.)

Alfred

"Traces of Butterflies' Dreams" - ½º¹Ú²


FROM:A.W. Tueting <Ti@fa-kuan.muc.de>
DE - Monday, November 09, 1998 at 00:13:34 (PS
SUBJECT:
Dr. Eye Chinese Dictionary for Macintosh - correction
COMMENT:
Alfred:

The company has a website at
http://www.okano.com.tw
It has changed to http://www.oknet.com.tw
Ming

FROM:Ming Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Sunday, November 08, 1998 at 18:07:01 (PS


SUBJECT:
Dr. Eye Chinese Dictionary for Macintosh
COMMENT:
Alfred:

The company has a website at
http://www.okano.com.tw
Ming

FROM:Ming Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Sunday, November 08, 1998 at 18:04:37 (PS


SUBJECT:
Dr. Eye Chinese Dictionary for Macintosh
second try

COMMENT:

Sorry, something doesn't work with the Readme text (BIG5) on my server. So I post it right here (my apologize to Ming for wasting board space - but he can remove it afterwards):

¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o¡o
      ¡° Åwªï¨Ï¥ÎDr.eye͍å³qVer2.1¤¤¤åÁcÅ骩for Macintosh§Y®É½Ķ³nÅé ¡°
      ¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p¡p
        Dr.eye¬O¤@®M³Ì·sªº­^º~¢Aº~­^Âù»y½Ķ»PÀ³¥Î³nÅé¡F¥¦¤£¶È¥]§t¤F¡§Âù»yÃã¨å¡¨¡B¡§¥Í¦rµ§°O¡¨¡B¡§¤¤­^¤åµo­µ¡¨µ¥¥\¯à¡A¦P®É¤]¥]§t¤F·í¤µ³Ì¬y¦æªº¦b½u§Y¬Ý§Y¬dÃã¨å-¡§§Y®É½Ķ¡¨¡A¾A¥Î©óMacintosh¥H¤ÎWindows95Àô¹Ò¤U¥ô¦ó¨ã¦³¤å¦rÀɪºÀ³¥Î³nÅé¡A¤×¨ä¾A¥Î©óºô»Úºô¸ô¤WªºÂsÄý¡FDr.eye§@¬°¤@ºØÂù»yÀô¹Ò¡A¦b´£¨Ñ·Ç½T§Ö³tªºÂù»y½Ķ¥\¯àªº¦P®É¡A¤S¨ã¦³¦û¥Î¸ê·½¤Ö¡B¦w¸Ë²«K¡B¹s¾Ç²ßµ¥ÀuÂI¡F³q¹LDr.eye¡A±z¥i¥H»´ÃPÀò±o¨³³t¡B¥¿½T¡BÅv«Âªº­^º~¢Aº~­^Âù»y½Ķ»PÀ³¥Î¡A§Ö³t¸ÑŪ¤¤¡B­^¡B¤é¡BÁúµ¥¤£¦P¨È¬w»y¨tªº¸ê°T¤º®e¡A§ó¥[§Ö³tªº´x´¤²{¥N¦a²y§øªº²Ä¤@¤â¸ê°T¯ß°Ê»P·¾³qªº¾ô¼Ù¡C
    ¦b¼s¤jDr.eye͍å³q¥Î¤áªº¼ö±¡¤ä«ù¤U¡A¯S§O±À¥X¤FDr.eye͍å³qVer2.1¤¤¤åÁcÅéfor Macintoshª©¥»¡I¥þ·s͍å³qVer2.1¤¤¤åÁcÅéfor Macintoshª©¥»¬O½ĶÃã¨å¦Ó¤£¬O´¶³q¦r¨å¡F¤£¶È¬°¥v¤W³Ì±jªº¡§§Y®É½Ķ³nÅé for Macintosh¡¨¡A¦P®É¤S¬O¥þ²y²Ä¤@®M¸ó¥­¥xªº¹q¸£Ãã¨å½Ķ³nÅé¡F§ó·s¼WInternet½u¤W·s¦rÂX¥R--Ãã¨å²×¨­ºûÅ@¡FÂù»y¤u§@¦C¡A¾Þ§@²³æ¹s¾Ç²ß¡F¤£¶È¾A¥Î©óNetscape Navigator / Communicator ¡BMicrosoft IEµ¥ÂsÄý¾¹³nÅé¡A¦P®É¾A¥Î©óMicrosoft Office¡BEudora¡BClaris Emailer¡BApple Internet Connection Kitµ¥¦UºØÀ³¥Î³nÅé¡A­ìª©­^¤å¹CÀ¸¤]¥i¾A¥Î¡F¦Ó¥B§ó¨ã³Æ¤­¤j¶W±j¥\¯à¡G
1¡O³ÌÂ×´Iªº¹q¸£Ãã¨å¡G¶W¹L150,000±ø¤¤­^¤åµü²Õ¦r·J¡B¤ù»y¡B¨Ò¥y¤Î¤åªkÅܤơI
2¡O³Ì¤è«Kªº§Y®É½Ķ¡G¤¤­^¤å³æ¦r¡B¤ù»y¡Bµü²Õ¡F´å¼Ð«ü¨ì­þ¸Ì¡A´N½Ķ¨ì­þ¸Ì¡I
3¡O³Ì§¹¾ãªº¸ÑªR½d¨Ò¡G­µ¼Ð¡B¦r¸q¡B¨Ò¥y¤Î¤åªkÅܤƵ¥¦hµøµ¡ªº§¹¾ã¸ÑÄÀ¡I
4¡O³Ì«e¤ªºÂX¥R¥\¯à¡G¦Û«Ø¦r®w¡B¥Í¦rµ§°O¡BÂù»y°ª¤â¡F¨Ã¥i¥Ñ¡§µÛ°gºô¯¸¡¨
                                                        (http://www.okano.com.tw)ª½±µ½u¤W·s¦rÂX¥R¡AÃã¨å²×¨­ºûÅ@¡I
5¡O³Ì´¼¼zªºµo­µ¥\¯à¡GÃã¨åªº³æ¦r¡B¤ù»y¡Bµo­µ¤Î¥ô·N¥y¤lµo­µ¡I

