Chang Show-foong: Blissful Human Affairs – Sing Chu Literature Lectures Chapter Three (Part 1)

“Groups of youths out on holiday excursions often enjoy following the river though the mountains, eager to find its source. In ancient times, Chinese emperors would set off from the western regions on a thousand-kilometre journey to the eastern fringe in order to perform sacrificial rites dedicated to the great sea.” Even such seemingly ordinary events project a familiarity through the vastness of space and time. This shared cultural bond was the tone set by renowned Taiwanese prose writer Chang Show-foong right from the start of her lecture.

On 18 March 2017, Chang spoke at the Third Chapter of Chou Sing Chu Foundation’s Sing Chu Literature Lectures, using everyday events to illustrate the wonders of life in this boundless world.

Bliss: The Necessity of Origin

Poet Dr. Tan Chee Lay did a recital of an excerpts from Chang’s works

The praise for Chang’s literacy prowess abound: “Her prose is typically characterised by its irrepressible force” (poet Yu Kwang-chung); “With neither conflict between the classical and the contemporary, nor friction between the intellectual and the emotional” (poet Chen I-chih); and “Showcasing her mastery of the Chinese prose, which is centred on poetry” (poet Ya Hsien). Even Liang Shih-chiu – the renowned educator and writer – has likened Chang to Charles Lamb, the author of Tales of Shakespeare, describing her prose as legendary. In the development of Taiwan’s contemporary prose writing, the first generation of prose writers (represented by the likes of Liang Shih-chiu) combined the best of classical Chinese and Western literature, whilst the second generation (represented by the likes of Lin Hai-yin) inherited the elegant literary style of prose writers at the time of the May Fourth

Movement. Chang represents the third generation, who took the rich literary learnedness and wrote about life and the society through wit and humour, to inspire the fourth generation (represented by the likes of Jian Zhen) and the fifth generation (represented by the likes of Chong Yee-voon).

But Chang does not wish to be labelled. She once said, “I am just a woman who deeply loves the Chinese language.” Her passion was keenly felt by all during the lecture. As misunderstandings arise from not knowing the origin or allusion of words and phrases, Chang declared: “We do not have the right to freely interpret!” The same principle applies to all languages and cultures. Universities like Oxford and Cambridge were established to interpret the Bible, while in China, the thousand-year-old Yuelu Academy was founded in the Northern Song Dynasty to interpret the teachings of Confucius.

Many distinguished guests were in attendance: (from left) Writer Ms Luo Yifei, Chou Sing Chu Foundation board member Professor Eddie Kuo, Chairman of Chou Sing Chu Foundation Mr Chou Cheng Ngok, Executive Director of Chou Sing Chu Foundation Ms Ruth Cao, and Executive Director of Singapore Federation of Chinese Clan Associations Mr Mark Mah and his wife