A Bridge to Chinese

Just another weblog about China and Chinese

Zhuangzi

(simplified Chinese: 庄子; traditional Chinese: 莊子; pinyin: Zhuāng Zǐ) was an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th century BC during the Warring States Period, corresponding to the Hundred Schools of Thought philosophical summit of Chinese thought. His name is sometimes spelled Chuang Tsu, Chuang Tzu, Zhuang Tze, Chouang-Dsi, Chuang Tse, Chuangtze or – in English – Master Chuang.

逍遥游

北冥有鱼①，其名曰鲲②。鲲之大，不知其几千里也；化而为鸟，其名为鹏③。鹏之背，不知其几千里也；怒而飞④，其翼若垂天之云⑤。是鸟也，海运则将徙于南冥⑥。南冥者，天池也⑦。齐谐者⑧，志怪者也⑨。谐之言曰：“鹏之徙于南冥也，水击三千里⑩，抟扶摇而上者九万里(11)，去以六月息者也(12)。”野马也(13)，尘埃也(14)，生物之以息相吹也(15)。天之苍苍，其正色邪？其远而无所至极邪(16)？其视下也，亦若是则已矣。且夫水之积也不厚，则其负大舟也无力。覆杯水于坳堂之上(17)，则芥为之舟(18)；置杯焉则胶，水浅而舟大也。风之积也不厚，则其负大翼也无力，故九万里则风斯在下矣(19)。而后乃今培风(20)，背负青天而莫之夭阏者(21)，而后乃今将图南。蜩与学鸠笑之曰(22)：“我决起而飞(23)，抢榆枋(24)，时则不至，而控于地而已矣(25)；奚以之九万里而南为(26)？”适莽苍者(27)，三飡而反(28)，腹犹果然(29)；适百里者，宿舂粮(30)；适千里者，三月聚粮。之二虫又何知(31)？小知不及大知(32)，小年不及大年。奚以知其然也？朝菌不知晦朔(33)，蟪蛄不知春秋(34)，此小年也。楚之南有冥灵者(35)，以五百岁为春，五百岁为秋；上古有大椿者(36)，以八千岁为春，八千岁为秋(37)。而彭祖乃今以久特闻(38)，众人匹之(39)，不亦悲乎？
汤之问棘也是已(40)：“穷发之北有冥海者(41)，天池也。有鱼焉，其广数千里，未有知其修者(42)，其名曰鲲。有鸟焉，其名为鹏，背若太山(43)，翼若垂天之云；抟扶摇、羊角而上者九万里(44)，绝云气(45)，负青天，然后图南，且适南冥也。斥鴳笑之曰(46)：‘彼且奚适也？我腾跃而上，不过数仞而下(47)，翱翔蓬蒿之间，此亦飞之至也(48)。而彼且奚适也？’”此小大之辩也(49)。
故夫知效一官(50)、行比一乡(51)、德合一君、而徵一国者(52)，其自视也亦若此矣。而宋荣子犹然笑之(53)。且举世而誉之而不加劝(54)，举世而非之而不加沮(55)，定乎内外之分(56)，辩乎荣辱之境(57)，斯已矣。彼其于世，未数数然也(58)。虽然，犹有未树也。夫列子御风而行(59)，泠然善也(60)，旬有五日而后反(61)。彼于致福者(62)，未数数然也。此虽免乎行，犹有所待者也(63)。若夫乘天地之正(64)，而御六气之辩(65)，以游无穷者，彼且恶乎待哉(66)？故曰：至人无己(67)，神人无功(68)，圣人无名(69)。

This is the gate of Da Shun temple, not a huge one,  which do not match up with the big name of Shun. Shun, is one of the latest five emperors in China.

The Five Emperors in the legendary period are Shaohao (少昊) , Zhuanxu (颛顼) , Gaoxin (高辛) , Yao (尧) and Shun (舜) . Shaohao was the renowned leader among the Yi (夷) people in East China. The Yi people had officials for both industry and agriculture. In my opinion, these five emperors were not from legend, they existed around 5000 years ago.

Zhuanxu was a very wise and intelligent person. He respected the gods and taught his people. He appointed one official responsible for offering sacrifices for the gods in the heaven and one official in charge of the civil affairs.

Gaoxin was said to be a descendant of Huangdi. He enjoyed a high reputation among his tribal people and they were obedient to his administration.

Yao made great contributions to the lunar calendar.

Shun was physically and mentally gifted and he was a man with great virtues. He was selected by Yao as his successor.

The portecting of this temple was a historical story. Someone might take it as superstition, but actually, it was a beautiful Chinese legend.

The two dragon pillars, the spirit of the temple, have been pretecting the Da Shun Temple from the Xianfeng Emperor of Qing Dynasty till now.

