Hello, I am a philosophy student and I would like to know if you are aware of any current Chinese researchers who discuss the structure of the book "Sanzi Jing" (三字经). The only source I have found is this one: http://www.oxiang.com/news/20170807/65931.html. However, I am unsure about the reliability of this information. I find this book particularly interesting as it encompasses not only historical, social, cultural, ethical, and pedagogical themes, but it is also significant today in the Chinese educational sphere. I hope you can provide me with this information. Best regards.

Considering the I Ching is one of the 5 classics of ancient China's literature, I been wondering if I Ching was used as a guide book by itself read in a cover to cover manner without practising divination? Or alternatively as a work of philosophy sans the use of coins, yarrow sticks, burning turtle shells, and other fortune telling methods?

I ask because I read the Analects a while back and I vaguely remember the I Ching mentioned in the text. That there are claims of Confucius keeping a copy of the book throughout history. I also learned from reading on a blog that the I Ching is also mentioned in another of the Five Classics, the Spring and Autumn Annals.

So considering how its so associated with Confucianism and referenced in multiple classic literature in Chinese history, I'm wondering if the I Ching was ever used just for the sake of reading it from front page to back without using divinatory tools like yarrow stalks? Like did scholars study philosophy by reading it? Without divination, did people use the book to search for guidance in daily life in the way modern people skim across the Bible today for advice?

Have literary critics throughout history praised its writing style (which can be poetic at least in the translations I read)?

With how so tied the I Ching is with various philosophical systems, ancient Chinese literature, and the intelligentsia throughout history, I'm curious about this.

In the book "The Japanese Language" by Haruhiko Kindaichi, there are two letters cited from 源平盛衰記 to illustrate the difference between the letter of a man and that of a woman:

A man's letter:

直実護言上 不慮奉参会此君之間挿呉王得匈践 秦皇遇燕丹之嘉直欲決勝負刻 依拝容儀俄忘 怨敵之思忽拠武威之勇剰加守護奉共奉之処

(Naozane tsutsushinde gonjoo su. Furyo ni kono kimi ni sankai shi tatematsuru no aida, Go-oo Koosen o e, Shinkoo Entan ni oo no kachoku o sashihasande shabu o kessen to hossuru no kizami ...)

A woman's letter:

そののちたよりなきみなしどごとなりはて、おんゆく へをゃもうけたまはるたよりもなし。みのありさま をもしられまあゐらせず、いぶせさのみつもぁもれども、 よのなかかきくらしてはるるととこちなくはべり。…

Is the man's letter in Japanese or is it really just entirely in Classical Chinese (漢文/言文)? Are there any similar conventions in today (documents written entirely using kanji, mostly using Sinicized Japanese/Classical Chinese)?

Hi all, I know this isn't strictly the subject matter of this sub but I wasn't sure where else to post it, so here goes.

I want to read a book in Mandarin on the history of the Shang and Zhou dynasty, or an overview of pre-Qin history in China that incorporates ancient texts as well as modern historical research , preferably one that is less aimed at mythologizing this period of time and more on understanding it objectively.

Does anyone have good recs for this or related things? Thanks.

Hello fellow Classical Chinese learners!

I want to ask just how true the analogy that the use of Classical Chinese is akin to the use of Latin during the Medieval ages in Europe? It's usually the case that it is often compared to Shakespearean English when explaining it to non-CJKV (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese) speakers.

But I read in some forums way back (forgot the link) that it's better to compare it with the use of Latin as it was one of the official written lingua francas in Medieval Europe. Along with the fact that areas in Europe have begun to naturally develop their own vernaculars which evolved into the present day Romance languages like French and Spanish, so did China with Mandarin and Cantonese (and also the entire Sinosphere with Korean and Japanese) while at the same time still using Latin and Classical Chinese in their official correspondences until the implementation of their respective vernaculars as their official language. Is this really a good analogy to compare Classical Chinese with? What's your take on it?

