When I was in Beijing a few years ago, I bought this facsimile edition (i.e. modern reproduction of an antique book printed to look just like the original. In terms of the content, not necessarily the binding.) of the Kangxi dictionary. I'm travelling to Taiwan soon, and I was wondering where to look for similar books. Is it something one might find in ordinary book stores, or are there any more specialised shops I should check out?

This is a subreddit post that will be posted every two weeks on Wednesday, where community members can share what texts they've been reading, any interesting excerpts, or even ask for recommendations!

I am trying to learn how to interpret some classic texts, such as 道德經 and 列子.

For example, I have rendered 道德經 down to ~800 symbols, and I am looking to find a way to match meanings/definitions to each symbol so I can create a digital flashcard deck (such as with Anki).

HOWEVER, I have been at a loss so far. ctext is great, but I haven't found a way yet to auto-lookup definitions for symbols without API access... and I can only get API access by being in academic field (which I am not).

Any ideas or recommendations?

The alternative isn't bad, but it requires copy/pasting for each symbol I look-up. First world problem lol

I have ran frequency analysis on 道德經, and come up with ~800 symbols. I'd like to create flashcards for those for Anki.

《合阴阳》是现已发现最古的一种论述房中之法的专书，全篇用简32枚，内容专述两性生活和房中保健。出土时本无篇名，和竹简《十问》合卷在一起。帛书整理小组根据简首“凡将合阴阳之方”一语，便以“合阴阳”命名。简中提到的“十动”、“十节”是指模仿动物姿态的十种性交动作；“十修”、“八动”则提出了男女性交姿态及技巧问题，同时很注意女方在性交过程中的情绪反应。以上都说明了古人如何把男女交合与养生联系起来。从房事前的准备工作按摩之法“戏道”，到房事活动的全部过程以及房事养生的意义，都进行了深刻的阐述。

原文：

凡将合阴阳之方，握手，出腕阳，揗肘房，抵腋旁，上灶纲，抵领乡，揗拯匡，覆周环，下缺盆，过醴津，陵勃海，上恒山，入玄门，御交筋，上欱精神，乃能久视而与天地侔存。交筋者，玄门中交脉也，为得操揗之，使体皆乐痒，悦怿以好。虽欲勿为，作相呴相抱，以恣戏道。戏道：一曰气上面热，徐呴；二曰乳坚鼻汗，徐抱；三曰舌薄而滑，徐屯；四曰下液股湿，徐操；五曰嗌干咽唾，徐撼，此谓五欲之征。征备乃上，上揕而勿内，以致其气。气至，深内而上撅之，以抒其热，因复下反之，毋使其气歇，而女乃大竭。然后热十动，接十节，杂十修。接形已没，遂气宗门，乃观八动，听五音，察十已之征。

十动：始十，次廿、卅、、五十、六十、七十、八十、九十、百，出入而毋泻。一动毋泻，耳目聪明，再而音声章，三而皮革光，四而脊胁强，五而尻髀壮，六而水道行，七而至坚以强，八而腠理光，九而通神明，十而为身常，此谓十动。

十节：一曰虎游，二曰蝉附，三曰尺蠖，四曰囷角，五曰蝗磔，六曰猿踞，七曰蟾诸，八曰兔骛，九曰蜻蛉，十曰鱼嘬。

十修：一曰上之，二曰下之，三曰左之，四曰右之，五曰疾之，六曰徐之，七曰希之，八曰数之，九曰浅之，十曰深之。

八动：一曰接手，二曰伸肘，三曰直踵，四曰侧钩，五曰上钩，六曰交股，七曰平踊，八曰振动。夫接手者，欲腹之傅也；伸肘者，欲上之摩且距也；直踵者，深不及也；侧钩者，旁欲摩也；上钩者，欲下摩也；交股者，刺太过也；平踊者，欲浅也；振动者，欲人久持之也。

瘛息者，内急也；喘息，至美也；累哀者，玉策入而痒乃始也；吙者，盐甘甚也，啮者，身振动，欲人之久也。
 
昏者，男之精壮；早者，女之精积。吾精以养女精，前脉皆动，皮肤气血皆作，故能发闭通塞，中府受输而盈。

十已之征：一已而清凉出，再已而臭如燔骨，三已而燥，四已而膏，五已而芗，六已而滑，七已而，八已而脂，九已而胶，十已而腴，腴已复滑，清凉复出，是谓大卒。大卒之征，鼻汗唇白，手足皆作，尻不傅席，起而去，成死为薄。当此之时，中极气张，精神入藏，乃生神明。　

