However hard it is to learn Chinese, and whatever bad memories I have of my time struggling with it, there is still one reason why I’d ever consider going back to “finish” my Chinese studies. To read the novels of Jin Yong (金庸).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jinyong
Jin Yong authored some of the most popular Wu Xia novels in history. What is Wu Xia? Think “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon”. In fact, that movie was adapted from a series of Wu Xia novels written by Wang Dulu. These are tales of bandits, monks, heroes, generals, emperors, and of course, kung fu masters. In many ways, if you substitute kung fu with socery or magic, and change the setting a little, you get Western fantasy. So you can think of Jin Yong as the Chinese Tolkien. But while not everybody in America has heard of Tolkien (at least, not before the movies came out), *everybody* in the Chinese speaking world has heard of Jin Yong. His books are incredibly popular, permeating through all levels of society. Even if people have never actually read his books, they’ve at least been exposed to the multitude of comics, video games, movies, and TV serial adaptations. It seems like every 7-8 years, they remake each of Jin Yong’s series with the newest generation of actors.
As I understand it, most of Jin Yong’s stories are set in the same “universe”, across a large span of time that also happens to coincide with actual Chinese history. In many ways, they are historical novels with a fantastical kung fu bent. Characters often meet and interact with actual historical people, or are motivated by historical events. Sadly, that's also one of the reasons why I don’t think I’ll ever be able to fully appreciate these novels.
Imagine reading a book where a main character meets and interacts with Richard and Saladin during the time of the Crusades. How much more interesting would that book be if you have at least more than a passing knowledge of these two men? It's one of the reasons why a book like The DaVinci Code has captured so many people's imaginations. The author cleverly took what we already knew about Da Vinci, the Mona Lisa, The Last Supper, and the Catholic Church, and wove a nice story around it to the point where in the end, it was difficult to distinguish fact from fiction. I can’t imagine how long it would take me to similarly infuse myself with a lifetime’s worth of Chinese culture and history in the same way I can draw upon Western history.
From a literary standpoint, I’ve been told many times that Jin Yong novels have plots compelling enough to attract the masses, yet are written in a style sophisticated enough to please literary critics. It’s in this respect that I wish I could read Chinese well enough to appreciate Jin Yong beyond just his storylines. But again, it is a hugely daunting task to become that good in Chinese… for all the reasons mentioned here.
It’s not just Jin Yong’s novels that I want to read. Themes from classics such as “Journey to the West” (if you’ve ever heard of the Monkey King, you too have been touched by this book), or “Romance of the Three Kingdoms” are so woven into the Chinese cultural fabric that you almost have to read these books, or at least know the main characters and stories before you can completely grasp all the subtleties of communicating at a high level with a Chinese person. For example, you or I might easily toss out a passing reference to Romeo and Juliet to describe forbidden love, or see the phrase “opening Pandora’s box” and know it’s about unleashing troubles never to be contained again. By the same token, talking heads on political talk shows in Taiwan might draw parallels to Romance of the Three Kingdoms (a book that’s practically a manual for political intrigue, military strategy/tactics, and general skullduggery) that would otherwise go completely over your head if you had not read the book. What chance do I have of ever getting to that level of mastery?
Friday, February 27, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
25 Random Things
1) My parents called me "Ugly Duckling" for the longest time.
2) Some rules growing up: No English in the house. No sleeping in. Say good morning to my father when I see him every morning. Acknowledge my father when he came home from work with, "Hi Pa, You're home." Eat every single grain of rice in my bowl during mealtimes. No homework until after I passed my father's daily Chinese test. Break any of these rules at my own physical risk.
3) Even though I was born in NYC, my parents sent me back and forth to Taiwan several times when I was a toddler. By the time I returned to the States for good in kindergarten, I had forgotten most, if not all of my English. I remember that for the longest time, my nice neighbor would always ask, "Hi Stephen! How Are You?", nice and slow every time she saw me. FOB that I was, I couldn't understand why she kept asking me the same question over and over. How many times must I tell her, "I Am 5 Years Old!"
4) For the longest time, whenever I heard the phrase "While supplies last" (like for Happy Meal toys and whatnot), I wondered what was so special about "while supplies" that they would save them for the last customers. More importantly, how do I time it so I can get my hands on these "while supplies"?
5) I have every commerative stamp from 1978 to 1988, countless other singles, plateblocks, and sheets. Lord knows what I'm gonna do with all that. I wonder how much they're worth?
