中国传统文化讲义-1. Introduction and Chinese myths

Why do we study the traditional Chinese culture?
▪ 5. The requirements of self-improvement, cross-cultural communication, international cooperation
▪ Directions:
▪ 3) give your comments.
What are we going to study?
▪ Traditional Chinese philosophy ▪ Traditional Chinese religion ▪ Traditional Chinese literature ▪ Traditional Chinese arts ▪ Chinese folk culture ▪ Chinese geographical culture ▪ Chinese architecture and gardening ▪ Traditional Chinese medicine, etc.
▪ 4. The viewpoints of Jaspers, Einstein and Joseph Needham
Albert Einstein(1879—1955)
▪ He was a German-born American theoretical physicist whose special and general theories of relativity revolutionized modern thought on the nature of space and time and formed a theoretical base for the exploitation of atomic energy. He won a 1921 Nobel Prize.
Traditional Chinese Culture
Why do we study the traditional Chinese culture?
▪ 1. We are Chinese people. ▪ 2. Traditional Chinese culture has become
popular around China.
▪ The sky and the earth was one blurred entity like an egg in which Pan Gu was born. After sleeping in it for about 18,000 years, he woke up and found that he was surrounded by darkness. Greatly annoyed, he split the entity up with his gigantic hatchet. Then the light and pure substance rose to become the sky. The heavy and murky one sank to form the earth. Nobody knows how many years passed and then Pan Gu finally fell down.
The Creation in the Bible
▪ 2. Then God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters." God called the expanse heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.
Nüwa Making Man
▪ For she got tired, she dipped a rope into the mud and them lifted it. The mud that dripped from the rope also became human beings.
▪ ------Taiping Anthologies for the Emperor
The Creation in the Bible
▪ 3. Then God said, "Let the waters below the heavens be gathered into one place, and let the dry land appear"; and it was so. God called the dry land earth, and the gathering of the waters He called seas; and God saw that it was good. Then God said, "Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them"; and it was so.
Requirements for presentations
▪ 1. the topic in traditional Chinese culture ▪ 2. bilingual language (English is necessary) ▪ 3. three minutes for each team member ▪ 4. accurate content based on a serious
The Creation in the Bible
▪ 4. Then God said, "Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night; He also made the stars. God placed them in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth,
Pan Gu separating the sky
▪ Just before his death, the earth underwent a miraculous change:
▪ Pangu’s breath turned into wind and cloud, his sound thunderbolt, his left eye the sun, his right eye the moon, his four limbs the four corners of the sky, his five body constituents the Five Famous Mountains in China, his blood the rivers, his veins the roads, his muscles the fields, his hair and moustache the stars, his teeth and bones the metals and jades, and his sweat the rain.
▪ 1. Then God said, "Let there be light"; and there was light. God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness He called night And there was evening and there was morning, one day.
discussion and comprehensive research ▪ 5. clear and fluent statement based on a
good preparation
The Origin of Chinese Culture
1. Pan Gu separating the sky
The Creation in the Bible
▪ The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters.
Why do we study the traditional Chinese culture?
▪ 3. Traditional Chinese culture has become popular abroad.
Why do we study the traditional Chinese culture?
Joseph Needham(1900-1995 )
▪ Dr.Joseph Needham was a well-known British scientist and professor in Cambridge，who had been devoted to the study of Chinese history of scientific technology. His main works is Science and Civilization in China.
▪ It is said that there were no men when the sky and the earth were separated. One day, for feeling lonely, Nv Wa came to a pond. Taking her own appearance as a model, she created many figures with yellow clay. When finished, she blew a puff to the nostrils of these clay figures, them all of them became alive.
How shall we study the course?
▪ Lectures ▪ Presentations ▪ Discussions ▪ Debates ▪ Questions and answers
How will the marks be given?
▪ Attendance 10% ▪ Assignments 10% ▪ Presentation 20% ▪ Final examination 60%
▪ Write an essay of 160-200 words based on the following drawing. In your essay, you should
▪ 1)describe the drawing briefly
▪ 2) explain its intended meaning
开天辟地的传说
▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪
▪
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古数此古日日于古清wk.baidu.com古地
极极万日厚高天在为千生混
长高八长一一，其天岁其沌
《 三 五 历 纪
》
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数，，
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极
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深
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变，，
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2.Nüwa Making Man