Alfred

"Traces of Butterflies' Dreams" - ½º¹Ú²ª


FROM:A.W.T. <Ti@fa-kuan.muc.de>
DE - Saturday, November 07, 1998 at 12:50:42 (PS
SUBJECT:
Dr. Eye Chinese Dictionary for Macintosh
COMMENT:

Could anybody of you help me with a specific problem:
As you know, my machine is Apple Macintosh with CLK (Chinese Language Kit) extension. From a net friend I learned that there is a Chinese-English/English-Chinese dictionary for Macintosh (and also for MS Windows 95 now) by the name of 'Dr. Eye'. As I have heard, this software is rather mighty and comfortable and I really would like to get it - but where?? (That net friend mentioned doesn't know either, although he's bought one when travelling toTaiwan.) He and me were searching the web after it without success. I also checked the great Apple sites for the dictionary, yet couldn't find it. Since I was told that the (original) version for Macintosh was sold by Apple Taiwan, I tried to get into connection with them from their site respective: Sending an e-mail in English to Apple Taiwan proved to be invain - up to now there was no response. Do you have an idea what else to do? Should I try one more e-mail in Chinese (although my stock of Chinese expressions for computer stuff has got rusty since last corresponding with Taiwanese companies - and pretty poor anyway)?

Clicking here, you can open the Readme text file of the software 'Dr. Eye' (BIG5 encoding). The company 'Okano' mentioned there only sells the Window version - as I was told.