译文：

凡行男女两性交合的方法，从抚摸手部阳谷、腕骨开始，顺着臂肘两旁，抵达腋窝部位，上经臂根，抵达脖颈部位。再按摩颈部承光穴，环绕颈部一周，下走缺盆，经由乳中，越过胸窝，到达曲骨与横骨之间，再下摸阴户，触摩阴蒂，聚吸天之精气以醒脑提神，如此按摩触摸，才能长生久视与天地共存。交筋，是阴门中的交脉，即阴蒂，还应从阴蒂开始，由下而上进行按摩触摸，使全身舒服愉悦，情绪良好，产生痒快之感。即使不想结合，就互相亲吻拥抱，尽情地嬉戏娱乐。嬉戏娱乐有一定的原则和方法，一是精气上引而脸部发热，便徐徐呼气；二是女子乳头坚起而鼻上渗出汗珠，当徐徐拥抱，三是舌苔甘淡而舌面滑利，当徐徐操动；四是阴部湿滑，与徐徐深入；五是女子不断作舌回动作，便徐你地摇动，这些就叫做五欲的征兆。五欲的征兆齐备，便可正式进行交合，挺刺而不深入，使精气皆至。精气到来，便深刺而向上撅臀部，以发散热气，接着反复抽送，不要使精气越泄，于是女子就大为尽兴。然后执行抽送一百次的十动，采用仿生的十种交合姿态，变换交合的方位、深浅和速度等。交合已近告终，精气通于阴部，再观察对方交合时八种动作的反应，谛听女子发出的五种叹息声，了解其对“十已”(交媾十个回合而不泻精)所作反应的特征。

所谓男女交合动作的十修：一是刺摩阴户上方，二是刺摩下方，三是刺摩其左边，四是刺摩其右边，五乃抽送动作疾速，六乃抽送动作缓慢，七为动作稀少，八为动作细密，九系浅刺，十系深刺。 

所谓八动：一是两手抱人，二是伸直肘臂，三是伸直腿脚，四是从侧面钩人，五是举足向上钩人，六是男女大腿相交，七是身体平展跃动，人是全身振动。男女交手抱人，是欲使腹部互相贴附；伸直肘臂，是要切摩身体上部触刺阴部；伸直腿脚，是因为交合的深度不够；侧面钩人，是要刺摩阴户两旁；女子举脚向上钩人，是要男子向其阴道深处刺摩；男女大腿相交，是因为挺刺太深的缘故；展平身体跃动，是想要浅刺；全身振动，是想要交接能够持久。

女子发出急促的呼吸声，是内心性冲动急迫的反应；出粗气，是出于高度的性兴奋时期；发出哼哼唧唧的叹息者，是阴茎刺入阴道，交接的快感开始产生了；发出呵呵的声音，那是女子感到快乐舒服到了极点；女子主动亲吻男子，全身振动，是希望交合能够持久。

夜晚，男子精气旺盛；早晨，女子精气蓄积。因此，夜晚交媾，可以男精补女精；早晨交媾，可以女精补男精，因为此时，前阴部位筋脉都因高度兴奋得到运动，皮肤平展而气血流畅，所以能够开郁闭而通塞，五脏六腑均可受其补益。

交媾十个回合的征候是：一已(已，谓每个回合完毕)是出现清新凉爽的感觉，二已是闻到烤骨头的焦香气味，三已是闻到焦臊气味，四已是阴部产生如油膏状的分泌物，五已是可以闻到稻谷一般的清香之气，六已则阴部十分滑润，七已则交合能够持久，八已则阴部分泌物犹如浓稠的凝脂，九已则阴部分泌物如胶似漆，十已则精衰气弱。精气衰弱之后又会现出滑溜的现象，清凉之气又会出现，这就说房事已大功告成。房事告成的特征是，女子鼻尖冒汗，嘴唇发白，嘴脚皆动，臀部不沾垫席，此时男子应赶紧抽出阴茎，如果名到阴茎委缩还不停止交合，就会造成损坏。每当这个时候前阴部分因气血汇聚而扩张，精气输入内脏得收补益，就会任人产生旺盛的精神而神智清明。

For example, the character 遇 (yù - to meet with), the old chinese pronunciation is 'ngjuH' and 'ŋ(r)o-s'. Both are very different pronunciations, and the former seems unreliable because it looks so weird. In fact, most old chinese words have strange pronunciations that I don't know how to read.

