On Tuesday, I went to watch the movie “The Longest Day in Chang’an” with Cc. It’s set in the Tang Dynasty and tells the story of how the entire Chang’an city fell into chaos after the An Lushan Rebellion. Gao Shi, who was caught in the midst of the turmoil, recalls his past stories with Li Bai.
The movie features many famous poetry works and poets from my school days, familiar yet distant, just as someone on Douban puts it:
The words and phrases we swallowed during our youth sometimes strike us at a certain moment.
My Chinese language skills are not good, and I am just average at learning poetry. Even when it comes to those poems that require memorization and dictation, I can only manage to get through them with some last-minute preparations and guesswork, let alone delving into the circumstances surrounding the poets behind those verses. Therefore, while watching the movie, many scenes made me exclaim in my heart, “So that’s how it was!”
After the watching, I have been watching a lot of explanation videos about Tang Dynasty poets on Bilibili. To be honest, even though over a thousand years have passed since that era, the stories that happened during that time still feel vivid when reading about them now. The verses, whether romantic or compassionate, can still resonate with me today.
“Where there is poetry, there is Chang’an.”
I am deeply grateful that the writings of our ancestors have been able to pass down to the present day. I also appreciate the openness and inclusiveness of that era, which gave rise to those great poets.
The Power of Words
I remember last month, I went to Hangzhou with my mom for her medical check-up. After work, I took the train and stayed near West Lake. It was after 10 pm when the rain stopped, and I thought it would be nice to take a stroll along the Bai Di. The West Lake at night, after the rain, was quite different from its usual bustling self, it was tranquil and serene. Only a few intermittent pedestrians were on the road, and a gentle breeze blew, replacing the daytime’s heat, creating a pleasant atmosphere. The last time I was here was three or four years ago, on my way back home, where I briefly stayed for half a day.
As I walked along the Bai Di towards the center of the lake, I suddenly remembered Zhang Dai’s “Watching Snow at Huxin Pavilion”. That prose left a profound impression on me during my junior high school days, perhaps because the depiction of a sense of seclusion and loneliness in the text made it unforgettable for my young self. Although it’s not the season to see snow now, at that moment, as I gazed at the distant pavilion, memories of sitting on the pavilion with carpet laid down centuries ago resurfaced. I couldn’t help but marvel at how, even though circumstances have changed, the emotions and scenes portrayed in those verses are still vividly present in my mind.
Oh, these darn words, they carry such lasting impact!
Art Exhibition
On Saturday, I visited the “Return to Nature” exhibition at the Mingzhu Art Museum. I had been to Mingzhu once over a year ago, and this was my second visit. The exhibition wasn’t large, but it featured various forms of art, including paintings, installations, sculptures, videos, photography, and performance art.
It’s hard to put it into words, but I didn’t quite understand everything I saw. Unlike written language, representational art forms impose limitations on the reader’s imagination. This two-way constraint makes it difficult to establish an empathetic connection between the artist and the audience.
Still, I couldn’t quite grasp it. Oh well! Let’s go, time to eat!1
The Inevitable Ramblings
This section will record some of my work and study progress this week, as well as list books and audio/video I’ve read/watched, fun stuff I bought, etc. The content will be more rambly.
Technical Learning
- Mainly developing process for A-SPICE.
- VCAST unit test cases.
- DOORS management strategy.
Books and Media
Podcasts
- 对话特许金融街：CFA对我来说绝不只是一纸证书
- 那些关于金钱的真问题，《金钱心理学》早就给出了答案
- 从对决 Snowflake，到人类如何与 AI 共存
- 你的夏天还好吗：我们一起保持对善的想象
- 海外所向披靡的字节跳动，怎么就「仿」不好一本小红书？
- 对话贾扬清：大模型的开源之战与应用时代
Videos
Movies
Investment
- Stock returns last week +0.55%, underperforming the broader market at +0.70%
By the way, the rice from MiDao Restaurant tastes really bad. ↩︎
Related Posts
