On April 26, Dr.Ting Pang-Hsin, Academician of Academia Sinica, delivered an engaging lecture titled “Poetry Metrics and Composition – Monologue from Half a Classical Poet.”.

Professor Ting is an Emeritus Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, the Director of Institute of History and Philology at Academia Sinica and the Dean of School of Humanities and Social Science at HKUST. He has made a great contribution to the history of Chinese language, dialectology, phonology, Austronesian studies and comparative history of Sino-Tibetan languages.

The heavy rain did not affect the attendance of the lecture, with Professor Zhan Bohui, a well-known cultural scholar and good friend of Professor Ting, traveled from the far north of China to enjoy the lecture. As the Ex-Director of College of Liberal Arts at Jinan University, Professor Zhan introduced Professor Ting, talked about their friendship, and praised him for his rich knowledge and genuine patriotism.

Started with “Title Explanation in Poetry,” Professor Ting explained his self-referral as “Half of Classical Poet” and covered five aspects of poetry versification and composition. The five aspects are the significance of level and oblique tones (tonal patterns in classical Chinese poetry), visible and invisible metrics, the application of invisible metrics in the composition of classical poetry, the process of poetry composition and concluding words of poetry. In speaking about the five aspects, Professor Ting said: “Every word in a poem should be written from the flow of emotions in your heart. This (the flow of emotions) is the most important thing in poetry composition.”

During the lecture, Professor Ding quoted from 45 poems, composed by ancient masters, modern artists and himself. He brought the lecture to a close with one of his own works about Shenzhen in the style of ancient Chinese poetry: “The young emperor watched his state fall, and people now still remember his patriotism. The General cried for the destruction of Zhao’s empire, who will see the flames of war from Yuan’s army. Shenzhen was just a fishing village, but now it is so wealthy, like diamonds and jewels all over the place. Between skyscrapers and crowds, does anyone remember who designed and built the city?”