Cultural Understanding
Countless movements across the vast expanse of history have been driven by key texts. At the heart of each social reform, each popular revolt, and each cultural movement, we have had a sole artist or group of artists who created the art necessary to spark the imagination of the people who soon followed. Here, we […]
MoreI want to fall asleep. I want to fall into the arms of sweet slumber until I see you again. Until the day that I sit on a plane and rise into the sky rushing towards you. I will return. And with the turn of countless days I cannot wait until I gaze at The surface of your soft mossy curves, The crescent moon […]
MoreA short narrative of what I call my grandmother, and how that changed over time. Poem by Abby Lu In Chinese, our maternal grandmother is referred to as: 外婆, old lady of outside. Yet to me, my Old Lady of Outside is the one who knows my heart the most, inside out. So one day, […]
MoreAn elegy for my home city – Hong Kong. It contains fragmented memories in an amalgamation, like a pyroclastic igneous rock, or perhaps a breccia. Either way, they are organic, sincere, and raw. A work by Abby Lu My City, My Love. Hong Kong. I like to run my hands through tomatoes, stacked in yellow […]
MoreThis is an English translation by Abby Lu of a contemporary poem by 聞一多, 《死水》, about a stagnant pond, which he used as metaphor for the corrupt and closed Old China. Original work: 《死水》，闻一多 這是一溝絕望的死水， 清風吹不起半點漪淪。 不如多扔些破銅爛鐵， 爽性潑你的剩菜殘羹。 也許銅的要綠成翡翠， 鐵罐上鏽出機瓣桃花； 再讓油膩織一層羅琦， 霉菌給他蒸出些雲霞。 讓死水酵成一溝綠酒， 漂滿了珍珠似的白沫； 小珠們笑聲變成大珠； 又被偷酒的花蚊咬破。 那麼一溝絕望的死水， 也就誇得上幾分鮮明。 如果青蛙耐不住寂寞， 又算死水叫出了歌聲。 這是一溝絕望的死水， 這裏斷不是美的所在， 不如讓給醜惡來開墾， 看它造出個什麼世界。 Translation […]
MoreAn English translation of a work of ancient Chinese literature, 《木兰诗》. An attempt by Abby Lu. Original work: 《木兰诗》，無名氏 唧唧复唧唧，木兰当户织。不闻机杼声，唯闻女叹息。问女何所思？问女何所忆？女亦无所思，女亦无所忆。昨夜见军帖，可汗大点兵，军书十二卷，卷卷有爷名。阿爷无大儿，木兰无长兄，愿为市鞍马，从此替爷征。东市买骏马，西市买鞍鞯，南市买辔头，北市买长鞭。朝辞爷娘去，暮宿黄河边。不闻爷娘唤女声，但闻黄河流水鸣溅溅。旦辞黄河去，暮至黑山头。不闻爷娘唤女声，但闻燕山胡骑声啾啾。万里赴戎机，关山度若飞。朔气传金柝，寒光照铁衣。将军百战死，壮士十年归。归来见天子，天子坐明堂。策勋十二转，赏赐百千强。可汗问所欲，“木兰不用尚书郎，愿借明驼千里足，送儿还故乡。”爷娘闻女来，出郭相扶将。阿姊闻妹来，当户理红妆。小弟闻姊来，磨刀霍霍向猪羊。开我东阁门，坐我西阁床。脱我战时袍，著我旧时裳。当窗理云鬓，对镜贴花黄。出门看火伴，火伴皆惊惶。同行十二年，不知木兰是女郎。“雄兔脚扑朔，雌兔眼迷离；两兔傍地走，安能辨我是雄雌！” English Translation by A.L: “Ode to Mulan,” Anonymous Again and again, the sound of thread. Mulan weaves by the door. There is no sound of the loom, just the hush of a woman’s sigh. Ask […]
MoreAn English translation of a work of ancient Chinese literature about an ugly hut, 《陋室铭》. An attempt by Abby Lu. Original text: 《陋室铭》，刘禹锡 山不在高，有仙则名。水不在深，有龙则灵。斯是陋室，惟吾德馨。苔痕上阶绿，草色入帘青。谈笑有鸿儒，往来无白丁。可以调素琴，阅金经。无丝竹之乱耳，无案牍之劳形。南阳诸葛庐，西蜀子云亭，孔子云：何陋之有？ English translation by A.L: “On an Ugly Hut,” Liu Yuxi It is not about the height of the pinnacle. What gifts the mountain with prominence is the presence of a deity. […]
MoreA taste of home in somewhere far away. (A narration of the American Chinese from the perspective of a Chinese Chinese) – Abby Lu I walk into a red brick building typical to New Jersey into a teen center now transformed, drenched in red. Red is the color of China, the color of happiness, the color of Chinese […]
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The Big Duck 