Confucius's Analects: An Advanced Reader of Chinese Language and Culture

by Zu-yan Chen

Overview

Confucius’s Analects is an innovative textbook for teaching and learning Chinese language and culture at the advanced level. It combines classical and modern Chinese language skills, Chinese culture, and expository and narrative writing practice.

Confucius's Analects is a central work of East Asian intellectual history that permeates Chinese and East Asian thought and values today. Students seeking to develop advanced language proficiency need to be familiar with the Analects in order to understand the wealth of literary allusions that appear in modern as well as classical Chinese writings. A selection of 82 passages, which are all educational and practical for present-day students, are grouped thematically into four parts—knowledge, morality, wisdom, and government—and covers Confucian teachings from personal cultivation to social contribution.

Features:• A quadrupled text system includes quotations from the Analects, modern Chinese translations of these passages, short essays of exegesis that elaborate on the major points, and historical Chinese stories that illustrate the theme• Vocabulary expansion sections show how monosyllabic classical words have each expanded into ten selected modern bisyllabic words• Almost 300 idioms and corresponding exercises teach their rhetorical value and provide cultural exposure• Sections on function words help students to understand classical Chinese• Extensive writing practice in each chapter includes debate, composition, storytelling, and topical research—all requiring internet research• Audio files of recitation of the Analects passages by a native speaker are available online for free

Designed for students who have studied Chinese for three years in college or an equivalent, this textbook is ideal for students of advanced Chinese, classical Chinese, and Chinese culture. Knowledge of classical Chinese is not a prerequisite.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781589016354
Publisher:	Georgetown University Press
Publication date:	06/10/2010
Pages:	312
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 9.80(h) x 0.80(d)
Language:	Chinese
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Zu-yan Chen is a professor of Chinese language and literature and director of the Confucius Institute at Binghamton University, SUNY. He is the co-author of Li Bai and Du Fu: An Advanced Reader of Chinese Language and Literature and Chinese through Song.

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Acknowledgments xi

User's Guide xiii

Confucius and the Analects xvii

Part I Knowledge 1

1 Learning the Way 3

Porridge Cakes 7

2 Love for Learning 13

Lamp of Fireflies 16

3 The Four Prohibitions 23

A Doctor-Traveler 26

4 Inferring by Analogy 33

Tones of the Zither 36

5 The Ultimate Joy 43

The Plum Blossom Painter 46

Part II Morality 53

6 Filial Piety 55

Grandma and the Office 58

7 Righteousness and Profit 65

The Promissory Notes 68

8 Three Introspections Daily 75

Critics of the Emperor 78

9 Strength in Adversity 85

A Determined Historian 88

10 The Long Journey 95

Death of a Premier 98

Part III Wisdom 105

11 Self-Reliance 107

The Taste of Gall 110

12 Three Beneficial Friends 117

The Slashed Mat 120

13 Words and Deeds 127

Talking a Good Game 130

14 Advancing and Retreating 139

World and Island 142

15 Careers for Scholars 149

A Statesman of Four Reigns 152

Part IV Government 157

16 Governing with Virtue 159

A Palace without a Terrace 162

17 Sovereigns and Subjects 169

Three Visits to a Strategist 172

18 Exemplary Leaders 179

The Flying General 182

19 The Upright above the Crooked 189

A Tattooed General 192

20 Economy and Education 199

The Emperor's Dictionary 202

Appendix: English Translations of the Analects Passages 209

Vocabulary Index 223

Proper Names Index 257

Function Words Index 265

Idiom Index 283

Vocabulary Expansion Index 289

What People are Saying About This

Kai Li

Confucius's Analects is an excellent textbook that fills a critical gap. It is culturally rich, and provides a useful approach to teaching Chinese with the combination of modern and classical Chinese. The book also provides a creative stance at utilizing classical Chinese, historical idioms, and ways to expand vocabulary.

From the Publisher

"Confucius's Analects is an excellent textbook that fills a critical gap. It is culturally rich, and provides a useful approach to teaching Chinese with the combination of modern and classical Chinese. The book also provides a creative stance at utilizing classical Chinese, historical idioms, and ways to expand vocabulary."—Kai Li, East Asian Studies Program, Oberlin College

"As students start Chinese learning earlier than in previous decades, many of them reach the advanced level half way through their college years if not sooner. An efficient textbook is needed for them to not only enhance their linguistic competence but also to probe into the Chinese intellectual tradition and cultural values to prepare them to be sophisticated communicators in the language. Zu-yan Chen's Confucius's Analects is tailor-made to meet this need. Adopting entries from the influential classic,

(Lúny

), as its main text, this book is also supplemented by essays written in modern Chinese language on relevant topics to further elucidate the significance of the main text. Furthermore, the author uses both sets of texts to systematically introduce Chinese idioms, which were derived from traditional Chinese wisdom but widely used in modern Chinese language. The materials are well organized and precisely glossed. Most remarkable are the clearly guided exercises—including making use of the learned words and idioms, answer questions, writing compositions of expository and narrative essays, debate, web research and storytelling—that are astutely arranged to challenge students' active mental participation and cogent articulation. For an advanced Chinese language class, this is the textbook of my choice."—Madeline Chu, professor of Chinese language & literature, Kalamazoo College

Madeline Chu

As students start Chinese learning earlier than in previous decades, many of them reach the advanced level half way through their college years if not sooner. An efficient textbook is needed for them to not only enhance their linguistic competence but also to probe into the Chinese intellectual tradition and cultural values to prepare them to be sophisticated communicators in the language. Zu-yan Chen’s Confucius’s Analects is tailor-made to meet this need. Adopting entries from the influential classic, (Lúnyǔ), as its main text, this book is also supplemented by essays written in modern Chinese language on relevant topics to further elucidate the significance of the main text. Furthermore, the author uses both sets of texts to systematically introduce Chinese idioms, which were derived from traditional Chinese wisdom but widely used in modern Chinese language. The materials are well organized and precisely glossed. Most remarkable are the clearly guided exercises—including making use of the learned words and idioms, answer questions, writing compositions of expository and narrative essays, debate, web research and storytelling—that are astutely arranged to challenge students’ active mental participation and cogent articulation. For an advanced Chinese language class, this is the textbook of my choice.

Editorial Reviews

Confucius's Analects is an excellent textbook that fills a critical gap. It is culturally rich, and provides a useful approach to teaching Chinese with the combination of modern and classical Chinese. The book also provides a creative stance at utilizing classical Chinese, historical idioms, and ways to expand vocabulary.

Kai Li

As students start Chinese learning earlier than in previous decades, many of them reach the advanced level half way through their college years if not sooner. An efficient textbook is needed for them to not only enhance their linguistic competence but also to probe into the Chinese intellectual tradition and cultural values to prepare them to be sophisticated communicators in the language. Zu-yan Chen’s Confucius’s Analects is tailor-made to meet this need. Adopting entries from the influential classic, 論語 (Lúnyǔ), as its main text, this book is also supplemented by essays written in modern Chinese language on relevant topics to further elucidate the significance of the main text. Furthermore, the author uses both sets of texts to systematically introduce Chinese idioms, which were derived from traditional Chinese wisdom but widely used in modern Chinese language. The materials are well organized and precisely glossed. Most remarkable are the clearly guided exercises—including making use of the learned words and idioms, answer questions, writing compositions of expository and narrative essays, debate, web research and storytelling—that are astutely arranged to challenge students’ active mental participation and cogent articulation. For an advanced Chinese language class, this is the textbook of my choice.

Madeline Chu