Hi, I have this very old Chinese jade stamp. I think it’s from the Ming Dynasty but possibly older. I need help translating the characters on the bottom. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Not sure which way the characters should be facing to read it. Thank you

The quote unquote "Middle Chinese" propagated by people on youtube, from what I gather wasn't ever spoken, but rather was a compromise between northern and southern dialects, creating a sort of amalgate language.

I was wondering if anyone has ever reconstructed the dialectal forms of Middle Chinese, perhaps something like an "Old Cantonese" or an "Old Wu" reconstruction.

(On the topic of this, do we know about the extent of dialectical variations of Old Chinese?)

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!

If so, how do you learn it? And do you use it in daily life, like journaling with classical chinese?

Edit: fluency might be the wrong choice of word as I mean using classical chinese in writing naturally.

I stumbled upon this interesting article, but there's no information about its source. Any ideas where it might be from?

魏尚書令史元嘉、中書令李業興、領軍將軍侯景請王公已下拜上表，請天尊神靈降真降聖，審諦吉凶，奉答微誠。三軍將士詰旦已集，神明降真降聖，便即停軍。若有凶兆，便即班師。於時，元嘉、業興以新附之徒，懼眾心未附；侯景素多詐術，存心難測。上乃遣中書舍人賀季、蔡大寶至北郊，宣旨慰勞。侯景陽驚拜謝，伏地流涕，詐以忠款，季等信之。景乃夜遣任約夜襲建康，約敗走。丙子，景擁精兵萬餘人，直趣闕下。上猶未知，曰："景必無此，是人誤傳耳。"俄而景至，宿衛兵皆散，唯散騎常侍裴之橫、黃門侍郎蕭允、直閣將軍柳津、舍人殷不害侍側。景初稱臣，上問："卿何意至此？"景曰："陛下信讒，疏忌功臣，臣蒙陛下厚恩，不忍見陛下為奸臣所圍，故來此耳。"上曰："奸臣為誰？"景曰："朱异、徐麟之徒是也。"上曰："召之則可，何苦如此！"景令左右扶上入太極殿。上性不飲酒，及至殿，命進酒，左右進粥，上飲之。景退，謂其下曰："吾今入朝，止於此耳，卿等勿憂！"丁丑，景出頓西華門外，分兵守諸門及津要，并使人入尚書省、守宮省，文武官並不得入。尚書左僕射謝舉、右僕射何敬容、太子詹事周弘正，並在家，景悉遣人就家執之。又使侯子鑑率數百騎入東宮，收皇太子綱以下，幽於永福省。尚書令王克、僕射殷鈞，俱為景所執。景於尚書省升座，召文武百官，並不得入。乃引王克、殷鈞至景前，景責克曰："卿往年在壽陽，勸帝殺我，欲成卿名，卿何人，敢相陵蔑！"克曰："此事陛下所行，克何預焉！且景往背魏，今又背梁，何以為人！"景怒，命左右斬之。克呼曰："侯景滅門戶，不久矣！"言終，被害。殷鈞亦罵景，并被害。初，景之至壽陽也，上以書諭之曰："若爾遂迷，不復反正，便當長驅而進，自取屠滅，勿謂不先喻也。"景報曰："臣今進退，唯命所授。"上又遺景書曰："吾推赤心於天下，安反疑之？此必是諸人計以相誤，今可翻然改圖，還依恆典，尚可申其後命。"景復書曰："臣與陛下，君臣分定，豈敢因兵革之際，以求非望！"故克以此責之。克、鈞既死，乃於獄中取死囚二人，衣以朝服，斬於市，詐云已誅克、鈞，以惑眾心。乃矯詔悉召王侯以下，入省，立壇于尚書省前，列仗，備鹵簿，多設儀衛，逼王公卿士皆拜，然後宣詔，以景為丞相，都督中外諸軍事，錄尚書事，改封十郡，給班劍二十人。自是公命皆出於景。

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I'm trying to learn 三字經 using Middle Chinese pronunciation (and hope to start reading more from there), and I have a way to pronounce most of the finals, but the ones in the 止 group are stumping me. 支, 脂, 之, and 微 (the ones which Baxter and Sagart notate as j(i)e, (j)ij, i, and jɨj, respectively.

I can't figure out what the notation is supposed to indicate (especially with regard to chongniu and the distinction between ij and i), and all of the other reconstructions are wildly divergent on this point.

So, to those who read using Middle Chinese pronunciation, how do you personally read these finals?

Hope this is the right sub! I searched for this, and didn't see any discussion.

I saw this carved seal making the rounds as a meme on Twitter due to the funny translation. But I was curious a bit more about a better translation, the context, and history of seals like this.

I studied Mandarin a bit in high school, and have been to China, but I've forgotten most of it (and gotten pretty decent at Japanese in that time!). In the linked thread, the person posting it mentions a better translation might be something like "clutching the sword while lamenting the ways of the world"; am I misinterpreting to take this more or less on the face to mean something like "being prepared while being disappointed at the state of things?"

Also curious about how such a seal would've been used. I didn't know seals could have a phrase like this, rather than simply a family name or something. When would this person have used this? What would it signify in context? Thanks!

In Modern Classical Chinese writings (Not modern standard Chinese), writing style of which period and style is generally emulated? (not talking about the writing system or calligraphy.)

Just curious.

In ancient China, literacy emerged slowly with most people remaining illiterate. For the literates to gain literacy, they must have used some primers and beginner textbooks to learn CC. I have recently restarted to learn Mandarin and CC (again). It would be a great favour if I get to learn from those resources. If there are easier resources to start learning both, please link them too. Thank you, have a great day.

Xianwen(憲問) 45 of <The analects(論語)> says " 脩己以安人(Cultivate yourself and Keep your citizens well off.)."

But if self-cultivation is so good and important, why didn't Confucius insist that everyone should do it, or am I misinterpreting his words?

Be controversial if you must.

It contains commentary on many figures from the three kingdoms(三國時代), Southern and Northern Dynasties(南北朝). It criticises some people's bad qualities, but also praises their virtuous deeds. This is a must-read book for modern people, as it has become commonplace to criticise and denigrate each other, because it criticises people but does not denigrate them.

It also gives us a good idea of the culture of the time.

Weizi(微子) 11 of <The Analects> says "周有八士伯達、伯適、仲突、仲忽、叔夜、叔夏、季隨、季騧". It can be interpreted that "To Zhou belonged the eight officers, Bo Da, Bo Kuo, Zhong Tu, Zhong Hu, Shu Ye, Shu Xia, Ji Sui, and Ji Gua". But Who were these eight officers? I can't find anything about them.

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!

What would I need to learn in order to easily understand the characters inside Buddhist, daoist, Confucian, city god, and folk religious temples found throughout the sinosphere, Southeast Asia, and Chinatowns?

From Analects 9.5:

匡人其如予何？

(The whole sentence is: 天之未丧斯文也，匡人其如予何？)

The meaning seems to be "what can they (Kuang men) do to me?".

But, how does the whole expression work? What is "如" in "如予"?

(其 just a particle here, I suppose).

This expression 焉尔乎 occurs only once in Classical texts, in Analects 6. Does it have any particular meaning or is it just an exclamatory expression?

https://ctext.org/confucianism/ens?searchu=%E7%84%89%E5%B0%94%E4%B9%8E

My friend asks me about the four characters on this picture..Can anyone figure out this?

I have to write an essay about Liu Yong and I know he used 領字 a lot but I am not sure of what their function is.