Any other resources available which are quicker and more reliable?

The L is 乚 without the curve at the end.

Thank you!

Hello all,

Does anyone have handy a list of classical Chinese words that are still frequently used today?

This is a subreddit post that will be posted every two weeks on Wednesday, where community members can share what texts they've been reading, any interesting excerpts, or even ask for recommendations!

I'm not using a chinese version of windows, so I don't have any ancient chinese fonts available to use.

Especially when typing rare characters.

Reading through the Kai Vogelsang's "Introduction to classical chinese", I see this passage (pg. 66):

This analysis may serve to debunk the tenacious myth of ‘ideographic’ writing that allegedly expresses not language but ‘ideas’. This myth has been sustained by the explanation of certain characters as being ‘semantic composites’ (會意, literally ‘combined meanings’). Thus the character 好 is interpreted as expressing the union of a woman (女) with her child (子), hence ‘love, good’; or 明 is analysed as sun (日) and moon (月), hence ‘bright’; 安 is taken to convey the idea of a woman underneath a roof, that is at home, hence ‘peaceful’. While useful as mnemonic aids, such analyses are in most cases wrong. Most — perhaps all — alleged ‘semantic composites’ are, like more than 90% of the Chinese characters, actually semanticphonetic composites (諧聲 or 形聲): they represent not ideas but words.

It's not exactly clear here (maybe because I'm not a native Anglophone) whether the author means that 好, 明, and 安 also should be considered phono-semantic compounds or not. To me the wording sounds as if he considered them an example of ideographical misinterpretation. But I can't find even a single source that would mention these specific characters to be 形聲. I also checked their reconstructed pronunciations (Baxter-Saggart version), and see nothing in common between the characters and their components.

Is it me misunderstanding the passage? Is it a bad wording? Or maybe anyone really can find some reason to consider them phono-semantic?

It's a very rare character so I can't type it, but it's component characters are 毛 on the top left, 見 on the top right, and 心 underneath. Or 覒 above 心, but the 毛 has an extra long tail, like 毡.

It is used by the ancient chinese to represent hexagram 17, in the Shanghai Museum Zhouyi and the Tsinghua Bie Gua.

Above: Xìng l Below: Xīn

The character Xīn IS part of the bigger character Xìng (shown above). Xìng means nature, or afaik, human nature. The smaller character Xīn is part of the bigger Xìng, yet I couldn't find its independent meaning.

So, what is the independent meaning of Xīn ?

And, is it used independently often? Or largely a niche usage?

Title. I'm not really very interested in modern Korean literature. Thank you.

So I am not sure if this is the best place to ask but I want to know the best English translations of these two stories. The translation must be a complete work and feature the poems. I have learned some translators omit poems for some reason and I cannot abide by that as I love poems, even if some meaning is lost in translation. I would also prefer Pinyin names over Wade-Giles. I tried to look into translations but many people have different takes and rarely are things like poems mentioned so it’s hard to know which one I want.

My goal this year is to read all 4 (translated) classic novels of China. I have read JTTW as translated by Anthony C. Yu and have begun Three Kingdoms as translated by Moss Roberts.

Thank you in advance

Over the holidays I stumbled across https://www.reddit.com/r/classicalchinese/comments/17ast5j/did_%E6%98%AF_also_mean_to_be_in_classical_chinese/?rdt=47175 which asks to what extent 是 was used as a copula.

One of the comments cites Kroll's A Student's Guide to Classical and Medieval Chinese

(med.) in translation of Skt. Budd. texts, used as copula, "is, are"; gradually occurring in Tang vernacular usage.

If this an accurate citation (I do not own this book unfortunately), Kroll is significantly misdating the usage of 是 as a copula and this may indicate a broader unfamiliarity with the post-Han, pre-Tang corpus. For fun, I decided to write up the broad strokes of 是 as a copula in ancient Chinese.

There's some controversy over when exactly 是 became a copula. Some people give this a pre-Qin date, some people date this to the Han Dynasty. I personally hold the viewpoint that in fact 是 could be used as a copula in pre-Qin times (and perhaps even more dramatically, there were many such could-be-pressed-into-service-as-copula words in pre-Qin Classical Chinese). I won't go into that here. Rather I'll point out there is widespread agreement that it is impossible to date the completed development of 是 into a copula any later than the 1st century AD (i.e. the beginning of the Eastern Han), where we already have very obvious examples of 是 as a copula. Here's some selections from 王充 (27 - ~97)'s 《論衡》。

余是所嫁婦人之父也。《論衡·死偽》

如以鬼是死人，則其薄葬非也。《論衡·薄葬》

This quickly becomes quite common in the Three Kingdoms Period and the Jin Dynasty.

