Session 3b: Cosmopolitan East Asia

[Anonymous]

Enlightening distribution of East Asia culture in three parts-warring culture, golden age of poetry and fine arts through the Mongolian reign. The 'Letter to Sun Hui-tsung' and the 'Peach Blossom Spring' are interesting depictions of 'The Age of Division.' These and similar text could be read and analyzed in my classrooms. Students enjoy listening to stories. Furthermore, since the teaching disciplines are interrelated, my students could visualize the peach blossom tree and illustrate it with the hidden world in the background. Great information!

[Anonymous]

Professor Ye was truly inspiring today. Being with him all day has given me a rejuvenated outlook on teaching. Believe it or not, I want to read A Study of History by Toynbee. I think that would give me a great foundation for the pyramid of knowledge I feel I am about to dive into (apologies for the mixed metaphors). Anyway, I was impressed with the lack of self consciousness Professor Ye had and the fact that he connected philosophy, The East, The West, art, film, etc. I hope to grow toward stepping out of my comfort zone as a teacher so the students can learn as much as possible before moving on to the next grade and the rest of their lives. I also liked his description of Nirvana as "disappearing like a drop of water into the ocean". Finally, I feel compelled to comment on Empress Wu (ca. 625-705). Even though she was a female, I see few leaders who could match her manipulation skills unyielding desire for power at any cost. The reading about her in EWP was astonishing.

[Anonymous]

RE: the word/character "yuan" in Yuan Dynasty

According to the "A New Practical Chinese-English Dictionary" by Lian Shih Chiu, "yuan" has the following meaning:
1. the beginning; the first; original
2. the head
3. a coin; a doller (Chinese)
4. the eldest; chief; big
5. (in Chinese astrology) 60 years
6. the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368)
7. a Chinese family name

[Anonymous]

I wrote the line "painting carries a poetic message" in my notes. I think this quote may apply to all paintings - but in Chinese paintings it applied in a more literal way. Professor Ye showed us many paintings with the poems written directly on them, which you never see in western art. I have always wondered what the purpose of the writing was...

This quote also connects to the "three perfections" - poetry, caligraphy and painting. These prefections are so connected in the Chinese culture that they are all done with the same tool - the writing brush. Painting and poetry are not as connected in western culture and I find that very interesting. Why do we separate the different forms of art when the Chinese combine them?

[Anonymous]

A reasponse to the reading "Peach Blossom Spring".
I enjoyed the concise exerpt for several reasons. A'ao Ch'ien is able to engage the reader immediately with precise vocabulary that paints a picture. This fits with 6th grade standards. Examples: " imposing buildings" "linking paths" Hemakes his point using just the rightr amount of wording. There is no excess that needs to be trimmed. After reading the passage I wondered how many people at that time were somehow seeking seclusion. What were the life events they'd been experiencing and what thoughts had they had? My finalthoughts were--what is themoral or the lesson learned* Once you've left something, you can't return to it in its exactness. Movement of time, space, and one's body removes you from an exact location The piece also brought to mind the modern phrases " you only live once" and "ennoy the moment" as sometnhing toponder. *This is easy to adapt into a lesson for kids of all ages. ( My thanks to the translator, Cyril Birch.)

[Anonymous]

This session covered the enormous range of East Asian history and art in three hours with Prof. Ye's dramatic and colorful (some parts were colorless because of the nature of the art) lecture and performances (poet reading, chanting, etc.)

I was particulary interested in fine arts and literature. When I was studying Japanese literature in Japan, we had to take a class called "Kan shi" (Chinese poetry) for a year. mainly we learned Tang and Song poetry. I was impressed by the poems. My professor read them in Chinese with beautiful tone like Prof. Ye's. You must listen to the original sound to get the right feeling. This motivated me to go abroad and study Chinese classical literature.

Actually I wanted to go to the mainland China, to get to closer to the poets' backgrounds. But I coudn't go to the communist China at that time. So I went to Taiwan, where many Chinese accomplished scholars fled from the mainland China. Fortunately I often visited the National Palace Museum in Taipei. Like Prof. Ye said, "If you want to see the best Ming Dynasty art, go to the National Palace Museum ." The museum has to rotate its display every 3 months because they have enormous amounts of art.
Here is the web site for the National Palace Museum: (English-Chinese bilingual web site)

http://www.npm.gov.tw

Now, I am allowed to travel to the mainland China. I want to visit all the historical places, and to see the clear rivers and deep mountains, hopefully without pollution!

