Readers' Discussions, Comments & Inquiries
Archived pages
SUBJECT: Missing part of Mulan Ci
From:
Date: 13 Nov 1997
Time: 15:50:23
Remote Name: 149.115.138.85
Comments
Mifei calligraphy is great. But it missed at least 2-3 pages, between Pages 12-13. Please see if
you can relocate them and make a compelte post. Right before lines in page 13, it should read:
Tuo wo Zhan shi Bao, Zhu wo Jiu shi Zhuang, Dang Chuang Li Yun Bin...
Page 13 starts with Li Yun Bin.
From: huangp@intergate.bc.ca
Date: 08 Nov 1997
Time: 17:39:44
Remote Name: pm5s18.intergate.bc.ca
Comments
chinese famous novel"MONKEY"... How it reflects the cultural climate of the 16th ecntury??
about author's attitude toward confuciansm, Buddhism, and Taoism?
Re: MONKEY
From: Julian Yiu
Date: 10 Nov 1997
Time: 16:27:57
Remote Name: mail.videotron.ab.ca
Comments
What I am going to comment may have disappointed you. The Author of "Monkey", in my
opinion, simply wrote a story based on earlier works of the same subject. The author, Ng
Sing-yan was borned in the Ming Dynasty and the "monkey" was a favorite story written back in
the Sung and Yuen dynasty. The author wrote this book at a late stage of his life,i.e. when he was
old. He didn't have a very successful career as a government official. This book of " monkey" has
a lot of fantasies imported from India. Natually, many readers give their own interpretation of what
those fantasies mean. The author did write something about confucianism, taoism and buddaism.
The very evidence came from Chapter 47. After the monkey killed the three monsters of tiger,
goat and deer, he taught the King saying " I hope you can merge the three teachings. You should
respect the monks, and you should also respect the taoists. You should also educate your people.
I guarantee your kingdom will last forever.". That, no doubt is the aauthor's own ideal of the three
"teachings" of confucianism, taoism and buddaism. However, the book of " Monkey " is not on
this subject. It is just a story of fantasy. A story that was based on a subject that has never been
written before by other authors. Not in such an elaboration form anyway. When we read this
book, we should read it as a story book. Any implication or interpretation of thoughts, teachings,
theories is a by-product and not the main theme why the author wanted to write this book.
Julian.
Re: MONKEY
From: Haixia Wang
Date: 09 Nov 1997
Time: 04:52:24
Remote Name: ultraman.pse.res.titech.ac.jp
Comments
Maybe I can't answer all your questions, but I am interested in all Chinese religions. I'd like to tell
you my own opinion. I found the following words in a lot of chinese books I'd read: "The three
religions should be as one". Taoism and Confuciansm and buddhism are not against to each other.
They are just like some different flowers grow up in the same garden at the same time.
Regards,
Haixia Wang
Re: MONKEY
From: huangp
Date: 09 Nov 1997
Time: 16:44:16
Remote Name: pm6s28.intergate.bc.ca
Comments
Haixia:yap, I agree with you, but I would like to know how the author's attitude toward
Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism in the story of "Monkey"~a famous chinese monk who
travelled to the "west".
Thousand Character Essay . Help
From: jan.verelst@ping.be
Date: 08 Nov 1997
Time: 08:52:08
Remote Name: dialup118.antwerp.eunet.be
Comments
I am studying Chinese calligraphy. I have no formal knowledge of chinese but I try always to
understand what I (try to )write.
Who can help me with an english translation of the 1000 character essay?
Re: Thousand Character Essay . Help
From: Julian Yiu
Date: 10 Nov 1997
Time: 14:59:58
Remote Name: mail.videotron.ab.ca
Comments
The thousand character poem or essay as you put it is not a very easy poem to understand for
people who just start to learn Chinese. The poem has a lot of difficult Chinese characters and it
contains a lot of Chinese history, stories, fables and teachings. In fact, this poem is so difficult that
most schools won't even teach it to the students. I am not sure this poem is suitable for someone
like you. Anyway, I hope there is English translation available, and I hope somebody can find it
and post it here for you.
Julian.
Re: Thousand Character Essay . Help
From: jan.verelst
Date: 11 Nov 1997
Time: 14:05:52
Remote Name: dialup054.antwerp.eunet.be
Comments
Thanks for your quick comment. I know it is a difficult text. I managed to get through the first half,
with some help of a chinese friend. The last half however is much more difficult. I like the text
because it offers beautiful subjects for calligraphy. I still hope some help shows up.
Greetings. Jan
Re: Thousand Character Essay . Help
From: Julian Yiu
Date: 12 Nov 1997
Time: 09:43:42
Remote Name: user72-6.aecd.gov.ab.ca
Comments
Jan,
Since you are interested in the calligraphy of the Thousand Character Essay, do you know there is
a sample that you can see in this chinapage website ?
Unfortunately, Dr Pei only put up a page of the calligraphy as a sample. Perhaps when time
permits, Dr Pei will post the entire Essay for you and all of us to appreciate the beautiful Chinese
calligraphy.
Julian.
