4. GGrraanndd CCaannaall
UUnniitteedd CChhiinnaa
• Southern Grain to North
• Military travel
• Commerce
• Roads, Trees & Post
Houses along canal
Sui Yangdi tied Yangtze with Huang He:
Hangzhou & Beijing
24. PPrriinnttiinngg PPrreessss!!
Cheap Books
Fast printing
Huge quantities
Literacy rates UP,
especially compared to
West
Literacy spread to other Eastern
locations
25. Literature
• Neo-Confucian
Philosophy
• Buddhist Writing
• PPooeettrryy
– Prosperity
– Political stability
– Urban themes
56. DDrriinnkkiinngg AAlloonnee bbyy MMoooonnlliigghhtt
•Li Bai, translated by Arthur Waley,
•花間一壺酒。 A pot of wine, under the flowering trees;
•獨酌無相親。 I drink alone, for no friend is near.
•舉杯邀明月。 Raising my cup I beckon the bright moon,
•對影成三人。 With her, and my shadow, we make three people.
•月既不解飲。 The moon, alas, is no drinker of wine
•;影徒隨我身。 Listless, my shadow creeps about at my side.
•暫伴月將影。 Yet with the moon as friend and the shadow as slave
•行樂須及春。 I must make merry before the Spring is spent.
•我歌月徘徊。 To the songs I sing the moon flickers her beams;
•我舞影零亂。 In the dance I weave my shadow tangles and breaks.
•醒時同交歡。 While we were sober, three shared the fun
•;醉後各分散。 Now we are drunk, each goes their way.
•永結無情遊。 May we long share our eternal friendship,
•相期邈雲漢。 And meet at last in paradise.
57. QQuuiieett NNiigghhtt TThhoouugghhttss
• The moonlight glistens in front of my bed.
• I thought it was the frost on the ground.
• I lift my gaze to view the shimmering
moon,
• Then lower my head, and miss my
homeland.
58. Li Bai Themes
– Wine & Drinking
– Daoism
– Fantasy Imagery
– Violated technical rules of style
– Wrote from various view points
– incl. personae of women
– Time at court & time
“wandering” alone
– Influenced Modern Chinese,
Japanese & Western Literature
In both versions of Ebcot’s
Circle-Vision 360 film in the
China pavilion, Li Bai serves as
the narrator and guide of the
film.
59. About Du Fu
I met Du FFuu oonn aa mmoouunnttaaiinnttoopp
iinn AAuugguusstt wwhheenn tthhee ssuunn wwaass hhoott..
UUnnddeerr tthhee sshhaaddee ooff hhiiss bbiigg ssttrraaww hhaatt
hhiiss ffaaccee wwaass ssaadd----
iinn tthhee yyeeaarrss ssiinnccee wwee llaasstt ppaarrtteedd,,
hhee''dd ggrroowwnn wwaann,, eexxhhaauusstteedd..
PPoooorr oolldd DDuu FFuu,, II tthhoouugghhtt tthheenn,,
hhee mmuusstt bbee aaggoonniizziinngg oovveerr ppooeettrryy aaggaaiinn..
60. DDuu FFuu
712-770 CE
• History
• Moral Engagement
• Technical Excellence in lushi poetry
Reply to a Friend’s Advice
Leaving the Audience by the quiet corridors,
Stately and beautiful, we pass through the Palace gates,
Turning in different directions: you go to the West
With the Ministers of State. I, otherwise.
On my side, the willow-twigs are fragile, greening.
You are struck by scarlet flowers over there.
Our separate ways! You write so well, so kindly,
To caution, in vain, a garrulous old man.
61. RReeppllyy ttoo aa FFrriieenndd’’ss AAddvviiccee
Leaving the AAuuddiieennccee by the quiet corridors,
Stately and beautiful, we pass through the
Palace gates,
Turning in different directions: you go to the
WWeesstt With the Ministers of State. I, otherwise.
On my side, the wwiillllooww--ttwwiiggss aarree ffrraaggiillee,
greening. You are struck by ssccaarrlleett fflloowweerrss
over there.
Our separate ways! You write so well, so
kindly, TToo ccaauuttiioonn,, iinn vvaaiinn, a garrulous old
man.
