al
2008-01-12 00:45:59 UTC
NAQ (never-asked question):
What was the "purpose" of Ma Diao?
I quote from page 87, The playing-Card Volume 31, number2.
“When cards for wine drinking appeared, the ancient purpose [of these
cards] was lost, and the applications became all the more shallow.”
This is in reference to Ma Diao, the 4-suited card game of the Late
Ming Period (1368-1644).
Lo’s translation of ma diao refers to the state before or after the
purpose of those cards was lost? The question becomes what did “zero
Cash” and Half Cash” refer to? Before or after the “purpose of the
cards was lost”?
What did suo3 (索) look like in Pan’s manual? Is there a copy of that
manual in the web?
I mean do we know for sure what suo3 (索) was intended to mean
originally?
Suo3 (索) was given to one of the early visitors who had collected
mahjong sets in China and wrote about the game. The term was
transliterated to “string of cash” [in his own words I assumed].
I believe suo3 (索) was the same Chinese word used by Rong, Pan and
Feng in their Late Ming games writing. But I wonder why it was
translated to “string of cash”. Was there any hint that the early
authors actually use the full expression “string of cash” in Ma Diao?
If so, how was it written in Chinese characters? Where can one locate
a manual of Pan’s or Feng’s? I would like to take a peek at it rather
than taking someone’s word for it.
From earlier discussion, the best information on suo3 (索) has been
typically as follows.
“I know nothing except what I read in dictionaries, according to which
suo3 (索) has a wide range of meanings, the main ones being (from
CEDICT)
/to search/to demand/to ask/to exact/large rope/isolated/”
The nearest thing to “string” is “large rope”. That is if we can
stretch it hard enough, a large rope might get thin out to fit the
little square hole.
No scholar or historian has ever related suo3 (索) to the meaning of
[asking, demanding, searching or exacting]. Why not? Was it because
asking, demanding, searching or exacting “cash" or "money” makes no
sense? Why was the “wide range of meanings” ignored?
I suggest substituting the word, "cash" with the word “answer “ so it
becomes asking, searching, exacting or demanding some sort of an
answer. I mean like divining. Divination affected every aspect of
Chinese culture in olden time. My own wedding date was changed from a
regular Saturday week-end to a divined Monday workweek. No complain.
http://www.taopage.org/iching/iching_symbols.html
Cheers….al
++++++++
800 bamboo strips with recorded Chinese characters discovered in a
tomb dating back to the fourth century B.C.
http://www.flicker.com/photos/joao/2630268
++++++++
Strings and bamboo strips tied together to make pages for books in
olden day China. We know that. Bamboo symbol n mahjong could well be a
metaphor for written divination answers.
+++++++++
More Cheers!
What was the "purpose" of Ma Diao?
I quote from page 87, The playing-Card Volume 31, number2.
“When cards for wine drinking appeared, the ancient purpose [of these
cards] was lost, and the applications became all the more shallow.”
This is in reference to Ma Diao, the 4-suited card game of the Late
Ming Period (1368-1644).
Lo’s translation of ma diao refers to the state before or after the
purpose of those cards was lost? The question becomes what did “zero
Cash” and Half Cash” refer to? Before or after the “purpose of the
cards was lost”?
What did suo3 (索) look like in Pan’s manual? Is there a copy of that
manual in the web?
I mean do we know for sure what suo3 (索) was intended to mean
originally?
Suo3 (索) was given to one of the early visitors who had collected
mahjong sets in China and wrote about the game. The term was
transliterated to “string of cash” [in his own words I assumed].
I believe suo3 (索) was the same Chinese word used by Rong, Pan and
Feng in their Late Ming games writing. But I wonder why it was
translated to “string of cash”. Was there any hint that the early
authors actually use the full expression “string of cash” in Ma Diao?
If so, how was it written in Chinese characters? Where can one locate
a manual of Pan’s or Feng’s? I would like to take a peek at it rather
than taking someone’s word for it.
From earlier discussion, the best information on suo3 (索) has been
typically as follows.
“I know nothing except what I read in dictionaries, according to which
suo3 (索) has a wide range of meanings, the main ones being (from
CEDICT)
/to search/to demand/to ask/to exact/large rope/isolated/”
The nearest thing to “string” is “large rope”. That is if we can
stretch it hard enough, a large rope might get thin out to fit the
little square hole.
No scholar or historian has ever related suo3 (索) to the meaning of
[asking, demanding, searching or exacting]. Why not? Was it because
asking, demanding, searching or exacting “cash" or "money” makes no
sense? Why was the “wide range of meanings” ignored?
I suggest substituting the word, "cash" with the word “answer “ so it
becomes asking, searching, exacting or demanding some sort of an
answer. I mean like divining. Divination affected every aspect of
Chinese culture in olden time. My own wedding date was changed from a
regular Saturday week-end to a divined Monday workweek. No complain.
http://www.taopage.org/iching/iching_symbols.html
Cheers….al
++++++++
800 bamboo strips with recorded Chinese characters discovered in a
tomb dating back to the fourth century B.C.
http://www.flicker.com/photos/joao/2630268
++++++++
Strings and bamboo strips tied together to make pages for books in
olden day China. We know that. Bamboo symbol n mahjong could well be a
metaphor for written divination answers.
+++++++++
More Cheers!
