Tears of Heart

My Favorite Poet

2020-02-13T13:45:00.000-08:00

Allama Iqbal a great Muslim poet and philosopher
(1877-1938)

Allama Iqbal (1877-1938)

Allama Iqbal, a great poet-philosopher and an active political leader was born in 1877 in Sialkot. He obtained Bachelor of Arts Degree from the Government College Lahore. Later he proceeded to Europe for higher studies and did his doctorate at Munich and finally he was able to qualify as a barrister. In 1908, on returning to India, besides teaching and practicing Law, Iqbal continued to write poetry. He resigned from the Government service in 1911 and took to the propagation of his individual thinking to the Muslims through his poetry (Ths Story of Pakistan)

You Are The One by Matthew Jenson

2010-03-10T03:56:00.000-08:00

For you I would climb
The highest mountain peak
Swim the deepest ocean
Your love I do seek.

For you I would cross
The rivers most wide
Walk the hottest desert sand
To have you by my side.

For you are the one
Who makes me whole
Youâ??ve captured my heart
And touched my soul.

For you are the one
That stepped out of my dreams
Gave me new hope
Showed me what love means.

For you alone
Are my reason to live
For the compassion you show
And the care that you give.

You came into my life
And made me complete
Each time I see you
My heart skips a beat.

For you define beauty
In both body and mind
Your soft, gentle face
Is the best I can find.

For you are the one
God sent from above
The angel I needed
For whom I do love

Maybe only today by Kara

2010-03-10T03:53:00.000-08:00

Sitting beside you, staring into your eyes
my stomach does a flip and my heart cries
i don't think i should be feeling, like i am today
because every time you touch me, our love just melts away
i know you'd do anything, to keep me by your side
but I'm not feeling the same, and i don't know why
it used to be that every time you touched me i felt like flying
but today I'm feeling strange...i feel like our love is dying
so the hardest part now, is for me to figure out
if today will last forever, or am i just having doubts
saying goodbye will be too hard, i already know
I've already figured out that its hard to let people go
i guess you could call me confused, because its obvious that i must be
i guess i could wait for you, but I'd only be hurting me
so until you're in my shoes, and know just how i feel
don't call me crazy,because you don't know the deal
i just want you to get the picture, that its my heart to break
and if I've done the wrong thing, then I'll learn from my mistake
so I'm trying my hardest, I'm going to say goodbye
its hurts for me to keep it in, but it hurts to see you cry
so once again, here i am, not knowing what to do
i don't want to hurt me, but it seems worse to be hurting you
so i guess i'll just hold on, i'll try to keep it in
maybe this feeling i have today, wont ever come again

I Cry Tonight by Amelia osteen

2010-03-10T03:41:00.000-08:00

I Cry Tonight
by Amelia osteen
You'd say baby I love you
I'd say I love you too...
I liked it when you called me baby
but now I need someone to save me
from the misery
the sleepless nights
the pain
of a broken heart
of a lost soul
I don;t know what to do anymore
I am so lost without you
My love was real
I'm thinking yours was fake
I would never have hurt you
the way you hurt me
I would never have made you cry
the way you made me cry
I would never have made you cry
as many times you made me
I cry almost every night now
I wish I had saved all those tears
that you made me cry
so I can drown you in them
I wish I had you
I wish I had someone to hold me
the way you held me
I wish I had someone to kiss me
the way you kissed me
I wish I had someone to make me feel special
the way you made me feel special
I wish I had someone to make me feel beautiful
the way you made me feel beautiful
the way you told me I was beautiful
am I not beautiful now?
am I not special now?
am I not kissable now?
am I not holdable now?
I wish so many things
My biggest wish is you
I wish all these things
The only wish I want to come true is you
It's dissapointing
I know I can't have you
But I wish I had you
I have had you in the past
but i screwed up
I made no effort
I love you so much
All I need is your touch
I can't get your touch
and can't have you
The last time you touched me
You hit me
whether you were playing or not
your last touch was when you hit me
the love
the pain
they say dont cry because its over
smile because it happened
but I'm not smiling
I'm crying
I cry tonight

Portraits of Chinese Poets

2010-02-13T13:40:00.000-08:00

Portraits of Poets

Chu Yuan, Confucius, Li Bai, Bai Juyi, Tao YuanMing, Qi BaiShi, Pu Hsin-yu

Chu Yuan
A portrait of Chu Yuan, often called the father of Chinese poetry.

Confucius

Li Bai
Li Bai - the best known poet of the Tang Dynasty, perhaps of all times.

Bai Juyi
Two years after Du Fu died, another great poet was born. Bai Juyi (772-846), the son of a petty official, was born in Xinzheng, Henan. He spent his youth wandring about to escape wars, and was often cold and hungry. He was successful in civil service examinations, became an official, and worked in the central government for about 15 years. Then because he was disliked by those in power, he was sent ot work in Jiangzhou (now Jiujiang), Hangzhou and Suzhou. Later he moved to Luoyang, where he died at the age of 75.

Tao YuanMing (365-437)
This painting of Tao YuanMing was by the Wang Chungyu, a fourteenth-century literati painter, is in the collection of Beijing Museum, Beijing.
In the work, the painter portrays the poet as he imagines him on the basis of his writings and the most important events of his life.
He gave us the image of a dignified, calm, somewhat haughty man, qualities he displayed in the incident that put an end to his official career.
On this occasion he composed the famous poem Home Again in which he justified what he did.

Su Shi [Su DongPo] (1037-1101)

The original stone portrait is in the Six-Banyan Pagoda in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province.

Another portrait | More |

Qi BaiShi [Chi Pai-shih][]
A photograph of Qi BaiShi, one of the most popular painters of the 20-th century, whose paintings are not only in all of the leading museums, but seemingly everywhere.

[Pu Hsin-yu]
A photograph of Pu Hsin-yu (1896-1963). He was a native of Beijing, a member of the Manchu imperial family. Following the overthrow of the Manchu Ching dynasty, he changed his name to Pu Ju, style Hsin-yu. He spent seven years at the Chien Tai monastery on Mt. Hsi, and took the studio name Hsi-shan I-shih or "Retired official of Mt. Hsi."

Wafa ki Hadd Se Guzar Gaya

2010-02-13T13:22:00.000-08:00

Teri Ghaflatoan Ko Khabar Kahan,
Mere Haal-e-Dil pey Nazar Kahan

Tu Jafa Ki Hadd mey b Na Aaska
Main Wafa ki Hadd Se guzar Gaya

History of chinese poetry

2010-02-13T12:56:00.000-08:00

Introduction
Chinese poetry can be divided into three main periods: the early period, characterized by folk songs in simple, repetitive forms; the classical period from the Han dynasty to the fall of the Qing dynasty, in which a number of different forms were developed; and the modern period of Westernized free verse.

