Shuidiaogetou[Well-Known Literary Pieces] 8/17/2008 11:37:48 PM RSS Feeds

    This poem by Su Shi is one of the most popular pieces on the theme of the Mid-Autumn Festival through the ages. The first stanza begins with a question about the moon, introducing the poet's longing for the fairyland on the moon, his yearning for life with a wandering state of mind and his intensely emotional sigh. The second stanza depicts, via the description of the moving and flowing moonlight, the poet's long sleepless night and his sentimental sigh for the separation and reunion one experiences in life. From the line, "The moon may be dim or bright, wax or wane," and other succeeding lines, there appears a dramatic change in mood from melancholy to magnanimity, well displaying the poet's candid bosom. In the poem, the poet expresses his emotion as is inspired by the scene, and articulates his message as is edified by his emotion. With deep feeling and profound philosophy, the poet exhibits the contradiction between the heavenly and the worldly and between the persistent and the detached. The aloof and optimistic mentality of the poet is extraordinarily foiled by the bright, profound and lucid artistic conception of the poem. Novel, elegant and unrestrained in style, the poem "dwarfs all others" immediately after its birth.

The Song of Mulan [Well-Known Literary Pieces] 8/17/2008 11:35:52 PM RSS Feeds

    The Song of Mulan, a long epical poem, is a masterpiece of the folk songs of the Northern Dynasty. Describing in simple and natural language the story of Hua Mulan, a legendary heroine, the poem creates a glorious image of the heroine who is dressed up as a man to serve in the army in place of her father. Mulan, an ordinary working class woman, disguises herself resolutely as a man to replace her father's service in the army, which demonstrates her outstanding courage and self-sacrificing spirit. For ten years in commission with hundreds of battles fought, she goes through numerous narrow escapes from death. Upon her return in triumph, she neither accepts any official positions nor admires any honors, thus displaying a simple and honest, noble and unsullied sentiment. She embodies not only the outstanding noble morality of the working class women, but also their extraordinary wisdom, legendary experience and heroic character. The noble quality and optimism of the working class people she incarnates have been admired by people of later generations. Her story is still being staged or made into movies today. Mulan Verse and Peacocks Flying Southeastward are highly regarded as "a pair of jade" in the history of Chinese poetry.

Peacocks Flying Southeastward [Well-Known Literary Pieces] 8/5/2008 4:44:32 AM RSS Feeds

    Originally found in A New Song on the Jade Platform by Xu Ling of the Southern Dynasty and also known as A Classic Poem Dedicated to Jiao Zhongqing's Wife by an Anonymous Author, it is the first long epic in China, which is praised as "the champion of long poems" (Wang Shizhen's On Art and Literary Circle). As a masterpiece of the Yue Fu folk songs of the Han Dynasty, the poem tells the story of the tragic love and marriage of Liu Lanzhi who, having gone through unyielding resistance in defense of her love and women's dignity, dies together with her husband Jiao Zhongqing. It exposes the evils of the feudal ethical codes and the feudal patriarchal system and extols the couple's fighting spirit and their noble quality in their loyalty to love, well displaying the strong desire of the working people to pursue ideal love. To hint at the tragic nature of love, the poem begins by depicting, as a figurative analogy, a wandering peacock that cannot bear to leave. Then it ends with the romantic imagination of the souls of Jiao and Liu being recreated as a pair of mandarin ducks, thus manifesting the highly expected happy future of the working people. The narrative art of the poem, integrating that of the folk songs of the Han Dynasty, successfully shapes several characters, each with distinct personality, bringing into vivid image the unyielding and love-dedicated Liu Lanzhi, who has become one of the most outstanding female images in classical Chinese literary works.

Li Sao [Well-Known Literary Pieces] 8/5/2008 4:42:07 AM RSS Feeds

    Li Sao, Qu Yuan's masterpiece, is the first long lyric still extant in the history of Chinese poetry. Through the narration of the poet's untiring struggle and his faithful dedication to his native land, the lyric displays the poet's relentless pursuit for the ideal of establishing "perfect government"; it manifests his adherence to his ideal and personal integrity and his dogged fighting spirit with which he would die rather than surrender; it also exhibits his deep and sincere affection for his motherland and his glorious personality to abhor the evil and love the good. Qu Yuan inherited and developed not only the realistic spirit of The Book of Songs but also the romantic tradition of ancient mythologies, as indicated by his burning passion, surging imagination, fantastic artistic conception and gorgeous literary grace. Also succeeded by Qu Yuan from The Book of Songs is the artistic tradition of Fu, Bi and Xing (expatiation, metaphor and analogy) so as to create the so-called metaphoric technique of the comparison of vanilla to attractive beauties, etc. hence the later expressive tactics of "entrusting feeling to matter" and "expressing meaning through matter". Chu Ci, represented by Li Sao, marks the beginning of positive romanticism, leaving a far-reaching impact on the growth of classical Chinese poetry.

