2010年8月29日 星期日
2010年8月24日 星期二
Chang Chieh-kuan
By DIANA JOU (AP) – 1 day ago
TAIPEI, Taiwan — Hunched over a metal casting machine, Chang Chieh-kuan carefully guides a tiny copper mold into a hydraulic press. Seconds later he extracts a piece of lead type with the Chinese character for "happiness."
That's one down, thousands more to go in a last-ditch effort by this 58-year-old craftsman to rescue the millennium-old world of Chinese lead type from the advance of the digital age.
Chang's foundry is one of the last making traditional Chinese characters the old way. It's time-consuming and labor-intensive, but Chang says it brings out the grandeur of the characters.
"Lead type makes an impression on paper that digital printing cannot," he said. "It allows people to feel the weight and power of the character."
In an age when Chinese can text and tweet in their native script, and at a time when China has just surpassed Japan to become the world's second biggest economy, Chang's labor of love is a reminder of a much older China, one that invented movable type 400 years before it reached Europe.
Chinese script has no alphabet. Instead it consists of words made up of one or two characters, some of which can consist of up to 25 strokes. To read a newspaper requires memorizing some 2,500 characters, a novel about 4,000.
Handwritten Chinese, using brush and paper, is considered an art form and an indicator of its practitioner's scholarship and aesthetic sensibility.
In communist China, many characters have been replaced by simplified forms to promote literacy, but purists say they lack the heft and balance of the originals.
Taiwan, an island of 23 million people 160 kilometers (100 miles) off the Chinese coast, still uses the traditional versions, regarding them as the heart and soul of Chinese culture. The older characters are also in use in Hong Kong, though no movable-type foundries exist there.
And everywhere, word processing is threatening to make the old skills extinct.
Chang, a bespectacled perfectionist with a salt-and-pepper crewcut and a friendly smile, is out to save the family legacy and its two million pieces of lead type crammed in his workshop.
To do so, he is fighting fire with fire — digitizing 150,000 characters and enlarging them on a computer screen to help him perfect their lead-type versions and create a museum of printing where visitors can buy character molds as gifts.
When Ri Xing Type Foundry was established in 1969, one of the partners was an uncle in the family who had worked for a newspaper printer for so long that he was able to write almost all the Chinese characters with a calligraphy brush. He didn't need a dictionary, Chang said. "In fact, he was the dictionary."
Back then, Taipei had 5,000 printing shops. Forty years later, only 30 old-style establishments remain and Ri Xing is the last print foundry in the capital. It hasn't turned a profit in 10 years, and to pay the bills, Chang sold the home he inherited from his father.
His determination has attracted a dozen spirited volunteers, many of whom had previously never seen lead type.
The copper molds he is making are in a font called Kaishu which dates from the Qing Dynasty, China's last imperial rulers, who were overthrown in 1911.
"If I can't save this business ... it would be a big loss for Taiwan," Chang said. "As for humanity, the Chinese-character movable letterpress is a huge cultural asset and could very well disappear."
Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
2010年8月14日 星期六
Chopin Reloaded
In Chopin Reloaded this August, half Polish and half Peruvian Marita Alban Juarez goes on a personal quest to discover the music that inspired Chopin and the impact he continues to have on musicians today.
Two hunderd years after the composers birth, Marita explores his legacy in his native Poland and abroad.
2010年8月13日 星期五
一切從流星雨開始 (阿尾的落地窗)
阿尾的落地窗
五尾乘二 張貼於 阿尾的落地窗 - 1 小時以前2010年8月10日 星期二
Robert Aitken a master of Zen Buddhism,social action
Obituary: Robert Aitken dies at 93; American Zen master
Aitken, one of the first Americans to be fully sanctioned as a master of Zen Buddhism, emphasized a path to enlightenment through social action
Robert Aitken, an influential American Zen master and writer who emphasized a path to enlightenment through social action, died of pneumonia Thursday in a Honolulu hospital. He was 93.
His death was confirmed by Roland Sugimoto, administrator of Honolulu Diamond Sangha, a Zen Buddhist network with more than 20 affiliated groups around the world that Aitken founded more than 50 years ago with his late wife, Anne Hopkins Aitken.
Aitken was one of the first Americans to be fully sanctioned as a master of Zen Buddhism and trained several generations of Zen Buddhist teachers. He established the Honolulu center as a lay community that was particularly notable for an egalitarian approach that was welcoming to women.
"He made Zen Buddhism workable for Westerners," said Michael Kieran, who studied under Aitken and now oversees Diamond Sangha's main temple as master teacher. "He removed a lot of the patriarchal language from the tradition, which had been mainly transmitted to us through the monastic tradition."