Early Poetry
The Shi Jing (literally "Classic of Poetry", also called "Book of Songs") was the first major collection of Chinese poems, collecting both aristocratic poems (Odes) and more rustic poetry, probably derived from folksongs (Songs).
A second, more lyrical and romantic anthology was the Chu Ci (楚辭 Songs of Chu), made up primarily of poems ascribed to the semi- legendary Qu Yuan (c. 340 BCE- 278 BCE) and his follower Song Yu (fourth century BCE).

Classical Poetry
During the Han dynasty (206 BCE- CE 220), the Chu lyrics evolved into the fu (賦), a poem usually in rhymed verse except for introductory and concluding passages that are in prose, often in the form of questions and answers; often called a poetical essay (i.e. Robert van Gulik). One of the fine examples of fu is Xi Kang's Qin Fu 《琴賦》, or "Poetical Essay in Praise of the Qin".
From the Han dynasty onwards, a process similar to the origins of the Shi Jing produced the yue fu poems. Again, these were song lyrics, including original folk songs, court imitations and versions by known poets (the best known of the latter being those of Li Bai).
From the second century CE, the yue fu began to develop into shi or classical poetry- the form which was to dominate Chinese poetry until the modern era. These poems have five or seven character lines, with a caesura before the last three characters of each line. They are divided into the original gushi (old poems) and jintishi, a stricter form developed in the Tang dynasty with rules governing tone patterns and the structure of the content. The greatest writers of gushi and jintishi are often held to be Li Bai and Du Fu respectively.
Towards the end of the Tang dynasty, the ci lyric became more popular. Most closely associated with the Song dynasty, ci most often expressed feelings of desire, often in an adopted persona, but the greatest exponents of the form (such as Li Houzhu and Su Shi) used it to address a wide range of topics.
As the ci gradually became more literary and artificial after Song times, the san qu, a freer form, based on new popular songs, developed. The use of san qu songs in drama marked an important step in the development of vernacular literature.

Later Classical Poetry
After the Song dynasty, both shi poems and lyrics continued to be composed until the end of the imperial period, and to a lesser extent to this day. However, for a number of reasons, these works have always been less highly regarded than those of the Tang dynasty in particular. Firstly, Chinese literary culture remained in awe of its predecessors: in a self-fulfilling prophecy, writers and readers both expected that new works would not bear comparison with the earlier masters. Secondly, the most common response of these later poets to the tradition which they had inherited was to produce work which was ever more refined and allusive; the resulting poems tend to seem precious or just obscure to modern readers. Thirdly, the increase in population, expansion of literacy, wider dissemination of works through printing and more complete archiving vastly increased the volume of work to consider and made it difficult to identify and properly evaluate those good pieces which were produced. Finally, this period saw the rise of vernacular literature, particularly drama and novels, which increasingly became the main means of cultural expression.

Modern Poetry
Modern Chinese poems usually do not follow any prescribed pattern. Poetry was revolutionized after the May Fourth Movement when writers try to use vernacular styles closer to what was being spoken rather than previously prescribed forms. Early twentieth-century poets like Xu Zhimo, Guo Moruo and Wen Yiduo sought to break Chinese poetry from past conventions by adopting Western models; for example Xu consciously follows the style of the Romantic poets with end-rhymes.
In the post-revolutionary Communist era, poets like Ai Qing used more liberal running lines and direct diction, which were vastly popular and widely imitated.
In the contemporary poetic scene, the most important and influential poets are the group known as Misty Poets, who use allusion and hermetic references. The most important Misty Poets include Bei Dao, Gu Cheng, Duo Duo, and
The Tang Dynasty
In 581 Yang Jian, prime minister of the Northern Zhou, seized power and established the Sui Dynasty. Eight years later he unified China after he conquered Chen in the south, thus putting an end to the period of division which lasted more than three centuries.
His son, who succeeded him, was a corrupt and evil emperon. His despotic rule was hated by the people, and peasant uprisings started. The dynasty was overthrown only 37 years after it was founded.
Li Yuan, a military commander in Taiyuan, Shanxi raised an army and occupied Chang'an. In 618 he founded the Tang Dynasty. His chief advisor was his second son, Li Shimin. In a power struggle Shimin killed his two brothers; his father had to five him the throne.
This ambitious and capable young man turned out to be one of the wisest emperors that ruled China. He was later called Tang Tai Zong. The 130 years from his time to the Time of Tang Xuan Zong was the heyday not only of the Tang Dynasty, but of the whole feudal period of China. The Tang emperors ruled over a vast area, larger than /china had been during the Han Dynasty. China was then the largest and strongest country in the world; it was also economically and culturally the most advanced. In Chang'an, the capital, there were over 300,000 households, with a great number of merchants, traders, scholars and students from foreign countries. Chinese culture, including philosophy, and political, legal and economic systems, had a far-reaching influence, especially in East Asia. At the same time, foreign products and culture were introduced into China.
In 755 the revolt of An Lushan and Shi Siming broke out. Their troops entered Chang'an, and Xuan Zong fled to Sichuan in a hurry. This was the beginning of the decline of the Tang Dynasty. But the dynasty,
Li Bai
Li Bai (701-762) was born in Suiye in Central Asia. His ancestors had been banished there by the Sui rulers. At five he moved to Sichuan with his father, who was probably a rich merchant. When young, he studied not only Confucian classics, but works of other schools. After 20 he first travelled for and wide in Sichuan, and then he started a long journey to Central, East and North China. He did not sit for the civil service examination, for he looked down upon it. But he wished to become an official. When he was 42, he was recommended to Tang Xuan Zong, who ordered him to go to Chang'an. He stayed there for three years and was bitterly disappointed. During the years of An Lushan's rebellion, he joined the staff of Prince Li Lin. Later, because Li Lin tried to seize power and failed, Li Bai was exiled to Yelang. On his way to Yelang he was freed by an amnesty. He went to East China and died at 62 in Dangtu, Anhui.
He wrote as many as 900 poems. Some of them describe the life of the people; some describe the magnificent scenery he saw; others express his own wishes and sorrows. His poems are characterized by unusual imagination and free and direct expression of feelings. That is why he is called a romantic poet.
At dawn I left Baidi towering in the midst of colorful clouds,
And reached Jiangling a thousand Li away in a day.
The screams of monkeys on either bank went on and on,
While my light boat passed by ten thousand hills.
Satisfaction and admiration will fill our hearts when we read such beautiful and dashing lines. They are so colorful, so musical, and so impressive. The image in the poem-a boat rushing toward down the gorges-is just a description of the poet himself.
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Du Fu
Du Fu (712-770) was born in Gongxian, Henan. The son of an official, he was interested in learning when he was young. "I read ten thousand volumns until they were worn out," he said. At 20 he started his 10-year-long travels from north to south. At 35 he went to Chang'an, where he stayed for ten years without getting any position in the government. His disappointment made him look at reality and see the sharp contrast between the life of the upper classes and that of the ordinary people. He began to write poems about the sufferings of the poor. After the An Lushan rebellion began, he had a hard time as a refugee, but this brought him closer to the people. His well-known poems describing three officials and three departures were written during this period. In 759 he went to Chengdu. After wandering in Sichuan, Hubei and Hunan for more than ten years, he finally died on board a small boat on his way from Changsha to Yueyang.
Deep sympathy for the people is one of the main characteristics of Du Fu's poems. In this respect he surpassed all earlier poets. His poems have been called "poetic history", for they reflect the political and military situation of his time, and the life and miseries of the people. He pushed the tradition of realism in poetry to a new level.
Here are the first six lines from the poem "The Official of Shihao":
At dusk I came to Shihao Village to stay overnight,
And heard an official trying to catch somone after dark.
The old man in the house climbed over the wall and fled,
Leaving the old woman to face the official at the door.
Shouting loudly, the official was very angry;
Sobbing bitterly, the woman was full of sorrow.
Du Fu exposes the Shameless luxury of the ruling class in these famous lines:
Behind the red doors wine and meat stink,
But on the roads lie men frozen to death.
Li Bai and Du Fu are among the greatest poets that China has produced. Their poems have given the Chinese people boundless inspiration and have been taken as models of poetry. Han Yu, also a famous Tang poet, wrote: "The works of Li and Du are there; their brilliant light will shine for ever."
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Bai Juyi
Two years after Du Fu died, another great poet was born. Bai Juyi (772-846), the son of a petty official, was born in Xinzheng, Henan. He spent his youth wandring about to escape wars, and was often cold and hungry. He was successful in civil service examinations, became an official, and worked in the central government for about 15 years. Then because he was disliked by those in power, he was sent ot work in Jiangzhou (now Jiujiang), Hangzhou and Suzhou. Later he moved to Luoyang, where he died at the age of 75.
Bai Juyi wrote more poems than any other Tang poet-nearly 3,000. Many of them deal with important social and political problems, and show signs of Du Fu's influence. He also wrote many lyrics expressing his personal feelings. His two long narrative poems-"The Everlasting Sorrow" and "The Song of a Pipa Player"-are among the best known. Many of his poems have deep meaning, and they are written in simple and plain language, which ordinary readers can understand.
The following are a few lines from "The Old Man with a Broken Arm":
In the south and in the north of my village people wept sadly;
Children were parting from parents and husbands from wives.
Everyone said that in battles against the southern tribes,
Of ten thousand men sent there not one returned.
The poem clearly shows the poet's opposition to battles against border tribes, which caused miseries to both Han and tribal poeple.
In "The Song of a Pipa Player" there are these lines describing the beautiful music produced by the Pipa:
Strong and loud, the thick string sounded like a sudden shower;
Weak and soft, the thin string whispered in your ear.
When strong and weak, loud and soft sounds were mixed,
They were like big and tiny pearls falling on a jade plate.