Guan Ju [Well-Known Literary Pieces] 8/5/2008 4:38:10 AM RSS Feeds

    Guan Ju, the first piece of The Book of Songs of the Southern Zhou Period, is a love song depicting the lovesickness man suffering in courting women. Through figurative analogy combined with comparison, the poem, through the expression of the singer's intense adoration and earnest longing for the fair maiden, gives voice to people's passionate pursuit for pure love. The ingenious use in the poem of alliterative, rhyming and reduplicated words, chanted and sung repeatedly, helps to express fully the author's feeling of strong and sincere lovesickness and reinforces the rhythmic and euphonious impact of the poem, thus creating an admirable, soul-stirring and unconstrained artistic effect. Preface to Mao's Poem highly regards the poem as one that "exalts the virtues of the wife of a prince", while most modern scholars consider it as a beautiful folk song of love.

Fortress Besieged [Masterpieces] 8/5/2008 4:36:21 AM RSS Feeds

    Fortress Besieged, written by Qian Zhongshu, is an outstanding satirical novel in modern Chinese literature. Based on the vagrant life experience of Fang Hongjian, the young hero, after his return from France on completion of his overseas studies and with a lively and humorous style of pen, the author makes an extensive description of various types of people and numerous aspects of the Chinese society. He vividly depicts the country which was then involved in a historically transitional period, focusing on the rupture, dislocation, perversion and conflict in regard to culture and values. He elaborates with great profundity on the confrontation between the modern and traditional Chinese culture and on the confusion and discomfiture in terms of cultural values. Applying the traditional customs of familial and marital relationships as a metaphor, the writer makes an attempt to elucidate the self-besiegement of modern China. To quote the characters of the book, "Marriage is nothing but a gold-plated birdcage, those without are eager to get in while those within long to get out." "It is just a fortress besieged, those outside are anxious to rush in while those inside yearn to get out." The writer exposes the abnormal personalities and filthy souls of the new generation of intellectuals typified by Fang Hongjian, Gao Xinmei and Su Wenwan, who either sink into degeneration or accomplish nothing, idling away their life in the besiege of traditional customs. Through them, the writer makes an elaborate and multi-layered survey of the westernized intellectuals and the localized Western civilization from both ideological and philosophical perspectives. Adept at applying vagarious, incisive and diverse figuration and at extending his imageries into symbols, the writer creates an irony which runs through the book as its consistent style. Abundant in witty and humorous remarks and rich in wisdom and philosophical ideas, the book is recognized as a successful work about "scholars".

Insufficiency of postpartum milk secretion[Special Foods for Common Medical Problems] 7/30/2008 12:14:45 AM RSS Feeds

    a. 2-4 pig's trotters are thoroughly cleaned and boiled at a low heat for more than 1 hour until done. Add a little salt and take (including soup) once daily. 9-12 g pangolin scales or rice-paper plant may also be added to the soup during preparation.
b. Stew a fresh live crucian carp of about 120 g together with a pig's trotter until well done. Add some salt. Eat one or two pieces daily for 1-2weeks.
c. Clean and scale a carp as usual. Add some water and onion segments, ginger shreds and salt. Steam or stew until done and eat (including soup).
d. Fry 250 g black sesame over a low heat. Clean a pig's trotter as usual and stew to make a soup. Take 16 g of the sesame with the soup twice a day. The trotter should also be eaten.
e. Clean 500 g pig's liver and cut it into slices. Add 60 g root of membranous milk vetch. Boil it for 10-15 minutes and serve.