天地之性，人為貴，而王是人之主也。《道德真經註》三國·王弼

林中有奇鳥，自言是鳳凰。《詠懷八十二首·其七十九》三國·阮籍

本是朔方士，今爲吳越民。《門有萬里客行》三國·曹植

此水本自清，是誰攪令濁？《諷諫詩二首·其一》晉·趙整

And perhaps the most famous piece of Jin literature uses 是 as a copula.

問今是何世，乃不知有漢，無論魏晉。《桃花源記》晉·陶淵明

By the Northern-Southern Dynasties, 是 as a copula is ubiquitous in both the Northern and Southern Dynasties and by far the most popular usage of 是 in vernacular writing. Indeed the situation is quite similar to modern Mandarin: apart from set constructions such as 於是 or 是以, 是 seems to have nearly completely lost its demonstrativeness in the vernacular. Where it exists as a demonstrative it seems it exists purely as an archaism or as isolated examples of rhetorical flourish in the vernacular.

For example, it's everywhere in the 《世說新語》:

張蒼梧是張憑之祖，嘗語憑父曰：「我不如汝。」《世說新語》南宋·劉義慶（編輯）

文舉至門，謂吏曰：「我是李府君親。」《世說新語》南宋·劉義慶（編輯）

It shows up again and again in poetry.

我是虜家兒，不解漢兒歌。《折楊柳歌辭·其一》南北朝·作者不明

湖中百種鳥，半雌半是雄。《夜黃》南北朝·作者不明

And, just like with 陶淵明, perhaps the most famous example of Northern-Southern Dynasties literature, the Ballad of Mulan, uses 是 as a copula.

出門看火伴，火伴皆驚惶。同行十二年，不知木蘭是女郎。《木蘭辭》南北朝·作者不明

兩兔傍地走，安能辨我是雄雌！《木蘭辭》南北朝·作者不明

This practice continues into the vernacular of the Sui and Tang Dynasty, all the way through to today.

我見那漢死，肚熱如火。不是惜那漢，恐畏還到我。隋/唐·王梵志

我是主人，殿上者賊也。《隋書》唐

我是五兒之父，若如公意，何不別制天子兒律？《隋書》唐

Kroll's account is therefore off by at least 500 years. 是 as a copula did not develop gradually during the Tang Dynasty or even previously in the translation of Sanskrit works from Buddhism. Indeed centuries before the Tang Dynasty even began, it was rare to find 是 being used on its own as anything other than the copula in the vernacular! Rather, the latest account that can be reasonably given is that 是's copula-ness gradually developed during the Han Dynasty and by the start of the Eastern Han Dynasty had fully become a copula, predating our earliest Buddhist translations by a century. Although it remains possible that there are even earlier Buddhist translations that have been lost, these seem unlikely to predate the Western-Eastern Han transition, which seems to be the earliest date that we can say Buddhism had any significant foothold in Chinese society, and as we've seen by then 是 was already fully a copula.

This is a subreddit post that will be posted every two weeks on Wednesday, where community members can share what texts they've been reading, any interesting excerpts, or even ask for recommendations!

Hey all,

I am currently in the middle of a Hanmun translation assignment as part of a final exam for university. While I was translating two paragraphs from 玉匣夜話 (옥갑야화) from the Yehol Diary 熱河日記 (열하일기, ~1780) by Bak Jiwon, and I came across a character which seemingly wasn't recognized by my font, and all resources I could find (MDBG, ctext, DeepL, the Korean Classical Texts Database 한국고전종합db, etc.) apart from a tiny different excerpt here. If anyone has any sources for the meaning of this character (and maybe a Korean pronounciation too, not necessary though) I would really appreciate it.