Alfred

"Traces of Butterflies' Dreams" - ½º¹Ú²ª


FROM:A.W.T. < Ti@fa-kuan.muc.de>
DE - Saturday, November 07, 1998 at 12:26:43 (PS
SUBJECT:
Thanks for the info on epics
COMMENT:
My many thanks to all of those who responded to my question on epics. This is my first internet experience and it was very exciting to here from such knowledgeable people.
FROM:D. Colter <www. jennaboo@msn.com>
USA - Friday, November 06, 1998 at 17:57:19 (PS
SUBJECT:
Female Impersonators
COMMENT:
I am in the process of constructing an argument that agrees with the following statement. "The populartiy of female impersonators during the Qianlong reign made homesexual relationships acceptable however,male homosexuality, although not uncommon, served only as a supplement and not an alternative to marriage." I have taken this idea from a text entitled "Chinese Society in the Eighteenth Centur, Written by S. Naquin & E. Rawski. Please if you could provide some insight into this idea. I can use all the help I can get.
FROM:Christine Anstey <yu235155@yorku.ca>
Canada - Friday, November 06, 1998 at 11:02:26 (PS
SUBJECT:
Chinese Epic
COMMENT:
Not to re-promote Mulan, but for its popularity and readily available materials from other source, this poem suits 9th grader very well. It does have a long story to tell, closest to the "epic" definition. Also a good chance to de-mystify Eddy Murphy's "dragon", which was entirely a Disney gimick.
SL Lee Asiawind.com

FROM:SL Lee <sllee@asiawind.com>
USA - Friday, November 06, 1998 at 09:45:41 (PS
SUBJECT:
Chinese epics
COMMENT:
In as much as this is to be part of teaching materials for the 9-th grade students, I agree with SL that an epic story (like Illiad) is expected.
There are of course many such stories in the Chinese history. Between a love story and a historical battle story, I an inclined to pick a war story - because of the intended audience is the 9-th graders.
How about the story of the Battle of the Red Cliff, in the Three Kingdom saga? It is a very interesting historical period for the young readers - both Chinese and non-Chinese. There are a lot of associated materials on the Internet - so a student can do some independent search in the Net. There are several immensely popular computer games Romance of Three Kingdoms.
Finally, the poem by Su Shi can be read and heard
What we need would be a concise reading page for the story written in English.
Ming

FROM:Ming Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Friday, November 06, 1998 at 06:28:59 (PS
SUBJECT:
Chinese epics
COMMENT:
I think epic (like the famous Iliad) has to do with a narrative of a historical period in a story form. Alfred and Julian proposed some good ones. The epics in Chinese are more done in the format of "FU" ½á and "Biao" ªí There are quite a few of them. I can think of Qu Yuan's Li Sao ©}­ìÖÃÄÌ (Fu) and Zhuge Liang's Qian/Hou Chu Shi Biao ½Ñ¸¯«G«e¦Z¥X®vªí(about the history of the Three Kingdoms). But many of these are not story telling but more like expression of the author's emotions rather than descriptive of the history. So the translation is often difficult.
SL Lee Asiawind.com

FROM:SL Lee <sllee@asiawind.com>
USA - Thursday, November 05, 1998 at 15:19:48 (PS
SUBJECT:
Chinese epics
COMMENT:

I'm not sure what was meant by the term 'epic' because it was used with regard to the 'Gilgamesh' epic and other great poems of genesis. If you are looking for a poem in the sense of Julian's definition ("an epic is a long poem on historical events"), I could suggest a 'canto' (ge1 ºq) done by the Sung poet Wen T'ien-hsiang /Wen Tianxiang (¤å¤Ñ²») with the title '¥¿Éaºq' (germ.: "Der Gesang von der rechten Kraft", engl.: "The Real Force's Canto") - it's poem Nr. XXXI. I like this poem very much as it tells of Wen's tragedy of life, written by him in his 2nd year of imprisonment (1279-1283) under the Yuan in Yen-Chou ¿P¦{ (Peking) area. During the about 3 or 4 months of translating the epic to German (alas, not to English) I really became very familiar with this touching work of poetry. It was a matter of my concern as a poetical translater to keep as close as possible to the original's consiseness. So (with regard to the historical background) the necessary notes became a whole bunch. Perhaps one day I at least will translate these notes into English. I wonder if this epic is available also in English translation. I'd also like to know my Chinese friends' opinion on this poem.