Known for his commitment to social justice, Aitken helped found the Berkeley-based Buddhist Peace Fellowship. He also wrote 13 books, including "Taking the Path of Zen" (1982), a classic primer on Zen practice, and "The Mind of Clover" (1984), a highly regarded exploration of Buddhist ethics.
Born in Philadelphia on June 19, 1917, Aitken moved with his family to Honolulu when he was 5, after his anthropologist father went to work on the staff of the Bishop Museum there. He grew up in Hawaii and California, where he completed high school.
His introduction to Zen came with the outbreak of World War II, when he was a civilian construction worker on Guam. He was captured by Japanese troops in 1942 and spent the duration of the war in an internment camp in Kobe.
In the camp, a Japanese guard lent him a copy of British scholar R.H. Blyth's "Zen in English Literature and Oriental Classics." Aitken was fascinated and read the book many times.
After the 10th reading, the world "seemed transparent," Aitken wrote years later, "and I was absurdly happy despite our miserable circumstances."
In 1944, when several camps were consolidated in Kobe, he met Blyth, who had been teaching in Japan when he was detained as an enemy alien. Aitken spent the next year in constant conversation with Blyth; and when they were released at war's end, he decided he would learn meditation under a Zen master.
Aitken returned to Hawaii and enrolled in the University of Hawaii, where he earned a bachelor's degree in English literature in 1947 and a master's degree in Japanese studies in 1950. His master's thesis on the great haiku poet Basho became the basis for his book "A Zen Wave" (1978).
He was working in a bookstore in Los Angeles in the late 1940s when he began to study with Nyogen Senzaki, an itinerant Zen monk who had settled in California in the 1920s. Aitken later went to Japan to train under Nakagawa Soen Roshi, who authorized him to establish a meditation group in his home in Hawaii in 1959. He was ordained in 1974.
Although he was not the first Zen leader to preach social engagement, Aitken was known for his strong commitment to social justice. The "monastery walls have broken down and the old teaching and practice of wisdom, love and responsibility are freed for the widest applications in the domain of social affairs," he wrote in a 1993 book, "Encouraging Words."
He counseled draft resisters during the Vietnam War. Earlier, he helped organize chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union and American Friends Service Committee in Hawaii.
Kieran said Aitken was particularly fond of a photograph of himself at a protest holding a sign that read "The System Stinks."
"He believed in getting out there, holding signs, getting in the way. He was radical in his politics," Kieran said.
