This article explains why the Chinese word for Tanabata was not read as "Shichiseki", but as "Tanabata", why it became the 7th of July, how the story of Tanabata in China differs from that in Japan, and so on.
The kun'yomi (Japanese reading) used by the Japanese to understand Chinese poetry is an outstanding invention of the Japanese, but it is limited in its meaning. Moreover, even if one understands only the meaning, only half of the Chinese poetry is understood. This is because it ignores the pronunciation of Chinese poetry. So I have added an explanation on how best to read it.
The 1st Kyoto College of Economics held the "1st Kyoto College of Economics, College of General and Foreign Students Book Report Contest". The purpose of this contest was to allow Japanese students and international students to express their impressions of reading in writing, and through the exchange of each other's book reports, to recognize the differences in views and ways of thinking between their home countries, to enrich their ideas, and to help them experience the joy and splendor of reading and make reading a habit. Since my part-time job, I had been hoping to realize an exchange activity of book reports between Japanese and Chinese children, but I was never able to do so. Since I became a full-time student, I felt the need for an exchange between international students and Japanese students, and this article tells about the students' impressions of the project, its planning, implementation, and challenges, the judging, and the presentation of the results.
The winner of the third best essay award was Miss. Chu Yaner, a third-year student in the Japanese language department of Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics. In fact, Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics is the university in China to which Wang Liping, one of our first international student, was assigned, and his entry was a written impression of Ogai's "Takasebune". Her entry, "Takasebune," was a report on her impression of Ogai's "Takasebune," which showed a deeper understanding of the book by showing that she was aware of her own sister's situation and the fact that one of the siblings thought about and loved the other one who was in a difficult situation.
The first prize was awarded to Mr. Shen Min, a third-year student in the Japanese Language Department of Zhejiang University of Finance and Economics, for his essay on Mori Ogai's "The Mai-hime". On the other hand, the emergence of "graduating marriages" (university students who try to get married as soon as they graduate), which has recently become popular in China, is quite different from Toyotaro's. (Omitted) This is a new era in which one can freely assert oneself. It is the new era in which we can assert ourselves freely. It is said that literature is a mirror of the times, but I was impressed by the fact that there are various ways of thinking in every era, and that there are common and incompatible aspects.
This is a report of the First Student Book Selection Tsar, held on May 27, 2004, and the Third Student Book Selection Tsar, held on June 2, 2005, sponsored by the Committee of the Japan Society of Library Science and Technology.
The author, who was the director of the International Center at the time, gave a group presentation on (1) finger numbers, (2) ants and grasshoppers, (3) rabbits and turtles, (4) the acceptance of different languages in Japanese, and (5) the acceptance of Japanese in different languages.