Alfred

"Traces of Butterflies' Dreams" - ½º¹Ú²ª


FROM:A.W. Tueting < Ti@fa-kuan.muc.de>
DE - Thursday, November 05, 1998 at 14:37:08 (PS
SUBJECT:
Asiawind Art Gallery - New look
COMMENT:
Dear Friends,
I have revamped the entire art gallery site to have better navigation. Please take a look if you have a chance. Comments are weclome.
I am sorry that the forum computer crashed as there were a number of msgs quite interesting. I wrote a long msg on Chinese painting. But hard to reproduce it now.
SL Lee
Asiawind.com

FROM:SL Lee <sllee@asiawind.com>
USA - Thursday, November 05, 1998 at 11:18:17 (PS
SUBJECT:
Chinese epics
COMMENT:
D. Cotler,

I made a typo in my last email. The "Browse all 300 poems" is on the left hand side, not on the right hand side. Let me know if you can't locate this poem.
FROM:Julian Yiu
Canada - Thursday, November 05, 1998 at 10:46:27 (PS


SUBJECT:
Chinese epics
COMMENT:
D. Colter,

You are looking for a Chinese epic to introduce to your Grade 9 students. By definition, an epic is a long poem on historical events. The one I suggest is called "A Song of Unending Sorrow" by Bai Juyi. This poem is based on the true romanic story between Emperor Ming Tong and his favorite concubine Yeung Yuk-wan. To get this poem, follow these steps:

Click on " Poetry" in the home page of this website, then click on "Other Poetry Sites ", then on " 300 Poems of Tang Dynasty", then click on the right hand side " Browse all 300 Peoms". Then scroll down to #71 and you will find the English Translation of this poem.

If you find this poem is too long for your students, you can browse other poems and I am sure you will find one suitable for them.
FROM:Julian Yiu
Canada - Thursday, November 05, 1998 at 10:38:59 (PS


SUBJECT:
§õ ·Ô
COMMENT:
Previously a few visitors asked why there is no poem by Lee Yuk on this website. Now they can find them under "poetry" section if follow these steps:

Click on"Poetry", then "other poetry sites", then " By Ying Shi in (GIF) " and then "§õ ·Ô " and you will find some of his major works.
FROM:Julian Yiu
Canada - Thursday, November 05, 1998 at 09:42:41 (PS


SUBJECT:
Asia instructional materials
esp. for teachers

COMMENT:

Asia instructional materials
esp. for teachers

To all those searching for instructional materials for school purposes the following site might be helpful. It's from 'Asia Society' with the URL "http://www.asiasociety.org/. One section of it is called 'AskAsia' which also contains a page 'Instructional Resources for Educators' . Although I didn't try it out thoroughly I can say that the site looks pretty good - and could be worth a visit by all those educators showing up on this message board.

Alfred Ti@fa-kuan.muc.de

"Traces of Butterflies' Dreams" - ½º¹Ú²ª


FROM:A.W. Tueting < Ti@fa-kuan.muc.de>
DE - Thursday, November 05, 1998 at 09:37:45 (PS
SUBJECT:
Chinese culture
COMMENT:
I'm interested in taking a Master in Chinese Studies. I'll be glad if anyone can send me any information about Chinese culture, tradition, culture, music, ...
FROM:Ana Paula Loureiro <loureiroana@hotmail.com>
Portugal - Thursday, November 05, 1998 at 04:57:23 (PS
SUBJECT:
Mulan
COMMENT:
Please, if you can tell me about the song " Mulan congjun", at the middle there is a wording " Sanren...tongzhoudao..yitiaodao...ah...." Who are those three persons (Sanren)? I understood, Mulan herself was one of them only. Thank you Viriya
FROM:Viriya Trangadisaikul <viriya@thai.com>
Thailand - Wednesday, November 04, 1998 at 19:07:59 (PS
SUBJECT:
Chinese epics
COMMENT:
I teach a high school level humanities course which I am new to. I have found a great epic for the African and East Indian cultures. I am looking for a great Chinese epic or other piece of classical Chinese literature that would expose my students to the Chinese culture. They will also be studying Chinese ancient history, art, and music. Does anyone have any great suggestions. Must be easily available in English. Also, if there are any key ideas, traditions, philosophies I must include, please let me know. Keep in mind, these are ninth graders and I only have three weeks
FROM:D. Colter <www.jennaboo@msn.com>
USA - Wednesday, November 04, 1998 at 15:03:43 (PS
SUBJECT:
Search for "Monkey" painting
COMMENT:
Don:

