Save East Asian Studies @ UofT!

ZH: Sing Tao Daily 1, Sing Tao Daily 2, Sing Tao Daily 3, Ming Pao Daily
EN: Rabble.ca
PetitionOnline: http://www.PetitionOnline.com/saveeas
Update: EASSU’s statement and website

As you may have heard from media recently, the Dean and the Strategic Planning Committee at the University of Toronto is planning on the dissolution of 6 of its departments in the School of Humanities, partially to be replaced by a single “School of Languages and Literature (SL&L)”. For over 70 years, University of Toronto has been the leading institution in Eastern Canada and North America, acting as the leading institution to integrating studies of philosophy, literature, history, and political science of East Asia with a language acquisition core. Precisely because of this holistic curriculum, it has attracted students from Asia, Europe, South America, and even students in the US to decline their sponsorships to come study here.

Furthermore, the 2 specialized East Asian libraries on campus (Cheng Yu Tong and R.C. Lee HK collection) would not go unscathed from the proposed dissolution. These two libraries are the largest Asian collections in Canada, and contribute much further than just to the people at the university itself (as it is open to public access). Toronto Guqin Society would not have been established, let alone come this far if it was not for the resources, networking, and support of the East Asian Studies department and Cheng Yu Tong East Asian Library.

To England!

To London, packed like sardines! XD

As this notice is published, I will be boarding a plane to London for a week of guqin master-classes with Prof. Zeng Chengwei of Chengdu Conservatory of Music, who teaches for one week annually in the Asian Music Circuit (AMC) program of Chinese music, attracting fans and players worldwide to this event.

I will be keeping progress updates and journals of this event as I have arrived, and will return to Toronto by August 2nd.

I wish all readers of this blog, and members of Torguqin, a pleasant and safe summer, and venture into new encounters!

Juni Yeung, FXKQS

Toronto Guqin Society

A statement on the 1989 June 4 Incident

The Power and History of China has always been in its people.

As a blog of Chinese traditions in the modern context, it becomes unbearably obvious and imperative that the issue of the June 4 incident be addressed. As we enter the  20^th year since the failed democratic demonstration movement, and although China has come a long way to what it is today, lest us forget the long and painful process of this development.

The student movement of 1989 had a vision of equality and freedom of expression, with the causus temporalis as to have the government retract a statement on an editorial, printed on the People’s Daily on April 26, 1989 “a small segment of opportunistic people [students]” plot on unrest [rather than commemorating the death of Hu Yaobang], and took to the streets of Beijing. The proactive spirit of university students and their sense of mission is to be honoured, and should be a role model to us all, especially those who are at their early-20s and studying to become the pillars of the nation.

Mistakes and mis-decisions, regardless of who makes it, must bear upon the consequences of its result. The People’s Republic today has undoubtedly adapted to the people much more than had there been no student movement in the late spring, early summer of 1989, and the people have become today less adamant on the forms of state than its effectiveness and solving matters of practicality. However, there is no group more sensitive to the issues of the people than the people themselves, and the “Mandate of Heaven” for any state is to “obey the Heavens and agree with the people”. Lest we the people silence ourselves, and indulge in personal gain over the sight of greater good and natural justice.

Similarly, the Hanfu movement has started under the pretext of a misportrayal of the Han people and its culture. Wang Letian took to the streets in shenyi and zhaoshan to correct this mistake, and many others are now joining the line as vocalized by him in unison to seek justice over this. In fear of accusing the so-called “Han-chauvinism”, some promoters have taken into promoting it simply as a “beautiful clothing from the past/of the Han ethnic tradition” – to this, my personal statement is simply the following: History is the story of human imperfection, trying to seek a greater good nonetheless. If we have a mistake, we should swiftly correct ourselves. We may have doubts, but if one has to distort truth for the sake of consideration of current situations or benefits, then that is not the Natural truth. Correct it, now!

Wang Zhi: A torch-bearer on Actualizing Early Chinese capitalism 汪直﹕中國早期資本主義萌芽實踐的一名把手

*Translation to come*

“海盜”這兩個字對你留有甚麼印象﹖
是電影裡的那種放任﹐自由而風趣﹐不過骯髒的可以的加勒比海盜麼﹖還是現在坐著快艇﹐一手把住整箱美金﹐另一手抬著火箭榴彈發射器的運油船劫匪﹖無論甚麼年代﹐“海盜”都像是一個為了金錢和個人生存自由的惡性存在。試問下地中海人“海雷丁”這名字﹐多曾令全歐洲的人民聞其名而色變。
而在東方﹐歷史上的海盜莫過於“倭寇”集團。雖然自從中國元代已有﹐不過最深刻的莫過於明代的歷史故事﹐尤其是戚繼光與“戚家軍”如何逐逐大破“日本仔”﹐成為後世(尤其是抗日時期) 的佳話。
不過﹐亦有學家指出﹐這些倭寇﹐雖蓋名為“倭”﹐實為大明帝國於江南沿岸的百姓﹗其中﹐更出過一個傳奇人物﹐從白手起家﹐直至到走私軍火﹐擁有和明朝和日本諸大名皆恐懼的私家艦隊﹐甚至占領日本平戶對開的島嶼自稱王﹗這個人的名字﹐就是－－汪直。

Bringing the Library Home has a new meaning: The driving force behind net writers who bite

Yah, what doesn’t nowadays?

