Letter from the Director Charles Laughlin, Director Dear IUPers: We're entering into an historic season, especially regarding Sino-Japanese relations. New Japanese Prime Minister Aso Taro's recent first visit coincided with the release of two important movies about the Rape of Nanjing in December 1937, Nanjing, Nanjing (China) and John Rabe (Germany). I saw the latter, it's quite good, and I recommend you see both to put a larger historical perspective on the city of Nanjing. Of course Nanjing was the first capital of the Ming Dynasty back in 1368 for several years before they moved up to Beijing, and then it was the capital of the Republic of China from 1927-1937. Those ten years were extremely important in the formation of modern Chinese culture and society, and the bulk of my research has been on the prose literature of that period. Li Lu laoshi has contributed an invaluable reflection on the glories of her hometown of Nanjing, to also help us make the most of our trip this weekend. The important thing is, beyond just going there and enjoying yourselves, to also reflect on the many

dimensions of this important southern Chinese capital, using what you already know and your unusual capacity to absorb and interpret information about China. Another historical milestone is the 90th anniversary of the May 4th movement, China's boldest step toward Westernization and the struggle against imperialism in the early 20th century. The May 4th movement, named after that date in 1919 when a patriotic demonstration of students, professors, and others set out from Tiananmen and proceeded to the old diplomatic district east of Qianmen, defined the terms of modern Chinese culture and its complex relationship to traditional culture. Many new journals and newspapers emerged in the months and years following that promoted strengthening and modernizing China on a western model, but also promoted taking action to resist the insistent economic and military aggression of Western powers and Japan. About a week ago, I participated in a large international conference hosted by the Beijing University Chinese Department commemorating May 4th and its influence on modern and contemporary literature. Many well-known scholars, especially from China, were there and the conference was substantive and thought-provoking. If anyone is interested, I have a collection of almost all the papers, as well as a booklet of all the abstracts, including my own presentation on desire in early revolutionary fiction. As long as we are on historical milestones, although it's a little early, we must not forget that this October, China will celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the People's Republic of China, which for those of you who still will be here, promises to be a major event. Thanks to the untiring efforts of Vivian Li, this is another terrific issue in a great run of IUPeople newsletters, also featuring a piece by Assistant Director Cui Yue on the recent weekend trip to 798. This was a coup for the Art Forum, and the Political

清华大学 | Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies (清华 IUP中文中心)

IUPeople Volume 2, Issue 6 May 2009

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Science/International Relations Forum will be in force at this week's talk by IUP alum and Tsinghua International Relations Professor Matthew Ferchen. I'm really gratified to see these clusters of interest getting traction and generating events this year. I hope we can make it a solid tradition at IUP. IUP's curriculum continues to evolve with our new film class, which is in its first year now; Martha Kimmel has a piece on that class in this issue. As always, if students have feedback or suggestions for more new classes, we are all ears. Thanks to everyone who contributed to this, and all issues of IUPeople!

Mark Your Calendars! IUP Lecture Series 5: Matthew Ferchen (陈懋修) Former IUPer and currently Tsinghua University International Relations School’s Matthew Ferchen will discuss his teaching experience in China and his research on Wednesday, May 6, at 2:30 in Rm. 707 IUP Spring Trip to Nanjing: May 8-11

Chinese through Films by Martha Kimmel Discussing academic texts is an important pursuit, but after months of trying to form sentences in Chinese about the economic crises I barely understand in English, discussing films has come as a welcome foray into a different side of Chinese—namely, the Chinese of everyday life. Film classes in English may abound in theory and technique, but this film class focuses on actions and descriptions. I've noticed before the gap in my Chinese with simple phrases like "move closer" or "she crossed her legs;" these everyday words are ones that don't come up in academic articles or formal radio broadcasts which we learn from in other classes. Making them the focus of film class, then, has meant learning the homey words that finally make it possible to converse with just five year olds. But film class hasn't just brought me fun new verbs, it has also been introducing me to some of Chinese filmmakers' classic works; we've already discussed

活着, 有话好好说 and Farewell My Concubine and

will be discussing手机, 饮食男女, 无间道, 花样年

华, and Lust and Caution. This side of Chinese culture is also a realm that I hadn't been introduced to previously. Soaking in the cultural references, the characters and the depth of perception on life has added a new element to my learning, not just studying words, but studying a culture and an art form. What has been most interesting to me in this part of the class has

been the tangible differences in meaning. I get from some artistic detail and the meaning differently than my teacher, the lovely Chen Wen Hui, gets from the same detail. Often, Chinese directors will have incorporated some clue to a character's personality that I won't

pick up on because of cultural background or some gap in my knowledge of Chinese history, or, even more often, reference to a common 成语 I have yet to learn. Film class this quarter, as all IUP classes do, has been pushing me to expand my vocabulary and cultural knowledge, but luckily for me it's doing so through art and entertainment, which makes studying feel almost like I'm playing.