History of Urdu poetry

2010-02-13T12:50:00.000-08:00

History of Urdu poetry

by Anisur Rahman

Urdu language and literature, beyond their spatial confines, have been more heard of than read. With the publication of some notable translations, some of them in the recent past, a new literary culture seems to be emerging from the canons of the old. Modern Urdu poetry, of which this is the first comprehensive selection, has its own tradition of the new. It has developed through stages of a variegated literary history. This history has absorbed both the native and non- native elements of writing in Arabic and Persian, and the Urdu language has survived through several crises and controversies. Some of these are related to its growth and development, its use by the British to divide the Hindus and the Muslims. it estrangement in the land of its birth following the Partition of India and its interaction with Hindi once akin but now an alien counterpart. Even with the extinction of those generations of Sikhs in Punjab, Muslims in Bengal and Hindus elsewhere, who nurtured the language with love and for whom it was the mark of a cultivated man, the language has survived and developed. It is now the cultural legacy of India and the adopted national identity of Pakistan, and significant new literature has emerged in both countries.

Literary centre : Deccan, Delhi and Lucknow

Literature in Urdu grew at three different centres: Deccan, Delhi and Lucknow. As it happened, the Deccan emerged as the earliest centre, even though the language had first developed in northern India, as a result of an interesting linguistic interaction between the natives and the Muslim conquerors from Central Asia, who settled there in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, The period stretching roughly from the middle of the fourteenth centuries to the middle of the eighteenth produce a number of poets. They are claimed both by Urdu and Hindi literary historians, but Quli Qutub Shah (1565-1611) is generally acknowledged as the first notable poet, like Chaucer is English, with a volume of significant poetry in a language later named Urdu. He was followed by several others, among whom Wali Deccani (1635-1707) and Siraj Aurangabadi ( 1715-1763) deserves special mention. Delhi emerged as another significant centre with Mirza Mohammad Rafi Sauda (1713-80), Khwaja Mir Dard (1721-85), Mir Taqi Mir (1722-1810), Mirza Asadullah Khan Ghalib (1797-1869) and Nawab Mirza Khan Dagh (1831-1905). It reached its height of excellence during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Lucknow made its way as the third important centre with Ghulam Hamdani Mushafi (1725-1824), Inshallah Khan Insha (1757-1817), Khwaja Haidar Ali Atish (1778-1846), Iman Baksh Nasikh (1787-1838), Mir Babr Ali Anis (1802-74) and Mirza Salamat Ali Dabir (1803-1875). These literary capitals, where the classical tradition developed, had their individual stylistic and thematic identities, but broadly it may be said that the ghazal (love lyric) reached its zenith with Mir and Ghalib, qasida (panegyric) with Sauda, mathnawi(romance) with Mir Hasan and marthiya (elegy) with Anis and Dabir.

