"From Hot to Cold, From Harvest to Store" - Thousand Character Classic 千字文 – Line 3

.

(oops. I mix up the lines - line 4 is in the earlier post)

.

寒来暑往, 秋收冬藏。
hánlái-shǔwǎng, qiūshōu dōng cáng。

寒 (cold) 来 (come) 暑 (heat) 往 (go)

This refers to the four seasons of the year (Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter - 春夏秋冬 chūnxiàqiūdōng). The cold refers to the cold of winter and the word 暑 shǔ refers specifically to the heat of summer. This refers to the cyclical state of the season with one season following another. 寒来暑往 hánlái-shǔwǎng is also a phrase meaning “as time passes”.

秋 (autumn) 收 (harvest) 冬 (winter) 藏 (store)

This phrase further emphasizes the seasonal and climatic changes. Autumn follows winter. It also suggests that what is harvested in autumn should be stored for winter consumption. The seasons have a much greater influence on the lives of early dwellers whose farming activities revolve round the seasons. Thus, it is no surprise that the lunar calendar they used to time their activities is also called 农历 (nónglì) or farmers’ calendar.

'

"The Rhythm of the Bamboo Pipe adjusts the Years" - Thousand Character Classic 千字文 – Line 4

.

.

闰余成岁, 律吕调阳。
rùn yú chéng suì, lǜ Lǚ tiáo yáng。

闰 (intercalary) 余 (extra) 成 (turn into) 岁 (year)

Intercalary means inserting days or months into a calendar to make it correspond with a solar year. Ancient writings such as the 史记 Shǐ Jì (“Historical Records”) by 司马迁 Sīmǎ Qiān (c. 163-85 B.C.) have records showing how the lunar calendar was formed based on the cycle of the moon which consists of 355 ¼ days. This was shorter than the 365 ¼ days of the solar calendar. Thus intercalary days and months were introduced to adjust the lunar calendar to correspond with that of the solar calendar. The Chinese usually add an intercalary month to one out of three years to balance. This is what is meant by the above phrase.

律吕 (bamboo pitch-pipe) 调 (adjust) 阳 (Yang)

律吕 lǜlǚ is a musical instrument made from bamboo that has 12 pitch pipes of different lengths. Peng Fasheng in his notes state that “Ranging from low to high, the odd pitch pipes are called 律 lǜ and believed to represent Yang force, the even ones called 吕 Lǚ and believed to reflect Yin energy. They correspond to the twelve months of the year.” Thus, the phrase means the bamboo pitch-pipe is used to adjust or harmonize Yin and Yang. Evelyn Lip suggest that “all principles be they laws of justice or the laws of nature, are regulated in both negative and positive rhythms to achieve harmony, just like musical notes and rhythms.”

.

"The Wax & Wane of Stars" - Thousand Character Classic 千字文 – Line 2

.

.

日月盈昃, 辰宿列张。
rìyuè yíng zè, chén xiù liè zhāng。

日 (sun) 月 (moon) 盈 (wax) 昃 (set)

This refers to the cycle of the universe as in the waxing and waning of the moon, and the rising and setting of the sun. 日月 itself also means life and livelihood and thus this also refers to the cycle of Life itself.

辰 (stars) 宿 (constellations) 列 (arrange) 张 (spread)

辰 means celestial bodies and also time, period. It is the fifth of the 12 Earthly branches which represents a 2 hours period. 宿 is commonly pronounced as sù in modern Chinese but in this context it is xiù as used in ancient time. It is the character for the Chinese constellations, 28 of them in ancient Chinese astronomy. This implies that time and the universe is constantly changing.

(To elaborate on the Chinese marking of the hours of the day, I quoted the following from Wikipedia – “Under the traditional system of hour-marking, each day is divided into 12 units (時辰). Each of these units is equivalent to two hours of international time. Each is named after one of the twelve Earthly Branches. The first unit, Hour of Zi (子時), begins at 11 p.m. of the previous day and ends at 1 a.m. Traditionally, executions of condemned prisoners occur at the midpoint of Hour of Wu (正午時), i.e., noon.”)

(For the meaning of Earthly Branches, I quoted another section from Wikipedia - The Earthly Branches (Chinese: 地支; pinyin: dìzhī; or Chinese: 十二支; pinyin: shíèrzhī; literally "twelve branches") provide one Chinese system for reckoning time.

