Chin Poetry 2024

Welcome to our course website Chin_Poetry_2024!

Session 1: Organizational issues FRI Mar 1, 8:00-9:30 s. 400

FRI (8:00-9:30 s. 400) 9:45-11:15 SIN III s. 424 中國文學-詩歌 Język chiński klasyczny – proza lub poezja Chin Poetry 2024 1.3.-7.6.2024 (S1 1.3., S2 8.3., S3 15.3., S4 22.3., S5 29.3., S6 5.4., S7 12.4., S8 19.4., S9 26.4., S10 3.5., S11 10.5., S12 17.5., S13 24.5., S14 31.5., S15 7.6.)

What we learn in this class

• We learn to differentiate between classical/premodern and modern Chinese.
• We learn to differentiate between traditional and simplified characters.
• We learn grammatical rules of classical/premodern Chinese.
• We learn motifs in classical/premodern Chinese poems.
• We learn classical/premodern vocabulary.

Textbooks and Tools

At the end of this semester, we will read, understand and translate some classical/premodern Chinese poems, especially the seemingly best ones in world literature, Tang and Song poems (premodern).

The course to learn to read classical Japanese for beginners is an example that we do not need to start from the quotation and explain grammar and vocabulary while we are working through the quotation, but instead we can first ignore the texts and start to learn the basics and get a basic understanding of wenyanwen.

So we are not going to start with the texts, but first will lay a foundation of understanding classical/premodern Chinese including grammar, vocabulary, images used in poems etc.

In order to plan a diverse semester with different sorts of explanations and exercises, we first will have a look at existing concepts for learning wenyanwen for beginners. This ensures to also incorporate the newest learning material and media forms.

Typological overview

Cf.: English and Chinese Introduction to classical Chinese grammar on Wikipedia.

Classical Chinese has long been noted for the absence of inflectional morphology: nouns and adjectives do not inflect for case, definiteness, gender, specificity or number; neither do verbs inflect for person, number, tense, aspect, telicity, valency, evidentiality or voice. However, in terms of derivational morphology, it makes use of compounding, reduplication and perhaps affixation, although not in a productive way. (See Peyraube 2008, p. 995; Schuessler 2007, p. 16). Most of the affixes in Old Chinese also have counterparts in Tibeto-Burman languages; they are therefore of Sino-Tibetan heritage. Most are unproductive in Old Chinese. There is also an extensive use of zero-derivation.

The basic constituent order of Classical Chinese is subject-verb-object (SVO) (Peyraube 2008, p. 997–998), but is not fully consistent: there are particular situations where the VS and OV word orders appear. Topic-and-comment constructions are often used. Neither a topic, nor the subject nor objects are mandatory, being often dropped when their meaning is understood (so called Pro-drop language (pragmatically inferable)), and copular sentences often do not have a verb.

Within a noun phrase, demonstratives, quantifying determiners, adjectives, possessors and relative clauses precede the head noun, while cardinal numbers can appear before or after the noun they modify. Within a verb phrase, adverbs usually appear before a verb. The language, as analyzed in this article, uses coverbs (in a serial verb construction) and postpositions. Classical Chinese makes heavy use of parataxis where English would use a dependent clause (Pulleyblank 1995, p. 148). However, there are means to form dependent clauses, some of which appear before the main clause while others appear after. There are also a number of sentence-final particles.

Two simple coordinated nouns can be joined with a conjunction, but this is not always the case. This, combined with the fact that two nouns in a possessor-possessed construction are not always marked for their functions either, can lead to ambiguity: 山林 shān lín (literally: "mountain forest") could mean either "mountains and forests" or "the forest of a mountain". (Barnes, Starr, Ormerod 2009, p. 9).

With the absence of inflectional morphology, Classical Chinese is largely a zero-marking language, except that possessors and relative clauses are usually dependent-marked with a grammatical particle.

Negation is achieved by placing a negative particle before the verb. Yes-no questions are marked with a sentence-final particle, while wh-questions are marked with in-situ interrogative pronouns. There are a number of passive constructions, but passives are sometimes not marked differently from active constructions, at least when written. (Aldridge 2013).