Re: Thousand Character Essay . Help
From: Ming Pei
Date: 12 Nov 1997
Time: 12:52:21
Remote Name: ts003d19.pri-nj.concentric.net
Comments
The Thousand Character Essay is a remarkable piece of writing. It has, for many years, one of the
primary essays taught in schools. In fact, until only very recent years, it was also used in Korean
schools as well.
The text not just teach 1000 words, but the sentences are constructed to teach basic knowledge
as well. For example, Ocean water is salty, but river water is not. may not seem to say much. But
in years past, people who lived thousands of miles from the ocean, are taught about this
remarkable fact about the ocean.
I can go on about the rain, clould, etc.
The full text is in China the Beautiful, but I do not have the English translation.
Finally, as a source of study of calligraphy, my personal favorite is the "Ballard of Mulan" which is
at www.chinapage.org/mulan.html
Ming
From: jan.verelst@ping.be
Date: 16 Nov 1997
Time: 12:16:08
Remote Name: dialup062.antwerp.eunet.be
Comments
Thanks to Julian Yiu and Prof. Ming Pei for the comments. One day I will come to you with more
specific questions by e-mail and enclosures.
Greetings from Jan in Belgium.
Mulan is here!
From: Ming Pei
Date: 31 Oct 1997
Time: 11:29:20
Remote Name: ts005d46.pri-nj.concentric.net
Comments
By popular demand, I have added the complete Ballad of Mulan, as stone rubbing of calligraphy.
It can be seen at chinapage.org/mulan.html or chinapage.com/mulan.html
I also added a partial English translation as well.
Your comments are welcome.
Ming
Re: Mulan is here!
From:
Date: 13 Nov 1997
Time: 15:47:20
Remote Name: 149.115.138.85
Comments
Mifei calligraphy is great. But it missed at least 2-3 pages, between Pages 12-13. Please see if
you can relocate them and make a compelte post. Right before lines in page 13, it should read:
Tuo wo Zhan shi Bao, Zhu wo Jiu shi Zhuang, Dang Chuang Li Yun Bin...
Page 13 starts with Li Yun Bin.
Re: Mulan is here!
From: jan.verelst@ping.be
Date: 08 Nov 1997
Time: 09:03:02
Remote Name: dialup118.antwerp.eunet.be
Comments
Mulan is great. MiFei is a landmark in calligraphy. I want to practice his xingshu.
But mulan05c.jpg refuses stubbornly to be downloaded.
Can you do something, Dr Pei? Thanks.
Re: Mulan is here!
From: Chandra
Date: 03 Nov 1997
Time: 19:54:06
Remote Name: 160.94.197.213
Comments
Yes! Thank you very much! :) I'll begin work on it now...
The calligraphy is beautiful, by the way.
¡u¤H¤£·¬yªP¤Ö¦~¡v¤§¥X³B
From: Wendy
Date: 28 Oct 1997
Time: 18:29:50
Remote Name: ellen10.slip.yorku.ca
Comments
I have been hearing about the line ¡u¤H¤£·¬yªP¤Ö¦~¡vfor a long time. I would like to know
about (1) the origin of this line; (2)the time period in which the line was written, and (3) the actual
meaning of the term ¡u·¬y¡vo I am sure some of you will know the answer. Thank you for your
attention.
Re: ¡u¤H¤£·¬yªP¤Ö¦~¡v¤§¥X³B
From: Julian Yiu
Date: 30 Oct 1997
Time: 08:28:56
Remote Name: user72-6.aecd.gov.ab.ca
Comments
Wendy,
According to Ãã ®ü ¡A · y has 5 meanings:
1. y · ¾l Ãý
2. «~ ®æ Ðá °ª
3. ¥ú ºa
4. ºë ¯« Ãý ¨ý
5 §M ¹C
You can look up the Ãã ®ü ¡ and find out the origin of these meanings. The number 5 meaning is
the most commonly used for nowaday’s usage of the term · y. . But in the olden days, that is not
necessarily true.
Ä ªF ©Y ¨ª ¾À ½á " ¤d ¥j · y.¤H ª« " definitely is not using meaning # 5.
I am not sure what is the original of the sentence quoted by you. · y. in that particular sentence
means §M ¹C .
Julian
Calligraphies of Sung Lyrics
From: Ti@fa-kuan.muc.de
Date: 20 Oct 1997
Time: 13:43:34
Remote Name: fa-kuan.muc.de
Comments
Hello everybody interested in chinese culture!
I am very fond of chinese poetry and first of all chinese calligraphy and brushwritings of any style.
So I try to go this way to get connected to people also appreciating this fine chinese art in order to
find ancient (or also modern) brushwritings of Sung time lyrics, I could add to my german-chinese
anthology of Sung poets ("Traces of Butterflyês Dreams"). You find the original chinese texts on
my page: http://www.muc.de/~tueting/ (exact path:
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/munihei_faguan/SOURCES.HTML). Any
contribution will be welcome.
Ti@fa-kuan.muc.de
Re: Calligraphies of Sung Lyrics
From: Julian Yiu
Date: 21 Oct 1997
Time: 08:41:25
Remote Name: user72-6.aecd.gov.ab.ca
Comments
Alfred,
I visited your homepage and I am very impressed by what you have done.