This system was built from observations of the orbit of Jupiter. Chinese astronomers divided the celestial circle into 12 sections to follow the orbit of 歳星 Suìxīng (Jupiter, the Year Star). Astronomers rounded the orbit of Suixing to 12 years (from 11.86). Suixing was associated with 攝提 Shètí (ɳ Boötes) and sometimes called Sheti.

In correlative thinking, the twelve years of the Jupiter cycle also identify the twelve months of the year, twelve animals (mnemonics for the system), directions, seasons, months, and Chinese hour in the form of double-hours. When a Branch is used for a double hour, the listed periods are meant. When used for an exact time of a day, it is the center of the period. For instance, 午 (the Horse) means noon or a period from 11am to 1pm.)

.

"The Sky is black, the Earth is Yellow & the Universe is Vast" - Thousand Character Classic 千字文 – Line 1

.

天地玄黄, 宇宙洪荒。
tiāndì xuánhuáng, yǔzhòu hónghuāng。


天 (sky) 地 (earth) 玄 (black) 黄 (yellow)

This has been interpreted as the sky is black and the earth yellow. It is interesting to note that 天地 also means heaven and earth and that 玄黄 can also mean the same thing. 玄黄 can also mean dark yellow. 天地玄黄 was changed to 天地远黄 in the Qing dynasty when 玄 was changed to 远 yuǎn out of respect to the Qing emperor 玄桦 Xuánhuà.

宇宙 (universe) 洪 (vast) 荒 (desolate)

Evelyn Lip said that in ancient writings such as the Huai Nan zi 淮南子, “宇 refers to everything around, above and below while 宙 represents both the past and present. In other words, the universe encompasses everything, ever-changing and fluctuating”. 洪荒 together also means primordial time. Thus, in the beginning the universe was created out of a vast, chaotic state.

.

1000 Character Classic 千字文 – Introduction.

.

The Thousand Character Classic (千字文) was composed by 周兴嗣 Zhōu Xìngsì in the Liang Dynasty (梁朝; Liáng cháo) (502-557). He was ordered by Emperor Liang Wu 梁武帝 Liáng Wǔdì to copy a thousand unique characters* from the calligraphy of Wang Xizhi 王羲之, (303–361) who is referred to as the Sage of Calligraphy 书圣 shūshèng for the purpose of educating his son.

Zhou shuffled 1000 characters from Wang’s work into 4 characters rhymed text composing 8 characters in a line. The character used are never repeated in this poem or essay. It is said that Zhou did the exacting task in only one night and the supreme effort turned his hair white the next morning. Thus, it became China’s earliest and most widely used basic literary text.

In accordance my effort to study Mandarin, I’ll be analyzing the Thousand Character Classic (千字文) by going through these 1000 characters according to their 8 x 125 lines. In this, I will draw from these sources –

Essay of One Thousand Characters (book) – translation by Peng Fasheng.
1000 Character Classic (book) – translation by Evelyn Lip.
The Thousand Character Essay (online article) – translation by Nathan Sturman.

Information from Wikipedia.

Different researches break down the 1000 characters into different sections. Peng Fasheng for example breaks them down into 4 parts. Part I (line 1 – 18) “outlines cosmological process and cultural revolution”. Part II (line 19-51) “dwells upon personal upbringing and moral virtues”. Part III (line 52 – 82) “surveys the administrative affairs of the noble classes and the vast territory of the empire.” Part IV (line 83 – 99)” narrates the pastoral life of tcommon people and technical prowess of craftsmen.” He singled out the last line as without substantial meaning. Nathan on the other hand just breaks them down into 7 separate chapters without an explanation. He just mentioned that – “The seven chapters deals with aspects of the world, nature, history, geography, society, and individual conduct while presenting, for practice, a basic set of characters at the core of the moral and intellectual world view of traditional China.”

It is generally quoted that one needs to memorize 3000 characters to have a reasonable grasp of Mandarin. As I always like to make my learning an experience and journey instead of a just mechanical act of repetition, I choose to learn 1000 of these characters through the Thousand Character Classic (千字文). As they said, the start of a long journey begins with the first character but it doesn’t have to start with 一 (yí).

(*In classic Chinese, the characters were not repeated. However, in conversion to simplified Chinese a few characters were duplicated but the meanings are different.)

.

The Art and Wit of Ding Cong. 丁聪和他的漫画.

.