Dysmenorrhea[Special Foods for Common Medical Problems] 7/30/2008 12:13:57 AM RSS Feeds

    a. Hawthorn wine. Put 500 g dried pitted hawthorn into a wine bottle. Add about 500 ml Chinese white liquor (contains 60 percent alcohol). Cover tightly. Drink after 1-2 weeks. Take 10 ml twice daily.
b. Put 100 g cleaned saffron in a bottle. Add 400 ml Chinese white liquor (60 percent alcohol). Leave to infuse for one week, shaking the bottle everyday. Take 10 ml each day.
c. Boil together 24 g sliced fresh ginger, 9 g Chinese prickly ash and 10 Chinese dates. Take in two doses every day for 1-2 weeks.
d. A sunflower disc (with seeds removed) of about 30-60 g is cut into small pieces and boiled for a short rime. Add 30 g brown sugar. Take two doses every day, in the morning and evening.
e. Analgesic porridge of eliminating blood stasis: Decoct 15 g Bulbus Allii Macrostcmi, 20 g root of red rooted salvia, and 20 g peach nut in 200 ml water for 20 minutes. Discard the residue. Add 100 g rice and prepare it as porridge. Add some rock candy before serving. f. Simmered pig's stomach with .prickly ash and monkshood: Clean a pies stomach thoroughly into which insert 2 g Chinese prickly ash, 2 g monkshood, 30 g rice and some Chinese onion. Tie the stomach with a coarse thread and simmer under slow fire until well done, and serve.

Border Town[Masterpieces] 7/19/2008 9:42:05 PM RSS Feeds

    The best-known work of Shen Congwen is Border Town in which the writer narrates, by portraying a plain and gorgeous picture, a beautiful but heartbroken love story that took place in western Hunan Province. In the story, Tianbao and Nuosong, sons of Shunshun, the boat owner, both fell in love with Cuicui, granddaughter of the old boatman. Knowing that Cuicui had given her heart to Nuosong, Tianbao quit voluntarily. Shortly after that, he was killed in a boat accident on his way to Chen Zhou. Saddened by the grievous news, Nuosong left home and went to Tao Yuan. After her grandfather's gloomy death, Cuicui kept waiting at the ferry for the return of Nuosong. "He might never return, or he may return tomorrow!" Instead of delving into the tragic connotation of the love story, the writer aims at creating a poetic pastoral eclogue and at depicting the beautiful heart and interpersonal harmony of the rural people. Under his pen, Cuicui is characterized as the incarnation of "love" and "beauty"; the old boatman as plain and honest; Tianbao as lenient and magnanimous; Nuosong as the embodiment of love and affection; and Shunshun as outright and generous, all of whom are depicted as symbols of excellent virtues. With thick ink and rich color, the writer draws a beautiful landscape of western Hunan Province and creates a vivid portrayal of the pure and honest local customs. With poetic language and elegant description, the writer depicts the "Border Town" as a novel and unique place: an extremely purified and idealized world which differs completely from the civilized modern society in which human nature has been sadly distorted. Border Town is recognized as a bright literary gem for its harmonious combination of humanistic beauty with artistic beauty.

Camel Xiangzi [Masterpieces] 7/19/2008 9:37:17 PM RSS Feeds

    Camel Xiangzi,a novel by Lao She, is a masterpiece reflecting the tragic fate of the urban poor. Being a man of self-esteem and self-confidence and of tenacity and pertinacity, Camel Xiangzi, an honest and unsophisticated peasant whocame from the countryside, struggled hard and alone in the pursuit for his life's goal and ideal. Compelled, however, by the morbid and villainous society, his immaculate soul was gradually contaminated and distorted. As a result, he succumbed completely to fate and fell into the abyss of corruption, thrown by the society into the rank of the lumpen-proletariats and engulfed thoroughly by the material and money-worshipping desires which prevailed in the urban life of his time. He finally became an inherent part of the hideous urban life and fell a victim to the diseased society. The tragedyof Xiangzi is both a tragedy about the fall of the strong and a tragedy about destiny and personality. The novel tells of the process of ruination in which a person, who should have otherwise survived, met his destruction, displaying the profound contemplation of the writer upon the conflict between urban civilization and human nature. With the "three rises and falls" of Xiangzi as its thread and the love imbroglio between him and Huniu as its core, the book not only exposes profoundly and extensively the dark side of the society of that time but also brings to light the inevitability of Xiangzi's tragedy and its social significance.The application of the authentic Beijing dialect is an outstanding and conspicuous characteristic of the book. With refined and processed idiomatic Beijing dialect, Lao She depicts in a picturesque and lifelike manner the natural landscape and social customs of Beijing and describes vividly and precisely the speech style and mental state of the lower class Beijing citizens. The language of the book is plain and concise, natural and lucid, fully displaying the preeminent linguistic accomplishments of the writer.