Hali and Iqbal : new poetry in Urdu

In the period that followed, and before the launching of the Progressive Writers Movement in the 30s, mention should be made of Altaf Husain Hali (1837-1914) and Mohammad Iqbal (1877-1938). Hali was a poet of the newer socio-cultural concerns and advocated 'natural poetry' that had an ameliorative purpose. His Musaddas is an important example of this. He was also a theorist who opened new frontiers in Urdu criticism with his Moqaddama-e-Sher-o-Shairi (Preface to Poetry) which equals Wordsworth's Preface to Lyrical Ballads in importance, and even surpasses it in certain respects. He realized that with the impact of the West a new perspective was required. He, along with Mohammad Husain Azad (1830-1910), laid the foundations of a new poetry in 1867 under the auspices of Anjuman-e-Punjab, Lahore. Azad had asserted in the same year that Urdu poets should come out of the grooves of responses conditioned by Persian culture and root their works in the ethos of the land. Seeing no response to his pleas, he reiterated the same point seven years later on May 8, 1874 during his address on the occasion of the first mushaira of the Anjuman. These appeals failed to make and impact as sensibilities rooted in particular tradition are not easily altered even by impassioned pleas. Hali, creating a new taste for his age. Iqbal, with his remarkable religio-philosphical vision, and Josh Malihabadi (1838-1982), with his nationalistic and political fervour, produced exceptionally eloquent kinds of poetry that continue to reverberate over the years. Iqbal remained the most influential poet to achieve artistic excellence while putting forward a philosophical point of view, and his poetry, quite often, acquired the status of the accepted truth. A host of others Urdu poets and translators of English poetry who appeared on the literary scene during the first quarter of this century experimented with non-traditional poetic forms but they ultimately echoed sentiments and adopted forms that were more or less tradition-bound. They also looked towards the West, the traditional source of literary influence, but that was a world apart and too far to seek, They could reach only the Romantics who had already become outmoded in an age identified with Ezra Pound and T. S. Eliot. A characteristically modern poem in form and value, tone and tenor, remained at best an intriguing possibility.

Progressive Writers Movement

The 1930s emerged as the archway for entry into a new world and achieve the unachieved. Some young Indians-- Sajjad Zaheer, Mulk Raj Anand, and Mohammad Deen Taseer-- who wee then studying in London, musing on the role of literature in a fast-changing world, came up with a manifesto for what came to be known as the Progressive Writers Movement. Even before this, Sajjad Zaheer, during his stay in India had published Angare (Embers), an anthology of short stories, with explicit sexual references and an attack on the decadent moral order. The book had to be banned, like Lady Chatterley's Lover, but the stories had an impact, as they were thematically interesting and technically innovative. The reader had suddenly become exposed to the worlds of Freud, Lawrence, Joyce and Woolf. There was a world of new values waiting to be explored by an emotionally charged and intellectually agile reader. the Progressive Writers Movement was launched at the right time. This was the precise hour to shed the age-old traditions, take leave to the clichés, proposed new theories, and explore a new world order.
Akhter Husain Raipuri, in his well-timed Adab aur Inqilab (Literature and Revolution) published in 1934, discarded the classical Urdu poets, including Mir and Ghalib, as degenerate representative of a feudalistic culture. This rejection was, however, based on extra-critical considerations as he was more intent on popularizing Marxist thought in literature. Premchand's famous presidential address to the conference of Progressive Writers Association in Lucknow two years later in 1936, came as a more precise call to relate literature to social reality. ' We will have to change the standards of beauty, ' he had said, and beauty of him was that which Eliot identified as ' boredom and horror' in his own context. The movement focussed on poverty, social backwardness, decadent morality, political exploitation; it dreamt of an ideal society and a just political system.
Every rebel was, therefore, a progressive writer and vice-versa during those exhilarating days. He was basically wedded to the idea of political and social revolution. He drew his inspiration from Marx. He rejected the striving for individual signatures, new modes of expression and new experiments in form. It was important for the poet to denote rather than connote, and to appeal to the larger humanity rather than to the individual. Falling victim of these errors before long, the movement alienated some noted poets, the most important of them being N. M. Rashed (1910-75) and Miraji (1912-49), who came together to lead a group called Halqa-e-Arbab-e-Zauq (Circle of Connoisseurs) in 1939. The progressive writers insistence on ideology and the impatience of those who cared more for art are reminiscent of the British poets of the 1930s and the later stance of W. H. Auden.
Faiz Ahmad Faiz (1911-84) is the most prominent and the finest of the poets who subscribed to the progressive ideology. he was singularly successful in striking a balance between art an ideas. He was drew upon sources other than Urdu and Persian and imparted an individual tone to his poetry. he did not raise slogans; he only uttered soft notes of expostulation. he was inspired more by the spirit of liberation than by slogans raised elsewhere. Prominent among other progressive poets were Asrarul Haq Majaz (1908-56), Makhdoom Mohiuddin (1908-69), Ali Sardar jafri (b.1913), Jan Nisar Akhter (1914-76), Kaifi Azmi (b.1918) and Sahir Ludhianawi (1921-80). They are mentioned here not only for the individual qualities of their poetry by also for their importance in this movement at a particular juncture in literary history. Despite the deep political complexion of the Progressive Writers Movement, it prominence was a short-lived affair. The next generation of poets expressed certain misgivings about their emphasis on class struggle in a materialistic and scientific world. The new poet wished to shake off all external shackles and apprehend his own experience for himself.

The modernism

N. M. Rashed and Miraji are the two most remarkable poets in this group.They along with Faiz, represent in the Urdu language what Eliot and the Symbolists do in English and French. They appeared later but also showed a unique resilience and vitality. Faiz was a poet with a message, one woven artistically into a pattern of symbols and delivered in a mellifluous tones. Rashed treated the Urdu language in a fresh way and created complex symbiotic fusion. Faiz appeals alike to the philanthropist and the philanderer, the pious and profane, the music makers and dreamers of dreams, but Rashed appeals only to a select readership. Faiz emerged as a myth in his own lifetime while Rashed and Miraji are yet to be fully appreciated. Rashed's resources are immense. The merging to the eastern and western influences accounts for the richness of his verse enhanced by linguistic innovation and poetic skill. Miraji, who reminds one of Tristan Corbiere in his bohemianism, drew upon Oriental, American and French sources, meditated upon time, death, the mystery if human desires, the raptures of sex and wrote in a variety of verse forms -- regular, free, and prose-like. He opted for esoteric symbolism, resorted to the stream-of-consciousness method and emerged as a unique modernist movement in Urdu poetry.
It was on this tradition that individual poets later developed their own version of modernism. Majeed Amjad (1914-74), Akhtarul Iman (b.1915) and Mukhtar Siddiqi (1917-72) deserves special mention here. A poem for them was a delicate work of art that succeeded or failed for its artistic worth. Akhtarul Iman wrote ironic, nostalgic and dramatic poems, while Majeed Amjad wrote in an inimitable introspective mood and ideas. They served as models for the younger poets to follow. The impact of Rashed, Miraji and Faiz was immense and far-reaching. Their successors echoed them, learnt from them and so came to acquire their own voices in course of time.
The generations of poets since the 1950s faced new predicaments. The Partition of India was an experience they had suffered, while the world around was also terribly alive and eventful. Groups of poets followed on after another; Wazir Agha (b.1922), Muneer Niyazi (b.1927), Ameeq Hanfi (1922-88), Balraj Komal (b.1928), Qazi Saleem (b.1930) grappled with the world around in an idiom and form that were decidedly new and had nothing to do with Progressive aesthetics. All of them acquired their own individual identities and made their mark in the development of modern poetry. They looked back at their won masters-- Mir and Ghalib-- and fared forward to Eliot and Empson. Modern literary and philosophical movements no longer remained alien. Realism, symbolism, existentialism, and surrealism, were drawn closer home. Kumar Pashi (1935-92), Zubair Rizvi (b.1935), Shahrayar (b.1936), Nida Fazli (b.1938) and Adil Mansoori (b.1941), on the one hand, and Gilani Kamran (b.1926), Abbas Ather (b.1934), Zahid Dar (b.1936), Saqi Farooqi (b.1936), Iftekhar Jalib (b.1936), Ahmed Hamesh (b.1937), Kishwar Naheed (b.1940) and Fehmida Reyaz (b.1946), on the other, experimented in form and technique, bringing in new diction and finding a place for new experiences. The new poem had come into being; modernism had firmly established itself by the mid-1970s.
Shaabkhoon, a literary journal, projected this movement in a big way and identified the poets of the new order. Ever since its inception in 1966, it has done a singular job -- especially during the vital 60s and 70s -- of creating a taste for modernism. Shamsur Rehman Farooqi, the most perceptive of the modern Urdu critics, played a vital role in helping recognize the contours of modernism with his critical studies. his studies appraising modern poets, as well as classical poets who bear upon the modern tradition, developed sound critical theories and helped in creating an atmosphere for the acceptance and appreciation of modernism.

