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qiānqiū‐wàndài

qiānqiū (qiān·qiū thousand · autumns 千秋)‐wàndài (wàn·dài {ten thousand} · {replacings → [generations]} 万代 萬代) 👈🏼 Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

[Notes: Tap/click on a Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to reveal its “flashcard”; tap/click on a “flashcard” or its Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) expression to hide the “flashcard”. 📖 📄 📘 icons mean 📖 Reveal All, 📄 Reveal Advanced, and 📘 Reveal None re all the “flashcards” in the heading, paragraph, etc. that they are placed at the beginning of.]

Rather than dismissively thinking to ourselves that the songs produced by the organization are “just songs”, we should remember that the slave class takes seriously its responsibility to provide spiritual food to God’s people, and so it is going to make sure that the lyrics in its songs are spiritually correct, while also being emotionally moving.—Ezekiel 33:32; Matthew 24:45.

“In Ev’ry Generation”

“qiānqiū” _Pīnyīn_ Plus info, Song 2 (music+_Pīnyīn_), on iPhone 13 mini (landscape orientation)

This week’s MEotW in the unofficial Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resource “Sing Out Joyfully” Bk. (Pīnyīn+Music, Pīnyīn Plus, Web)

This week’s MEotW, “qiānqiū (qiān·qiū thousand · autumns 千秋)‐wàndài (wàn·dài {ten thousand} · {replacings → [generations]} 万代 萬代)”, comes from the first verse of song 2, which is entitled “Jehovah Is Your Name” in English and “Nǐ de ((Nǐ You 你) (de ’s 的) → [Your]) Míng (Name 名) Shì (Is 是) Yēhéhuá (Jehovah 耶和华 耶和華)” in Mandarin:

English:

In ev’ry generation—
Jehovah is your name.

Mandarin (WOL, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus):

📖 📄 📘 Nǐ de ((Nǐ you 你) (de ’s 的) → [your]) míng (name 名) cóngbù (cóng·bù ever · not → [never] 从不 從不) gēnggǎi (gēng·gǎi {does change} · {does alter} 更改),
Liúchuán (Liú·chuán {flows → [circulates]} · {is handed down} (for) 流传 流傳) qiānqiū (qiān·qiū thousand · autumns 千秋)‐wàndài (wàn·dài {ten thousand} · {replacings → [generations]} 万代 萬代).

“Qiānqiū (Qiān·qiū thousand · autumns 千秋)‐wàndài (wàn·dài {ten thousand} · {replacings → [generations]} 万代 萬代)” literally means “thousand autumns ten thousand replacings”. However, as explained in the MEotW post on “dài ({take the place of}; replace; subsitute | replacing; substituting → [acting; substitute | generation [→ [period; era; age]]] 代)”, this expression, while literally meaning “replacing”, can effectively mean “generation”:

Yes, the Chinese concept of a “generation” is that it is something that takes the place of or replaces what was there before—the emphasis seems to be on continuation, and a new generation is viewed as having done well if it lived up to or maintained what came before it. In contrast, in the English-speaking world, a “generation” is something new that is generated—the emphasis seems to be more on innovation, progress, and a new generation is viewed as having done well if it improved upon what came before it, and moved things ahead. For example, the English expression “next generation” indeed implies innovation and progress compared to previous generations, such as when applied to vehicles, computers, and other technology.

So, on a certain level of literalness, “qiānqiū (qiān·qiū thousand · autumns 千秋)‐wàndài (wàn·dài {ten thousand} · {replacings → [generations]} 万代 萬代)” means “thousand autumns ten thousand generations”. As shown in the example above from song 2, this is basically a poetic way to refer to “ev’ry generation”, or “forever”. Another expression that means basically the same thing is “qiānqiū (qiān·qiū thousand · autumns 千秋)‐wànshì (wàn·shì {ten thousand} · generations 万世 萬世)”.

Also, another example of “wàn ({ten thousand} [→ [all; a very great number of]] 万 萬/万)” (“ten thousand”) being used in Mandarin to effectively mean “all” or “every” occurs in “wànwù (wàn·wù {ten thousand → [all]} · things 万物 萬物)”, which literally means “ten thousand things” and effectively means “all things”.

Is Everyone Replaceable?

