Index of /pub/packages/ccic/china-studies/huangxin-collection

Icon  Name                              Last modified      Size  Description
[DIR] Parent Directory - [TXT] ChineseClassics1.txt 21-Nov-1993 19:00 31K [TXT] ChineseClassics2.txt 21-Nov-1993 19:00 1.7K [TXT] ChineseClassics3.txt 21-Nov-1993 19:00 86K [TXT] ChineseClassics4.txt 21-Nov-1993 19:00 51K [TXT] ChineseClassics5.txt 21-Nov-1993 19:00 81K [TXT] ChineseForeign.txt 21-Nov-1993 19:00 105K [TXT] ChineseMisc.txt 21-Nov-1993 19:00 71K [TXT] ChineseModern1.txt 21-Nov-1993 19:00 38K [TXT] ChineseModern2.txt 21-Nov-1993 19:00 48K [TXT] ChineseModern3.txt 21-Nov-1993 19:00 42K [TXT] ChineseModern4.txt 21-Nov-1993 19:00 38K [TXT] ChineseNews.txt 21-Nov-1993 19:00 46K [TXT] ChineseRecipes.txt 21-Nov-1993 19:00 21K [TXT] ChineseSongs.txt 21-Nov-1993 19:00 17K [TXT] ChineseZhuZi.txt 21-Nov-1993 19:00 43K [TXT] ClassicalJokes.txt 21-Nov-1993 19:00 8.5K [TXT] Confucius.txt 21-Nov-1993 19:00 50K [TXT] Gopher_Server 04-Jun-1993 20:00 1.8K [TXT] Laozi.txt 21-Nov-1993 19:00 65K [TXT] Mencius.txt 21-Nov-1993 19:00 73K [TXT] Menglong.txt 21-Nov-1993 19:00 22K [TXT] ModernJokes.txt 21-Nov-1993 19:00 25K [TXT] README 21-Nov-1993 19:00 8.2K [TXT] Tang1.txt 21-Nov-1993 19:00 58K [TXT] Tang2.txt 21-Nov-1993 19:00 34K [   ] all.index 21-Nov-1993 19:00 71K [TXT] chpoem-l.faq 05-Aug-1994 20:00 5.8K [DIR] chpoem-recent-postings/ 13-Sep-1995 23:31 - [TXT] post-Menglong.txt 21-Nov-1993 19:00 38K [DIR] ts300-print/ 13-Sep-1995 23:24 -

                              CHPOEM Collection
                     --- a growing Chinese classics library

Compiled by:  Huangxin Wang, University of Pennsylvania
Last update:  6/28/93
Major changes since last update: new files including:
	      classic5.gb
	      yijing.gb

ftp site:	ifcss.org	(129.107.1.155)
		directory:	china-studies/literature/poetry
		cnd.org		(132.249.229.100)
		directory:	

The plain text GB files in this directory are the entire collection of
all postings on the Chinese Poem Exchange (CHPOEM) network so far (see the
the file CHPOEM.README or README in the ftp sites above).  The
files can be read in the same way as you read Hua Xia Wen Zhai (HXWZ)
Chinese magazine, using any softwares available on UNIX, IBM-PC and
Macintosh (see the file INTRODUCTION in directory cnd-cm/ about how to
read Chinese files).

This collection is sure to grow as the days go.  I will try to update
it on the monthly basis.


I.  What's in these files?
--------------------------

	yijing.gb		entire Yi-Ching text.
	laozi.gb		entire text of "Laozi" (81 chapters)
	confucius.gb		text of "Lun-Yu"
	mencius.gb		text of "Meng Zi"
	zhuzi.gb		miscellaneous works of Chinese ancient
				philosophers in the "Zhu Zi Bai Jia" period.
				Currently this file contains
				"SunZi Bin Fa", "Gui Gu Zi", and "Da Xue".
	classic1.gb		from ChunQiu to Han and Wei dynasty
	classic2.gb [note]	from Jin4 to pre-Tang dynasty
	tang1.gb		early to middle Tang dynasty
	tang2.gb		late-Tang dynasty
	classic3.gb		Song dynasty
	classic4		post-Song dynasty to Qing Dynasty
				including the entire collection of poems
				in "Hong Lou Meng" (Red Chamber's Dreams).
	classic5		post-Qing dynasty to present (classical
				style), including the entire collection of
				Mao Zedong's poems, Wang Guowei's poetry
				commentary.
	modern*.gb		modern poetry
	menglong.gb		"Meng Long" poems by Bei Dao and others.
	post-menglong.gb	poems after the "Meng Long" style era.
	foreign.gb		foreign poems translated into Chinese
	songs.gb		lyrics of some popular Chinese songs
	misc.gb			miscellaneous collection, including "Dui-lian"
				(couplet), "Deng-mi" (puzzles), jokes, humors,
				"Chen-Yu" (idioms), etc.
	news.gb			news digest compiled from HXWZ and other
				sources.
	classicaljokes.gb	Jokes from ancient Chinese literature
	modernjokes.gb		Jokes in modern Chinese
	recipes.gb		recipes of Chinese cooking
	index.gb		the index of all the entries in the above
				files.  It is listed by the numbering, the
				label and the title of each record (see below).



