{89} Lesson 10

10.1. Reading: Zhuāngzǐ and Huìzǐ Debate by the River Hao

之 濠 上 也 。

既 已 知 吾 知 之 而 問 我 。 我 知

。 子 曰 。 汝 安 知 魚 樂 云 者 。

樂 全 矣 。 莊 子 曰 。 請 循 其 本

子 固 非 魚 也 。 子 之 不 知 魚 之

曰 。 我 非 子 。 固 不 知 子 矣 。

。 安 知 我 不 知 魚 之 樂 。 惠 子

知 魚 之 樂 。 莊 子 曰 。 子 非 我

樂 也 。 惠 子 曰 。 子 非 魚 。 安

莊 子 曰 。 鯈 魚 出 遊 從 容 是 魚

莊 子 與 惠 子 遊 於 濠 梁 之 上 。

 

{90} 10.2. Vocabulary

Character	Hint	Pronunciation	Relevant Meaning
莊 (庄)		Zhuāng	n., Zhuāng (family name [姓] of a great Daoist philosopher; 名周。字子休。)
惠		Huì	n., Huì (family name of a philosopher known for his clever arguments; 名施。)
遊	radical + 9 strokes
濠		Háo	濠。水名也。1
梁	radical + 7 strokes
上	radical + 2 strokes
鯈	radical + 7 strokes
魚 (鱼)	(no hint)
從容		cōngróng	s.v., to be easygoing
子		zǐ	n., you (honorific second- person pronoun; contrast 汝 rǔ)
安		ān	adv., how . . .? from where . . .?
我	radical + 3 strokes
請 (请)	radical + 8 strokes
循	radical + 9 strokes
云 者		yún zhě	exp., was said (used to mark the end of a quotation or paraphrase)
全	radical + 4 strokes
既	radical + 5 strokes
已		yǐ	已者既也。2

{91} 10.3. Grammar Notes

Dictionary Practice, Some Common Radicals, Reduplicative
Expressions, Coordination of Verbs without Conjunctions, More
on Dropping 也 yě, Embedded Quotations with 云 yún

This passage is from the 莊子 Zhuāngzǐ, a work named after its author, who lived in the fourth century BCE (姓莊。名周。字子休。).3 The Zhuāngzǐ is one of the two classics of Daoism. Westerners who are familiar with Daoism have usually heard only of the Dào dé jīng, attributed to Lǎozǐ. However, many of those who have read both texts believe that the Zhuāngzǐ is by far the more profound and beautiful work. It is certainly one of the greatest literary and philosophical texts the world has ever known.

10.3.1. Dictionary Practice

The reading in this lesson is a lot of fun, but I am going to make you work a little to get to the entertainment. You are going to do an exercise to learn how to look up characters in a traditional Chinese dictionary. Fortunately, there are not too many new characters in this lesson. In addition, I’ll give you some of the characters for free and provide hints for the characters you need to look up.

Recall from the Introduction that a traditional dictionary like the 康熙字典 Kāngxī zìdiaˇn groups characters according to their radicals plus the number of strokes in addition to the radical. There are 214 Kāngxī radicals, and every Chinese character has at least one radical, or the character is itself the radical. Sometimes the radical is not obvious, or {92} it looks different in the character from its stand-alone form. Below, there is a chart that shows the ten most common radicals, some additional radicals you need to know to look up the characters in this lesson, and some decoy radicals (ones easy to mistake for the ones you need). If there are significant alternative forms of the radical I also provide that. Remember that, in using a dictionary, part of what you need to do is to figure out which of the meanings listed is the relevant one for the text you are reading. In choosing a dictionary, make sure you use one that focuses on, or at least includes, Classical Chinese expressions. I recommend using one of the following, with the best at the top.

Kroll, Paul W. A Student’s Dictionary of Classical and Medieval Chinese. Rev. ed. Brill, 2017. This is now the best dictionary for Classical Chinese. The index to characters by radicals is on pp. 655–714. This is also available as a paid add-on to the Pleco Chinese Dictionary phone app.

Liang Shih-ch’iu, ed. Far East Chinese-English Dictionary. 20th ed. Far East Book Company, 1999. For many years, this was my go-to desk dictionary. The main entries are arranged by radicals, but there is also a radical index and a pronunciation index.

Mathews, Robert H. Mathews Chinese-English Dictionary. Rev. ed. Harvard University Press, 1966. This is what people used back in the day. It is organized according to Wade-Giles romanization.

羅竹風 Luó Zhúfēng, ed., 漢語大辭典 Hànyǔ dà cídiaˇn (Comprehensive ­Dictionary of Chinese), multiple editions and formats. Whereas the previous three dictionaries are Chinese-English dictionaries, this one is a Chinese–Chinese dictionary. This is the Chinese equivalent of the Oxford English Dictionary. You should know that this work exists, because it is what serious Sinologists use when they want an authoritative answer about the use of a character or expression. However, if you could use the Hànyǔ dà cídiaˇn, you wouldn’t be reading this book, would you?

