A Case Study on the Instruction in ‘Active Reading of Classics’ in University Classical Chinese Elective Courses

2021 ◽  
Vol 2021 (51) ◽  
pp. 199-249
Keyword(s):  
Active Reading ◽  
Elective Courses ◽  
Classical Chinese

scholarly journals Challenges in Translating Chinese Classics into English: Example of Biography of Huan Tan and Feng Yan from Book of the Later Han

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 115
Author(s):  
Qu Jingyi
Keyword(s):  
English Translation ◽  
Academic Research ◽  
Literary Value ◽  
Modern Chinese ◽  
Classical Chinese ◽  
Interdisciplinary Knowledge ◽  
Dynamic Growth ◽  
Chinese Texts

As one of the Early Four Historiographies, Fan Ye’s Book of the Later Han preserves significant works of both historical and literary value. This is something increasingly significant in response to the dynamic growth in popularity of classical Chinese texts among Western sinologists. Through reading the English translation of the “Biography of Huan Tan and Feng Yan” from the Book of the Later Han, the following<br />three issues are arguably noteworthy for the translator’s consideration. Firstly, the English translation may involve an<br />interim step of intralingual translation from classical Chinese to modern Chinese, before a subsequent interlingual translation from modern Chinese to English. While this facilitates the process of translation,<br />the vernacular translation also involves further risks in misinterpretation. Secondly, translation of such historiographical work which consists of literary works by various writers with numerous historical references,<br />not only requires the translator to conduct additional analysis and write explanatory notes, it also makes the English output inaccessible to most readers. Thirdly,<br />the highly interdisciplinary knowledge in relevant historiography not only demands a high quality of competency in translators, but also arguably acts as a catalyst for further academic research in the process of close reading and research. This paper intends to analyse the above three issues through a case study on the “Biography of Huan Tan and Feng Yan”, thereby demonstrating how the translation of Chinese classics is an<br />arduous yet meaningful challenge.

scholarly journals Perception and Cognition in Translating Chinese Landscape Poetry : A Case Study of Liu Zongyuan’s poem River Snow

2007 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 167-189 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chunshen Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Visual Art ◽  
Source Text ◽  
Classical Chinese ◽  
Way Of Thinking ◽  
The Mind ◽  
Landscape Poetry ◽  
The Way

Abstract Perception and Cognition in Translating Chinese Landscape Poetry : A Case Study of Liu Zongyuan's Poem River Snow — The article, based on the Heideggerian dichotomy of calculative versus meditative thinking and with reference to Arnheim's psychology of visual art, argues that a poem thinks in the way it makes the reader think, and it is the poetic (meditative) way of thinking that a poem inspires that determines the poem's being a poem. Through an intensive case study of a classical Chinese poem, it tries to illustrate how a poem's textual formulation can set a reader thinking. It follows that to translate a poem as a poem, the translator must approach the source text with the mind open and released to the meditative thinking it inspires as gift — by stepping back from calculative thinking which strives to represent objects in their material accuracy, so as to produce a target text that will set the target reader thinking in a similar, meditative way.

scholarly journals A case of tribal defilement in a Kenyan rural village: A narratological and socio-rhetorical function of the motifs of ‘hearing and understanding’ and ‘contrast’ in Matthew 15:10–11 vis-à-vis Leviticus 11:1–4

2011 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ferdinand M. M’bwangi
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Difference ◽  
Rhetorical Criticism ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Socially Constructed ◽  
Active Reading ◽  
Frame Work ◽  
Ethical Reflections ◽  
Theological Understanding ◽  
A Minor

This article employed a case study to explore the theme of defilement as experienced in a Kenyan village. To provide a basis for the theological reflection on this case study, the article investigated two motifs in Matthew 15:10–11. ‘Hearing and understanding’ and ‘contrast’ [[Refer to PDF], ‘not…but’] was examined in respect of Leviticus 11:1–8 to determine the extent to which Matthew 15:10–11 depicts Jesus as ‘relativising’ the Mosaic law (Lv 11:1–8). This approach provided a basis to argue that defilement in Matthew 15:10–11 is not only a matter of external or ritual perspective, but of moral disposition. A methodology that combines both socio-rhetorical (Socio-rhetorical criticism is a methodology that derives value and meaning as an outcome of an active reading process that occurs within specific cultural contexts. In this case, the examiner produced the meaning of given texts by participating in a complex of socially constructed practices’ [Growler n.d., http://userwww.Service.emory. edu/~dgowler/chapter.htm]) and narratological (Narratological criticism is the study of narratives that involves a kind of ‘structure and practice that illuminates temporality and human beings as temporal beings’. Using classifications such as plot, narrator and narratee, narratology becomes a useful instrument for the description, classification and interpretation of literary narratives [see http://www.hum.aau.dk/~yding/storytelling/narratology%20rerevisited. pdf]) approaches were engaged as the most appropriate to address the concerns of this article. These two methodologies greatly helped this article to explain the meaning and significance of defilement in Leviticus 11 with respect to the theological understanding of the Leviticus code of purity. This code presents a temporal view of defilement intended to reflect on the holiness and sovereignty of Yahweh, over and against idols of the surrounding nations. In addition, this kind of methodology facilitated an interpretation of the motif of ‘contrast’ [[Refer to PDF], ‘not but’] in Matthew 15:11 as the evangelist’s intentional attempt to depict Jesus intensifying the Leviticus code of ritual purity within an ethical frame work. The village case study was surveyed, exegesis done on Matthew 15:10–11 with respect to Leviticus 11:1–8, the perception of defilement for 1st century Jews assessed and a brief comparative study of the findings from Matthew 15:10–11 engaged with a Kenyan village-case study for ethical reflections. This case study pointed out that cultural difference prompted a major tribe (Wataita) to consider a minor tribe (Wasanye) to be defiled, albeit the minor tribe did not describe the major tribe in the same derogatory term.

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