![]() ![]() ![]() Until now I hadn’t bothered with trying to write, as I can type Chinese on my phone and on my computer. Yu Li is first of all a friend, but she’s also a very good writing teacher. But, it’s a beautiful and rich language and recently I started again, with fresh motivation and two new teachers. ![]() Learning Chinese takes unwavering dedication and lots of hours of plodding away, it’s not a language you just absorb by being immersed in it. It’s a frustrating process, mostly because of my chronic lack of time. I have been studying Chinese on and off for the last three years now, characterised by enormous ups and downs in motivation and effort. Yesterday my friend Yu Li came to my house, for my weekly writing class. The poetry by these two friends was one small and early attempt at enjoying and trying to understand Chinese history and culture. His sheer escapism and joy is balanced by Tu Fu, who expresses the Confucian virtues of humanity and humility in more autobiographical works that are imbued with great compassion and earthy reality, and shot through with humour. Li Po, a legendary carouser, was an itinerant poet whose writing, often dream poems or spirit-journeys, soars to sublime heights in its descriptions of natural scenes and powerful emotions. Li Po (AD 701-62) and Tu Fu (AD 712-70) were devoted friends who are traditionally considered to be among China’s greatest poets. Many moons ago, sometime in the beginning of this millenium, I bought a small poetry bundle by famous Tang dynasty (618-906 CE) poets, contemporaries and friends, Li Po and Tu Fu. ![]()
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