It all began with a casual browse on the www.chineseguqin.com forums to see if anything is new, and upon a little link surfing, I have stumbled a seemingly harmless and typical Sinology forum: http://bbs.gxsd.com.cn. However, discussion is fairly quiet and mostly consist of thanks from people who upload ENTIRE COMPLETE SCANS of EVERY KIND OF BOOK about China you can possibly think of – with a little digging, I am now downloading the ENTIRE Daoist Canon, the EXTENDED Daoist Canon, and the REVISED Daoist Canon, along with a slew of books by authors in the 19th to 20th century commenting on Daoism, 21 hours of Daoist music, and several videos of related lectures.

Not to mention, for free!

No guqin gathering in February!

Hangzhou's 8 views: Duanqiao Chanxue

In light of the frequent gatherings (almost once every half-month instead of one), as well the instability of the weather and upcoming school schedule, there will be no guqin gathering until the beginning of March!

For those who are interested in listening to guqin music more around Toronto, please be sure to check out UTChinese Magazine’s New Year Concert on Saturday, Feb.7﹐ 2009! It will be held in the MacLeod Auditorium of the Medical Sciences Building, and doors open at 7PM! Tickets are $10 for regular and $20 for VIP seats, available from the UTChinese Booth in Robarts Library, 2nd Floor.

However, we are planning a different event – if you are interested in matching Chinese couplets (對聯), we are running an impromptu challenge – all who are interested in joining this challenge (one person gives the top couplet, you respond to it, and write a new one) can email me to join in. The address can be found under the Guqin section.

On a personal note, I was recently hit with the Norfolk virus and I had great pains lasting through it, even on four types of medication. Please mind your personal hygiene and cleanliness at all times!

Teaching kids about Chinese history

This Thursday (Oct. 16, 2008), I have had the honour of being invited to Pape Junior Elementary School to give an hour’s lecture on Chinese history and culture as part of their Gr.4 curriculum on the Middle Ages (700 to 1500). Since their approach was largely on social construct, I gave my lecture in a similar way.

But sadly, I was a fool enough to forget my camera, so no pictures are available. My apologies.

One must arm oneself with knowledge…

In an era where information is THE resource and commodities the manipulated chess pieces, one must obtain the means to MOVE such commodities.

If there’s anything good out of the Cultural Revolution (despite it turning sour), it’s the spirit of trying to educate everyone in the country to the most current issues, to the fullest extent (with full background information). To do so requires an extreme amount of resources material and immaterial, and given the temporal context of China at the time, it was only logical that real (information) Communism exists.

Power is in diverging disciplines. Ritual, music, and religion are here. There is much more to where that came from.

So here I am in Hong Kong, sifting through book malls (yes, not just a store but a MALL of books), and selected these books with my tight wallet (I considered on buying an essay anthology by LGBT people in HK, but since it didn’t cover the T part that well, I took a second thought). This should be useful in proving ideas – books that include the original text in WHOLE.

Going overseas

Even flying the Arctic route, it's a long way to HK!

I will be taking a brief hiatus of a week from school to attend my sister’s wedding in Hong Kong. Although there will be much relative-visiting, dinners, and shopping, one of the advantages to be away from homework (aside from midterm assignments) is more time to think and write on this blog.

My draft of “Rethinking the Hanfu Movement” for October has already been sitting for a few days, I am still building it up in size. Even so, it may require to be split into two parts (One for more thoughts, one for replying to various questions that has already been proposed). I hope everyone who read my articles leave comments or constructive criticism after, hopefully creating discussion through the replies.

As well, I will be organizing a Hanfu group ordering and Hanfu-making workshop (2 separate things) for all UTCCAS members during this time. Please help out the cause by getting your own set of Hanfu today!

Chineseguqin.com – revived!

From Guangzhou with Love - Chen Hong's new Qins: The one on the right will be mine!

 This is the site that started it all: Since I had no human teacher to study off of, this was one of my primary sources of guqin research and materials back in 2003. It’s changed (not to mention degraded) somewhat, and for over 2 years I have not touched this place…but it’s back up, and it’s a lot less laggy (from spyware) than before!

 

So yay!

 

(URL: Please check on blogrolls to the right)

Interlude: Vepres a la Vierge en Chine (CD), XVIII-21

明清北堂天主教晚禱

After a while of hot writing on Hanfu issues, I need a break before I go on. (Whew!)
So here is something I’ve been meaning to write for a while – yes, I know that this is a very Westernized painting…of the Holy Mother and Lord Iesu (yes, gasp!) in a very Eastern context of them in the ‘garb of the Tartars’, but that’s beside the point today.

Procrastination and Dapu’ing

Dapu means cramping oneself in a corner, huddled on paperwork.

Since late spring 2008, I have undertaken the challenge offered by a friend on the Facebook Guqin group to do Dapu work on a piece that is long, challenging, and practically NEVER heard of before. Due to procrastination with my own novels, writing projects, and computer games, I have still not completed it as of the end of September.

 

Similar to my novel writing, my moments of uber-productiveness usually happens in cafes, in class, or in transit. If it weren’t for my frequent travels from Richmond Hill to Downtown during the summer, I wouldn’t even have finished half of the work.

 

Before I go on, let’s give an overview of what Dapu’ing involves. You have a score from a historical source, which has only a bunch of fingerings. Your mission (should one accept it) is to make sense of it by playing it out, and then memorize/record the tempo and rhythm, as well any corrections to the score if necessary.

 

 As it is intensively boring work, this post will cover and update as I go along.