LyYenKhang Posted September 27, 2011 at 05:50 PM Report Share Posted September 27, 2011 at 05:50 PM Does Amazon sell a traditional chinese copy of Confucius' "Lun Yu" in America? Preferably a traditional character version only, with no English translation or commentary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbradfor Posted September 27, 2011 at 07:26 PM Report Share Posted September 27, 2011 at 07:26 PM Why not just get it (free) off the internet? Do you absolutely need it in book form? [i think the copyright on it expired a couple years ago.] 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hofmann Posted September 27, 2011 at 07:32 PM Report Share Posted September 27, 2011 at 07:32 PM Must...resist...voting...up... Just get it on Wikisource or something, and print it out if you need it on paper. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LyYenKhang Posted September 27, 2011 at 07:46 PM Author Report Share Posted September 27, 2011 at 07:46 PM How long, or of what value, is a Xerox copy of a work printed off of Wikisource? Having it as a book would not make it more aesthetically pleasing, but also more durable. Reading off a computer screen comes only with great difficulty for me. I want a book that I can mark up and get familiar with. Maybe its just sentimentalism. You can't pass on a binder of Wikisource pages on to posterity! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted September 27, 2011 at 07:56 PM Report Share Posted September 27, 2011 at 07:56 PM I'm at a loss as to how anyone could post this question without first going to Amazon.com and searching - and if you've already done so, why not tell us what happened . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LyYenKhang Posted September 27, 2011 at 08:02 PM Author Report Share Posted September 27, 2011 at 08:02 PM There was a bunch of English translations. Not any "canonical urtext", if such a publication exists and is available in print in the States. The Wikisource link is excellent - exactly what I'm looking for, I'm just wondering if they have that in a published form. With no/or minimal commentary in Chinese or English, and just the original work in traditional characters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbradfor Posted September 27, 2011 at 08:49 PM Report Share Posted September 27, 2011 at 08:49 PM Not to be rude -- but are you at a level that you can read this without any commentary? You give your level as "不才無用". 論語 is something that even native Chinese speakers need to learn how to read. Before you spend money on this, have you taken a look at it online to see how it looks? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hofmann Posted September 27, 2011 at 08:55 PM Report Share Posted September 27, 2011 at 08:55 PM Hehe...actually Wikisource still has punctuation. It's not very long. You could copy it by brush in a day if you're looking for something to hand down to posterity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LyYenKhang Posted September 28, 2011 at 02:23 AM Author Report Share Posted September 28, 2011 at 02:23 AM @jbradfor It's OK. The reason why I don't want English commentary is that my native language is Vietnamese and I want a "clean copy" with only Chinese characters that I can refer to along with a copy with Vietnamese commentary. Surely the Vietnamese commentaters have much more to say than any Sinologist (in my opinion). My own Chinese is elementary, having never taken any formal lessons (though I hope to do so this following year when I seek matriculation into an institute of higher learning), so, as you implied, I would not be able to understand much of it at this point. However, with a version with the Vietnamese Han-Viet romanization, much it would make more sense. Vietnamese speakers don't suffer from the same difficulties that English speakers must overcome when trying to adapt their thinking to Chinese, much less Classical Chinese (which is studied in VN btw). Hofmann! Good idea though, maybe that will have to be in the future. You caught me on the punctuation though...I don't have enough erudition to be a full purist yet though. Back to topic though, so is there really nothing like what I'm describing? Even something with commentary? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbradfor Posted September 28, 2011 at 03:12 AM Report Share Posted September 28, 2011 at 03:12 AM Ah, makes sense. Took a quick look, and it seems many/most that have a commentary also include the original. Just use the "search inside this book" feature to check. I can't say for sure, but I would think what you describe would be very hard to find for the American market. I would think the number of people in the USA that would be willing to pay for it (since one can get it free), would want only the original text, and not be near a good Chinese bookstore seems very small to me. Maybe just one Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skylee Posted September 28, 2011 at 03:57 AM Report Share Posted September 28, 2011 at 03:57 AM Would this do? Print it and you have a book. It has punctuations, so perhaps it does not meet your specifications 100%. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roddy Posted September 28, 2011 at 08:28 AM Report Share Posted September 28, 2011 at 08:28 AM I can't believe that a search for 'Chinese bookstore US' and then 論語 or 论语 or something isn't going to turn up something suitable. why does it have to be Amazon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneEye Posted September 28, 2011 at 10:25 AM Report Share Posted September 28, 2011 at 10:25 AM Indeed, does it even have to be a US bookstore? Any store than can ship internationally for cheap should do, right? I'd think books.com.tw would have something, if your Chinese is up to the task of ordering from a Taiwanese website. Shipping is cheap to the US (I used to pay something like $3 to have a movie shipped, and it would arrive within 3-4 days). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amandagmu Posted September 28, 2011 at 12:58 PM Report Share Posted September 28, 2011 at 12:58 PM I would try eslite (誠品) which is a large bookstore chain located in Taiwan: http://www.eslite.com/Search_BW.aspx?query=論語 I know for a fact that they do international deliveries. Not sure how much it's going to cost you though... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gato Posted September 28, 2011 at 03:51 PM Report Share Posted September 28, 2011 at 03:51 PM You can try ordering from Commercial Press Bookstore, which is based in HK. See below. http://www.cp1897.com.hk/simple_search_result.php?display_type=simpleness&page=2&number_per_page=15&sort_type=&simple_words=%E8%AB%96%E8%AA%9E&is_cpStore= http://www.cp1897.com.hk/product_info.php?BookId=9789570524291 《論語今註今譯》 http://www.cp1897.com.hk/product_info.php?BookId=9789888104413 《論語譯注(重校本)》 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LyYenKhang Posted November 20, 2011 at 04:27 PM Author Report Share Posted November 20, 2011 at 04:27 PM I asked around and there was one Chinese bookstore in the Silicon valley that sold a copy. It has the original alongside translations and commentary in 白話. Thanks everyone. I'm really enjoying it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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