6) I grew up in the early 80's in a neighborhood where kids played kick-the-can, red rover, hide and seek, and stickball. Where we went Everywhere on our bicycles, and invited ourselves into friends houses with, "Can so-and-so come out and play?" Where moms let their kids out in the morning, and didn't see them until supper time when they stood at the front porched and yelled their names. We were "free range" children. In this age of play dates and Dateline To Catch a Predator, I sometimes see how sheltered kids are now, and feel kinda sad.
7) On the day our family moved from Ann Arbor to Syracuse, I literally had to leave in the middle of our 5th grade Christmas party. We then got stuck that night in Buffalo due to a blizzard. Welcome to New York!
8) The sound of scratching Styrofoam drives me crazy.
9) The first album I ever bought was "Weird Al Yankovic – In 3D" on cassette tape. I played the hell out of it, and can still sing all of those songs by heart.
10) My friend and I played hundreds of Connect-4 games on our graph paper notebooks during HS physics. As a result, unless you are that friend, it's almost impossible to beat me in a game of Connect-4.
11) I failed my driver's test 3 times back in high school before finally passing on my 4th try. I bummed rides, walked, biked, taxied, trained, or rode the bus until I was 28, when I finally got my first car.
12) I can recite Pi to 3.14159265358979323
13) I've worked the following jobs. Mowed lawns. Delivered a newspaper route. Scooped ice cream and made ice cream cakes at Carvel. Ran the photocopier at our district copy room. Videotaped high school sporting events. Ran experiments in several biology labs. Librarian. Taught English. Executive Assistant. Invested other people's money in startup companies. Tested software. Write software requirements.
14) Something I got from my father: If left up to me, all road trip departures would leave before 5am. I love driving on wide open highways.
15) Something I got from my mom: I've never run a disherwasher in my life. Always hand wash, air dry.
16) The first time I got drunk was the last day of classes during my freshman year in college. Slope Day! On second thought, I wasn't drunk. I was "jush tipshy".
17) I easily spent over 100 days (that's 2,400+ hours, boys and girls) log in time in college playing online text based games. Think World of Warcraft, with no graphics. Text! Looking back, I regret every minute of it.
18) Chances are, I can totally kick your ass in ping-pong. It wouldn't even be close.
19) The one thing that I still remember from Wine Tasting 101 in college (ya, you read that right... we had a very good hotel school) was the order of sweetness of German white wines. From least sweet to most sweet: Kabinett < Spatlese < Auslese < Beerenauslese < Trockenbeerenauslese. This is important, important stuff if you love dessert wine like I do.
20) I've never had a pet, but can totally see myself getting a cat one day.
21) I worked in Taiwan for 6 years, and the only Taiwanese I picked up was the numbering system, "How much?", "Sorry, I don't understand Taiwanese", and "Would you like to dance?" For the record, Mandarin is the official language, but many of the locals prefer to converse in Taiwanese.
22) I'm a salsa dancer. If I lived in any city other than LA, NY, SF, or Miami, I would be tempted to teach classes on the side, just for fun.
23) I'm obsessed with reading reviews of things before I buy them. Especially outdoors gear and electronic gadgets. I once researched climbing pants for 3 weeks before finally settling on a pair. (Mammut Champ Pant. Love them.) It needs to be the best reviewed item at the best price. But once the purchase is made, that's it. No more second guessing about whether it was the right choice, or whether I could have gotten a better price. I enjoy what I have. It's my way of preventing buyer's remorse.
24) I can see myself giving up salsa dancing, but never hiking or camping.
25) Outdoor goals before I go: Walk the length of the John Muir Trail from Yosemite Valley to the top of Whitney. Grand Canyon Rim to Rim. See Maligne Lake. Canoe the Boundary Waters. Solo kayak Class V rapids. Ski tour the Haute Trail from Chamonix to Zermatt. Kilimanjaro. Aconcagua. Denali. Full Ironman.
2) Some rules growing up: No English in the house. No sleeping in. Say good morning to my father when I see him every morning. Acknowledge my father when he came home from work with, "Hi Pa, You're home." Eat every single grain of rice in my bowl during mealtimes. No homework until after I passed my father's daily Chinese test. Break any of these rules at my own physical risk.
3) Even though I was born in NYC, my parents sent me back and forth to Taiwan several times when I was a toddler. By the time I returned to the States for good in kindergarten, I had forgotten most, if not all of my English. I remember that for the longest time, my nice neighbor would always ask, "Hi Stephen! How Are You?", nice and slow every time she saw me. FOB that I was, I couldn't understand why she kept asking me the same question over and over. How many times must I tell her, "I Am 5 Years Old!"
