The Author

Chinese Calligraphy

The Author - Siu-Leung Lee

Dr. Siu-Leung Lee has been greatly honored to write the logo for a new National Forest Park in China. Taihangshan, a scenic spot nicknamed as the Oriental Colorado Canyon, is situated in Shanxi province, will be opened in spring 2005. Dr. Lee is commissioned to write the calligraphy "Taihang Baquanxia" (Eight-Spring Gorge) for the main entrance gate and another piece will be engraved on a huge rock for permanent landmark of the National Park.

(Photo courtesy of Dr. Tin-Kay Goh)

Brief biography of author
Learning Chinese Calligraphy - My experience
[in Chinese Big5 fonts. published in US Digest #42, Nov-Dec 2003]

Exhibit 2004. New York City. Confucius Plaza, 33 Bowery Street, NY 10013 (Chinatown) April 16, 17, 18, 11am - 5pm.

Exhibit Kansas City. Fafa Gallery. 2000 Baltimore Avenue. Kansas City, Missouri 64108. Starting April 1, 2004.
Gallery walk through - Friday, April 23, 2003. 6 pm
Lecture/demonstration - Saturday, April 24, 2003. 10 am - 12 noon.

New year Couplets (1988)	Year of Dragon, Columbus(1988) Year of Dragon(1988) demonstration at China Gate
At Hong Kong residence (1992)	Monument in Zhejiang (1992)
"Mathematics - The Loom of God" Clifford Pickover,Plenum(1997).	"Surfing Through Hyperspace" Cliff Pickover. Oxford University Press. 2000

"The Art of Palpatory Diagnosis"
Churchill Livingstone, 2001.

"Dreaming the Future"
Cliff Pickover. Prometheus. 2001

For The Wai Hope School in Guizhou province. 2001
Wai Kwok Kay - Mok Sik Yiu Memorial Foundation. 2001

Su Dongpo's poem. 2000.	For Professor Ming L. Pei, 2000.	For Daphne Kwok, Executive Director, Organization of Chinese Americans, 2001.
Dr. Siu-Leung Lee's donated a piece of calligraphy on Heart Scripture to Youth Buddhist Communication Inc as first prize for raffle.(2002)
Dayton August Moon Festival, August 18, 2002 Demonstration of Grass style (caoshu) using a mob and water on concrete. The characters are "Dragon Flying, Phoenix Dancing." about 5ft x 35ft.
Commemorating Alma Mater Queen's College 140th anniversary (2002)
Historical Marker for Chinese soldiers in American civil war (2003) An event for Ohio Bicentennial Celebration
Logo of Taihangshan Baquanxia for the National Forest Park in Shanxi (August 2004)

Poetry

Other than calligraphy, I have been interested in a number of areas including poetry and couplets.

The followings are some of the works done mostly for amusement:

Poetry translation:

My net friend, Alfred T�ting, a German judge residing in Munich, has given me a few poems to translate into Chinese. For the originals and other poems, please visit his web site.

(Chinese translation and recording by Siu-Leung Lee, copyrights reserved,1999)

Sleepy birds (Mihai Eminescu )

All those sleepy birds
Now tired from flight
Hide among the leaves
Good-night!

Only the spring whispers
When the wood sleeps silently;
Even flowers in the gardens
Sleep peacefully!

Swans glide to their nest
Sheltering among the reeds
May angels guard your rest,
Sweet dreams!

Above a night of sorcery
Comes the moon�s graceful light,
All is peace and harmony
Good-night!

Mandarin

Cantonese

(Chinese translation and recording by Siu-Leung Lee, copyrights reserved,1999)

Ereszkedik le a felh?...
by Pet�fi S�ndor

Ereszkedik le a felh?
Hull a f�ra �szi es?
Hull a f�nak a levele,
M�gis sz�l a f�lemile.

Az �ra j?k�s�re j�r.
Barna kisly�ny, alszol-e m�r?
Hallod-e a f�lemil�t,
F�lemile b�s �nek�t?

Z�pores?csak ugy szakad,
F�lemile csak dalolgat.
Aki b�s dal�t hallgatja,
Megesik a szive rajta.

Barna kisly�ny, ha nem alszol,
Hallgasd, mit e mad�r dalol;
E mad�r az �n szerelmem,
Az �n elsohajtott lelkem!

(Cseke, 1846. (Okt�ber 1-7.)