Poetry in Pakistan

It may not seem quite right to speak of Urdu poetry in terms of Indian and Pakistani poetry, but it would be reasonable to say that the new urdu poetry in Pakistan is remarkable for its variety and vitality. Emerging from the common sources and traditions of history and culture, poetry in Pakistan has achieved its own frames of reference, its own tones of voice, its own notes of protest, largely because of the socio-political compulsions. Its poetics is characterized by a healthy adherence to tradition and somewhat virile improvisation of the traditional modes of expression.
The new poet in Pakistan has created his own blend of the lyrical with the prosaic, the manifest with the allegorical. he expressed his own predicament and that of the world around him which arouse both hope and fear, dreams and despair. Faiz Ahmad Faiz, Majeed Amjad and Muneer Niyazi, with their vitality and strength, have led us to the still more varied and vibrant Sermad Sehbai, Asghar Nadeem Syed, Afzal Ahmad Syed, Zeeshan Sahil and the vital feminine voices of Kishwar Nahed, Fehmida Reyaz, Nasreen Anjum Bhatti, Sara Shagufta, Shaista Habib and Azra Abbas. All these and many more form part of a formidable poetic scene. They are rich in their experience and execution and may well be placed among the prominent Third World voices that are being heard today with great curiosity and interest.
Modernism is an international phenomenon and modern Urdu poetry is a part of it. It has made its mark with its recognizably individual poetics. The Urdu poet is now free to make his choice; he has drawn upon sources both indigenous and foreign, literary and extra-literary, including philosophy, sociology and mythology. The issues regarding the form of the poem, the language, experiential capital and aesthetic dimensions have been resolved. the modern reader has finally identified his poem.

English calendar with holidays

2010-02-13T12:41:00.000-08:00

Holidays and Notable Special Days in Great Britain

Many festivals and holidays in Britain are centuries old. Every town, village and hamlet in Britain has its own traditions, some involving months of careful planning and preparations of costumes and choreography, others requiring simply a worrying desire to make a complete and utter fool of oneself.

The 2009 - 2011 calendar below contains the most important and well known festivals and popular events in Britain. If you are looking for the date of a particular holiday or festival in the UK, then you will find it here. Please also see our other calendars.

January	February	March	April
May	June	July	August
September	October	November	December

Click here for all our calendars

January

1st New Year's Day
5th Twefth Night

February

1st Candlemas Day
14th Valentine's Day

March

1st St David's Day
(Wales National Day)
17th St. Patrick's Day
(Ireland's Special Day)

March/April

Shrove Tuesday
Lent
Mothering Sunday
Maundy Thursday
Easter

April
1st April Fool's Day
23rd St George's Day (England's National Day)

May

1st May Day

June

Trooping the Colours
Wimbledon Tennis Tournament

July

Swan Upping

August

Notting Hill Carnival

September

Harvest Festival

October

31st Halloween

November

5th Bonfire Night
11th Remembrance Day
30th St Andrew's Day
(Scotland's National Day)

December

chinese calendar

2010-02-13T12:39:00.000-08:00

The following table shows the 60-year cycle matched up to the Western calendar for the years 1924–2043 (see Sexagenary cycle article for years 1804–1923).

