Wikipedia in Classical Chinese!

This is amazing. Wikipedia now comes in Classical Chinese (文言文)! (http://zh-classical.wikipedia.org/wiki/) The first step in restoring (what I consider to be) the only true written form of the Chinese language! And for the restoration of the East Asian nations' cross-border literacy.

Down with the imperialistic modern Mandarin vernacular! Long live Classical Chinese and the long-neglected and wrongfully-maligned dialects!

PS. As an aside, I wrote a forum thread on my views of the restoration of Classical Chinese at http://www.chinese-forums.com/showthread.php?t=11622

Barbara

I was doing my usual mindless web-surfing one night when, for some strange reason - like a bolt of lightning crossing my mind - I decided to do a Google search for a name that I had not heard of in a very long time. I found what I was looking for, and it most certainly brought back a lot of fond childhood memories.

Those of you who were born during the mid 1970's or earlier, and were fans of Cantonese television serials (particularly the period costume martial arts dramas) will definitely remember her - Barbara Yung Mei Ling 翁美玲. Yung was most famous for her role as Wong Yung 黃溶 in the television series rendition of Louis Cha's 金庸 novel "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" 射雕英雄傳, alongside the equally-famous Felix Wong Yat Wah 黃日華.

Although as a young teenager, I did not have the chance to watch "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" 射雕英雄傳, I did have the priviliege of watching Yung star in a modern television serial, "The Rough Ride" 挑戰, alongside a very young Tony Leung Chiu Wai 梁朝偉. I enjoyed the series a lot, for several reasons - for the cute storyline revolving around Leung's character having two fathers, the pantheon of veteran stars (Sam Lui Leung Wai 呂良偉, Barbara Chan Mun Yee 陳敏兒, Lau Dan 劉丹, Kwan Hoi San 關海山, etc.)... and for lovely Barbara Yung, whom I think did a great performance as the lady cop Tse Bik Wah 謝碧華.

And looking back at all the poster girls I have grown up with as a child and teenager over the years, I have to say that Barbara Yung stands right there at the top.

Of course, those of you who grew up watching and admiring Barbara Yung, also know that she died of gas poisoning in her apartment, allegedly by suicide due to a broken heart, in 1985, at a tender age of only 26. One can only speculate how this giant of a lady, standing only 5'2" but truly a lovely angel, would have evolved in her career that spanned only a few years in the early 1980's... and can only lament that she did not stay on with us.

In the process of searching for information regarding "The Rough Ride" 挑戰, I found several audio clippings of the original theme song "我與你, 他與我" (translated loosely as "Me and You, Him and Me"), sung by the late Anita Mui Yim Fong 梅艷芳 (one of them included the video of opening credits for the series: http://www.spcnet.tv/cgi-bin/band/downloader.cgi?site=1&filename=roughride.ram). After a couple of deft file manipulations (those of you know know me well, can testify that my data and information gathering skills know no bounds!), I managed to acquire a very clear MP3 copy of the song. I really cannot think of a better voice that could have captured the spirit and sadness that the song conveys.

Now, call me a hopeless romantic (which, I will shamelessly admit I am!), but I found that the melancholic song, intertwined with Barbara's forlorn look, makes for a potent combination. Such a coincidence that both the lead actress of the series and the singer of the theme song, are no longer with us.

http://www.yungmeiling.com/

Looks like the CD box set of "The Rough Ride" 挑戰 is on my shopping list!

* * * * * * * * * *

This weblog entry is dedicated to these two giants of the Hong Kong entertainment scene - Barbara Yung and Anita Mui... and to their fans all around the world.

Autism surfacing?

The acute lack of social interaction my my life in recent years is starting to take its toll on my oral communication and overall social skills. Here are some examples which clearly warrant sounding the alarm bells for remedial action:

1. I find myself constantly unable to keep up with group conversations, even when the "group" really comprises of only three persons. A close friend actually caught me 'zoning out' on several occasions - for which I sincerely apologise.
2. I have my manager deriding me for my propensity to write long e-mails instead of just picking up the telephone and talking. I gravitate towards 'memo culture' simply because I find that I am able to arrange my thoughts more coherently, rather than off-the-cuff and disorganised sentences
   
3. My China supplier has started finding my Mandarin accent awkward and incomprehensible, and has politely suggested that all future communications be done via e-mail (in Chinese, of course). The irony is, I have actually preferred that arrangement since Day #1, as I am not fluent in the spoken language at all.
4. My Chinese reading skills have improved significantly, but my pronunciation has not moved a dent. In other words, the characters are degenerating into nothing more than hieroglyphs in my mind.
   
5. I find instrumental music more alluring than those with lyrics.
6. I am no longer able to sustain small talk with total strangers for more than 10 minutes, often finding my eyes darting around for more amusing distractions - unless the topic of conversation is something I can truly relate to.
   

Perhaps somewhere in the deep recesses of my brain is an autistic gene that has been lying dormant for years, just waiting to creep out at the moment I am entering mid-life crisis.