II. Ordering of Records
-----------------------

Each poem or essay is called a "record" in these files.  I try to order
the records by the following rules:

For ancient literature, they are arranged chronically, or roughly
according to the period they are in.

For modern poetry, they are arranged roughly into:  (1)  "Old" New
Poems (such as those in the 1920s or 30s); (2)  period until 1976;
(3)  The "real" New Poems after 1976, typified by Beidao and Shu Ting.
(4)  Everything else, including those by
alive-and-young-and-bouncing-around poets (like Tuya).

For the songs.gb, foreign.gb, misc.gb and others, they are almost
randomly ordered.

I try to follow these rules throughout, but my limited knowledge may
make some mistakes as silly as assuming Mao Zedong to be the first
emperor of Tang dynasty (even though I hope so :-) ).  Please let me
know any mistakes or any suggestions for improvements.

Since many Chinese text editors have a limit on the maximal size of a
file, the above files are kept below the same limit as the HXWZ file
limit, i.e., around 40k per file.  If a file grows too large, it will
be split up.


III. Text Format
----------------

All these files are plain GB texts.  To facilitate processing the
records (such as browse/edit, delete/insert), I adopt the following
simple "database" format (except for ts300 series):

Each file is made of records, the beginning of a record is marked by
the character * at the beginning of a line (in UNIX notation, ^\*).
The ASCII string after this mark on the same line is used to label this
record, but this string can be empty.

With this marker, it is very convenient to write a simple program to
process the entries of this collection.  For example, to show the poem
(i.e., record) #25 of file tang1.gb, or delete that record, or extract
out that record as a single file, etc.

I use the following convention (similar to the convention of file names
for CHPOEM posting) to label each record (even though in many cases,
the label is empty):

	lastname-firstname.xxx

xxx is 3 digits to distinguish different poems of the same author.  For
example,

	li-bai.001	li-qingzhao.002

A special one is:

	lastname-firstname.000

which is a record containing the information about the author.

The content of a record can be in any format, as long as there is no
line started with the character *.  There is no restriction on the
number of empty lines, or the format of the title line (first line) of
a record, even though I prefer to have the following form for the title
line:

	author name <<title>>

then an empty line after it.  << >> is the Chinese punctuation of
"book-name mark".


IV. How these files are generated?
-----------------------------------

When the collection grows, it becomes obvious that one needs a good
organizer for the collection.  The postings on the CHPOEM are
spontaneous, thus organizing them together is a process similar to the
database management --- random access, insert/delete, find/replace, and
indexing.  I developed a set of HyperCard stacks to do such
maintenance.  When I receive a posting in uuencoded format on CHPOEM, I
display the uuencoded mail on screen (using a terminal emulation
program on Mac, such as VersaTerm), copy it, use Ed Lai's "Clipboard
Magician" to decode it.  Then just paste it into a new card in one of
these stacks.   If the posting is in hz format (enclosed by ~{ ~} or
zW), the easiest on Macintosh to decode it is by using QRead DA written
by me (available from ifcss.org ftp site).


V. About the HyperCard stack for this collection
-------------------------------------------------
	(for Macintosh users only)

Using the Hypercard stack for this collection, the
maintenance/browsing/Editing is very easy and enjoyable.   For example,
I can flip through the collection just like flipping books, or jump to
a particular item by clicking at its title in the index.  Reorganizing
the card location according to the rules of ordering can be done by
Cut/Paste.  I can then update the index window (which list all the
poems in the stacks by its label and title); or periodically, I can
dump out the contents of all the stacks as plain text files (the files
in this directory).

The above plain GB files are readable on all computer platforms; on the
other hand, the simple "database" format I define above also allows one
to write a management program for processing/organization.

In summary, here are some of the functionalities of the stacks:

*       Random access to any poems by simpling mouse-click in
	its title listed in the index window.

*	Update the index window as new records are added in.

*	Edit/Print/Search

*       Extract a record as a text file, or read from a text
	file into the record.

*	Bookmark (for you to set a certain frequent-visited record).

*       Rebuild stacks from, or output stacks as, plain text
	files specified in the format (as describe in III above).

To use this stacks, you need to have the Chinese System (CH6.07)
installed in your Macintosh, or install the Chinese script into the
English System (e.g., System 6.07, or System 7.1 and WorldScript II
with Simplified Chinese Script).

These HyperCard stacks are available from the most popular Macintosh
ftp site:

	sumex-aim.stanford.edu (36.44.0.6) in directory info-mac/Hypercard

or a Sweden Macintosh ftp site:

	lunix.met.kth.se (130.237.16.204)  in directory pub/poem

or you can send three 800K disks (or two 1.4M high density disk), with
returning address and postage to me:

	Huangxin Wang
	435 Foulke Ave.
	Ambler, PA 19002


Currently I will be responsible for the maintenance of this
collection.  Any corrections, suggestions or comments can be sent to:

	wang@pennmess.physics.upenn.edu

Have fun with the beautiful and entertaining Chinese literature, and
thanks to everyone who contribute to the CHPOEM net.