4) For the longest time, whenever I heard the phrase "While supplies last" (like for Happy Meal toys and whatnot), I wondered what was so special about "while supplies" that they would save them for the last customers. More importantly, how do I time it so I can get my hands on these "while supplies"?
5) I have every commerative stamp from 1978 to 1988, countless other singles, plateblocks, and sheets. Lord knows what I'm gonna do with all that. I wonder how much they're worth?
6) I grew up in the early 80's in a neighborhood where kids played kick-the-can, red rover, hide and seek, and stickball. Where we went Everywhere on our bicycles, and invited ourselves into friends houses with, "Can so-and-so come out and play?" Where moms let their kids out in the morning, and didn't see them until supper time when they stood at the front porched and yelled their names. We were "free range" children. In this age of play dates and Dateline To Catch a Predator, I sometimes see how sheltered kids are now, and feel kinda sad.
7) On the day our family moved from Ann Arbor to Syracuse, I literally had to leave in the middle of our 5th grade Christmas party. We then got stuck that night in Buffalo due to a blizzard. Welcome to New York!
8) The sound of scratching Styrofoam drives me crazy.
9) The first album I ever bought was "Weird Al Yankovic – In 3D" on cassette tape. I played the hell out of it, and can still sing all of those songs by heart.
10) My friend and I played hundreds of Connect-4 games on our graph paper notebooks during HS physics. As a result, unless you are that friend, it's almost impossible to beat me in a game of Connect-4.
11) I failed my driver's test 3 times back in high school before finally passing on my 4th try. I bummed rides, walked, biked, taxied, trained, or rode the bus until I was 28, when I finally got my first car.
12) I can recite Pi to 3.14159265358979323
13) I've worked the following jobs. Mowed lawns. Delivered a newspaper route. Scooped ice cream and made ice cream cakes at Carvel. Ran the photocopier at our district copy room. Videotaped high school sporting events. Ran experiments in several biology labs. Librarian. Taught English. Executive Assistant. Invested other people's money in startup companies. Tested software. Write software requirements.
14) Something I got from my father: If left up to me, all road trip departures would leave before 5am. I love driving on wide open highways.
15) Something I got from my mom: I've never run a disherwasher in my life. Always hand wash, air dry.
16) The first time I got drunk was the last day of classes during my freshman year in college. Slope Day! On second thought, I wasn't drunk. I was "jush tipshy".
17) I easily spent over 100 days (that's 2,400+ hours, boys and girls) log in time in college playing online text based games. Think World of Warcraft, with no graphics. Text! Looking back, I regret every minute of it.
18) Chances are, I can totally kick your ass in ping-pong. It wouldn't even be close.
19) The one thing that I still remember from Wine Tasting 101 in college (ya, you read that right... we had a very good hotel school) was the order of sweetness of German white wines. From least sweet to most sweet: Kabinett < Spatlese < Auslese < Beerenauslese < Trockenbeerenauslese. This is important, important stuff if you love dessert wine like I do.
20) I've never had a pet, but can totally see myself getting a cat one day.
21) I worked in Taiwan for 6 years, and the only Taiwanese I picked up was the numbering system, "How much?", "Sorry, I don't understand Taiwanese", and "Would you like to dance?" For the record, Mandarin is the official language, but many of the locals prefer to converse in Taiwanese.
22) I'm a salsa dancer. If I lived in any city other than LA, NY, SF, or Miami, I would be tempted to teach classes on the side, just for fun.
23) I'm obsessed with reading reviews of things before I buy them. Especially outdoors gear and electronic gadgets. I once researched climbing pants for 3 weeks before finally settling on a pair. (Mammut Champ Pant. Love them.) It needs to be the best reviewed item at the best price. But once the purchase is made, that's it. No more second guessing about whether it was the right choice, or whether I could have gotten a better price. I enjoy what I have. It's my way of preventing buyer's remorse.
24) I can see myself giving up salsa dancing, but never hiking or camping.
25) Outdoor goals before I go: Walk the length of the John Muir Trail from Yosemite Valley to the top of Whitney. Grand Canyon Rim to Rim. See Maligne Lake. Canoe the Boundary Waters. Solo kayak Class V rapids. Ski tour the Haute Trail from Chamonix to Zermatt. Kilimanjaro. Aconcagua. Denali. Full Ironman.
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