In 1978, Aitken co-founded Buddhist Peace Fellowship with his wife, Anne, and Nelson Foster, who would later succeed Aitken as spiritual leader of Diamond Sangha. The fellowship promotes social activism by Zen Buddhists and has led or participated in prison advocacy campaigns and programs supporting sustainable agriculture in Asia, Tibetan education and human rights in Burma, now called Myanmar.
Aitken's first marriage, to Mary Laune, ended in 1953. He married Anne Hopkins in 1957; she died in 1994. He is survived by his son from his first marriage, Thomas, and three granddaughters.
elaine.woo@latimes.com
Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times
2010年8月9日 星期一
李敖的情場
李敖的美腿驕妻王小屯 年齡45歲
選李敖?他不僅大我30歲,還那麼不安份,簡直令人擔心!”
在李敖七十多年的人生歲月中,來來去去的女人很多。
小屯,雖然曾經見諸過他的筆下,但從未在現實生活中曝過光。
19歲那年被李敖“騙”了
小屯姓王,這個小名,是她和李敖初識到故宮博物院看展覽,
17年前的夏天,小屯19歲,李敖49歲。她仍是護校的學生,
反倒是李敖機警,看准了那雙美腿,打定主意急起直追,
八年地下戀情
小屯與李敖在婚前愛情長跑8年。據解放日報消息,期間,
李敖和小屯的戀情,終於在第8年曝了光,因為他們要結婚了。
最後還是請了小屯的哥哥幫忙,居中說項,加上小屯自己撂下狠話:
李敖眼中的滿分媽媽
小屯出身軍人世家,從小在家屬院長大,
她從認識李敖到後來嫁給李敖,沒有在外面上過一天班,
在李敖眼中,小屯是個“一百分的媽媽”,婚後,她全然不管他,
現在,她每天接送李戡上學下學,陪他讀書、彈鋼琴、找資料、
她很少做家事,大部分的家事都由李敖和菲傭來做,
她眼中的李敖很枯燥
在小屯的心目中,李敖一點都不像他書中或螢幕上給人的印象:
“而且,李敖在家很少發脾氣,
至於人家說他好交女朋友這一方面,就她所知,這17年來,
她說,李敖在單身時,雖然曾經交往過一二十個女友,
李敖兒子李戡照片曝光 欲讀北大
李敖、李戡父子昨天接受陳文茜訪問,一向尖銳犀利的名嘴李敖,
臺灣作家李敖後繼有人,
李敖一生風流,最後情定小他30歲的妻子王小屯,
李戡今年從師大附中畢業,當年以一分之差沒考上建中,
李敖曾表示,將兒子取名為李戡,“戡”字在古代有平定、
李敖年輕時最愛奇裝異服,在台大校園�常身著一身長袍,
今年李戡考上臺灣大學地質科學系,由於大陸新政策,
獲悉同父異母弟弟李戡可能到北大念書,
一生豔遇不斷愛得迴腸盪氣 李敖和他的7段情
李敖一生倨傲,有才情卻屢屢不得志,但這並不妨礙他做個"
1. 羅,初戀遭阻幾喪命
1953年,在臺北念高三的李敖18歲,在放學路上偶遇一女生,
可讓李敖始料不及的是,羅的父母是基督徒,
2. 王尚勤,給了他女兒李文
李敖是王尚勤大哥的同窗好友,
李敖和長女李文
1966年春天,王尚勤帶著快3歲的女兒飛回臺北,
3. 小Y,緣自不打不相識
1965年1月,李敖從許多讀者來信中,
4. 小蕾,危難中癡情守護
李敖在回憶錄中寫道:“我認識小蕾在1967年9月26日,
1971年李敖入獄之初,小蕾獨自在國泰大樓度過。
5年之後李敖出獄,小蕾早已為人妻母了。
5. 劉會雲,穿針引線為“復出”
1976年冬天,李敖剛出獄不久,應邀到老朋友蕭孟能寓所赴宴,
1978年春天,兩人開始一起生活。1979年舊歷春節過後,
李敖的復出,震動臺灣文壇。
6. 胡茵夢,轟動婚姻僅三月
李敖和胡茵夢很快共渡愛河。1980年5月6日,
有人問李敖:胡茵夢的追求者甚多,不乏有錢有勢的主,
其實,準備結婚時,不愉快的氣氛就已經開始籠罩。
這些因素以及小摩擦,日漸影響著胡茵夢和李敖的關係,
7. 王小屯,給了他愛的歸宿
1983年,
1992年3月8日,李敖和王小屯經過8年“愛情長跑”,
王小屯婚後一直沒到社會上謀職,
1995年4月25日,一向不輕易在公眾場合露面的王小屯,
這一天,出席壽宴的人數有百余之眾。
李敖:多情才子半生風流(組圖)
不見天日的黑牢�,特務要李敖交代案情,李敖支吾其詞,
一九三五年生於哈爾濱的李敖。
李敖的幼年時代。
李敖兒時綽號“老太太”
李敖與其母親、四位姊姊及大妹在北京的合影(1947)
李敖的小學畢業照。
過三十歲生日的李敖。
李敖二十歲生日 1955.04
1959.09 預官時代
1960年李敖與姚從吾教授。姚從吾老師“從吾所好”,
1961年寫“老年人和棒子”時代的李敖。
1963年寫“傳統下的獨白”時代的李敖。
1964年“文化論戰”時的李敖。
1964年告徐複觀案,李敖走出法庭。
1964.05.24 送居浩然出島:這是居浩然李敖第一次合照,也是最後一次見面。
1965.04.25 李敖三十歲生日
“小喬初嫁了,雄姿英發”。 1980年,45歲的李敖與影星胡茵夢閃電結婚,《李敖全集》
這張照片沒有李敖,但有李敖的長袍,以及胡適送給他的字。這�
2001年4月25日,李敖66歲生日。在電視節目上,
2005年9月23日,正進行“神州文化之旅”的李敖,
2006年10月24日,為表明反軍購案立場,李敖在“立法院”
2006年10月15日,李敖拿出二千張一千元新臺幣,
全家福:李敖喜獲麟兒李戡後, 與妻子小屯之全家福
李敖大事記
1935年 四月二十五日生于哈爾濱。
1937年 全家遷到北平。
1949年 考入上海市緝規中學。同年四月十二日遷到臺灣。
1963年 休學。九月一日出版第一本書——《傳統下的獨白》。
1971年 軟禁、跟蹤至三月十九日晚上被捕,
1980年 出版《李敖全集》。同年五月六日與胡茵夢結婚。
1992年 再次結婚,長子出生。
1996年 開講“李敖笑傲江湖”,從此成為電視媒體焦點。
2000年 競選臺灣地區領導人。同年七月二十九日母親過世。
2004年 在香港鳳凰衛視主持《李敖有話說》節目。
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