This talk of replacing reminds me: It’s a pet peeve of mine that people sometimes use the expression “no one is irreplaceable”. While it’s true that each of us should maintain appropriate modesty and humility, I suspect that this expression really reflects worldly human corporate culture that treats people like fungible, disposable widgets instead of as individual human beings that each have different qualities and abilities. Such thinking that justifies exploiting people for small-minded short-term profit without having to appropriately recognize and reward them for their individual contributions and potential is in stark contrast to the Bible’s depiction of how Jehovah God knows and values each one of us as individuals. As Jesus said at Matthew 10:29–31:

Two sparrows sell for a coin of small value, do they not? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s knowledge. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. So have no fear; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Musical Notation 🎼 and the Mandarin Field

In this post about a Mandarin expression found in our songbook, another subject that I want to touch on is: Is musical notation 🎼 too hard to be worth the trouble of producing it and using it? Are fewer and fewer people able to read it? I was fortunate enough to have been taught how to read musical notation in school. I have never thought of musical notation as being particularly difficult to use, and I find that it helps me to sing Kingdom songs more correctly (according to the intended melody, message, etc.) and more confidently more of the time. However, I am aware that not everyone in the Mandarin field has the same experience with musical notation. For example, a while ago, an older brother told me that he didn’t know how to read musical notation. Also, some people in the Mandarin field may have been affected by how education systems in this old world have been cutting back on music education for younger ones.

Regardless of how the world may be deprioritizing music education, Jehovah’s organization has pointed out that music is important in Jehovah’s worship. For example, not long ago, a Meeting Workbook said:

Music can have a powerful influence on the mind and body. Singing is an important part of our worship of Jehovah.

In accordance with the importance of music in Jehovah’s worship, Mandarin field language learners used to have available to them official material from the organization containing musical notation with Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) in the lyrics. However, perhaps at least partially because of the technical difficulty and costliness of producing material with musical notation and both Chinese characters and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) in the lyrics, as of this writing, late in 2024, there is no official material currently available from the organization that shows Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) and musical notation on the same page or screen.

The organization continues to publish official songbook material for different languages in general that contains musical notation, so it evidently still considers musical notation to generally be worthwhile to produce. It continues to produce official material for the current songbook that uses musical notation along with lyrics rendered only in Chinese characters, without Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), and it has even produced official material that uses jiǎnpǔ (jiǎn·pǔ simple · {register or record for reference → [musical notation]} → [numbered musical notation] 简谱 簡譜) (a kind of musical notation also known as numbered musical notation) and Chinese characters.

For those who find it helpful in their Mandarin field activities to put musical notation together with Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音), the unofficial Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resource “Sing Out Joyfully” Bk. (Pīnyīn+Music, Pīnyīn Plus, Web) exists and is continuing to be improved. As shown in the screenshot above, this resource aids Mandarin field language learners by breaking with tradition and featuring lyrics in the musical notation that are only in relatively large-print Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) by default—characters are relegated to Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus “flashcards” that are added as time allows.

Unlike the traditionally-used but unnecessarily extraordinarily complex characters that need to be accompanied by Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) before many are able to read them, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) itself is a simple, elegant alphabetical full writing system for Mandarin that is easy to learn and remember. Also, it is no harder to typeset than other alphabetical writing systems with diacritics, such as the writing systems now used for French, Czech, Vietnamese, etc.*

In its Tips: section at the bottom of its home page, the “Sing Out Joyfully” Bk. (Pīnyīn+Music, Pīnyīn Plus, Web) resource contains these links that some may find helpful:

For convenience:

The direct link for the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus resource for the “Sing Out Joyfully” book is:

The short link for Chinese field language-learning links for the “Sing Out Joyfully” book is:

More Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web material based on the Mandarin “Sing Out Joyfully” book will be made available in the Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web resource as time allows.