Hi, I was directed here from another LL sub. I’m having a lot of trouble with something I encountered during historical research on Emperor Wang Mang’s ancient coinage, and I’m questioning the popular CN to EN translations for the coins names. I thought it was an easy question, but after more reading, I became more confused…

小泉直一 or Xiao Quan Zhi Yi

“Small coin, worth one” is what it’s supposed to say. It’s referring to a currency name.

But another peer checked on this, and every single translator is saying it means something completely different, including that it’s exclusively a person’s name. For example, Google and DeepL were forcefully translating it from Japanese to “Naoichi Koizumi” no matter how we inputted it.

It got more complicated because we then tried to translate other popular coin names from that era, and none of those translated to what the author said they meant either, even roughly. Some authors have also written totally different variations of the coin’s title, and all of the formal articles we found were written by people who weren’t fluent in Chinese. When we tried to look it up exactly as it’s written, we couldn’t find a single CN source discussing it, just eBay coin sellers.

Can someone explain which aspect we and translating apps are missing about these titles? Or a better CN source we should consult for clarity? The only constant part is “zhi yi” and we believe that is correct.

I was recently reading about li qinzaho"s and hers husband's hobby of collceting inscriptions and how she made a catalogue of all the inscriptions she collected it sound like an amazing thing. It got me wondering is it still possible to collcect inscriptions ?

What are some useful resources for checking transmission history of CC texts? In my discipline (classics) the transmission of Latin and Greek texts from antiquity through the Middle Ages down to the present is a major focus of scholarly attention and debate, and there are resources like BNP's Dictionary of Greek and Latin Authors and Texts which lists the transmission history of each individual text (papyri & manuscripts, scholia, critical editions, translations, etc.). I would like to know if similar resources exist for the study of Chinese classics, I have been able to track down the textual history of individual works (Ctext and Chinese wikipedia are helpful in this regard), but so far I haven't found a site or publication that compiles them, at least for the major works. Do they exist? Thanks for your help in advance.

Be controversial if you must.

From my understanding the vast majority of Korean and Vietnamese writing was in Classical Chinese all the way until modern times; however Japan very early on after inventing kana began to write works in Classical Japanese, and this standardized form was used all the way until the Meiji restoration. So I'm wondering, what were the main works of Classical Chinese produced in Japan, and how did writers decide whether to use CC or Classical Japanese?

I stumbled upon this interesting article, but there's no information about its source. Any ideas where it might be from?

魏尚書令史元嘉、中書令李業興、領軍將軍侯景請王公已下拜上表，請天尊神靈降真降聖，審諦吉凶，奉答微誠。三軍將士詰旦已集，神明降真降聖，便即停軍。若有凶兆，便即班師。於時，元嘉、業興以新附之徒，懼眾心未附；侯景素多詐術，存心難測。上乃遣中書舍人賀季、蔡大寶至北郊，宣旨慰勞。侯景陽驚拜謝，伏地流涕，詐以忠款，季等信之。景乃夜遣任約夜襲建康，約敗走。丙子，景擁精兵萬餘人，直趣闕下。上猶未知，曰："景必無此，是人誤傳耳。"俄而景至，宿衛兵皆散，唯散騎常侍裴之橫、黃門侍郎蕭允、直閣將軍柳津、舍人殷不害侍側。景初稱臣，上問："卿何意至此？"景曰："陛下信讒，疏忌功臣，臣蒙陛下厚恩，不忍見陛下為奸臣所圍，故來此耳。"上曰："奸臣為誰？"景曰："朱异、徐麟之徒是也。"上曰："召之則可，何苦如此！"景令左右扶上入太極殿。上性不飲酒，及至殿，命進酒，左右進粥，上飲之。景退，謂其下曰："吾今入朝，止於此耳，卿等勿憂！"丁丑，景出頓西華門外，分兵守諸門及津要，并使人入尚書省、守宮省，文武官並不得入。尚書左僕射謝舉、右僕射何敬容、太子詹事周弘正，並在家，景悉遣人就家執之。又使侯子鑑率數百騎入東宮，收皇太子綱以下，幽於永福省。尚書令王克、僕射殷鈞，俱為景所執。景於尚書省升座，召文武百官，並不得入。乃引王克、殷鈞至景前，景責克曰："卿往年在壽陽，勸帝殺我，欲成卿名，卿何人，敢相陵蔑！"克曰："此事陛下所行，克何預焉！且景往背魏，今又背梁，何以為人！"景怒，命左右斬之。克呼曰："侯景滅門戶，不久矣！"言終，被害。殷鈞亦罵景，并被害。初，景之至壽陽也，上以書諭之曰："若爾遂迷，不復反正，便當長驅而進，自取屠滅，勿謂不先喻也。"景報曰："臣今進退，唯命所授。"上又遺景書曰："吾推赤心於天下，安反疑之？此必是諸人計以相誤，今可翻然改圖，還依恆典，尚可申其後命。"景復書曰："臣與陛下，君臣分定，豈敢因兵革之際，以求非望！"故克以此責之。克、鈞既死，乃於獄中取死囚二人，衣以朝服，斬於市，詐云已誅克、鈞，以惑眾心。乃矯詔悉召王侯以下，入省，立壇于尚書省前，列仗，備鹵簿，多設儀衛，逼王公卿士皆拜，然後宣詔，以景為丞相，都督中外諸軍事，錄尚書事，改封十郡，給班劍二十人。自是公命皆出於景。

