A Book that Clearly Explains Classical Chinese Literature and Classical Japanese Literature ／ Classical Chinese Part

• Goal

  • Same as Classical Japanese Part
  • Collect knowledge that makes your life easier just by knowing it
  • Focus on understanding the critical and non-obvious differences in modern language
  • Ignore things that require grammar knowledge for understanding, and focus on learning intuitively
  • Even if you can’t fully understand it, just knowing the points where you might misread can be helpful
  • Be aware that you can supplement your knowledge in other places

• Reading Classical Chinese like English

  • Make an effort to read it in an English-like way

• Kanji to Know

  • Functional Words

    • 於 乎 于
      • Capture the meaning of “to, by, than, for” in a clever way
      • The following word is the complement (C)
    • 而
      • Like a conjunction
      • Capture the meaning of “and, then, however” in a clever way
        • Not sure if it’s for adding or contrasting
    • Useless Words
      • 矣 焉, just for emphasis
      • 兮, just for rhythm in poetry

  • Meaning of 也

    • At the end of a sentence
      • Default: “〜也” means “〜なり。” (assertion)
      • Question: “何〜也” or “誰〜也” means “〜か” (question or rhetorical question)
    • In the middle of a sentence
      • Can be ignored

  • 之

    • Particle (possessive), pronoun (this), verb (to go)
    • There are three meanings

  • 已

    • Only, already, cease
    • There are three meanings and the nuances are similar

  • Other non-obvious and important ones

    • Unknown type
      • 素/固: originally
      • 夫: originally
    • Adjective
      • 少: young
    • Verbs
      • 道/首/白: say
      • 対: answer
      • 卒: pass away
      • 竟: end
      • 敢: dare
    • Nouns
      • 上: emperor
      • 相: prime minister
      • 人間（じんかん）: the world
      • 左右: close aides
      • 故人: old friend
      • 知己: close friend
      • 城: town
      • 字: alias
      • 小人: unimportant person

• Sentence Structure

  • 使/命/令: make (causative)
  • 見: be made to (passive)
  • Negation
    • 無不/非不, double negative = affirmative
    • Negation negates the one below it
      • 不常 = “not always” (negates “常”)
      • 常不 = “always different”
      • (all negation vs partial negation)
    • 無A無B
      • Meaning: “A and B indiscriminately” pattern, or “All A have B” pattern
        • If A and B are antonyms, it’s the former
    • Non-obvious negation
      • 莫し・勿し: not
      • 〜弗: not
  • Interrogative Sentences
    • Various kanji, it’s better to memorize them by practicing past questions
    • Rhetorical Questions
      • Ending with “〜ん” or “〜んや”
  • Other various sentence patterns
    • Put on hold for now, confirm while doing the exam
  • Using 以
    • Aを以てBと為す = Consider A as B
    • There are various uses, but there are no extreme meanings, so it’s best to guess based on intuition

• Techniques

  • Recognize the structure of antithetical phrases to understand the structure
  • Gather information from various sources

• Domain Knowledge

  • Names are often abbreviated or used with different names after the second time
  • Classical Poetry
    • Five-character/Eight-character: 5 characters/7 characters
    • Quatrain/Regulated Verse: 4 lines/8 lines
    • Rhyme is done in even lines
    • Antithetical phrases tend to be in the pattern of 3-4 phrases, 5-6 phrases (it’s important to notice)