Seven Worthies
Seven Worthies
Seven Worthies
of the bamboo grove
Seven Worthies
of the bamboo grove
The Han Empire is dying, beset by insurrection from marauding Yellow Turbans. Three noble men meet by chance and find common purpose in resisting the threat of tyranny and ruin. Amidst peach trees, the men swear an oath to unite unto death in the service of the downtrodden. So begins the celebrated Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and the fictionalised account of the real life founder and generals of the Shu Kingdom.
punishments & the protest of Ti Ying 5 Ti Ying （緹縈）was the youngest daughter of a doctor condemned to receive one of the five corporal punishments of Han Dynasty China. Defying the societal restrictions on her sex, Ti Ying travelled to the capital to intercede on her father's behalf, boldly petitioning the emperor Wen (漢文帝, 203-157 BCE). Instead of appealing on the basis of her father's good character, she took on the whole system of corporal punishment itself, pointing out the inhumanity of the penal code. The emperor was [...]
Xi Feng, or Phoenix, is among the most compelling characters in the Hong Lou Meng. Whenever she steps into a room she dominates the scene, and even when she absent, her influence is felt throughout the two households. One reason for her dominance in the family hierarchy is her quick wit and golden tongue, which she uses with expert precision: she can tear a strip off an underling, negotiate her way to financial advantage, or have a room in stitches. Having not grown up with a classical education, Xi Feng lacks the literary allusions and clever jokes of other young ladies of the household, as Dai Yu snobbily remarks. Yet this does not hold her back in the slightest.
The Battle of Red Cliff The Battle of Red Cliff (208) was a turning point in history, checking the imperial ambitions of Northern warlord Cao Cao (曹操) and inaugurating the Three Kingdoms period. Having taken the Han emperor under his 'protection' and secured his territory in the north, Cao Cao marched his vast army southwards, seeking to complete his conquest of China. Yet he suffered cataclysmic defeat at Red Cliff at the hands of the allies Liu Bei and Sun Quan and was forced to retreat northwards, incurring devastating losses en route. [...]
I am very much enjoying the Penguin Classics version of the Hong Lou Meng, and in particular some delightful phrases courtesy of David Hawkes' excellent translation. One of these concerns the main character of Bao Yu in Chapter 17, during a set-piece scene that pits the enfant terrible entertainingly against his disapproving father. An imperial edict has made provision for an annual visit home for all palace concubines, provided they can be received in the manner to which they are accustomed. Cue a hasty scrambling to construct what amounts to a pleasure garden in the grounds of the family estate. Bao Yu is unfortunate enough to run into his father, who takes him round with a group of literati and demands that he thinks up names and couplets for the various beauty spots they encounter.
A year has passed since the previous written update to this website, which is cause to reflect on the work that has been done in the intervening months. Leaving aside improvements in the look of the site and working out how to make things work nicely, I have added six lists since the initial Seven Worthies. These run the gamut from "common knowledge" to "fairly obscure" and have been chosen based on nothing more substantial that whatever happened to take my fancy at that particular moment. Starting with the oldest, first up is The Six Schools of Sima Tan, which [...]
Songs of My Heart, No. 32 This is an example of one of Ruan Ji's poems. In common with much Chinese Poetry, it is filled with allusions, but in this case unfamiliarity with the references should not obscure the overall meaning. The translations are my own. ← Back to The Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove
blog in the grove Ji Kang - Worthiest Worthy of the Bamboo Grove? The more I learn about Ji Kang (one of the Seven Worthies of the Bamboo Grove), the more intriguing he becomes. His father died in his youth, but he rose to prominent posts in government and married into the ruling family. He shared his friend Ruan Ji's distaste for the court and it seems that he really took to heart Zhuangzi's rejection of division within society. Ji Kang disengaged from the court and joined his friends in the bamboo grove near his home.But where Ruan [...]
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