Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Little Flock hymnbook

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Little Flock hymnbook is in common use amongst Exclusive Brethren in various editions which nevertheless derive from a common source. It exists in almost as many variations and editions as there are distinct groups of Exclusive Brethren.

Early history

In 1838 (and again 1840) the Central Tract Depot published George Wigram's Hymns for the Poor of the Flock. This was followed in 1856 by his Hymns and Spiritual Songs for the Little Flock which gathered together hymns from diverse collections used among Brethren and on which all subsequent versions are based. This was revised in 1881 by John Nelson Darby, an edition which is still in print, published by Bible Truth Publishers of Addison, Illinois, USA and available from Chapter Two, etc. William Kelly revised the hymn book in 1894 and Thomas Henry Reynolds produced his edition in 1903.

Raven/Taylor editions

Amongst Raven–Taylor Brethren, every new doctrinal development has been reflected in renewed activity in hymn composition in English and other European languages. Doctrinal shifts were often followed by marked re-editing of the hymns themselves to bring them into line with current ministry which often necessitated the production of a new edition. The main editions are 1903, 1932, 1951, 1962, and 1973, of which there is a Taylor/Symington (1973 Amendment) edition and a separate Kingston Bible Trust (1973 Re-Selection) edition. From the 1940s, foreign language editions were gradually brought into line with English editions so that Brethren could, where possible, sing together the same hymns in the same metre. The 1962 hymnbook thus appears in varying quality in 10 or more languages. The Swedish editions in particular have a long tradition of translating English hymns, especially Gospel songs for outreach. The English editions themselves have included translations from Swedish, French, Spanish and German. Taylor/Symington/Hales Brethren use their English hymnbook universally regardless of the local language.
A new edition, Hymns and Spiritual Songs for the Flock of God, was published in New Zealand in 2001 by R.D. Church and E.J. Forrest through the Joseph Bywater Trust. This collection is based on the 1951 edition and gathers together many hymns from all the pre-existing collections, restoring hymns to their original wording where possible and adding some new compositions.

Kelly/Lowe/Glanton editions

The KLG grouping have had two major hymn books since William Kelly's Hymns Selected and Revised in 1894 edition. Following the reunion of 'Kelly' (1894 users) and 'Lowe' Brethren (1881 users) in 1926, the 1928 edition was compiled by William John Hocking and is still in use by a few 'Kelly' and Open Brethren meetings. The 1978 edition followed the 1974 reunion with both 'Glanton' Brethren (1903 users) and 'Grant' Brethren (1881 users) and is used by these "reunited" Brethren. This latter book has drawn more widely from hymns in common use but does not contain hymns addressing the Holy Spirit in line with traditional Darbyite teaching. Foreign language editions have developed and continued in their own distinctive traditions.

Gospel hymnbooks

Gospel hymnbooks have been produced by most branches of Exclusive Brethren. The Little Flock editions have always contained a selection of Gospel Hymns but both Raven/Taylor and KLG wings of the movement have from time to time used separate (sometimes privately printed) collections of Gospel Hymns in the gospel and outreach meetings. Chapter Two have re-published The Evangelists' Hymnal, edited by Walter Thomas Prideaux Wolston. This book is used by some Glanton and some Open Brethren assemblies.

Tune books

Little Flock Tune Books have been published in 1883, 1904, 1932, 1954, 1965, and 1979. Charles Theodore Lambert's edition of 1932 published both words and tunes with an appendix "Containing a few hymns suitable for the Christian Household". It is still published in Tonic Sol-Fa by the Symington/Hales Depot. The other Tune Books had tunes only, listed in metrical order. The KLG 1978 hymn book and the Gospel Hymn Book were both published with a music edition. All editions (but especially the 1965 edition) have drawn on Exclusive Brethren tunewriters and musicians to produce collections of a high calibre both in terms of musical editing and in the quality of the compositions themselves. Composers of note include Thomas Willey, T. Collins, Miss Marian La Thangue, Miss S.M. Walker, Charles Leflaive, C.T. Lambert, Benjamin Christiansen, R.A. Evershed, Peter S. Pope, Eric Carrén, John F. Harvey, and Gordon Millar.

