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Thread: Read Traditional Chinese?

  1. #1
    Moderator Suet Seung's Avatar
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    Default Read Traditional Chinese?

    Can anyone read this and translate to english?

    $this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://www.angelfire.com/vt/vivian22louis/Chinese.JPG')
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  2. #2
    Senior Member Du Gu seeking a win's Avatar
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    Looks like Simplified Chinese, not Traditional Chinese to me.

  3. #3

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    Originally posted by Du Gu seeking a win


    Looks like Simplified Chinese, not Traditional Chinese to me.
    It's traditional, notice the character "kai" and the end of the first phrase.

    Actually, this is a pretty famous poem by a pretty famous poet.
    春花秋月几时了,
    往事知多少?
    小楼昨夜又东风,
    故国不堪回首明月中.
    雕栏玉砌应犹在,
    只是朱颜改.
    问君能有几多愁,
    恰似一江春水向东流.
    --南唐后主,李煜.

  4. #4
    Moderator Suet Seung's Avatar
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    Originally posted by Moinllieon
    It's traditional, notice the character "kai" and the end of the first phrase.

    Actually, this is a pretty famous poem by a pretty famous poet.
    Thanks Moin. Could anyone translate it?
    Last edited by Suet Seung; 02-20-04 at 11:05 AM.
    I just love how you Captivate My Mind

    Self reminder - Update blog more often and continue editing/writing for TOV fanfic.

  5. #5
    Senior Member tinac's Avatar
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    I did some search on the internet and found a lot of Li Qing Zhao's poem but could not find the one you posted.

    http://www.chinapage.com/liqing-poetry.html

  6. #6
    Member Faerie Queene's Avatar
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    Hi there ...

    I don't think I'll embarrass myself by trying to translate this poem, but I can try to explain what I think the words mean ...

    As Mo said, it is written in traditional chinese and it is by a famous poet (the great poetess Li Qing Zhao). But I don't know whether it really is considered as one of her famous poems.

    Do you speak Cantonese? I kinda got that impression from your name ... I'm at work right now and can't access Chinese word documents ... so I'm just stabbing in the dark w/ my Mandarin pinyins here, hope you can understand my Canto pinyin ... the "title" Wan Qi Sha/Woon Kai Sa should really just be one of those poem structures "Chi Pai" (Canto) names and is not the actual title of the poem.

    Therefore, you can see in the link that tinac provided, that within Li's collection of poems, there are many other poems using the same Chi Pai names, which just means that they were all composed with the same structural format.

    Wan Qi Sha is probably most commonly known to be related to Xi Si (one of the 4 Chinese beauties) ... it basically translates as "washing silk in river (or creek?)"

    The thing w/ Chinese poetry (and poetry in general) is that you often have to be very highly educated in the syntactic properties of the language (and therefore, the older the poem, the more archaic the language) as well as the historical background of the poem and poet. Obviously, I'm not qualified as one of those scholars. If this poem was really famous, you can read up on explanations and essays that discusses it in detail ... but though I've read a few pieces on Li's poems, I haven't seen this one discussed in detail yet ... so, once again, I'm completely guessing based on the words ... I could be completely off.

    Overall, I would say this poem talks about the beauty of a woman who is somehow related to the water. Filled with all sorts of emotions and feelings (of which the reader is not being made aware of), she waits for someone or something. The tone is somewhat mysterious and sad.

    First stanza: filled with references to water and the graceful beauty of a woman
    first line: mentions her smile ... that blossoms like the lotus (a water flower)
    2nd line: not too sure what it means ... but I think it's talking about a duck and how it contrast with a "lovely chin (? or lower part of face)" ... therefore again, I think it describes the beauty of a woman in the water, surrounded by ducks?
    3rd line: "yan bo"/"an baw" simply means the serene, clear expression in one's gaze that resembles the lapping waves. It's often used to describe the beauty of a woman's eyes. Used in here, I think it means something about there being a glimmer/flicker/"lap" in the expression of the woman's beautiful eyes that makes people "wonder" ... perhaps wondering about what she's thinking about?

    2nd stanza: More sombre and melacholic in tone.
    1st line: Describes her facial expression or it could probably also be describing her aura ... the poem used the word "wun" (Canto) to describe it ... I would probably describe this word as meaning something like "soulful sensuality"
    2nd line: Describes her hatred as being mixed in with her wistful longings.
    3rd line: My interpretation of this line is that under the (orbit of) moon and amongst the (shadow of) flowers, she is awaiting someone (whom she has made a vow to meet with).