The lexicon of Classical Chinese has been traditionally divided into two large categories: content words (實字 shí zì, literally: "substantial words") and function words (虛字 xū zì, literally: "empty words"). (Peyraube 2008, p. 999). Scholars of Classical Chinese grammar notably disagree on how to further divide these two categories exactly, but a classification using word classes similar to those of Latin (noun, adjective, verb, pronoun, etc.) has been common. (Zádrapa 2011, p. 2). However, this remains debated, as many words can be used as multiple parts of speech. Examples shown below.

Word class flexibility

• adjective used as noun: 聖益聖 shèng yì shèng; lit: wise increase wise, actually means: a wise person becomes wiser
• adjective used as verb: 勝地不常 shèngdì bù cháng; lit: a good place not constant, actually means: a good place will not last forever
• adjective used as adverb: 白費 báifèi; lit vain cost, i.e. vainly cost (subject) ...
• noun used as verb: 順流而東也 shùnliú ér dōng yě; lit: along the river East, actually means: rowing down the river to the East
• noun used as adverbial: 犬坐於前 quǎn zuò yú qián; lit: (a wolf) dog sit in the front, actually means: (a wolf) is sitting in the front like a dog
• verb used as noun (rare case): 乘奔御風 chéng bēn yùfēng; lit: ride gallop or wind, actually means: ride a galloping horse or wind
• verb used as adverb (rare case): 爭割地 zhēng gēdì; lit: compete cede territory, actually means: "cede territory spontaneously and actively"

Pronouns

Pronouns can be separated into the following groups:

• Personal, e.g. 汝 rǔ 'you'
• Demonstrative: 此 cǐ, 斯 sī, 兹 zī 'this, these'; 彼 bǐ, 夫 fú 'that, those'; 之 zhī, 是 shì (anaphoric) 'this, that'
• Reciprocal: 彼此 bǐcǐ 'each other'
• Reflexive: 己 jǐ, 身 shēn 'oneself, themselves'
• Interrogative, e.g. 誰 shéi 'who'
• Indefinite: 他 tuō 'another, others', 某 mǒu 'someone, so-and-so', 人 rén 'someone', 人人 rénrén 'everyone', 諸 zhū 'all'

Personal pronouns

1st person	吾 wú, 我 wǒ, 余 yú, 予 yú, 朕 zhèn
2nd person	爾 ěr, 汝/女 rǔ, 而 ér, 若 ruò
3rd person	之 zhī (accusative), 其 qí (genitive)

Classical Chinese did not distinguish number in some of its pronouns, for example, 我 wǒ could mean either 'I, me' or 'we, us'. There was no 3rd-person personal pronoun form that could be used in subject position, but the distal demonstrative 彼 bǐ 'that, those' and the anaphoric demonstrative 是 shì frequently take that role. (Dawson 1984, p. 36, n. 5).

The use of some nouns as pronoun-like terms is also attested. Common examples in texts are the humble 臣 chén 'servant' in the 1st person, and 子 zǐ 'son; master' in the 2nd person.

Classical Chinese interrogative pronouns and adverbs are notably polysemic, many of them bearing multiple meanings.

Interrogative pronouns
and adverbs, Pulleyblank 1995, pp. 91–97

Classical Chinese	Translation
誰 shéi	who
孰 shú	which
何 hé	what, why, how
曷 hé	when, what
奚 xī, 胡 hú	where, how, why
安 ān, 焉 yān	where, how
盍 hé	why not
惡/烏 wū	where, in what

An example where this polysemy is exploited is found in a tale in the Zhuangzi, chapter 17. Zhuangzi is asked "how do you know this?" (with the interrogative 安 ān), but being unable to answer the question, intentionally misinterprets it as "where did you (get to) know this?". (https://web.archive.org/web/20220724025954/https://pages.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/chin/LaoJuang/JoyOfFish.html)

Homework until Session 3

Please memorize the types of pronouns, the personal and interrogative pronouns in the two tables. We will later use them to create sentences according to classical Chinese grammar.

