Menu
close

Home › Forums › cosmopolitan east asia lecture

Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • May 10, 2004 at 8:44 am #5581
    Rob_Hugo@PortNW
    Keymaster

    Fellow teachers
    I really enjoyed Prof. Yang Ye's lecture however, there are a couple of scribblings in my notes that I can not recall. I wrote "why did the Buddhist temples have laborers who did not have to pay tax?", also Prof. Yang said said that Buddhism could be likened to a meal that the Chinese had to digest, and finally, is glossy Chinese writing the same as writing with a medium papermate pen? Must have been tired by this point!! Buddhism has declined in India, so have the Indians digested Buddhism?? Just practicing posting a message. Nothing else. EGalicia

    May 12, 2004 at 2:45 pm #33633
    Anonymous
    Guest

    EGalicia: I think “glossy” refers to the appearance of the written Chinese characters. If you use expensive ink and prepare it fresh each day the result will appear glossy.

    Ron Walcott

    May 12, 2004 at 3:17 pm #33634
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Professor Yang Ye mentioned an instrument favored by Chinese philosophers. I think he was referring to the guqin, an instrument that Confucius was supposed to have played. I believe he referred to it first as a lute and then as a harp. Both categories are incorrect when referring to the guqin which has strings running parallel to its body which has no neck. This type of instrument is called a zither. If the zither had a neck it might look like a guitar and then it would be a type of lute. Harps are stringed instruments where the strings run perpendicular to the body.

    The following article may indicated the value of this instrument in Chinese society today:
    http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200311/27/print20031127_129109.html

    Ron Walcott

    May 14, 2004 at 3:10 pm #33635
    Anonymous
    Guest

    Lecture

    Professor Yang Ye presented an example of regulated verse (lushi). In this case I can see that its form is a hepta-syllabic octave. I assume that the title is deng gao and the author is Du Fu. What I found interesting was that the four tones in Chinese were reduced to two types: level tones and deflected tones. The Chinese terms for “level” and “deflected” were mentioned, but I could not find them in Professor Yang Ye’s glossary. Even more interesting was that fact that if one line has a certain pattern of level and deflected tones then the next line has its opposite pattern. I wonder if the Chinese poets recognize a defined number of patterns similar to Greek patterns regulating syllabic emphasis. At some point I would like to see the poem updated with an indication of the Chinese tones. Also, I can see the rhyme at the end of lines 1, 4 6 and 8, but I cannot see one at the end of line two.

    Ron Walcott

  • Author
    Posts
Viewing 4 posts - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.