Your mentioned Feng ZengS ´¿ in your site and I agree that he is one of the best Chinese
calligraphers at present.
I don't seem to be able to find his Chinese calligraphy writing or books in the bookstores. Do you
or does anyone know where I can buy or order his calligraphy works or books ? Or is there a
website that I can go to find them ?
Thanks.
Re: Calligraphies of Sung Lyrics
From: Ti@fa-kuan.muc.de
Date: 21 Oct 1997
Time: 11:44:45
Remote Name: fa-kuan.muc.de
Comments
Julian,
sorry, up to now I don t have sources of calligraphies of Master Fan Zeng. I found his very skillfull
brush (Beyond the clouds the crane is crying) I have in my page
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/munihei_faguan/INTRO.HTML in an on-line gallery.
Later his piece of work was no longer found in that gallery and now - alas! - also the gallery-site
seems to have disappeared from the Web.
Sorry for the bad news...
Alfred
P.S. If anybody gets better news, please let me know then!
Mulan the girl who went to the war for her father
From: Ming Pei
Date: 13 Oct 1997
Time: 12:36:16
Remote Name: ts009d07.pri-nj.concentric.net
Comments
The story of Mulan is certainly one of the most cited stories in Chinese literature. Recently, I was
asked about the Mulan Ci (poem). There is a excerpt of the calligraphy my MiFi (see earlier
discussions here.) Now I found out about a website devoted to her, and a new Disney movie!
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/5082/mulanfaq.html
Take a look. Ming
Re: Mulan the girl who went to the war for her father
From: Chandra
Date: 14 Oct 1997
Time: 21:36:39
Remote Name: pub-23-b-200.dialup.umn.edu
Comments
Sorry, I should have given that information out earlier! I did find a copy of the poem, but it's
blurred, and hard to read. I knew about the Disney film since 93, which is what prompted my
interestin finding the original poem. So far I've only read favorable things about the Disney version.
Re: Mulan the girl who went to the war for her father
From: Julian Yiu
Date: 15 Oct 1997
Time: 11:27:28
Remote Name: user72-6.aecd.gov.ab.ca
Comments
Chandra,
That poem is not difficult to find. I am sure Dr. Pei is able to help. I used to know how to recite
the entire poem, but now I can only remember the first stanza and it is a long poem.
I am living in Canada and I don't have the original poem on hand. Otherwise, I will mail it to you.
Just hope that Dr. Pei can post the entire calligraghy by Mei Fei on that poem for us to enjoy.
Far Mu-lan was fasinating to us because she was a girl and she could so sucessfully disguise
herself as a man in the battlefield. According to the legend, she even fooled her male counterparts.
In Chinese history, there were a few famous female war heroines. Leung Hung-yuk was one of
them. She was the wife of the famous general Hon Sai-chung. She went to the battlefield and beat
the drums to direct the soldiers to fight against the enemies.
There were more famous war females in the Ming and Ching Dynasty. I hope the Disney picture
will interest more Chinese aboard to learn more of our cultures and history.
Julian.
Re: Mulan the girl who went to the war for her father
From: Chandra
Date: 16 Oct 1997
Time: 20:12:53
Remote Name: pub-19-c-216.dialup.umn.edu
Comments
I also hope that the Disney movie encourages interest in Chinese culture. I always liked the wu dan
characters that from Chinese Opera.
It's true, that since this is such a well known poem, that it shouldn't be difficult to find at all. In my
public library I found a Chinese/English bilinguil children's book. But that's a prose version.
Maybe I should try a new angle. Is there a book of poems that it might be collected in? I might
have better chance of tracking down a whole book, rather than a single poem. Especially now that
it seems my library has a small collection of Chinese books, and my University has even more.
Re: Mulan the girl who went to the war for her father
From: Ming Pei
Date: 17 Oct 1997
Time: 12:43:56
Remote Name: ts001d26.pri-nj.concentric.net
Comments
I am glad to see the interest in Mulan.
I have the full text of Ode to Mulan as the stone rubbing of Mifi's calligraphy. Millions of us,
including myself, have learn to write from it.
I have put up a few more panels of this. In the next days, I shall have all of it up for you.
It is in the calligraphy section of China the Beautiful. You can also access it directly at
http://www.chinapage.com/mulan.html
Would one of you volunteer to transcribe it in big5 or gb for publication? I think it would be
wonderful, if we can have a copy of it in straight text as well.
Ming
Mulan
From: Taisheng She
Date: 26 Sep 1997
Time: 07:57:09
Remote Name: ts008d07.pri-nj.concentric.net
Comments
Subject: Mulan
Hello, I was looking at the poems on your website. I've come to really like classical Chinese
poems. I prefer to read them in thier original form. I still need to use a character dictionary
sometimes, but I know enough characters now, so that I'd really rather read the poems in Chinese.
One poem I'm looking for in particular is Mulan. I've heard of her and read prose versions, but I'd
really like to read the original. Do you know where I can get a copy?
Chandra