Historical and critical apparatus

An Access database of all first lines and metres of hymns with limited biographical and bibliographical material is held at the Christian Brethren Archive in the John Rylands University Library, Manchester.
Gordon Rainbow has collated some historical material on the Little Flock Hymnbook. This contains links to all the prefaces to the early hymnbooks and from 1903 follows the Raven/Taylor line of hymnbooks. Various accounts of new editions of the hymnbook were published and these are given in full.
An account of all the major developments in the tradition was published in Frank Wallace's The History of the Little Flock Hymnbook (it does maintain an anti-Taylor bias). Also by Frank Wallace, Spiritual Songsters contains biographies of many hymnwriters found in the Little Flock tradition and is published by Chapter Two.
Adrian Roach wrote a History of the 1881 edition containing much biographical information on the hymnwriters. It is published by Bible Truth Publishers.
A text of the 1978 Kelly/Lowe/Glanton edition is available online where there is a large amount of biographical material and a first line index of the 1881 "Darby" edition

Friday, August 7, 2015

Yang Mu

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yang Mu
楊牧
Yang Mu portrait.jpg
Born September 6, 1940
Hualien County, Taiwan
Occupation Poet, essayist, critic, professor in classical Chinese literature
Language Chinese and English
Nationality Taiwan, ROC
Education Ph.D of Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley
Period 1956–present
Notable awards National Culture and Arts Award (國家文藝獎)
Best Chinese Writing in the World (世界華文文學獎)
Website
www.yangmu.com
Yang Mu (traditional Chinese:楊牧;simplified Chinese:杨牧; pinyin:Yáng Mù) is the pen name of a Taiwanese poet, essayist and critic in Chinese language.[1] He was born as Wang Ching-hsien (王靖獻) on September 6, 1940 in Hualien County, Taiwan.[2] As one of the representative figures in the field of contemporary Taiwanese literature, he is famous for combining the graceful style and writing techniques of Chinese classical poetry with elements of Western culture. Apart from romantic feelings, his works also reflect strong awareness of humanistic concern, which has thus brought him widespread attention and high respect. He was named the laureate of the 2013 Newman Prize for Chinese Literature, making him the first poet and the first Taiwanese writer to win the award.

Personal life

When he was 16, only a middle school student, he started off using the pen name Ye Shan (Chinese: 葉珊) and publishing his own works in several poetry magazines such as Blue Star, Modern Poetry and Genesis. Then he entered Tunghai University and studied history.[1] However, he later found that it went against his genuine interest and finally transferred to the Department of Foreign Languages to pursue his literary ideals. At that time, Yang Mu exposed himself to British romantic poetry and was directly influenced by some defining members of the English Romantic Movement, like William Wordsworth, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats.
After his graduation from Tunghai University, Yang Mu chose to go to the United States for further study. In 1966, he obtained his Master of Fine Arts (English: Creative Writing) at the University of Iowa.[1] Notably, a group of writers who later have become leading figures in the literary scene in contemporary Taiwan like Bai Xianyong, Yu Guangzhong, Ye Weilian and Wang Wenxing, are all his alumni at UI. And in 1971, he gained Ph.D of Comparative Literature at the University of California, Berkeley.[3] His studying in America, obviously, contributed to the changes of his poetry style. Since 1972, he has written a series of works to convey his deep concern about the social reality under his new pen name Yang Mu (Chinese: 楊牧). Changing from emphasizing sentimental and romantic feelings to intervening in social issues, the works in Yang Mu's later period appear to be more calm, reserved and profound.
Yang Mu used to teach at National Taiwan University (1975–76,1983–84), Princeton University (1978–79), and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (1991–94); during 1996-2001 he was Professor of Chinese and Dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at National Dong Hwa University in Hualian, Taiwan; and during 2002-06, the Distinguished Research Fellow and Director in the Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy at Academia Sinica in Taipei, Taiwan. Currently, he is Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature at the University of Washington and Chair Professor of Taiwanese Literature at National Chengchi University.[4]

