Image 36

The Practicable Chinese.

To show that Chinese actually face the
past in their thinking cf. the following T'ang
poem by Ch'en Tzu Ang sung while standing
on Yuchow Mountaintop 登幽州臺歌 by
陳子昂

前不見古人 [marks]
後不見來者 [marks]
念天地之悠悠 [marks]
獨愴然而涕下 [marks]

Before me I see not the men of ancient times
Behind me I see not those who are to come.
Meditating on the infinititude of the universe
Lonely snow fills my heart, and tear drops fall.
Translation by M.H. Ruck China [Bookman?] June 1919

cf. also Chinese gestures when saying
next year, last year etc.

cf. Also 從前 and 後來
空前 絕後 with ancestors or descendants, no
relation to past or future events.

[break]

The nine classics compare the Four Books
and the Five Canons. The 4 Books are:
the Analects (Lun Yü) the Doctrine of the Mean
(Chung Yung), the Great Learning (Ta Hsüeh) and the
Book of Mencius (Meng Tzu Shu). The Five
Canons are the "Canon of Changes" (I Ching),
the "Canon of History" (Shu Ching), the "Canon of
Odes" (Shih Ching), "Canon of Rites" (Si Chi), and
the "Spring and Autumn Annal" (Ch'un Ch'iu.