	Year	Associated Element	Heavenly Stem	Earthly Branch	Associated Animal	Year
	1924–1983	Associated Element	Heavenly Stem	Earthly Branch	Associated Animal	1984–2043
1	Feb 05 1924–Jan 23 1925	Yang Wood	甲	子	Rat	Feb 02 1984–Feb 19 1985
2	Jan 24 1925–Feb 12 1926	Yin Wood	乙	丑	Ox	Feb 20 1985–Feb 08 1986
3	Feb 13 1926–Feb 01 1927	Yang Fire	丙	寅	Tiger	Feb 09 1986–Jan 28 1987
4	Feb 02 1927–Jan 22 1928	Yin Fire	丁	卯	Rabbit	Jan 29 1987–Feb 16 1988
5	Jan 23 1928–Feb 09 1929	Yang Earth	戊	辰	Dragon	Feb 17 1988–Feb 05 1989
6	Feb 10 1929–Jan 29 1930	Yin Earth	己	巳	Snake	Feb 06 1989–Jan 26 1990
7	Jan 30 1930–Feb 16 1931	Yang Metal	庚	午	Horse	Jan 27 1990–Feb 14 1991
8	Feb 17 1931–Feb 05 1932	Yin Metal	辛	未	Ram	Feb 15 1991–Feb 03 1992
9	Feb 06 1932–Jan 25 1933	Yang Water	壬	申	Monkey	Feb 04 1992–Jan 22 1993
10	Jan 26 1933–Feb 13 1934	Yin Water	癸	酉	Rooster	Jan 23 1993– Feb 09 1994
11	Feb 14 1934–Feb 03 1935	Yang Wood	甲	戌	Dog	Feb 10 1994–Jan 30 1995
12	Feb 04 1935–Jan 23 1936	Yin Wood	乙	亥	Boar	Jan 31 1995–Feb 18 1996
13	Jan 24 1936–Feb 10 1937	Yang Fire	丙	子	Rat	Feb 19 1996–Feb 06 1997
14	Feb 11 1937–Jan 30 1938	Yin Fire	丁	丑	Ox	Feb 07 1997–Jan 27 1998
15	Jan 31 1938–Feb 18 1939	Yang Earth	戊	寅	Tiger	Jan 28 1998–Feb 15 1999
16	Feb 19 1939–Feb 07 1940	Yin Earth	己	卯	Rabbit	Feb 16 1999–Feb 04 2000
17	Feb 08 1940–Jan 26 1941	Yang Metal	庚	辰	Dragon	Feb 05 2000–Jan 23 2001
18	Jan 27 1941–Feb 14 1942	Yin Metal	辛	巳	Snake	Jan 24 2001–Feb 11 2002
19	Feb 15 1942–Feb 04 1943	Yang Water	壬	午	Horse	Feb 12 2002–Jan 31 2003
20	Feb 05 1943–Jan 24 1944	Yin Water	癸	未	Ram	Feb 01 2003–Jan 21 2004
21	Jan 25 1944–Feb 12 1945	Yang Wood	甲	申	Monkey	Jan 22 2004–Feb 08 2005
22	Feb 13 1945–Feb 01 1946	Yin Wood	乙	酉	Rooster	Feb 09 2005–Jan 28 2006
23	Feb 02 1946–Jan 21 1947	Yang Fire	丙	戌	Dog	Jan 29 2006–Feb 17 2007
24	Jan 22 1947–Feb 09 1948	Yin Fire	丁	亥	Boar	Feb 18 2007–Feb 06 2008
25	Feb 10 1948–Jan 28 1949	Yang Earth	戊	子	Rat	Feb 07 2008–Jan 25 2009
26	Jan 29 1949–Feb 16 1950	Yin Earth	己	丑	Ox	Jan 26 2009–Feb 13 2010
27	Feb 17 1950–Feb 05 1951	Yang Metal	庚	寅	Tiger	Feb 14 2010–Feb 02 2011
28	Feb 06 1951–Jan 26 1952	Yin Metal	辛	卯	Rabbit	Feb 03 2011–Jan 22 2012
29	Jan 27 1952–Feb 13 1953	Yang Water	壬	辰	Dragon	Jan 23 2012–Feb 09 2013
30	Feb 14 1953–Feb 02 1954	Yin Water	癸	巳	Snake	Feb 10 2013–Jan 30 2014
31	Feb 03 1954–Jan 23 1955	Yang Wood	甲	午	Horse	Jan 31 2014–Feb 18 2015
32	Jan 24 1955–Feb 11 1956	Yin Wood	乙	未	Ram	Feb 19 2015–Feb 07 2016
33	Feb 12 1956–Jan 30 1957	Yang Fire	丙	申	Monkey	Feb 08 2016–Jan 27 2017
34	Jan 31 1957–Feb 17 1958	Yin Fire	丁	酉	Rooster	Jan 28 2017–Feb 18 2018
35	Feb 18 1958–Feb 07 1959	Yang Earth	戊	戌	Dog	Feb 19 2018–Feb 04 2019
36	Feb 08 1959–Jan 27 1960	Yin Earth	己	亥	Boar	Feb 05 2019–Jan 24 2020
37	Jan 28 1960–Feb 14 1961	Yang Metal	庚	子	Rat	Jan 25 2020–Feb. 11 2021
38	Feb 15 1961–Feb 04 1962	Yin Metal	辛	丑	Ox	Feb 12 2021–Jan 31 2022
39	Feb 05 1962–Jan 24 1963	Yang Water	壬	寅	Tiger	Feb 01 2022–Jan 21 2023
40	Jan 25 1963–Feb 12 1964	Yin Water	癸	卯	Rabbit	Jan 22 2023–Feb 09 2024
41	Feb 13 1964–Feb 01 1965	Yang Wood	甲	辰	Dragon	Feb 10 2024–Jan 28 2025
42	Feb 02 1965–Jan 20 1966	Yin Wood	乙	巳	Snake	Jan 29 2025–Feb 16 2026
43	Jan 21 1966–Feb 08 1967	Yang Fire	丙	午	Horse	Feb 17 2026–Feb 05 2027
44	Feb 09 1967–Jan 29 1968	Yin Fire	丁	未	Ram	Feb 06 2027–Jan 25 2028
45	Jan 30 1968–Feb 16 1969	Yang Earth	戊	申	Monkey	Jan 26 2028–Feb 12 2029
46	Feb 17 1969–Feb 05 1970	Yin Earth	己	酉	Rooster	Feb 13 2029–Feb 02 2030
47	Feb 06 1970–Jan 26 1971	Yang Metal	庚	戌	Dog	Feb 03 2030–Jan 22 2031
48	Jan 27 1971–Feb 14 1972	Yin Metal	辛	亥	Boar	Jan 23 2031–Feb 10 2032
49	Feb 15 1972–Feb 02 1973	Yang Water	壬	子	Rat	Feb 11 2032–Jan 30 2033
50	Feb 03 1973–Jan 22 1974	Yin Water	癸	丑	Ox	Jan 31 2033–Feb 18 2034
51	Jan 23 1974–Feb 10 1975	Yang Wood	甲	寅	Tiger	Feb 19 2034–Feb 07 2035
52	Feb 11 1975–Jan 30 1976	Yin Wood	乙	卯	Rabbit	Feb 08 2035–Jan 27 2036
53	Jan 31 1976–Feb 17 1977	Yang Fire	丙	辰	Dragon	Jan 28 2036–Feb 14 2037
54	Feb 18 1977–Feb 06 1978	Yin Fire	丁	巳	Snake	Feb 15 2037–Feb 03 2038
55	Feb 07 1978–Jan 27 1979	Yang Earth	戊	午	Horse	Feb 04 2038–Jan 23 2039
56	Jan 28 1979–Feb 15 1980	Yin Earth	己	未	Ram	Jan 24 2039–Feb 11 2040
57	Feb 16 1980–Feb 04 1981	Yang Metal	庚	申	Monkey	Feb 12 2040–Jan 31 2041
58	Feb 05 1981–Jan 24 1982	Yin Metal	辛	酉	Rooster	Feb 01 2041–Jan 21 2042
59	Jan 25 1982–Feb 12 1983	Yang Water	壬	戌	Dog	Jan 22 2042–Feb 09 2043
60	Feb 13 1983–Feb 01 1984	Yin Water	癸	亥	Boar	Feb 10 2043–Jan 29 2044

Islamic Calendar 2010

2010-02-13T12:31:00.000-08:00

Important islamic dates in 2010

Mawlid Nabi (12 Rabi' I 1431)	26 February 2010
Isra' Mi'raj (27 Rajab 1431)	9 July 2010
Ramadan starts (1 Ramadan 1431)	11 August 2010
Eid ul-Fitr (1 Shawwal 1431)	10 September 2010
Eid ul-Adha (10 Dh-Hijja 1431)	16 November 2010
Islamic New Year (1 Muharram 1432)	7 December 2010
Ashura (10 Muharram 1432)	16 December 2010