    Mmm ... does that help?
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  7. #7
    Moderator Suet Seung's Avatar
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    Talking Thanks

    Originally posted by Faerie Queene
    Hi there ...

    I don't think I'll embarrass myself by trying to translate this poem, but I can try to explain what I think the words mean ...

    As Mo said, it is written in traditional chinese and it is by a famous poet (the great poetess Li Qing Zhao). But I don't know whether it really is considered as one of her famous poems.

    Do you speak Cantonese? I kinda got that impression from your name ... I'm at work right now and can't access Chinese word documents ... so I'm just stabbing in the dark w/ my Mandarin pinyins here, hope you can understand my Canto pinyin ... the "title" Wan Qi Sha/Woon Kai Sa should really just be one of those poem structures "Chi Pai" (Canto) names and is not the actual title of the poem.

    Therefore, you can see in the link that tinac provided, that within Li's collection of poems, there are many other poems using the same Chi Pai names, which just means that they were all composed with the same structural format.

    Wan Qi Sha is probably most commonly known to be related to Xi Si (one of the 4 Chinese beauties) ... it basically translates as "washing silk in river (or creek?)"

    The thing w/ Chinese poetry (and poetry in general) is that you often have to be very highly educated in the syntactic properties of the language (and therefore, the older the poem, the more archaic the language) as well as the historical background of the poem and poet. Obviously, I'm not qualified as one of those scholars. If this poem was really famous, you can read up on explanations and essays that discusses it in detail ... but though I've read a few pieces on Li's poems, I haven't seen this one discussed in detail yet ... so, once again, I'm completely guessing based on the words ... I could be completely off.

    Overall, I would say this poem talks about the beauty of a woman who is somehow related to the water. Filled with all sorts of emotions and feelings (of which the reader is not being made aware of), she waits for someone or something. The tone is somewhat mysterious and sad.

    First stanza: filled with references to water and the graceful beauty of a woman
    first line: mentions her smile ... that blossoms like the lotus (a water flower)
    2nd line: not too sure what it means ... but I think it's talking about a duck and how it contrast with a "lovely chin (? or lower part of face)" ... therefore again, I think it describes the beauty of a woman in the water, surrounded by ducks?
    3rd line: "yan bo"/"an baw" simply means the serene, clear expression in one's gaze that resembles the lapping waves. It's often used to describe the beauty of a woman's eyes. Used in here, I think it means something about there being a glimmer/flicker/"lap" in the expression of the woman's beautiful eyes that makes people "wonder" ... perhaps wondering about what she's thinking about?

    2nd stanza: More sombre and melacholic in tone.
    1st line: Describes her facial expression or it could probably also be describing her aura ... the poem used the word "wun" (Canto) to describe it ... I would probably describe this word as meaning something like "soulful sensuality"
    2nd line: Describes her hatred as being mixed in with her wistful longings.
    3rd line: My interpretation of this line is that under the (orbit of) moon and amongst the (shadow of) flowers, she is awaiting someone (whom she has made a vow to meet with).

    Mmm ... does that help?
    Haha....Thanks Faerie for being so nice to help interpret what it's trying to say. I appreciate it very much.
    I just love how you Captivate My Mind

    Self reminder - Update blog more often and continue editing/writing for TOV fanfic.

  8. #8
    Senior Member mich's Avatar
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    Hi FaQ,

    I gathered you know moiny...so welcome...

    just wanna add on to FaQ's....this is part of her work of Wan Xi Sha. I am more inclined to think that Wan Xi Sha is really more on Li(YI An Ju Shi). She had a tough time after her husband died.


    well..most of her poems in her later years were filled with sorrow and wistfulness...
    MooMoo Cows Can Fly.

  9. #9

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    I feel so ashamed, not noticing the great Queenie herself joining!



    Welcome to our humble forum,
    Please don't mind the lack of decorum.
    'Tis the best we could do,
    but it might be better if you pay your due.

    春花秋月几时了,
    往事知多少?
    小楼昨夜又东风,
    故国不堪回首明月中.
    雕栏玉砌应犹在,
    只是朱颜改.
    问君能有几多愁,
    恰似一江春水向东流.
    --南唐后主,李煜.

  10. #10
    Senior Member duguxiaojing's Avatar
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    I dont get it........ is she suppose to be famous or r u being sarcastic?

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