溫
故
知
新
Wengu zhixin 
詩
經
Shi Jing 
– The Book of Odes
The oldest collection of Chinese poetry, more than three hundred songs, odes and hymns. Tr. Legge (en) and Granet (fr, incomplete).
論
語
Lun Yu – The Analects of Confucius
The Master discusses with his disciples and unveil his preoccupations with society. Tr. Legge (en), Lau (en) and Couvreur (fr).
大
學
Daxue – The Great Learning
Confucean thought summarized for the Prince. Tr. Legge (en), Pauthier (fr), Bog (fr).
中
庸
Zhongyong – The Doctrine of the Mean
Confucius' grandson comments about the Way and human nature. Tr. Legge (en)
三
字
經
San Zi Jing – The Three-Character Classic
A textbook helpfull to start learning Classic Chinese. Tr. Giles (en) and Deverge (fr).
易
經
Yi Jing – I Ching, the Book of Changes
This famous system of 64 hexagrams plus their commentaries and transformations is at the root of Chinese thought. Tr. Wilhelm (en, fr).
道
德
經
Dao De Jing – The Way and Its Power
The naturalist, individualist and politic doctrine of Lao-tse exhibited in 81 poetic and obscure texts. Tr. Waley (en), Lau (en), Julien (fr) and Wilhelm (de).
An anthology of 320 poems. Discover Chinese poetry in its golden age and some of the greatest Chinese poets. Tr. by Bynner (en).
孫
子
兵
法
Sun Zi – The Art of War
Chinese strategy explained : know yourself and the ennemy, use deception, spies, and "win with ease". Tr. Giles (en, annotated) and Amiot (fr).
三
十
六
計
36 Ji – Thirty-Six Strategies
A recently uncovered notebook of 36 proverbs commented as military tactics that helps dealing with conflicts. Tr. Verstappen (en), Doc Mac Jr (fr).
Random samples
Fat and strong, fat and strong, / Fat and strong, are the chestnut teams. / Early and late are the [officers] in [...] Cf. Shijing 298 | The Master said, "The reason why the ancients did not readily give utterance to their words, was that they feared lest [...] Cf. Lunyu 88 | Sung / Conflict / Heaven and water go their opposite ways: The image of CONFLICT. Thus in all his transactions the [...] Cf. Yijing 6 |
It acts without action, does without doing, finds flavour in what is flavourless, / Can make the small great and the [...] Cf. Daodejing 63 | The Son of Heaven in Yuanhe times was martial as a god / And might be likened only to the Emperors Xuan and Xi. / [...] Cf. Tangshi 73 | Measurement owes its existence to Earth; Estimation of quantity to Measurement; Calculation to Estimation of quantity; [...] Cf. Sunzi 55 |
Foreword
In these pages it's possible to read the Analects of Confucius (Lunyu), The Way and its Power (Daode Jing) attributed to Lao-tse and some other wisdom or poetry texts in Chinese with English and French translations. Any Chinese characters are linked to dictionaries. Your browser must display Chinese.
Why read Confucius, Lao-tse or the Book of Changes? Well, these Chinese classics have had a major influence on the oldest civilization still in existence on the face of this planet; that should be enough. If not, please consider that China, mostly as a distant mirror where hopes and fears are reflected, has exercised a profound impact on the thinking patterns of Western civilisations, and will. This article in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy explains things better.
Harrison Z. Huang, Ph.D student at socrates.berkeley.edu, writes : "Analects on the AFPC website: This excellent site based in France arrays the Chinese text of the Analects alongside English translations by James Legge (1871) and D.C. Lau. (1979), as well as a French translation by Couvreur."
Jean-Victor Gruat, dans le Portique, écrit : « Hors des sentiers battus et du traditionnel des manuels, gbog nous procure depuis quelques mois d'ineffables plaisirs sur son site [...] Ce qui fait toute l'originalité et le charme du travail particulièrement méticuleux de gbog, c'est la présentation des textes sous une forme respectant la tradition de l'époque, caractères inscrits sur des faisceaux de planchettes de bambou que l'on déroulait pour les lire, avec l'utilisation de techniques modernes et légères d'annotation informatique [...] »
The art of doing nothing, www.biroco.com, writes : "Absolutely marvellous rendering of the Yijing, Lunyu, Daodejing, Shijing, and Tang Shi in Chinese and translation. Beautifully presented, an obvious labour of love and considerable technical expertise."
En Suisse, sinoptic.ch écrit : « [...] site riche et esthétiquement très réussi [...]. Une référence ! »
En Belgique, Le Soir (19 mars 2004), dans son article L'empire, à mots choisis, petit béaba chinois, a écrit : « Wengu. Entrez ce mot dans un moteur de recherche sur Internet ou allez à http://afpc.asso.fr/wengu/index.php, vous découvrirez un site d'introduction à la culture chinoise très bien présenté. »
Le Bulletin des Bibliothèques de France (BBF 2003 - Paris, t. 48, n. 5), propose Wengu dans son Panorama du Web. A Lyon, Le Fonds chinois de la bibliothèque municipale propose Wengu comme site du mois.
Classical Chinese Literature Websites Database writes : "Contains Shi Jing, Lun Yu, Yi Jing, Dao de jing, Tang shi. Nice introduction and information about each one. Contains traditional chinese characters with immediate English (and French!) translation. Some texts offer multiple translations. REALLY COOL PART: If you put your pointer on a character, a rollover window appears with pinyin pronounciation (complete with tone!) and translation. Clicking on the character opens up a dictionary in a separate window. Although some of the translations are modern, rather than classical, it is still useful (and pretty neato)."
Other pages linking here / Autres liens entrants :
Wenlin Institutes (home of a wonderful software for learning chinese).
Wikipedia articles on Shi Jing, Lun Yu, Yi Jing, Chinese poetry, and so on...
The Internet Public Library, Dmoz, Google and other directories.
Symbols.net, Extraits et Sucs de la langue chinoise, Condor.depaul.edu, Myrilke, Le Blog Des Livres.
Wengu – Chinese Classics – Chinese on/off – Français/English
The Book of Odes, The Analects, Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean, Three-characters book, The Book of Changes, The Way and its Power, 300 Tang Poems, The Art of War, Thirty-Six Strategies
Welcome, help, notes, introduction, table.
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