Classical chinese messageboard in mandarin

[ecohansen]

Howdy.

I just found this messageboard, and spent the last 7 hours geeking out on it. I'd love to kill two birds with one stone, and improve my skill in Mandarin while improving my knowledge of classical. In all y'all's explorations of the interwebs, have you found any good forums like this one, but in mandarin and based out of the PRC or ROC? I've got a particular interest in depictions of fungi in Song-dynasty poetry, and would love to find a community of native speakers knowledgable in Classical who wouldn't mind being pestered by a stupid laowai in upper HSK-4 (maybe 5 on my good days) but only a couple books deep in the serious study of Classical.

Best,

Ecohansen

[Xiao Kui]

link?

[Demonic_Duck]

OP is asking for links, not saying s/he's already found one.

 

I can't provide any links, sorry. Actually, I'd be interested in links to more or less any decent Chinese-language discussion forums. Every one I've come across on any subject is laid out like utter shit, has far too many useless sub-forums, and is filled with topics where no-one but the OP posts much of value. If people have suggestions for ones on other topics though, might be better to start a new thread for fear of derailing this one.

[Xiao Kui]

Sorry, misread it!

[gato]

You can try the two Peking University Chinese department forums for academic discussions.

For more general discussions, try 凯迪社区, which is quite popular among those who like to debate current events.

http://www.pkucn.com/forum-118-1.html

北大中文系

http://www.bdwm.net/bbs/bbsdoc.php?board=Chinese&go=U&to=2582&dig=0

北大未名站 ○ 中文系

http://club.kdnet.net/list.asp?boardid=1

猫眼看人 凯迪社区

[ecohansen]

Gato, can I have your babies? The two 北大 links are magnificent!

Many, many thanks

[gato]

You are welcome!

[Auberon]

 

I've got a particular interest in depictions of fungi in Song-dynasty poetry

 

At risk of going off-topic, may I ask why? This sounds such a bizarrely specific subject that I'm now intrigued.

[ecohansen]

Auberon:

The same aesthetic and pragmatic impulses that attracted me to Chinese also attracted me to mycology. Just as Chinese dominates lists of numbers of native speakers and depth of written corpus, so fungi dominate global nitrogen and carbon cycles. Every important process undergirding our world consists of a batting match between plants and fungi, with algae and photosynthetic bacteria as the minor and forgettable sidekicks of plants, and animals as the minor and forgettable sidekicks of fungi. But despite the vast pragmatic significance of both Chinese and fungi, both are rarely visible in our modern western media and daily lives. Similarly with aesthetics: I cannot believe that anyone, having read both, can honestly believe that shakespeare is a better poet than Li Bai or Du Fu. I cannot believe that anyone, having seen both, can honestly believe that a sunflower is more beautiful than a basket stinkhorn.

Luckily, the classical chinese poets agreed! I've been able to find 1,227 poems about fungi from the Song Dynasty alone. And, as far as I can tell, only 5 of those 1,227 have been previously translated. By working with the remaining 1,222, I can hopefully eventually bring a bit more attention to a magnificent and neglected trope, while simultaneously immersing myself in my two great passions.

As for the choice of the Song dynasty: again, it's more neglected than the Tang, and that's a big draw for me. Also, Song poetry let its belt out a bit. While I greatly enjoy the Tang Dynasty's endemic restraint when reading about other subjects, when I'm actively searching out paeans to my favorite organisms, there's just nothing like the honest earnest joy of poets like, for example, Tang Wanli, Qiang Zhi, and Gao Sisun.

[ecohansen]

A couple of examples from my main men, Tang Wanli and Wang Yijian.

--please note that these are very early and provisional translations, and criticism is definitely very welcome:

年代:宋 作者: 杨万里

《蕈子》

空山一雨山溜急，漂流桂子松花汁。

土膏松暖都渗入，蒸出蕈花团戢戢。

戴穿落叶忽起立，拨开落叶百数十。

蜡面黄紫光欲湿，酥茎娇脆手轻拾。

响如鹅掌味如蜜，滑似蒪丝无点涩。

伞不如笠钉胜笠，香留齿牙麝莫 及。

菘羔楮鸡避席揖，餐玉茹芝当却粒。

作羹不可疏一日，作腊仍堪贮盈笈

Mushrooms

Tang Wanli (1127-1206)

The wild mountain: in the rain, it courses frantically

With streams carrying cinnamon-tree seedpods and the juice of pine-flowers.

The earth is permeated with rich rain and looseness and warmth,

And it steams forth mushrooms which congregate in circles.

Rising quickly, they pierce through the cladding of fallen leaves

Each pushing aside a multitude of fallen leaves.

Their tops are yellow and purple and shiny and waxy and wet and wonderful

Their stems are flaky and tender and brittle and adorably light in the hand.

They look like goose-feet, they taste like honey

They're smooth like silk—not one bit rough.

Their caps aren't like rain-hats—they're better than rain-hats!

They guard a scent more praiseworthy than deer-musk.

I implore you: flee that banquet of lamb and greens and fowl and berries!

Eat magnificence! Eat mushrooms! Refuse to be denied even a crumb of them!

Make soup! Don't slack a single day!

Make preserves! Guard them and hoard them until they've filled all your bookshelves!

年代:宋 作者: 王易简

《九锁山十咏》

风烟谷口亭，岩穴神仙宅。

迳回閟天光，云湿滴乳液。

宝盖遥当空，篝火忽奇迹。

不见菇芝人，残枰弃黑白。

跻攀幸有逢，筋力何足惜。

Ten Songs on Lock Mountain: Number 9

Wang Yijian

Wind and smoke. A pavilion in the valley mouth,

And cliff-caves where Immortals live.

The path circles back, shutting out daylight,

And wet clouds drip forth fluid, like breasts.

The pavilion's halo-roof is so high, it's useless--

Clotheslines and fires seem suddenly miraculous.

But don't you see the mushroom-gatherer

Spoiling the game, discarding white and black?

He climbs as he plucks, constantly finding luck.

Envy the strength that carries his feet!

[ecohansen]

。

[Shelley]

Wow, when I read your original post I too was intrigued at the specificness of your question and fungi.

 

Although I am ultra conservative in my mushroom consumption, the biology and amazing beauty of these things has always fascinated me.

 

Never imagined these 3 things going together, Chinese, poetry and mushrooms, but apparently it does.

 

Thank you for the enlightening information.