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Research by Matthew Chapple, with input from his wife, Iris Lam and Yours Truly:
The Poet - Zhu Xi 朱熹
In English: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhu_Xi
In Chinese: https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9C%B1%E7%86%B9
The Poem Translations - "The book" 觀書有感
http://blog.sina.cn/dpool/blog/s/blog_3 ... 2dwv8.html
https://hk.answers.yahoo.com/question/i ... 014KK14806
http://m.kekenet.com/kouyi/201704/505375.shtml
https://cn.hujiang.com/new/p480867/
Here's by translation and explanation in both Chinese and English...
The beautiful Chinese calligraphy recently unveiled on the feature wall of our new Yung Shue Wan Library is actually a poem by a famous Chinese Confucian philosopher. The poem "觀書有感" is generally known as the "The Book" in English but the name more directly translates to something like "the feeling of reading a book". Its author, Zhu XI 朱熹, was born during the Song Dynasty in 1130 and, according to Wikipedia, he has been called the second most influential thinker in Chinese history after Confucius himself.
最近在我們新的榕樹灣圖書館特色牆上所展示的優美中國書法，是一位中國著名儒家哲學家所寫的詩”觀書有感“。作者朱熹出生於宋代1130年，根據維基百科的說法，繼孔子之後，他被稱為中國歷史上第二位最有影響力的思想家。
If you can’t read Chinese then don’t worry as even for native Chinese speakers this kind of old, formal Chinese and beautiful calligraphy is not easy to read and understand, a bit like Shakespearean English written in old style English calligraphy for native English speakers. Here is the poem and an explanation of its meaning in both Chinese and English. Thank you to the very helpful and approachable Ms Iris LAM (Assistant to our North Lamma Rural Committee Chairman Mr CHAN Lin-wan) for providing the poem and an explanation of its meaning in Chinese.
即使對於母語為漢語的人來說，這種古老,正統和優美的中國書法也不易閱讀和理解，有點像莎士比亞時代的英語，用舊式的英語書法寫成。 以下是這首詩的中英文解釋和含義。 非常感謝樂於助人和平易近人的林小姐(南丫島北段鄉事委員會主席陳連偉先生的助理)提供這首詩及其中文含義的解釋。
觀書有感
半畝方塘一鑑開，
天光雲影共徘徊，
問渠那得清如許？
為有源頭活水來。
以上這首詩的意思是：
半畝不大的池塘，清澈得像一面打開的鏡子，映照出藍藍的天空，和雪白的雲朵，一起在水中流連蕩漾著。為什麼能夠保持如此清澈的水呢？只因有活水源源不斷的注入啊！
The Book
The half mu oblong pond reflects like a mirror.
The reflection of light and clouds wander on its surface.
How can it be so clear?
It is because fresh water is always flowing from the source.
A "mu" is a traditional Chinese unit of land which is about one fifteenth of a hectare. In the poem the oblong pond is a metaphor for books and reading which the poet is suggesting can be used to revitalize, refresh and enlighten ourselves. The last two lines of the poem are often quoted to suggest that if we are broad-minded enough to tolerate and embrace new ideas, then we will have a continuous flow of fresh ideas. Seems like a very meaningful and appropriate choice for the Feature Wall of our new Library!
“畝”是中國傳統的土地單位，約佔十五分之一公頃。 在這首詩中，長方形池塘是書籍和閱讀的隱喻，比喻可以用來振興，刷新和啟發自己。 這首詩的最後兩句經常被引用，表示如果我們有開放的思想來容忍和接受新的意見，那麼我們便會有源源不絕的新思維。對於我們的新圖書館特色牆來說，這似乎是一個非常有意義和適當的選擇!
P.S. On the left, sea-facing side of this $50+ million building (already beyond the completion date) the Chin. characters simply translate as "North Lamma Library..."Statistics: Posted by Lamma-Gung — Mon Oct 29, 2018 1:29 pm
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