My new translation of the Heart Sutra from the Chinese ☸

Heavily footnoted for a deeper understanding of the text, and under a #CreativeCommons license 🔓

https://tmsullivan.co.uk/the-perfection-of-wisdom-heart-sutra-an-interlinear-translation

#translation #buddhism #chinese #classicalchinese #china #openaccess

Short post on how I get around LingQ's restrictions to backdoor #ClassicalChinese (is that a tag?) texts into their reader, creating the possibility of adding a couple thousand years of extra learning sources.

#language #languagelearning #python #chatgpt

https://tmsullivan.co.uk/note-using-lingq-for-learning-classical-chinese-and-a-module-by-me

Today’s acquisition: Wang Li’s “A Primer on Ancient Chinese Culture”

Already the first page has a fascinating morsel of ancient history in itself and an interesting use of it in a contemporary perspective.

#ChineseHistory #ClassicalChinese
#Chinese #History
🧵

Seems a bit strange to gather his remaining men at three places.
It would make more sense if 三處 were ancient military jargon for 'rendezvous point', but I have no sources to back that up.
Does anyone have easy access to an English version an annotated edition? #chinese #classicalchinese #chinesehistory
#shiji #史記

Dear #classicalchinese Lazyweb,

I'm translating The Siege of Ganxia (垓下之圍) from Shiji - Xiangyu Benji (史記・項羽本紀) (what a story, it reads like a Hollywood movie script).

However, there is one thing that stumps me; what does 三處 in 令四面騎馳下，期山東為三處。mean? Is it as simple as 'He ordered [his men] to take three positions in the eastern part of the mountain'?

Also in 辟易數里與其騎會為三處 av few sentences further down?

#chinesehistory #chinese #shiji

It's about time for my weekly #Tea and #ClassicalChinese date with myself so today's #DecRecs is
Classical Chinese for Everyone: A Guide for Absolute Beginners by Bryan W. Van Norden

This is such a clearly written an approachable book! As someone who had last tried to learn a language 20 years ago I found this a great way to get started!

Might as well make an #Introduction post!

By day, I'm a software engineer and labor organizer trying to make Google a better place for workers and the world. I worked on Maps for a while and now work on Search. Anything I post about that is from my perspective as an individual, or as a worker finding collective complaints, not as an agent of Google.

By night, I've got a deep interest in history, especially material culture. I'm active in the #SCA which is a medieval reenactment group, and enjoy researching, making, and wearing silly clothes, trying out long-forgotten food and reviving long-silent music.

Because I've studied #ClassicalChinese, I put these two things together to study historical rice wine production and other drinks (https://brewing.alecstory.org/). I post about other historical stuff at https://sundries.alecstory.org/.

It's time for my weekly tea and classical Chinese study date with myself!

#tea #ClassicalChinese

A friend linked an article that got me to find and translate some early Chinese braised meat recipes. Take a look!

Who wants to make a suckling pig stew? Or perhaps cicadas?

https://sundries.alecstory.org/2022/11/the-origins-of-braising-reaction-post.html

#HistoricalCooking #ChineseCooking #ClassicalChinese #LiterarySinitic #Cicadas

I have been making slow but steady progress on my project to study and memorize the #TangPoems300 #唐诗三百首. I made a super detailed annotation of 蜀道难 yesterday while studying. #languagelearning #classicalchinese