Major works

As a prolific writer, Yang Mu has published 14 poetry collections, 15 prose collections and 1 verse play so far. His early works include On the Water Margin (Chinese: 水之湄), Flower Season (Chinese: 花季), Lantern Boat (Chinese: 燈船) and Legends (Chinese: 傳說). These poetry collections were published under the pen name Ye Shan (葉珊) and were publicly thought to have created a new way of writing romantic poems.
Later, he was known to his readers as Yang Mu (楊牧) and published other 12 poetry collections such as Manuscripts Sealed in a Bottle (Chinese: 瓶中稿), Songs of the Little Dipper (Chinese: 北斗行), A Game of Taboos (Chinese: 禁忌的遊戲), The Coast with Seven Turns (Chinese: 海岸七疊),Someone (Chinese: 有人) Complete Fables (Chinese: 完整的寓言), Ventures (Chinese: 涉事), Scale Insect (Chinese: 介殼蟲), Songs long and short (Chinese: 長短歌行) and so forth till now. Among them, Songs of the Little Dipper (Chinese: 北斗行) published in 1978, was prefaced by the famous Taiwanese novelist Wang Wenxing (Chinese: 王文興). In this preface, Wang spoke highly of its success in applying language and said that it took an important step towards achieving the new order of modern Chinese poetry.
Wu Feng: A Play in Four Acts (Chinese: 吳鳳), a verse play published in 1979, was his another notable work. Through the narration of a story based on Taiwanese history, Yang Mu expressed his praise for benevolence and human rationality. As a versatile writer, Yang Mu's prose collections have also received lots of recognition. These works are mainly represented by Annual Ring (Chinese: 年輪), Storms over Hills and Ocean (Chinese: 山風海雨), The Completion of a Poem (Chinese: 一首詩的完成), The Midday Hawk (Chinese: 亭午之鷹) and Then as I Went Leaving (Chinese: 昔我往矣). They share some common themes, ranging from hometown memories to social criticism.
Yang Mu's works have been translated into English, German, French, Japanese, Swedish Dutch, etc. No trace of the Gardener: Poems of Yang Mu (translated by Lawrence R. Smith & Michelle Yeh, New Haven: Ct. Yale University Press, 1998.) and The Forbidden Game and Video Poems: The Poetry of Yang Mu and Lo Ch'ing. (translated by Joseph R. Allen, Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1993.) are two of his poetry collections available in English.[1]

Beijing Wuzi University

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Beijing Wuzi University
Beijing Materials University
北京物资学院
Beijing Wuzi University - distance - crop 2.jpg
Established 1980
Type Public university
President Wang Jiaqiong
Academic staff
394
Administrative staff
693
Location Beijing,  People's Republic of China
Campus Urban 23.33 hectares, floor space 120,000 square meters
Website Beijing Materials University Official Website (Chinese)
Beijing Wuzi University (simplified Chinese: 北京物资学院; traditional Chinese: 北京物資學院) is a higher education institution based in the capital of China, Beijing. It is also refer to Beijing Wuzi University.

Contents

History

The university was the Materials institute of the Beijing Economics College which was founded in 1963. In 1980, the Beijing Materials University was created. It was initially administered by the Bureau of National Material. This was then transferred to the Ministry of Material and then Ministry of Internal Trade. [1][2]
Since October 1998, the university came under the administration of the Beijing Municipal Government. [1]

Administration

Beijing Wuzi University - distance - crop 1.jpg

Colleges and Departments

Beijing Materials University comprises the following departments: [3]
  • Department of Economics
  • Department of Accounting
  • Department of Business Management
  • Department of Management Science and Engineering
  • Department of Labor Personnel Management
  • Department of Foreign Languages
  • Department of Social Science
  • Department of Basic Course
  • Department of Physical Education
  • Department of Postgraduate
  • Circulation Economics Graduate School
  • Higher-learning Education Graduate School
  • Logistics Research Center
  • China Circulation Economy Magazine Organization.