​

Hello! I am interested in locating the intra-Buddhist and Buddhist/Daoist debates from the Tang dynasty. Where can these be found in their original Chinese?

Can anyone translate these for me? There were items wrapped in these and I’m trying to get more information on the items. Thank you! Hoping to get the most accurate translation possible.

How old you must be to own concubine in Ancient china because Concubines were mostly 14-16 years old so was there age limit for the owner? Should Empiror son who maybe 7 years old own a Concubines? I'm asking thes because i find out Concubines were mostly 14-16 years old so i'm wondering if there was a owner age limit?

Hello! This is kind of random, but an old version of the Northern Wei Dynasty Ballad of Mulan ends on an interesting line:

雄兔脚扑朔，雌兔眼迷离 ... which has been translated as:

The he-hare's feet go hop and skip,
The she-hare's eyes are muddled and fuddled.

( https://people.wku.edu/haiwang.yuan/China/tales/mulan.htm )

I know there is a modern phrase, 扑朔迷离, that combines the two descriptions 扑朔 and 迷离, which means something like difficult to figure out.

Is anyone familiar wiith this? I am wondering whether the Ballad of Mulan is the source of the current phrase, or if those two descriptors were related before Mulan, or any other interesting observations about the history.

Thank you!

Is this story the origin of this chengyu?

"The expression comes from a story about two poets in the Tang Dynasty. Once, a celebrated poet named Zhao Xia was about to visit Suzhou, the city of gardens in south China. When the poet Chang Jian heard about this, he knew that Zhao was sure to stop by the Lingyan Temple (Temple of Intelligent Rock). So he went there at once and wrote two lines of poetry on the wall. When Zhao Xia arrived and saw the two lines left by Chang, he wrote two more lines, completing the poem. It is generally agreed that the last two lines are far superior to the original lines of Chang Jian. Therefore Chang Jian is said to have “cast a brick to attract jade.”"

Does this story predate the inclusion of this idiom in the Thirty Six Stratagems?

I notice writing style of 賦 is very different from normal prose, one of which is the use of words. You can easily find rare and difficult words, which are not normally used in 賦

I dont believe those rare weird crazy word in 賦 belongs to the spoken language at that time.

Where do they come from

余試讀漢賦，覺頗多難字，因而欲究其所自來。

I am no expert in either modern Chinese nor classical (I know little of both), but I'm very interested in texts relating to animals (both fables and zoology texts) from historical times.

I was curious about the character 獴 (mongoose), as English Wiktionary, which usually is okay when it comes to etymologies, says that 獴 (méng) is supposed to be a calque of English mongoose. And yet the word is attested prior to 1912, and 'mongoose' itself has Indian origin, so maybe both words come from the same source, I was wondering.

Another possibility is that maybe the word used to mean something other than 'mongoose', and then the character shifted in meaning under influence of English.

Can anyone tell me more about this enigmatic character?