64. FFaaxxiiaann (337 – c. 422 CE)
• Traveled to India on
Silk Roads to get
training in Buddhism,
and bring back
scriptures.
65. XXuuaann ZZhhaanngg
602-664 - TANG
• Went to India: Buddhist
sacred writing.
• 17-yr overland journey –
autobiography & biography:
provided inspiration for the
epic novel:
• Journey to the West
66. WWhhyy wwaass BBuuddddhhiissmm
PPOOPPUULLAARR iinn CChhiinnaa??
• Moral standards
• IInntteelllleeccttuuaall ssoopphhiissttiiccaattiioonn
• PPrroommiissee ooff iinnddiivviidduuaall ssaallvvaattiioonn
– HHooppee iinn ddiiffffiiccuulltt ttiimmeess……
• Accessible to merchants
– Mahayana
• Monasteries aided the poor in
hard times
71. BBuuddddhhiisstt PPRR::
Tailored Buddha’s Message….
• Borrowed words from
Chinese cultural traditions:
– DDhhaarrmmaa - “dao” the way
– NNiirrvvaannaa – “wuwei” Daoist
noncompetition
– MMoonnaasstteerryy for ONE son -
salvation for 10 generations of
family
73. NNEEOO --CCOONNFFUUCCIISSAANNIISSMM
C a n y o u s a y ,
“ S y n c r e t i s m ? ”
TThhee VViinneeggaarr
TTaasstteerrss::
LLaaoozzii,, BBuuddddhhaa,,
CCoonnffuucciiuuss..
Reminds of Qin… after period of the warring states
Longest man-made canal in world. Like Railroad in US – golden spike, etc.
Alexander the Great of Post-Classical China. 2 yrs after dad pacified China, he Killed 2 bros & forced Dad to abdicate!
1-5% of those who tested, passed.
KowTow “Flexible Latitude” sculpture by Yue Minjun at The Hague in Netherlands. (The Hague Under the Sky is what the city is really called)
Foreign embassaries, representatives of tribute states.
Soccer, Hockey … as early as Han
Sahara/Sahel – pastoralist courtship ritual – men dress up to attract the proposal of a suitable woman. Marriage is not necessarily for a lifetime.
One of few early poems not censored during Mao’s reign – reminded him of his time on the Great Trek.
Influence west
The ideas underlying Li Bai's poetry had a profound impact in shaping American Imagist and Modernist poetry through the 20th Century. Also, Gustav Mahler integrated four of Li Bai's works in his symphonic song cycle Das Lied von der Erde. These were in a free German translation by Hans Bethge, published in an anthology called Die chinesische Flöte (The Chinese Flute), [30] Bethge based his version on the pioneering translation into French by Saint-Denys.[31] There is another striking musical setting of Li Po's verse by the American composer Harry Partch, whose Seventeen Lyrics by Li Po for intoning voice and Adapted Viola (an instrument of Partch's own invention) are based on the texts in The Works of Li Po, the Chinese Poet translated by Shigeyoshi Obata.[32]
[edit]Ezra Pound
Li Bai is influential in the West partly due to Ezra Pound's versions of some of his poems in the collection Cathay.[33] Li Bai's interactions with nature, friendship, his love of wine and his acute observations of life inform his best poems. Some, like Changgan xing (translated by Ezra Pound as "The River Merchant's Wife: A Letter",[33] record the hardships or emotions of common people. An example of the liberal, but poetically influential, translations, or adaptations, of Japanese versions of his poems made, largely based on the work of Ernest Fenollosa and professors Mori and Ariga.[33]
[edit]In fiction
Simon Elegant novelized Li Bai's life in his 1997 work, A Floating Life.[34] Li Bai appears (under a fictional name) as a major character in Guy Gavriel Kay's Under Heaven, a fantasy novel set in Tang Dynasty China.[35] A crater on the planet Mercury has been named after him.
MacDonald Harris' novel 'Herma' (Atheneum, 1981) refers to Li Bai under the name of Li Po, citing one of his poems and describing the reports of his death (page 175).
Nestorians – 2 natures of Christ: one human, and one divine logos – SEPARATE.
Metaphysics = principles of reality that transcend physics
