Comments | arisblue: The Monster That Is History

arisblue

The Monster That Is History

Apr 28, 2005 20:56

Headnote: As my dear raietta has so kindly pointed out to me that, yes I've been neglectful as regards my LJ entries and this is unacceptable. Also with reference to a comment made by dear budgie, who said that I only came up in LJ when I was drunk, I hope this entry will prove that I do sometimes keep my head clear from alcoholic influence... :)

( So it begins... )

Comments 6

raietta April 29 2005, 02:23:12 UTC

*reads very carefully*

*sits back*

Tell me more!

I'm so happy you posted. I'm very interested in this poet, now.

I wonder who, in the future, will kill himself for a lost cause when the time comes...

Hunter S. Thompson recently committed suicide. He wasn't a poet, but a very good, very crazy and original journalist. There's half a belief that he killed himself b/c he couldn't live in this tired, hateful, conservative world anymore, where snakes like Bush get the vote again. Anyhow.

Feeling melancholy now over Wang Kuo-wei.

Tell us more.

arisblue April 30 2005, 16:40:20 UTC

though i don't think Wang and Hunter Thompson killed themselves for the same reasons, i do however think the act of suicide of intellectuals makes quite a reference for the world they're living in... this is quite a heavy subject... and very depressed...

but Wang was a very fine art critic! his classification of Chinese Ci (Ci= a kind of poetry, but not quite. it's more like lyrics that was used to be sang by singers and house slaves in ancient China) into three levels are very fascinating... unfortunately i don't have any English version of his theory. :(

ah.. but if you're interested i can always try. :)

raietta May 1 2005, 04:30:11 UTC

ah.. but if you're interested i can always try. :)

I am very interested. I'd like to hear more on the subject. But I don't want you to go to too much trouble over translations. I just like to be edified by you. ;)

lyrebird April 30 2005, 06:25:42 UTC

Okay, I'm convinced. These depressing musings were written while sober.

Death of cultural traditions is an ongoing problem. I've seen some argue that there is no ethical obligation to 'protect' culture as such - people, sure, but culture? It's evolving and growing all the time. Migration, information transfer through telecommunications...we can now be exposed to a lot more different cultures that before. Is change such a bad thing?

On a personal level, I know that I have lost a lot of the cultural traditions associated with my ethnicity. I only know English. I don't really celebrate any of the traditional Chinese festivals...apart from going out to eat. And even then, I don't really know the names of the dishes - it's more point and try. So I guess I am the type of person someone like Wang may have grieved over - foreign influence so strong that I'm only Chinese in appearance.

arisblue April 30 2005, 16:52:59 UTC

So I guess I am the type of person someone like Wang may have grieved over - foreign influence so strong that I'm only Chinese in appearance.oh please be assured that Wang didn't kill himself because of that - at the material time he's yet to see the ABCs (American-born-Chinese) and BBCs (British-born-Chinese). :) seriously, and just in my humble opinion, i think if you don't speak Chinese and don't know the Chinese language, there's no reason why you should identify yourself with Chinese. by apperance you can be recognised as Asian! nationality or ethnicity is more about political reasons and cultural identiy than DNAs ( ... )

lyrebird May 1 2005, 02:00:40 UTC

Ethnicity and nationality - there was something in the paper about it the other day! Nationality is linked to citizenship...but there is uncertainty about ethnicity. An ex-politician who encouraged the Australian idea of multiculturalism was appalled that people were calling their ethnicity Australian instead of Italian or Greek or Chinese. He had wanted people who migrated to Australia to practise and preserve their cultural traditions here in Australia too - which I think is great!

I think the death of cultural tradition is a problem...but I suspect I'm more part of the problem than the solution. Research here has shown that it's the second generation onwards who end up identifying with their country of birth...it's kinda inevitable that past traditions will be forgotten. I do regret not being able to speak or write Chinese - I tried to learn Mandarin ages ago and it was so hard! The characters, the pronounciation...it's so different to English. I really admire those who can speak more than one language.