(Chinese translation by Siu-Leung Lee, copyrights reserved,1999)

Forced March by Mikl�s Radn�ti (1909-1944)
Translated from Hungarian by Alfred T�ting

Crazy, who, from collapsing, gets up for new advance,
and moves in stumbling torture the limbs to get his chance,
and still is heading forward as if with wings he'd fly,
in vain the trench is calling, he does not dare to die.
He'd answer to your question, what for this strain's to stand,
that there's a dear wife waiting, and perhaps a wiser end.
Yet this good guy's quite crazy, through his old home behind
since long the winds are blowing, from blaze and ashes blind.
The back wall fell to pieces, the plum tree's broken down,
and gotten rough from scaring those nights so sweet at home.
Oh, couldn't I believe yet - not kept in heart alone -
that there is still a homeland, so dear for me to roam;
if there were still the old porch, and sitting in the sun,
and peaceful bees were humming while cools the jelly plum,
the ending summer dozing o'er the garden's dreamy flair,
and midst green foliage swaying the fruit so firm and bare,
and Fanni stands there waiting, blonde, the hawthorn hedge aside,
and shadows written slowly by a slow late morning's light. -
Could all this still come true yet! The moon's so round today!
Don't stride ahead, my comrade, shout at me - I can't stay!

Poem composed on visit to Hiroshima (1982):

廣宮二島瞬間游，

神社迴廊馴鹿猴，

山稱臥虎城呼鯉，

長燈早滅眾愿酬。

The fire (lamp) at the Hiroshima ground zero is lit all the time until there is no war in the world.

************

Mourning on a friend's death (1992). Chow Sau Tak was an architect and musician, who was among the first founders of our first amateur Chinese traditional orchestra in Hong Kong.

魯班樑折，竟將規斗臨仙界。

伯牙弦斷，尚留雅樂遺人間。

************

Couplet matching (September 28, 1996)

宇航曾至廣寒，今歲中秋為問嫦娥無恙否？(勞原宣擬)

金斧難傷桂樹，明年佳節敢請吳剛有進焉？(李兆良撰對)

************

Couplet for the returning of Hong Kong to China (January 24, 1997) donated to Chinese Embassador.

百五載風雲未釋，需思當日。

九七年河山終复，還看明朝。

************

Couplet for Takaki san (May 1998) who sent me a copy of the Qin Zhao Ban 秦詔版.

半闕殘碑秦山石，

一番盛事漢人章。

(The exhibit of the Qin Zhao Ban in Japan was a big occassion. 一番 here has double meaning - the "topmost, number one" (as in Japanese) and "one occassion" in Chinese.

************

Tongue Twister : (published in Yahoo Club "China the Beautiful" Aug 8, 2000)

(Listen to sound file in Cantonese, zhongzh.rm)

鍾忠種竺竹，宗築竹筑。

竹足。种竹終。

卒築筑。竹築中軸柱。逐中軸柱築竹。

鍾忠醉，竹重，中忠足踵。

忠足踵腫。駐足。詛足，竹。

終忠卒，竹終，柱卒，筑竣。

鍾忠鍾仲共祖宗。

鍾仲重宗祖，鍾仲從眾宗族，

囑眾從塚，棕竹煮盅稯粥，

柱燭撞鐘，總衷頌鍾忠。

Mr. Zhong Zhong planted some Zhu bamboo, aiming at building a bamboo hut.
(When he had) enough bamboo, he stopped planting bamboos.
Finally, he built the hut, using bamboo to build the pole in the central axis. Every pole in the central axis has a bamboo erected.
Mr. Zhong Zhong was drunk. The bamboo was heavy. It fell and hit Zhong's heel.
Zhong's heel was swollen. He stopped walking and curse his foot and the bamboo.
Finally Zhong died. The bamboo was used up, the pole done, and the hut completed.
Another Mr. Zhong Zhong shared the same ancestor with (the first) Mr. Zhong Zhong.
(The second) Mr. Zhong Zhong is fond of remembering the ancestors. He followed all the village people by the same family name,told all the people to go to the tomb (of the first Mr. Zhong). (He also) used the brown bamboos to cook a pot of dumplings and porridge.
He set up some candles, and tolled the bell. All the people wholeheartedly praised (the first) Mr. Zhong Zhong.

(This tongue twister should be recited in Cantonese as all the words were different tones of the same sound, except one or two. This is in response to Zhao Yuan Ren's "Poet Eating Stone Lion"(in Mandarin) tongue twister (see verse below).