3

艺术之旅艺术之旅艺术之旅艺术之旅

崔越

我是不敢以艺术爱好者自居的。对很多艺术，始

终感到无法理解和欣赏。可是，有时候不免有一

种声音在心中想起，让我对艺术作品能够在自己

心中唤起的美感和情绪抱有希望，牵引着我去亲

近艺术。

798，“天下盐”餐厅有着热闹的气氛和热辣的饭

菜。我们两位友好而健谈的校友，吃得不多，而

谈得不少。没想到，台大 IUP的校友 David Kay

的“缘分”画廊就在餐厅隔壁，这不是缘分又是什

么呢？David 带我们参观他墙上挂着画作和摄影

作品的家：改造成船形的一段旧厂楼，二层有他

的卧室，三层通向他的私人游泳池；从卧室伸出

一段钢化玻璃铺成的吊桥，连到另一侧放着中式

长餐几的餐厅和背后完全西式的厨房。大家普遍

感觉“超酷”，不只是“羡慕”两个字可以形容的。

草场地，其实没有很多草，是个灰色的村子。建

了一些很有艺术感的房子，多是外国艺术商在租

用。午后的阳光强烈而刺眼，与戴墨镜的摩登女

郎们和有着现代味道的灰砖墙相得益彰。

ShanghART 正在展出石青的作品，在一个较暗

的空间里，用胶合板钉起一个个工厂状、宿舍

状、食堂状、学校状等等形状的小型房子，里面

紧套着一张旧木桌、一张旧椅子、一张旧木板床

什么的。大家进入空间以后都不自觉地安静下

来，看着、猜着、想着…大概这就是 Henri讲的

“通过视觉达成感悟”的境界吧。

在 IUP同学里已经小有名气的“三影画廊”正

好在举办摄影比赛和颁奖礼。在各色各式的照片

中穿过，穿越了摄影者的眼睛，到达他/她的现

实。恍惚地从一个世界进入另一个世界，白墙上

那窄窗之外的真实最显得遥远。还好展室有尽

头，疲惫的双腿终于可以休息休息。

有各种方式让我们好奇的心得以进入别人的世

界，也许艺术只是一种，比较特别、比较美好而

已。

特别鸣谢宋芳和肖雅琳老师的帮助！

IUP alumnus David Kay sharing his insights over lunch IUPers

(on left) David Kay giving a personal tour of his 798 gallery, Yuanfen, after lunch; (on right) Yue Cui, IUP assistant director, at Pekin Fine Arts Gallery in Caochangdi (草场地)

IUP alumnus Henri Benaim, now at PKM Gallery, giving a tour to IUPers of the Caochangdi arts district

4

中山门外中山门外中山门外中山门外

李璐

以前，在我们被迫搬家以前，我们家就在中山

门外，出门走五分钟就到了石象路，那是明孝陵

的神道。每晚都在那儿散步，靠着高大的石象，

看着两旁的路灯逐一亮起，并不觉得这一切与某

个帝王有关。拍了很多石象路的照片，一年四

季、晨夕月夜都有，好象也还是不能帮助我回

忆。就给大家简单地介绍一下吧——

中山陵是中国民主革命家孙中山先生的陵墓。从

牌坊往上到祭堂，共有石阶 392级，8个平台。

从下往上看，都是台阶，看不见平台；从上往下

看，却只能看见平台，好像八个平台连成一片，

如同平地。据说 392级台阶象征了当时 3亿 9千

200万中国人。

明孝陵是明太祖朱元璋的陵墓，2004年被列入

世界遗产保护范围，还有很多没有解开的奥秘。

陵墓的神道从四方城开始。四方城是一座碑亭，

里面有石碑介绍明太祖的功德。神道从这里向

西，绕过梅花山再向北，长约 1800米。其中段

是石象路，这段路上相向排列着 12对石兽，分

别是狮、骆驼、象和马等 6种，每种两对，姿态

是一对伏，一对立。折向北面的神道上分别列着

4对文臣武将，可惜有些已经损坏。石人石兽的

体型都很巨大，是明代石刻的艺术珍品。

明孝陵的朱红大门坐北朝南，正对梅花山。梅花

山因为三国时东吴君主孙权及其夫人被埋在这

儿，所以以前也叫孙陵岗，位于明孝陵正南 300

米。朱元璋曾说：“孙权也是一条好汉，就让他

给我守门吧”。这样一来，神道为了绕过孙陵

岗，就不是笔直的了。

当年大汉奸汪精卫死后曾葬于孙陵岗，抗战胜利

后，汪坟被炸。梅花山每年二月份的时候有梅花

节，落英缤纷，花气袭人。梅花是南京的市花。

灵谷寺在紫金山东边，建于明初。灵谷寺有一座

中外闻名的建筑——无量殿，因为建殿时不用木

头，没有梁柱，也称"无梁殿"。是我国古代石建

筑的杰作。 另外还有灵谷塔，也叫九层塔，塔

高 66米，建于 1933年，是为纪念国民革命阵亡

将士修建的。秋天的时候，有很多桂花，桂花丛

中的一面红墙上，刻有父亲书写的“桂林胜境”四

个大字。

南京城门的名字是谁写的呢？蒋介石题写了中华

门，如果去雨花台，会经过中华门；蔡元培题写

了玄武门，去玄武湖、鸡鸣寺会经过玄武门；汪

精卫题写了中山门，第一天坐车就会经过中山

门。可以登上中山门去看看老城墙，也是一段明

城墙。中山门往西经过南京博物馆，大概两站路

左右，就到了明故宫，马路北边的遗址公园没什

么可看的，马路南边是午朝门公园，就是“文官

下轿、武官下马”的地方，那个地方很好，适合

怀古。午朝门往南的路叫做御道街（皇帝走的

路）。我的中学小学都在那附近，所以在这条皇

帝走的路上走了很多年。午朝门和中山门都是我

中学时最爱去的地方，很可能在某个砖缝里还藏

了当年的情书，但我已经完全忘了。

The IUPeople Newsletter is published monthly by the Inter-University Program for Chinese Language Studies. Wen Bei Lou, 502, Tsinghua

University, Beijing, China 100084. Visit us at http://ieas.berkeley.edu/iup. Editor-in-chief: Charles Laughlin, Managing Editor: Vivian Li