{93} 10.3.2. Some Common Radicals

Official Radical	Alternative Forms	English Nickname	Strokes in Radical
一		one	1
亠		lid	2
人	亻	person/standing man	2
入		enter	2
冫		ice	2
口		mouth	3
女		woman	3
宀		roof	3
廴		stride	3
彳		two-headed man	3
心	忄	heart/standing heart	4
戈		lance	4
手	扌	hand/side hand	4
无		not	4
木		tree	4
水	氵	water/three-dots water	4
火	灬	fire/four-dots fire	4
牙		fang	4
竹		bamboo	6
肉	月	meat	6
艸	艹	grass	6
糸	糹	silk	6
虫		insect	6
言		speech	7
辵	辶	walk	7
魚		fish	11

{94} 10.3.3. Reduplicative Expressions

In Classical Chinese most words are represented by one character, but there are some binomes (two-character expressions for one word).4 One kind is the reduplicative binome, in which two words that rhyme combine to form a word describing the style or manner of something. (Compare “helter-skelter” or “willy-nilly” in English.) In this lesson, we find 從容 cōngróng, a stative verb meaning “to be carefree.”5

10.3.4. Coordination of Verbs without Conjunctions

This lesson gives us an example of parataxis, the coordination of expressions without explicit conjunctions, which we first discussed in Lesson 6. In this lesson, we have the complex expression, 出遊從容 chū yóu cōng­róng in which three distinct verbs are written together without the conjunction 而 ér. Each verb functions separately: “to go out [and] 遊 [and] be carefree.”

10.3.5. More on Dropping 也 yě

In Lesson 9, we saw that the final 也 yě can drop off in an affirmative N1 N2 也 construction. In this lesson, we see that the same thing can happen with a negative nominal sentence:

N1 非 N2 也 N1 非 N2

N1 is not an N2

子非魚也。 子非魚。

You, sir, are not a fish.

{95} 10.3.6. Embedded Quotations with 云 yún

Sometimes 云 yún works like our old friend 曰 yuē and just means “said.” However, it often is used when what is said is a quotation within a quotation, especially someone quoting a classic text. 云 yún can also occur at the end of a clause, where it may indicate that the preceding expression is a paraphrase or hypothetical (rather than a direct quotation). In this last use, it can combine with other grammatical particles like 云爾 yún ěr, or 云者 yún zhě.

Pattern:

N1 曰。 N2 云 . . . . . .

N1 said that N2 said that . . .

P 。N1云。

N1 said that P.

N1 曰 P 云者。

N1 said something like P.

Examples:

曾子曰。子云。好之不如樂之。

Zēngzǐ said, “The Master said, ‘being fond of it is not as good as delighting in it.’”

其子亦云。

His son also said that. [“That” refers to something expressed in an earlier sentence.]

禮云禮云何謂也。

When we talk about “the rites this” and “the rites that,” what do we mean?

{96} 10.4. Supplement

10.4.1. Philosophy or Sophistry?

We saw in Lesson 3 that 安 ān can mean “peace” or “to regard as peaceful.” In this lesson, we learn that it can also mean “How . . .?” and “From where . . .?” Zhuāngzǐ’s final rebuttal to Huizi depends upon the ambiguity between these two last senses. Huizi begins by questioning how Zhuāngzǐ could know something (suggesting that there is no way he could know it), but Zhuāngzǐ intentionally misinterprets Huizi as asking where Zhuāngzǐ got his knowledge.

I’m sure this reading gave you a smile, but is there anything more to it than a clever sophistry made possible by a pun? 郭慶藩 Guō Qìngfān, a commentator of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), suggested that Zhuāngzǐ was trying to teach Huizi that, even though the “myriad things” of the world are different and have their own natures, we can understand the common Pattern (理 lǐ) that they all share and thereby sympathize with their feelings. (See Lesson 9 on “Pattern.”) Huizi can know what Zhuāngzǐ knows, but for that same reason Zhuāngzǐ can know what fish know. And Huizi could know what fish know too, if he would only try.6

We’ll read another passage from Zhuāngzǐ in Lesson 13, and it will teach a similar lesson about the unity of things.

Free practice materials—including quizzes and additional readings—are available at www.hackettpublishing.com/chinese-for-everyone-support.

 

 

1. Nerd note: This definition is from the 經典釋文 Jīngdiǎn shìwén, Explanations of the Texts of the Classics by 陸德明 Lù Démíng of the Tang dynasty (618–906 CE).

2. In other words, 已 yǐ has a new meaning in this passage (in addition to “to stop”), and that new meaning is the same as 既, which you should look up in the dictionary.

3. Nerd note: The Zhuāngzǐ is divided into three sections: Inner Chapters, Outer Chapters, and Miscellaneous Chapters. One common view is that the Inner Chapters (1–7) are by the historical Zhuāngzǐ, while the Outer and Miscellaneous chapters are by other authors, who vary greatly in their literary qualities and philosophical depth. The reading in this lesson is from 秋水 Qīushuǐ, “Autumn Floods,” which is one of the Outer Chapters. For an English translation, see Ivanhoe and Van Norden, Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy, p. 247. For more readings from “Autumn Floods,” see Rouzer, Unit 6, pp. 307–62.

4. Nerd note: Modern Chinese has far more multi-character expressions. For example, in the transition from Classical to Modern Chinese, 雖 becomes 雖然, 如 becomes 如果, 知 becomes 知道, and 自 and 己 merge into 自己. In Modern Chinese we even find delightful polysyllabic expressions like 唯物主義者 ­wéiwùzhǔyìzhě, “materialist” (literally, only-thing-dominant-meaning-ist).

5. Nerd note: Remember that just because two words rhyme in Modern Chinese that does not mean that they rhymed in Classical Chinese. However, these two words did. Incidentally, most dictionaries read 從容 as cóngróng, but I am following Kroll (p. 66) and giving the pronunciation as cōngróng.

6. For an excellent discussion of this passage, see John R. Williams, “Two Paradigmatic Strategies for Reading Zhuang Zi’s ‘Happy Fish’ Vignette as Philosophy,” Comparative Philosophy 9:2 (2018): 93–104.