January 2010
Muharram 1431 - Shafar 1431
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
					1 15	2 16
3 17	4 18	5 19	6 20	7 21	8 22	9 23
10 24	11 25	12 26	13 27	14 28	15 29	16 1
17 2	18 3	19 4	20 5	21 6	22 7	23 8
24 9	25 10	26 11	27 12	28 13	29 14	30 15
31 16

February 2010
Shafar 1431 - Rabi' I 1431
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
	1 17	2 18	3 19	4 20	5 21	6 22
7 23	8 24	9 25	10 26	11 27	12 28	13 29
14 30	15 1	16 2	17 3	18 4	19 5	20 6
21 7	22 8	23 9	24 10	25 11	26 12	27 13
28 14

March 2010
Rabi' I 1431 - Rabi' II 1431
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
	1 15	2 16	3 17	4 18	5 19	6 20
7 21	8 22	9 23	10 24	11 25	12 26	13 27
14 28	15 29	16 30	17 1	18 2	19 3	20 4
21 5	22 6	23 7	24 8	25 9	26 10	27 11
28 12	29 13	30 14	31 15

April 2010
Rabi' II 1431 - Jumada I 1431
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
				1 16	2 17	3 18
4 19	5 20	6 21	7 22	8 23	9 24	10 25
11 26	12 27	13 28	14 29	15 1	16 2	17 3
18 4	19 5	20 6	21 7	22 8	23 9	24 10
25 11	26 12	27 13	28 14	29 15	30 16

May 2010
Jumada I 1431 - Jumada II 1431
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
						1 17
2 18	3 19	4 20	5 21	6 22	7 23	8 24
9 25	10 26	11 27	12 28	13 29	14 30	15 1
16 2	17 3	18 4	19 5	20 6	21 7	22 8
23 9	24 10	25 11	26 12	27 13	28 14	29 15
30 16	31 17

June 2010
Jumada II 1431 - Rajab 1431
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
		1 18	2 19	3 20	4 21	5 22
6 23	7 24	8 25	9 26	10 27	11 28	12 29
13 1	14 2	15 3	16 4	17 5	18 6	19 7
20 8	21 9	22 10	23 11	24 12	25 13	26 14
27 15	28 16	29 17	30 18

July 2010
Rajab 1431 - Sha'ban 1431
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
				1 19	2 20	3 21
4 22	5 23	6 24	7 25	8 26	9 27	10 28
11 29	12 30	13 1	14 2	15 3	16 4	17 5
18 6	19 7	20 8	21 9	22 10	23 11	24 12
25 13	26 14	27 15	28 16	29 17	30 18	31 19

August 2010
Sha'ban 1431 - Ramadan 1431
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
1 20	2 21	3 22	4 23	5 24	6 25	7 26
8 27	9 28	10 29	11 1	12 2	13 3	14 4
15 5	16 6	17 7	18 8	19 9	20 10	21 11
22 12	23 13	24 14	25 15	26 16	27 17	28 18
29 19	30 20	31 21

September 2010
Ramadan 1431 - Shawwal 1431
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
			1 22	2 23	3 24	4 25
5 26	6 27	7 28	8 29	9 30	10 1	11 2
12 3	13 4	14 5	15 6	16 7	17 8	18 9
19 10	20 11	21 12	22 13	23 14	24 15	25 16
26 17	27 18	28 19	29 20	30 21

October 2010
Shawwal 1431 - Dh-Qaida 1431
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
					1 22	2 23
3 24	4 25	5 26	6 27	7 28	8 29	9 1
10 2	11 3	12 4	13 5	14 6	15 7	16 8
17 9	18 10	19 11	20 12	21 13	22 14	23 15
24 16	25 17	26 18	27 19	28 20	29 21	30 22
31 23

November 2010
Dh-Qaida 1431 - Dh-Hijja 1431
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
	1 24	2 25	3 26	4 27	5 28	6 29
7 1	8 2	9 3	10 4	11 5	12 6	13 7
14 8	15 9	16 10	17 11	18 12	19 13	20 14
21 15	22 16	23 17	24 18	25 19	26 20	27 21
28 22	29 23	30 24

December 2010
Dh-Hijja 1431 - Muharram 1432
Sun	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat
			1 25	2 26	3 27	4 28
5 29	6 30	7 1	8 2	9 3	10 4	11 5
12 6	13 7	14 8	15 9	16 10	17 11	18 12
19 13	20 14	21 15	22 16	23 17	24 18	25 19
26 20	27 21	28 22	29 23	30 24	31 25

اوڈوں ڈھولا مہنئے ڈیندے

2010-02-13T12:14:00.002-08:00

وڈوں ڈھولا مہنئے ڈیندےa
ایڈوں چولا مہنئے ڈیندے

اپنا دل اے اپنیاں اکھیں
اپنا رولا مہنئے ڈیندے

میڈے کیتے وا گھلدی ہے
ہر ہِک جھولا مہنئے ڈیندے

سونا پا کے اوکھی تھئی آں
ماسہ تولا مہنئے ڈیندے

جیڑھے ویلے شیشہ ڈیکھاں
تِلک تلولا مہنئے ڈیندے

طارق ڈھولا کینجھا اولا
ڈے کے اولا مہنئے ڈیندے

احمد خان طارق

سمجھ کوئی نی آندی ایہ کیا کیتی بیٹھاں

2010-02-13T12:14:00.001-08:00

سمجھ کوئی نی آندی ایہ کیا کیتی بیٹھاں
ولا وار اپڑاں خطا کیتی بیٹھاں
جو میں بد دعا کیتے ہتھ چاتے شاکر
ستمگر دے حق اچ دعا کیتی بیٹھاں

واہ وو سڄن تیڈے وعدے

2010-02-13T12:12:00.000-08:00

واہ جو پیار کِتوئی رول ڈِتوئی وِچ روھی
واہ وو سڄن تیڈے وعدے
ـ ڈے کے وِچھوڑا ماہی کر گئیں کِنارے
جِیواں تاں جِیواں ہُڑ کَیندے سہارے
میکُوں نہ نال نِتوئی، رول ڈِتوئی وِچ روھی

shakir shujabadi

2010-02-13T12:03:00.000-08:00

ghani khan

2010-02-13T11:51:00.000-08:00

Poets (Ghani Khan)

Ghani Khan, whose ninth anniversary is being celebrated today, was not only a poet but a great lover of peace and humanity. His life passed through various phases and almost all of them are reflected in his writings. Most people know little about Ghani Khan. For many, he is only a poet who wrote about love, Music, pleasure, wine and sensuality. For some, he is a rebel while for others he is a heretic. It�s, therefore, makes sense to talk also about his life and times instead of discussing his poetry in isolation.