I was reading a book “Wit and Humour from Ancient China” 古趣集 gǔqù jí depicting 100 cartons of the famous Chinese artist Ding Cong 丁聪 Dīng Cōng who signed his works as 小丁 Xiǎo Dīng. In fifty years of his career, Mr. Ding had drawn and illustrated a very wide range of subjects including illustrating for many famous writers such as Lu Xun (especially for his brilliant illustrations of Lu Xun’s masterpiece “The True Story of Ah Q”) and many other modern Chinese writers.

Story 42 is titled “A Difference of Words” and we will see what a small difference can make. On assuming a new office, a self-proclaimed honest official put up a notice in his hall. It consisted of three “don’t wants”- 三不要 sānbùyào. It said he –

不要钱 bùyào qián – Don’t want money.
不要官 bùyào guān – Don’t want post.
不要命 bùyào mìng – Don’t want Life (meaning not afraid to die).

A few days later, someone made a few small additions at the bottom of the words.

不要钱 嫌少 bùyào qián xiánshǎo – Don’t want money, if it is too little.
不要官 嫌小 bùyào guān xiánxiǎo – Don’t want post, if it is lower.
不要命 嫌老 bùyào mìng xiánlǎo – Don’t want Life, if it is too short.

So beware of the person who said he “don’t want” when he means “too little”. A common trait of the corrupt, something 丁聪 understood.

.

Ode To Red Cliff 念奴嬌 赤壁懷古

.

In that car journey from Dongguan (see last post), my friend narrated his last meeting with his friend who questioned the life he had been living. What has it all being for? For money? Security? Status? The good things in Life? Are they worth the sacrifices? Isn’t it in the end, no matter what one achieved; they are just like 浪淘沙 (làngtáoshā), sands that are washed away by the relentless tides of time.

Or is Life just an illusion as suggested by 苏轼 Sū Shì’s Ode to Red Cliff 念奴娇 - 赤壁怀古 (niàn nú jiāo - Chìbì huáigǔ). Even if one is as kingly as Li Yu 李煜 lǐyù or as heroic as Zhou Yu 周瑜 Zhōu Yú, in the end we will still be swept away by the Great River to the East. Maybe he sensed his end was near. He was not feeling well and intended to visit the hospital for a thorough check-up. He did not do so immediately because he was busy and needed to go for another outstation trip. He never made it back.

Ode to Red Cliff was the second poem he quoted in this reminiscence just before his demise. I did not know this friend of his but I was sad when I heard his story.

念奴娇 - 赤壁怀古 niàn nú jiāo - Chìbì huáigǔ

苏轼 Sū Shì

大江东去, 浪淘尽、千古风流人物。
故垒西边, 人道是、三国周郎赤壁。
乱石崩云, 惊涛裂岸, 卷起千堆雪。
江山如画, 一时多少豪杰!

遥想公瑾当年, 小乔初嫁了, 雄姿英发。
羽扇纶巾, 谈笑间、樯橹灰飞烟灭。
故国神游, 多情应笑我, 早生华发。
人生如梦, 一樽还酹江月。


dàjiāng dōngqù, làngtáojìn, qiāngǔ fēngliú rénwù.
gùlěi xībian, réndào shì, Sānguó Zhōuláng Chìbì.
luànshí bēngyún, jīngtāo liè àn, juǎnqǐ qiān duīxuě,
jiāngshān-rúhuà, yīshí duōshao háojié!

yáoxiǎng gōngjǐn dāngnián, xiǎoqiáo chūjià le, xióngzī yīngfā.
yǔshàn-guānjīn, tánxiào jiān, qiánglǔ huīfēi yānmiè.
gùguó shényóu, duōqíng yīngxiào wǒ, zǎoshēng huáfà.
rénshēng rúmèng, yīzūn huánlèi jiāngyuè.

Nian Nu Jiao (Graceful Nian Nu) - Ode To Red Cliff

The Great River flows east, its waves sweeping away, all distinguished figures.
The fortress in the west of Red Cliff, it is said, stood Zhou Yu of the Three Kingdoms.
Scraggy rocks piercing clouds, sudden waves smashing the shores, into a thousand snow flakes.
The scene is like a painting, for a while, full of heroes!

Recalled Zhou Yu in his prime, Xiao Qiao by his side, in full majestic splendour.
The composed master strategist; talked and laughed, while the enemy's ships went up in flames.
A romantic journey to the past, I laughed at the sentimental me, prematurely turning gray.
Life is like a passing dream, a toast to the moon's reflection.