Session 2: Verbs

The next word class we need to learn in order to build sentences in classical Chinese is the (Latin) class of the verb. Here, we can differentiate different usages of the verbs.

While an English sentence can be divided into active voice or passive voice depending on the form of the verb within the sentence, the verbs in classical Chinese have several usages based on the relationship between the verb and the object. These are separated into yìdòng 意動 (original meaning), shǐdòng usage 使動, wèidòng usage 為動, and bèidòng 被動 "passive" usage. Moreover, a verb does not change its form at different situations, with the exception of the beidong usage of verbs. Within the examples shown below, the words located within parentheses do not appear in the original Chinese sentence.

Yidong usage (used in the original meaning)

In classical Chinese, it is common for nouns or adjectives to be used as verbs or adjectives, and most of these cases involve a yidong usage of verbs.

One peculiarity is that a word that is originally a verb does not share the same usage. In addition, there are slight differences in meaning between the noun and the adjective in the usage.

For a noun, it becomes an action done by the subject which indicates the subjects opinion about the object in the form "consider (object) as + (the noun)". 父利{其然也} fù lì {qí rán yě} [Zhongyong's] father profit {the thing} (that he be invited): The father considered the thing as profitable.

For an adjective, it becomes an observation in the form of "consider (object) (the adjective)". 漁人甚異之 yú rén shèn yì zhī, fish man very strange {the thing} (that there was a beautiful land): The fisherman considers the thing very strange.

Shidong usage

In this case, nouns, verbs and adjectives share usage, but with different meanings.

For a noun, it means "make ... + (the noun)". For instance:

• 先破秦入咸陽者王之

xiān pò qín rù Xiányáng zhě wàng zhī, first break Qin enter Xianyang (particle) king it: He who defeated Qin and entered Xianyang would be crowned.

Literal translation: (Fulfilling the agreement that) the person who defeated the Qin dynasty and entered Xianyang first, [people] would king him. (Note: Such scenarios are rare, though historical cases exist in ancient China. The translation of the sentence is rather controversial; the interpretation provided above represents the most widespread consensus.) cf. 書、書者

For a verb, it could mean "make... + do/done/to do", depending on the sentence. For instance:

• 泣孤舟之嫠婦

Literal translation: (The music was so sad that) cry the widow in a lonely boat; Semantic translation: (The music was so sad that it) made the widow in a lonely boat cry.

For an adjective, it means "make... + (the adjective)". For instance:

• 既來之，則安之

Literal translation: Since you have been here, then calm yourself here; Semantic translation: Since you have been here, make yourself calm here.

Weidong usage

The following examples demonstrate weidong usage of verbs. Such usage may occur:

• to express a motion that is based on a purpose. For instance:

等死死國可乎？

Literal translation: It's equally death (delay for work and protest the rule of the Qin dynasty), is die country an option?; Semantic translation: It's death in any case, is dying for the country an option?

• to express an action due to a particular reason. For instance:

便苦咳嗽

Literal translation: He suffer (v.) cough; Semantic translation: He suffered from a cough.

• to help the object do something. For instance:

自序其詩

Literal translation: Himself introduction his own poem; Semantic translation: He wrote the introduction to his own poem .

• to execute a motion to the object. For instance:

泣之三日

Literal translation: Cry it for three days; Semantic translation: Mourn over it for three days.

Recommendations for further reading

As an introduction to Classical Chinese for beginners, please decide which of the following links you want to follow, to read and then to introduce to the fellow students:

• https://www.hackingchinese.com/learning-classical-chinese-is-for-everyone-no-seriously/

• https://www.outlier-linguistics.com/products/intro-literary-classical-chinese?rfsn=4170716.4415dd

(Please ignore the advertisement for their 16 session video course in Classical Chinese.)

• https://www.reddit.com/r/classicalchinese/?rdt=49690

(This is blog-like Reddit contents.)

