Petrarchive – Sinophile Thread

Free Tibet.

The future and past belong to China. What can you say? Their brief lagging period is a historical anomaly left by the shockwave of industrial capitalism spawning somewhere else. I’m happy I was born in the USA but I will be teaching my children Mandarin. I have a friend who moved over there after graduation and is doing fantastic

>10134
My family thinks I’m a massive China fan because of my strong preference for Chinese food

>10137
Birthrates anon, birthrates. The future belongs to the people of the Sahel

Oops, >>10142 was meant for >>10137

民弱國強，民強國弱，故有道之國，務在弱民。樸則強，淫則弱；弱則軌，淫則越志；弱則有用，越志則強。故曰：「以強去強1者弱，以弱去強者強。

I used to get high and watch Da Shan on Youtube

>>10215
Damn, I still understand Spanish apparently. I don't see the relationship with the thread though.

>>10216
"Likening-to-oneself" (shu), a Confucian concept a bit similar to the golden rule, as far as I understood it.

Quiz: Picrel exhibits a Confucian, Taoist, Legalist or Mohist thought?

>>10230
Nevermind, I forgot to hide the source lol.

Perhaps I should try this "Chinese literature" thing, after all.

It's been a couple of months since I started watching Chinese (Peking) opera. Since then, I've probably watched more than fifty. The first work I watched in full, 京剧: 贵妃醉酒, is a great way to start, although, in my case, it took several fragments to "get used to" this particular art form.

>>10436
Do you watch with subtitles or translations at hand, or are you just taking it all in as it is? I'm assuming you don't know Chinese, maybe you do, but isn't the Chinese they use in operas some archaic form? Do you have any recs?

Indeed, I am not fluent in Chinese by any means; and even if I knew modern Mandarin Chinese, my understanding is that it wouldn't be really useful for understanding the vocal performance, since, as you pointed out, it is a very structured art that employs archaic language.
I watch them with English subtitles (although without them you still get quite an experience). The yt channels "Clover" and "Nikhi Chau" have a great quantity of subbed works.
Regarding recommendations, it's hard to say, because subjectivity is an important factor: I encourage you to explore and see if you find something of your interest. But, overall, I'd say that The Drunken Concubine (贵妃醉酒), The Phoenix Returns (凤还巢), The Tale of the White Snake (白蛇传) and Farewell my Concubine (霸王别姬) are some of the most remarkable I've seen.

I'm personally obsessed with the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. I don't know if this is orientalizing of me or what but it seems like all of protestant modernity wrapped into a little package. It's got:

* completely out-of-pocket biblical interpretation, including rewriting the Bible to justify ethnic hatred (of Manchus)

* an attempted social revolution, a revolt against cultural elites that is simultaneously a low-culture throwback and an abortive half-measure to leapfrog modernity

* restrictive lifestyle requirements engendering fascistic behaviors

* a principled but half-hearted attempt at world domination

* aesthetic politics -- all state officials required to dress up in opera outfits

>>10451
operas are like a song if you like the tune doesn't matter the lyrics

>>10470

The history is so huge and alien that I've always been intimidated to look into it. No interest in watching a video essay. One day I need to find a good 1000 page book on the subject and sit my white ass down

>>10484
I tried listening to a couple dozen hours on Chinese history once but was totally lost because the proper nouns just blur together.