cosmopolitan east asia lecture

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

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

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

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

[Anonymous]

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]

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