Below is the whole excerpt with the character in question and the sentence it's in isolated. (even Reddit's font doesn't seem to contain it)

許生曰。此亦難彼亦難。何事可能。有最易者。汝能之乎。李公曰。願聞之。許生曰。夫欲聲大義於天下而不先交結天下之豪傑者。未之有也。欲伐人之國而不先用諜。未有能成者也。今滿洲遽而主天下。自以不親於中國。而朝鮮率先他國而服。彼所信也。誠能請遣子弟入學遊宦。如唐元故事。商賈出入不禁。彼必喜其見親而許之。妙選國中之子弟。薙髮胡服。其君子往赴賓擧。其小人遠商江南。覘其虛實。結其豪傑。天下可圖而國恥可雪。若求朱氏而不得率天下諸侯。薦人於天。進可爲大國師。退不失伯舅之國矣。

李公憮然曰。士大夫皆謹守禮法誰肯薙髮胡服乎。許生大叱曰。所謂士大夫。是何等也。產於彛貊之地。自稱曰士大夫。豈非騃乎。衣袴純素。是有喪之服。會撮如錐。是南蠻之椎結也。何謂禮法。樊於期。欲報私怨而不惜其頭。武靈王。欲强其國而不恥胡服。乃今欲爲大明復讎。而猶惜其一髮。

乃今將馳馬擊釖刺鎗𢏊弓飛石。

而不變其廣袖。自以爲禮法乎。吾始三言。汝無一可得而能者。自謂信臣。信臣固如是乎。是可斬也。左右顧索釖欲刺之。公大驚而起。躍出後牖疾走歸。明日復往。已空室而去矣。

Old image. I was only getting into ancient Chinese scripts at that time and decided to practice by writing the shahadah. I thought about redoing it using more period-accurate phonology and grammar for the names.

My attempt of translating half a chinese poem dedicated on antigue stone religous work. The other half of poem is lost.

Picture is original imprint of the sea scripts, and closest intepretations. Reading poem counter clockwise.

First intepretation that the stonework dedicated to a late Qin consort.

“Thoroughly tearful thus misty verdant field Previously in heaven late summer trees in flames Properties (poem and stonework) belongs (gift) to Empress Unknown-Word ascending(assension/pass-away)”

Second intepreation is the work is much later (7AD) to memorize Empress Wu abdicated the throne as Empress Wu Phoenix tree reference of late summer leafs turning. Also the unreadable could be “wu/eye” under “sky” that made sense for Empress Wu losing mandate.

“Thoroughly tearful thus misty verdant field Previously in heaven (Wu Pheonix) trees turning color red Properties dedicated to one-under-heaven Empress Wu Pheonix/abdicating.”

It would be great help if you corrext me; as I don’t think Qin’ script (200BCE) be used much later in 7AD for emperial court.

We often hear about how Song-Ming Neoconfucianism reacted to Buddhism, rejecting and incorporating some of its aspects after a period of Buddhist prominence.

Yet, how did the early Confucians react to Buddhism? How was the first contact and initial reactions between Buddhism and Confucianism?

This is a subreddit post that will be posted every two weeks on Wednesday, where community members can share what texts they've been reading, any interesting excerpts, or even ask for recommendations!

Suggest to me a good annotated version of the book. I want to read and understand the book deeply. I have heard of annotated version, explaining each word but I could find it online.

I have a ton of calligraphy copybooks (mostly by Ouyang Xun, Yan Zhenqing, Chu Suiliang, and Wang Xizhi) that have simplified Chinese annotations, but I can't muster enough motivation to improve my modern Chinese to make the most out of those annotations.

I haven't officially picked out a textbook for learning classical Chinese yet, but I've borrowed a few from libraries years ago to get the impression most primers written for English speakers will focus on philosophy works or even Tang and Song poetry as the primary texts. While I have no problems with those to learn the basics, I think it would be to my benefit to look into learning materials more catered to the primary texts I already have.

Does anyone have any suggestions?

There are nowadays many scholars who specialize in Comparative Philosophy, and often this means comparing western philosophy with other traditions.

Thus, and as opposed to western traditions, I wonder if its realistically possible to specialize in both Indian and Chinese traditions?

Here is the article. 500-year-old Chinese inscription uncovered on Mount Zion in Jerusalem | All Israel News

From the inscriptions, I think I can make out 永__長春 but clueless for the second character. I guess for the translation ("Forever we will guard the eternal spring") to match, the second character would have to be something like 護, but that character does not look even close to that. It looks more like 原. Any one here who can read 草字 may have an easier time to identify that one.

Updated: Thanks to u/10thousand_stars. The second character is 葆. It is a reign mark for Jiajing era.

In the western philosophy tradition, there are some figures that defined the field of metaphysics, such as Aristotle, Kant, Heidegger, Aquinas, Plotinus.

I know that metaphysics flourished in the later stages of Chinese philosophy. However, I'd like to know whom are the greatest systemizes of metaphysics, whom have built robust metaphysical systems in Chinese philosophy?

Buddhists, Daoists, or Confucians alike.