Eighth Post!

[hoisinsauce]

It's one thing if mankind is hunted to extinction by ChatGPT, but I really do object to being executed by Bing.

(https://secretfanspace.dreamwidth.org/2511.html?thread=3169743#cmt3169743 )

Welcome back! Fandom chat, misc creativity, internet weirdness, books, films, anything! Tell meme about it so we can get to the next post title!

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Comments

Re: Poetry - Some People (有的人) by Zang Kejia (臧克家)

[(Anonymous)]

some who live
are already dead;
some who die
still live on.

some people
ride on people's heads, shouting: 'look how great i am!'
some people
work like a horse for the people.
some people
carve their names in stone, imagining 'forever.'
some people
willingly become wild grass, waiting for the underground fire.
some people
live so that others cannot;
some people
live so that others may live better.

the ones who ride on people's heads
the people will throw them down;
the ones who work for the people
the people will remember forever!
the ones who carve their names into stone
their names will rot before their corpses do;
green grass can flourish
anywhere the spring wind blows.
the ones who live so that others cannot
their fates can be easily seen.
the ones who live so that others can
the crowd will hoist them up, higher, higher.

Original Chinese: https://baike.baidu.com/item/有的人/3554267

Well, this is some real straightforward poetry, all patriotism and revolution. Apparently it's a part of the sixth-grade curriculum in China. Since I aspire to one day have the Chinese proficiency of someone who graduated elementary school, I suppose I should be honored.

This poem was written to commemorate the thirteenth anniversary of Lu Xun's death. If you're not familiar with him, well - the best comparison is probably Charles Dickens, only a whole lot more famous and political. He wrote biting satirical short stories that lampooned old traditions and pushed for modernization and Westernization. More importantly, his writing popularized the use of simple vernacular in writing instead of complex literary and classical language. Chinese learners everywhere owe him a great debt.

Re: Poetry - Some People (有的人) by Zang Kejia (臧克家)

[(Anonymous)]

This one looks familiar! I think I've read it before somewhere (in translation). Maybe it was quoted in Wild Swans as an example of the curriculum.