I did have the same frustration, but at a certain point I decided to use my own culture as the context for interpretation. That was only effective, though, because I had Dr. Schaberg to provide the proper context if I completely missed it.

I found the war poem particularly compelling. Perhaps my interest is due to the fact that our nation is currently involved in a war and many of my students have relatives in Iraq. My mental image of a young soldier singing the song as he envisioned his time in battle or prepared himself for departure reminded me of the St. Crispin's Day speech.

I would probably use this poem as the intro to Chinese poetry for my students. They are all young men (it's a Catholic high school) and I think they would be interested in the content. Then I would shift to some of the love poems and have my students make comparisons to modern love poems and songs.

throughout the session last night i kept wondering how to apply this to my curriculum. I would love to do a compare and contrast with love songs today. the only thing i feel would be lacking is a proper explanation at the end of the lesson- what the chinese poems actually mean, or what they are trying to say. the session and readings served as exposure, but not necessarily understanding.

I did appreciate the explanation of the book of song, the chronological breakdown and the occasion for the songs did help- i can definitely integrate that into an imperial china timeline, talk about the different uses of song during particular time periods.

even though i was a little lost last night- i enjoyed learning about the different possible meanings of the poems and the insight and clues as to what ancient chinese life might have been like

I realized in the last few days that the significance of our meeting on Tuesday night extended to my own professional practice in terms of demeanor.

Dr. Schaberg's interest in our reactions to and interpretations of the songs, and it reminded me how much more engaging a class can be when a professor/teacher communicates that to the students. I am certainly guilty of failing to display that same interest when I teach my history courses, but in the past few days I have reminded that I am indeed excited that my students are making their own observations and have their own opinions about the material. My favorite moments in the last two days of teaching came during a debate over the primary motivation for European imperialism in the last 40 years of the 19th century in my A.P. European History class. Chinese songs never came up, but my interest in the students' thoughts did.

It may be that I do not incorporate Chinese songs into my curriculum very often, but I can certainly communicate my appreciation of the students' thoughts every day.

I would agree with the post from above. My first impressions of this reading section were very negative. I thought it was pointless and frankly none of it made sense. After Prof. Schaberg gave some background and opened up the floor to discussion, I feel like the material gained more relevance. This was especially true when we actually spent some time slowly analyzing a poem, something I should have done more carefully on my own time but didn't. After we discussed and reread some poems, the creativity and style of the Chinese became more and more prevalent. Even though I did not contribute much to the class discussion, I feel that in general it helped me not only understand the poetry better, but also appreciate it.

Schaberg 8)

Cultural beliefs is definitely a big eye opener. What we as Americans, or even Chinese Americans, may see as lucky or proper, can be seen in a totally different way. Whereas we see Lucky, seven, Chinese see lucky 8 etc..

PS. I don't know about y'all but as I read through all of this stuff for the first time, I realized that it was quite difficult to fully understand. I began to think about how these were being translated an if the best possible words were being used to portray the message. I personally felt that some of it was not properly emphasized or emphasized in the wrong locations which added to my frustration as I tried to understand what I was reading. Anyone who has tried to translate a simple phrase or "word" from Chinese to English will tell you that there are just so many more ways to say it and stress it in Chinese than there are in English. Lost in translation...... what do you thinks?

😐

This old poem is basically comparing new and old. From my own interpretation, the author tried to use different things to show that the new wife is very valuable and important to the old man. For example, "the new bride will enter in from the front gate, and the old wife leaves from the side door. " Who will not pick the gold silk over the plain ? So this old man has forgotten what the old wife has done for him. I also think this poem maybe reminding us that we often like new things and we should carefully consider our decisions.

I agree with Jones. Gold definitely still hold certain value in Asian culture. For Chinese weddings, the bride will receive "Dragon and Phoenix engraved bracelets", the more the bride has on her arm, the wealthier it shows. Because those bracelets cost quite a bit of money comparing to just a gold bracelet.

I liked the process of going through the few poems that we did. I often do a Socratic Seminar/Shared Inquiry class discussion in the round in a similar manner. I think I would be willing to use some of the poems in my class in just such a manner, especially once I have more content to use in a unit.

The most item I took away from the discussion was the metaphor---"Chinese see themselves in the metaphor of silk thread warp--the long warp(s) are the classic strands--and the individual sees themselve as just the cross weave." I hope to find out more about this idea and see if it could expanded upon and used to understand Chinese culture and Chinese classics.

Like many I found the war poems the most applicable to the classroom. I would probably start with those to use.