The Xianfeng Emperor (Chinese: 咸豐帝);  pinyin: Xiánfēngdì; July 17, 1831 – August 22, 1861), born Yizhu, was the eighth Emperor of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty, and the seventh Qing emperor to rule over China, from 1850 to 1861.

 —–FROM Wiki

The temple was rebulit at the period of Xianfeng Emperor, and later in the time of Dongzhi Emperor. What remains now was from the Xianfeng Time. 

The Tongzhi Emperor (Chinese: 同治帝; pinyin: Tóngzhìdì, April 27, 1856–January 12, 1875), born Zaichun, was the ninth emperor of the Manchu-led Qing Dynasty, and the eighth Qing emperor to rule over China, from 1861 to 1875. His reign, which effectively lasted through his adolescence, was largely overshadowed by the rule of his mother, the Empress Dowager Cixi. Although he had little influence over court affairs, the time of his reign gave rise to what historians call the “Tongzhi Restoration” (Chinese: 同治中兴), an unsuccessful attempt to stabilize and modernize China.

——-FROM Wiki

The stories telling from the around 50 year-old door keeper there are amazing. With his high and low pitches of narrating, I could feel his deep love of this place, even with his heavy Shaoxing accent(Shaoxing is a city located in Zhejiang Province, China). Then I knew that his childhood was spent in this temple, his studying time was also there,  and how his teachers pretected the siprit, the two dragon pillars,  during the Chinese Culture Revolution, why the uneven ground at the right side of the main building cloudn’t grow anything, why the local people there admire Da Shun so much.  Unbelievable! You should go there, then each piece of wood, stone or brick there are vivid to you, and all the stories are not lengends any more.

Good everning, Mr. Toastmaster and my dear toastmasters fellows!

The Tiramisu meeting on that Sunday is a wonderful time in my life, even though the dessert tasted a little bit weird at the moment I put into my mouth. But when I stepped out to the balcony, the scenery I saw in my camera made that Sunday afternoon a forgettable time in my life. And it was  at that minute I decided the topic for my C2 speech.

Here are some pictures I took in that afternoon. You can have a look.

The old bulidings do not match up with the current envirnment and catch up with the modernzational pace, the only result is removing and replacing with the new bulidings. It might be a pity, if remove the typical traditional ones and rebuild with untypical modern ones. But actually, protecting old chinese architecture is easier said than done.

There are three points I would like to put forward to show why I say so. No comparison, no power of persuasion. Here, I will illustrate and present my viewpoint in comparing with old chinsese architecture and old western architecture.

First, the materials. Wood was mostly used in old Chinese architecture, whereas stone was the main material in old western architecture. These two different materials have the different characteristics. Stone will prevent the fire from burning down the whole building, but wood is easier to burn down if there is a fire. In the old chinese architecture, there are 80% or more buildings were built by wood. Do you know how many of them were ruined because of the fire? The figure is also around 80%. After hundrends and thousands years of exposing to wind and rain, the pine, fir and nanmu used in old traditional buildings might be eroded, weakedned or earier to burn. In Jan, 2003, the main building  of Wudang Shan mountain, Yuzhen Gong was destroyed in a fire. I cloudn’t believe when I heart the news from TV, so did the chinese people and the whole world. The pictures here I show you are like they were taken yesterday. The gorgeous taoist temple for memorizing Zhang Sanfeng built by Emperor Zhuli in Ming Dynasty disppeared in the history river.

Second, structure and layout. The structures of the old chinese architecture are not the same as the old western architecture. Oweing to “dougong”, the unique chinese interlinking wooden structure, the walls do not bear the weight. Normally, the hall of the old chinese buildings are very tall and huge. And to refurniture or reconstruct the building is not as easy as what does in the old western architecture. The layout of the old chinese architecture is influenced a lot from chinese painting, being in harmony with the enviroment and againt in full view. So not like western architecture, chinese architecture is always in a group of buildings, which makes the experts or government difficult to protect.

Third, and the most important point is people’s awareness on preservation of buildings of architectureal and historic interest. Without the awareness, the tragedies will happen again and again. The cause of the fire on Wudang shan Yuzhen Gong was not the natural factor, but man-made. The removing of some typical buildings, like Beijing Hutong, was not for the ordinary people’s better lives, but for few people’s the profits and interests. One day, I accompanied one of my students to Huqin Yutang Herbal Medicine Museum. When I explained the beautiful wall window to him, he couldn’t help asking me that why you Chinese don’t keep the origial out-looking of the buildings. In Italy, there is a law that the exterior of all the old buildings should be remained as what it was before. I kept silence, not because in china we don’t have this law, but because I don’t know how to answer the question.

Those are my viewpiont of protecting old chinese architecture is easier said than done.   

Thanks for your time, everybody. And thanks Mr. Toastmaster!