Prof. Ye showed us many photos of Chinese calligraphy and painting on the screen. They were beautiful and impressive; they made us want to see the originals. I will remember his conclusion, "Everyone shares all seven emotions."

Since I can not take my students to the National Palace Museum in Taipei, I will give them the web site as a reference.

[Anonymous]

This session by far was one that I took the most notes on; although I don't consider myself and artist I do enjoy art in every form and I was fascinated with all of the beautiful paintings that were included in the slide show presentation. Professor Ye covered a plethora of information that was new to me. I too didn't know that part of the ritual in writing poetry consisted of making and using fresh ink when creating a masterpiece. No such thing as using the left overs, so I am assuming that the artist was careful to make only as much ink as needed to avoid being wasteful.

In addition, Proffesor Ye is indeed a very knowledgable person and I wouldn't have minded if he covered another session.

Maria

[Anonymous]

I agree with Matt that one of the most interesting aspects of the lecture was Master Ye's explanation of the ubiquitous red stamps of ownership located on the works of art in the powerpoint. I was also amused by the (occasionally sub-par quality) poetry written in the blank spaces of the art; in many cases, these were contributions by the Emperor who wasn't satisfied in the red stamp alone to mark the work of art as his property.
The readings in this class were, as Rebecca and Sharon have pointed out, worthy of a second and third re-reading (though Matt and I never got to the "recitation" phase of appreciation ) . Weeks later, I've come back to the piece by T'ao Ch'ien called "Written While Drunk":

The mountain air is fine at evening of the day
And flying birds return together homewards.
Within these things there is a hint of Truth,
But when I start to tell it, I cannot find the words.

Laugh at the title if you will, but this passage brought back memories of biking back home from school in the late afternoon on a summer evening in Shikoku. Rice fields on either side, beautiful mountains in the distance, the Seto-Inland sea at my back. These were the kind of thoughts going through my head. Coming back to the States after four years, the most common question was, of course, "So, how was Japan?" How many times did I try to explain moments like the one described above? Innumerable. And not once was I able to find the words to describe those hints of Truth.

[Anonymous]

Prof. Ye was absolutely fascinating in his delivery, his knowledge, his passion. I think I said this before about him. The readings for this day's lesson's were heavy and interestingly, he touched on them in the first hour and then discussed other Chinese facts.

I found the readings interesting, especially, after our simulation of the four philosophical perspectives: Confucianism, Mohism, Daoism, and Legalism. The letters and poems, as I filtered them, were how those beliefs took toll on real people. What kind of leaders were they going to be, were they looking for, or did they actually become. Each made wonderful points based on the core belief they most internalized. The final readings "Two Prose Masters of the Sung Dyansty" argue for a pacified legalist leadership that combines the best ideals of the four beliefs without the brutality of the previous ruler. It was what Clay taught us, but through different means.

I found the translation for China very intersting and apropos for the remaining of the Chinese history up through the Quing Dynasty. China=the center of the universe. If a country believes that, it would be very difficult for them to deem that any other country could meaningfully contribute to their society, thus, keeping them out.

[Anonymous]

Professor Ye's presentation reminded me of how creative and innovative the Tang and Song Dynasties were. It was my understanding that the writing of poetry was widespread throughout the populace, and poems related to personal experiences and social occasionswere very popular. Since I am always looking for short artistic lessons, one thing I think I'll try is called "regulated verse." It is composed of four couplets with the middle two written in parallel. That parallelism might look something like this:
The barracuda srikes quickly leaving no trail;
but the racing schooner leaves a tentative tail.

Another artistic project related to the Tang is paper cutting. One of my favorite on-line booksellers has a couple of paper cutting instruction manuals, one of which starts on a very simple level. Here's an instruction book at Amazon with other boks linked:http://www.amazon.com/Book-Paper-Cutting-Complete-Techniques/dp/0806902868

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