Date: Wed, 24 Jun 1998 19:10:56 -0400 (EDT)
From: Howard Hastings <hhasting-AT-osf1.gmu.edu>
Subject: Re: PLC: =?gb2312?B?u9i4tDogUExDOiByZTpDaGluYT8=?=



On Wed, 24 Jun 1998, Gao wrote:
> Sorry to answer your lettter so late. I talked with your wife over
> telephone. But it is pity I was not able to attend her concert.

Don't worry about lateness, Jianping.  Everyone on the list understands
that listmembers have a life outside the list. 

Hello from Mary.  She is back now and says she enjoyed talking with you.
The concert was sold out, but you and your wife would have had a free
seat.  Maybe next year?

Also, she brought me a booklet in English which contains the
organizational chart and history of Beijing Normal University.  On paper
at least, it looks very much like a Western university on the
British/American model.  I also see how form and content begin to diverge
as one moves away from technology and the sciences to culture.  But
looking at such a booklet alone I would never learn of institutes like
yours which are largely research.
 
> Yes. It is research institute without any undergraduate students but there
> are some graduate students here.

The following statements are intriguing.
> 
> In ancient China, there is no discipline calleda aesthetics like that of the
> Western since Baumgarten, but only philosophical remarks which we now think
> they have aesthetic significance. There were also huge amount of criticism
> on literature and art.

 Right now I am wondering 
whether what the Chinese traditionally call "literature" is separate
enough from other kinds of writing to have its own apologetic tradition.
And if it is or has been formally separated from other kinds of writing
(like religious texts) how does it still differ from Western conceptions
of literature?   But I want to take a look at your book before I pester
you with any more questions.

Thanks again for the info

hh
.....................................................................



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