 

* Thanks to ongoing advancements in personal computing hardware and software, producing material that contains things like musical notation and Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) text at reasonable cost is quicker and easier than ever. At this time, production of the musical notation in the “Sing Out Joyfully” Bk. (Pīnyīn+Music, Pīnyīn Plus, Web) resource begins in free open source software called MuseScore Studio, running on a Mac. Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) text for the lyrics in the musical notation is entered using macOS’s ABC – Extended input source (keyboard layout). (Just using Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) text only here simplifies things so much compared to having to somehow input characters with Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) ruby text!) When it’s ready, the musical notation for a song is exported from MuseScore Studio into SVG format, which is a plain text format that allows for the inclusion of links that activate Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus flashcards on webpages. The coding for the SVG links is currently done using the text editor BBEdit, in which editing large text files is quite performant. For Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Plus web material production in general, my current favourite tool is Nova, but such web material can be produced in any application suitable for web development, such as Visual Studio Code, etc. ^

Categories
Culture Experiences History Technology

shūfǎ

shūfǎ (shū·fǎ writing · methods; ways → [calligraphy; penmanship] 书法 書法) ← Tap/click to show/hide the “flashcard”

Many know “shū (write | writing [→ [book | letter | document | style of calligraphy; script]] 书 書)” as the Mandarin word for “book”, but it actually has an old meaning of “write”. From “write” is derived “writing”, and from that, it’s easy to see how “shū (write | writing [→ [book | letter | document | style of calligraphy; script]] 书 書)” has come to have its modern meanings of “book”, “letter”, and “document”. For example, “shūxiě (shū·xiě write | writing 书写 書寫)” means “write” or “writing”, “Yǐsàiyàshū (Yǐsàiyà·shū Isaiah · {Writing → [Book]} 以赛亚书 以賽亞書)” is the Book of Isaiah, and a “qíngshū (qíng·shū {feelings; affection; emotion → [love]} · {writing → [letter]} 情书 情書)” is a love letter. Yet another effective meaning of “shū (write | writing [→ [book | letter | document | style of calligraphy; script]] 书 書)”, that can be derived from its meaning of “writing”, is “style of calligraphy”, or “script”.

The “fǎ (law | method; way; mode | standard; model | {magic arts} | {follow; model after} 法)” in “fāngfǎ (fāng·fǎ direction · method 方法)” can mean “methods; ways”, and when it’s combined with “shū (write | writing [→ [book | letter | document | style of calligraphy; script]] 书 書)”, we get this week’s MEotW, “shūfǎ (shū·fǎ writing · methods; ways → [calligraphy; penmanship] 书法 書法)”. This expression literally means “writing methods/ways”, and it is used to effectively mean “calligraphy”.

Eastern and Western Calligraphy

Calligraphy that involves the artistic writing of Chinese characters, as practised in Asian cultures, is well-known and highly esteemed. However, does calligraphy only exist in Asian cultures? Are beauty, artistry, and craftsmanship the exclusive province of Chinese characters? Is Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) only able to be cold, efficient, and artless, since it lacks the arguably self-indulgently complex visual designs of Chinese characters? No, no, and no! The fact is that there is a long history—and yes, tradition—of calligraphy involving the Latin alphabet, the alphabet that was deliberately chosen for Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) by the Chinese team that developed it.

This reminds us that while the Latin alphabet used by Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) may have originated outside of China, its adoption for use in Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) for writing Mandarin Chinese makes it part of Chinese culture. As the article “Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) Is a Good, Workable Writing System on Its Own” puts it:

While Pīnyīn uses the Latin alphabet, it does so because the Chinese developers of Pīnyīn of their own free will purposely chose to base it on this international alphabet (it’s not just the English alphabet) so that users of Pīnyīn would benefit from its familiarity. This Chinese design decision has caused the international Latin alphabet to be adopted as part of Chinese culture. As Zhōu Ēnlái (the first Premier of the People’s Republic of China) said, ‘When we adopt the Latin alphabet, in which we make necessary adjustments to suit the needs of the Chinese language, it becomes the phonetic alphabet of our language and is no longer the alphabet of ancient Latin, still less the alphabet of any foreign country.’

So, since Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) has both Eastern and Western aspects, Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) calligraphy would be both Eastern and Western calligraphy.

Calligraphy and Computer Fonts

In the modern world of computing, handwritten calligraphy has been augmented by computer fonts, which enable the billions of users of desktop and laptop computers and mobile devices to enjoy and benefit from the work of artists and designers who work with text and typography.

Incidentally, some of you may have noticed that there are way fewer fonts available for Chinese characters, compared to the overflowing cornucopia of fonts available for the Latin alphabet. This is undoubtedly yet another negative consequence of the simple fact that there are literally thousands of characters in common use that would have to be supported by any font for Chinese characters that’s intended to be usable in daily life, never mind the tens of thousands of Chinese characters that exist in total.

