Hiding in Caverns – 藏鱼窟 Yu Xuanji 鱼玄机 (c. 843–868) – slim volume of works by this undeservedly lesser-known female Tang-period poet. Translated by Lucas Klein. Feels phenomenally modern and proto-feminist. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/hiding-in-caverns-formed-from-old-roots-9780197778173 雲峰滿目放春晴 歷歷銀鈎指下生 自恨羅衣掩詩句 舉頭空羨榜中名 Peaks of clouds fill my eyes and let loose the clarity of spring: clearly, great calligraphy is born beneath …
British Museum Silk Roads – 大英博物馆《丝绸之路》 15 September 2024 A new exhibition opens this month tracing interconnectedness across the ancient world. I worked on the catalogue – an incredible eye-opener. https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/silk-roads Also check out the exhibition on nineteenth-century China held last year: https://www.britishmuseum.org/exhibitions/chinas-hidden-century. I copy-edited Jessica Harrison-Hall and Julia Lovell’s Creators of Modern China associated …
Lexicography – 辞书 9 June 2021 Where better to resume a blog than with Commercial Press’s landmark publication earlier this year of their bilingualized Xinhua Dictionary (新华字典)? Many congratulations to Ma Haolan and the whole team, as well as to English reviewers Elisabeth Hallett et al. I gather the first print run has already sold …
Chengdu – 成都 30 September 2015 Chengdu, the main city in Sichuan, is rich in cultural tradition. The curled roofs at the Wenshu yuan (文殊院), or Manjushri Monastery, are quite different to the style in the North. Du Fu (杜甫) was the pre-eminent poet of social conscience (Confucianism) during the Tang period. At the presumed …
Leshan – 乐山 28 September 2015 This is a late post. We visited the Tang period (618-907) Great Buddha (大佛) at Leshan a week ago.
Mt Emei – 峨眉山 21 September 2015 Jia Dao (贾岛, 779–843) did not actually live in Sichuan. But his poem reminds me of the scenery on Mt Emei: 《尋隱者不遇》 松下問童子言師採藥去只在此山中雲深不知處 ‘Looking for the recluse and not finding him’ Under the pine tree I asked the young manHe said the master had gone to gather herbsJust …
Chongqing – 重庆 17 September 2015 Chongqing is another city on water, sitting at the confluence of the Changjiang (Yangzi, 长江) and Jialing (嘉陵江) rivers, and also on hills. Traditional Chongqing houses were on stilts and at multi-levels, clinging to the sides of the hills. Understated colours, brown and cream, are favoured in architecture. We …
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