• https://www.ultimatechinaguide.com/how-to-learn-classical-chinese-part-1/

• https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Classical_Chinese

This is an open text book for learning Chinese with a grammar part and a text part. We will use the grammar part for some basic understanding of

1. Pronouns,
2. Particles,
3. Nouns,
4. Adjectives,
5. Adverbs,
6. Verbs

Although we will need to correct some of its translations (子、君、...), since they are not fully accurate, it is helpful for learning.

• Video Introductions:

1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L6x4l3LW3fU
2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2Nf4davZWo
3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mlPUaKGu-Oc

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1MX4y1n7fF/?spm_id_from=333.337.search-card.all.click&vd_source=55485085dc7182aa31aa0e7478de747b

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1Mu411E7Mw/?spm_id_from=333.788.recommend_more_video.1&vd_source=55485085dc7182aa31aa0e7478de747b

这个有500多集，b站也不全。讲的也不错。都是古代的文学作品的讲解。有字幕

https://www.163.com/dy/article/IHUF2S3Q0552OQUI.html

https://www.xuboke.cn/p/301.html

https://www.thn21.com/wen/yufa/

Introductions

• Classical Chinese 2023 文言文，包括基本的概要 with a general introduction into classical Chinese
• Examples of classical Chinese poetry with modern Chinese translation Critical Overview of Chinese Literature 2023 例子：蘇東坡之賦

Tools

• Fulltext & English translation of Lunyu: http://www.acmuller.net/con-dao/analects.html, of Liji: https://ctext.org/liji
• Wenyanwen Zidian: https://wyw.hwxnet.com/

Homework until Session 2

Please make a Chinese translation of the text of the topic you selected for presentation including questions at the end of the textbook text. When you select a topic, please coordinate with your class representative that no other students selects the same topic.

Preparatory homework for every session

Please prepare the topics of the following session by reading the respective texts in the textbook and by answering the respective questions.

Homework until Session 5

Please translate another topic you are interested in into English. When you select another topic, please coordinate with your class representative that no other students selects the same topic.

Homework until Session 10

Please translate another topic you are interested in into English. When you select another topic, please coordinate with your class representative that no other students selects the same topic.

Homework until Session 15

Please translate another topic you are interested in into English. When you select another topic, please coordinate with your class representative that no other students selects the same topic.

Final paper after Session 15

Please think of a new topic of a phenomenon of traditional or modern Chinese culture. Please use the same format as the other topics in the textbook, including text, terms, references, questions. Whenever you indicate a reference, please also mention the page number. When you select another topic, please coordinate with your class representative that no other students selects the same topic and confirm with the instructor that the topic is appropriate.

Session 2 FRI Mar 1, 9:45-11:15 s. 424 SIN III

The topics and contents of the following sessions will be determined by the selection of the students.

C1 Mar 8, C2 Mar 15

Session 4 FRI Mar 22, 9:45-11:15 s. 424 SIN III

C3 Mar 29

Mar 28 - Apr 2: Easter Holiday in Poland

Session 6 FRI Apr 5, 9:45-11:15 s. 424 SIN III

Apr 4-6 is Qingming holiday in China, the Chinese students make up for the missed classes on Sun (!) Apr 7 and 28.

C4 Apr 12, C5 Apr 19

Session 8 FRI Apr 26, 9:45-11:15 s. 424 SIN III

May 1-3 are Workers' and Constitution holidays in Poland. (May 8 is sports holiday.)

May 1-5 is an extended May 1st holiday in China, the Chinese students make up for missed classes on Sat May 11.

Session 10 FRI May 10, 9:45-11:15 s. 424 SIN III

C6 May 17, C7 May 24, C8 May 31, C9 Jun 7

May 30-31 holiday Corpus Christi in Poland.

June 8-10 is Duanwu holiday in China.

Session 12 FRI June 14, 9:45-11:15 s. 424 SIN III

Mon Jun 17 (Thursday classes), Tue Jun 18 (Friday classes) in Poland.

Final Exam FRI Jun 21, 9:45-11:15 s. 400 SIN III

Exam session: Jun 24-Jul 7. Retake session Sep 1-15.

Jul 20-22 Chinese Studies Conference.