An interesting thing that some may not know is that calligraphy influenced the development of modern computer font design and technology. Steve Jobs, one of the founders of Apple, maker of the iPhone, the iPad, the Macintosh personal computer, etc., said the following in the Stanford Commencement address that he gave in 2005:

Much of what I stumbled into by following my curiosity and intuition turned out to be priceless later on. Let me give you one example:

Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn’t have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and sans serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can’t capture, and I found it fascinating.

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But 10 years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts. And since Windows just copied the Mac, it’s likely that no personal computer would have them. If I had never dropped out, I would have never dropped in on this calligraphy class, and personal computers might not have the wonderful typography that they do. Of course it was impossible to connect the dots looking forward when I was in college. But it was very, very clear looking backward 10 years later.

Time-Lapse Videos of Calligraphed MEotWs

Another way in which modern computing has augmented handwritten calligraphy is by supplying new tools for this ancient craft. A while ago, I acquired the app Procreate for my iPad, and more recently, I also bought an Apple Pencil on sale. As time allows, I hope to be able to put my old hobby of calligraphy to use, and use Procreate to create time-lapse videos, like the one near the beginning of this post, of certain MEotWs being hand-calligraphed. Hopefully these amateur efforts of mine will add a little artistry and craftsmanship for readers of this blog to enjoy.

The Truly Precious Things of All the Nations

The calligraphy produced of Chinese characters is a major aspect of what some fear would be lost if the hypothetical total replacement of characters with something as “mundane” as an alphabet were ever to take place. However, first of all, with how proud and stubborn worldly Chinese people are when it comes to their precious characters, there is little likelihood of that actually happening in the little time that this old system has left. (There’s probably just about as much likelihood that all the Catholics or all the Buddhists will come into the truth before the end comes!) As the MEotW post on “Yànwén (Yàn·wén {Proverb (Korean: Vernacular)} · Writing → [Hangul/Hankul (modern Korean writing system)] 谚文 諺文)” (the modern Korean writing system) said:

If Hangul took hundreds of years to become the dominant writing system in Korea, even with the added nationalistic motivation of it having been invented in Korea to be used instead of the characters invented in China, then Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) could take even longer to become the dominant writing system for Mandarin, if it ever does, and if this old system were hypothetically allowed to last that long—the supporters of invented-in-China Chinese characters are even more proudly and stubbornly resistant to the idea of changing away from Chinese characters in China itself.

At this rate, the current government of China, as long as it lasts, will probably never explicitly officially approve of using Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) as a full writing system for Mandarin in China, even if it’s just as an alternative to the characters instead of as a total replacement for them. Even if it actually wanted to do so, even this government would hesitate to approve of something like this that would probably be opposed by many of the people of China. (As a historic comparison, in 1977, the PRC promulgated a second round of simplified Chinese characters, but this was rescinded in 1986 following widespread opposition.)

The existence of much calligraphy based on the Latin alphabet that is used by Pīnyīn (Pīn·yīn {Piecing Together of} · Sounds → [Pinyin] 拼音) and many other writing systems reminds us that art and beauty do exist apart from Chinese characters. As for the precious things of China and Chinese culture, while humans may point to Chinese characters and the calligraphy based on them, what is truly precious about China in Jehovah God’s eyes? This quote from the September 2021 issue of The Watchtower reveals the answer as it discusses Haggai 2:7–9:

He tells us that as a result of the shaking, “the precious things [honesthearted people] of all the nations will come” to worship Jehovah.

Yes, to Jehovah God, the truly precious things of China are the honesthearted people in it, not the cultural products of any part of this old world that is passing away.—1 John 2:15–17.

While culture can definitely influence the people that are exposed to it, ultimately, people don’t come from culture. Rather, culture comes from people. So, let us focus on helping to save honesthearted Chinese people, not on trying to save the old world’s Chinese culture. Then, we will be able to enjoy the beautiful cultural products that these people will produce for eternity, as they live forever in paradise in God’s new system. Those cultural products will greatly surpass anything ever produced by this old world’s Chinese culture in its relatively brief (compared to eternity) and troubled existence, as the Chinese people who are able to live in the new system join the rest of God’s universal family in being “taught by Jehovah”. (Isaiah 54:13) As Haggai 2:9 says, “the future glory…will be greater than the former”.