Look at the "Novels" page from the home page.
FROM:Ming Pei <pei@chinapage.org>
- Wednesday, November 04, 1998 at 13:58:14 (PS


SUBJECT:
Search for "Monkey" painting
COMMENT:
I am searching for a wonderful painting, hoping to obtain a print of it. (I owned a print years ago, but have lost it.) It depicts a scene from "Journey to the West" (Xi You Ji / Wu Ch'eng-en). The scene is sometimes called "Monkey wreaks havoc in Heaven", or "Putting Heaven in disorder". It is realistic or "representational", compared with the abstract or "decorative" style of much commonly seen oriental art. It is in full, realistic and beautiful color, perhaps water color. In the center are two combatants. "Monkey" stands in a dominant position, with his pole-type weapon raised, about to strike. He appears like a large clothed man, except that his face is ape-like. The other combatant, a looking like a normal man, is falling on his back, holding up a sward in a defensive posture, appearing to be getting the worst of the fight. Around the two main figures are numerous others (smaller due to perspective), who seemed to represent a variety of social, political, or religious roles. The subordinate figures appear to be rushing in, either to stop the violence or join it. The entire sceene was set among clouds. This does not exactly fit my recolection of the story, but is close enough to identify the subject matter, I believe. I would like to know if anyone has seen this beautiful painting. ...If so, where? Perhaps some museum has prints for sale. ... Don Cowdrey cowdredq@jmu.edu
FROM:Don Cowdrey <cowdredq@jmu.edu>
USA - Wednesday, November 04, 1998 at 08:04:10 (PS
SUBJECT:
Computer crash
COMMENT:
Ming,

I noticed there was something wrong with the Discussion page as I couldn't get access to it yesterday. I am glad it is now up and running again. I clicked on the poetry page and it was fine. Hopefully it is true with all other sections.
FROM:Julian Yiu
Canada - Wednesday, November 04, 1998 at 07:21:31 (PS


SUBJECT:
Computer Crash - follow up
COMMENT:
China the Beautiful is hosted on two separate computers. During the crash, the site hosting the other copy was operating normally. Computer crashes is a fact of life, and will happen again and again.

I urge you to bookmark (save) both URL of China the Beautiful on your computer, to avoid disruption. After the crash occurs, it will be too late.
FROM:Webmaster <webmaster@chinapage.org>
- Wednesday, November 04, 1998 at 06:42:16 (PS


SUBJECT:
Computer system crashed!!!
COMMENT:
Computer Crashed

Some time yesterday, the computer system where this discussion forum is hosted suffered a major failure.

After a whole day, it is finally up again, but only by using an old backup tape of many days ago.

I have restored the October discussions from my backup. But all discussions after November 1 is lost.

I will try to restore many recent updates, such as the Picture of the Month feature, as quickly as possible. But it may be several days before I will know the extent of the damage.


FROM:Webmaster <pei@chinapage.org>
- Wednesday, November 04, 1998 at 06:27:04 (PS


SUBJECT:
Cantonese
COMMENT:
Victoria,

You can't even call a person who speaks Cantonese a Cantonese. Cantonese has two meanings. 1. It is a dialect spoken by the natives of Canton. 2. It is a term used to call those people who are natives of Canton.

A person can learn to speak Cantonese, but he/she is not necessarily a Cantonese. It can be a mistake to take it for granted that a person who speaks Cantonese, a Cantonese. I suppose that is true for all other languages. Say I learn how to speak German, but I am not a German.
FROM:Julian Yiu
Canada - Sunday, November 01, 1998 at 07:33:25 (PS


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