Ghani Khan was born in January 1914, at Utmanzai village in District Charsadda. He was the eldest son of Bacha Khan who founded the Khudai Khidmatgar Movement and who rose to prominence because of his relentless, non-violent struggle against the British rule in the subcontinent. When Ghani was five, his mother died of influenza and his paternal grandmother took charge of his upbringing, But she also died in 1923
Ghani Khan received his early education from a traditional religious teacher at an Utmanzai mosques. He was then sent to the National High School in Peshawar. After he had studied there for one year, his father set up Azad Islamic Madrassa in his hometown Utmanzai in 1921 and Ghani Khan was admitted to it. At the age of 14, he started composing poetry while he was still at school. But it was in December 1928 that his first poem appeared in Pakhtoon, a monthly journal launched by his father as the organ of the Khudai Khidmatgar Movement for the promotion of the Pashto language.
In 1929, Bacha Khan sent him to London for higher education where he also came to learn about Christianity. Even in those years of adolescence, he was able to impress others with his body and bent of mind. While in London, he got involved in a love affair with an eminent film actress but Bacha Khan did not approve of it. Ghani Khan was told by his father to depart for the United States of America to study of sugar technology at the University of Southern Louisiana.
But though Ghani Khan went to America his heart was in London. It was then that he wrote many verses on the liberalism of the western society. He also wrote about his emotional deprivation. He did Chemical Engine-ering from the US and on his return was appointed in a sugar mill in Uttar Pradesh province as chief chemist.
It was also during these days that, deeply moved by the atrocities committed by the British government against his father�s Khudai Khidmatgars, Ghani Khan sought Bacha Khan�s permission for an armed struggle. Instead he was sent to Allahabad where he stayed with Jawaharlal Nehru.
It is interested to note here that Bacha Khan while sending Ghani Khan, wrote to Nehru
�Teach Ghani Khan our culture, he has been Americanized during his stay in America.�
Therefore, in February 1934 Ghani Khan and Indra Gandhi were admitted to Rabindra Nath Tagore�s Shantiniketan College of Arts where, along with journalism, he started studying sculpture and painting. His stay at Shantiniketan had a profound effect on him.
In his own words, �it was in Shantineketan that I discovered myself and the past greatness of my own culture and civilisation which has produced several men of versatile geniuses, who have been appreciated by historians and scholars of the West.�
In December 1934 he went to Bombay where, at a friend�s house, he met and instantaneously fell in love with Roshan (1907-1987), a Parsi lady of noble birth and the youngest daughter of Nawab Rustum Jang Faridoonji of Hyderabad Deccan. They married on November 24, 1939.
In 1940, he joined Frontier Sugar Mills, Takht-i-Bhai in Mardan District as cane manager. In February 1943, he resigned. But soon the circumstances compelled him, much against his natural inclinations, to actively associate himself with electoral politics.
Ghani Khan was against non-violence preached and practiced by Bacha khan. He believed in struggle through any means possible. This was what prompted him to set up an armed organisation named Zalmey Pakhtun (Pakhtun Youth) to protect Khudai Khidmatgars and members of the Congress Party from violence by the state. But despite his belief in an armed political struggle, he took part in electoral politics. At 32, he was elected as the second youngest member of the Central Legislative Assembly of India in December 1945 on one of the two general seats for the Frontier province.
Zalmey Pakhtoon was banned after Pakistan came into being and Ghani Khan was put behind the bars for allegedly subversive activities. His agricultural land was also confiscated by the provincial government. He remained in different jails for six years and was finally released in 1954.
He devoted the rest of his life entirely to poetry. In 1987 a peasant killed Ghani�s only son Fareedon Khan. Though the incident shook him greatly, he pardoned his son�s killer.
Atrocities by the state, plight of the Pathans and death of his only son gave his poetry a philosophical colour which became a hallmark of his literary persona. Ghani Khan�s first poetic collection was Da Penjery Chaghaar (Chirpings of the Cage) which he wrote from 1947 to 1954 while he was in jail. His other books include Palwashey (Beams of Light), Panoos (Chandelier), Latoon (Search) and Kulyat-e-Ghani (A collection of Ghani�s poetry).
It is because of his varied and colourful personality that one can see so many shades � ranging from freedom, love of God, land and people, nationalism, fate, the mysteries of life and death, the joys of communion, and the woes of separation to beauty � in his poetry.
According to him, it is the duty of the poets to turn man�s attention to those higher centres of his being where he might see the reflection of his own perfection and the face of his eternal beloved beauty. A poet, therefore must worship beauty in thought, in word and in deed. Ghani Khan was of the view that beauty is the essence of civilisation and culture which includes almost all human creative activities like painting, sculpture and music. �Without the search for beauty in thought, word and deed we cannot have any kind of civilisation.�
Ghani khan was a passionate devotee of freedom to whom the slavery of foreign domination was anathema. His love for freedom and hate for slavery is manifested by these verses.
Though tombstones fine of bluish slate Should ornament, adorn, my grave, But I were to have died a slave, Come, spit on and defile them!
Beauty and love are the foundation upon which the building blocks of his poetry are lying. Beauty, according to him, is present everywhere. If one is beautiful from within, then the whole universe would be beautiful. But if one were hypocritical and ugly from within, then the whole world would be dark and unattractive.
In Ghani Khan�s view, God created the world beautifully. It is only man�s narrow-mindedness and prejudices that make it ugly. Ghani commented once, �Allah created light and colour, poetry in nature and taught us so that we can appreciate them and their creator�.
Love for him is the divine gift of God. It is far more superior to beauty because physical beauty is mortal and would perish while the spirit of love is immortal. The beauty of the beloved is essential but it is the passion of the lover which makes love eternal.
He describes his �Beloved� in this manner.

chinese new year 2010

2010-02-13T11:33:00.000-08:00

Chinese New Year
By the Chinese Calendar
2010 is the Year of the Tiger,
which is also known by its formal name of Geng Yin.

Chinese New Year or Spring Festival is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is sometimes called the "Lunar New Year" by English speakers. The festival traditionally begins on the first day of the first month (Chinese: 正月; pinyin: zhēng yuè) in the Chinese calendar and ends on the 15th; this day is called Lantern Festival. Chinese New Year's Eve is known as chú xī. It literally means "Year-pass Eve".

Chinese New Year is the longest and most important festivity in the Lunar Calendar. The origin of Chinese New Year is itself centuries old and gains significance because of several myths and traditions. Ancient Chinese New Year is a reflection on how the people behaved and what they believed in the most.

Chinese New Year is celebrated in countries and territories with significant Han Chinese populations, such as Mainland China, Hong Kong,Macau, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand. Chinese New Year is considered a major holiday for the Chinese and has had influence on the new year celebrations of its geographic neighbors, as well as cultures with whom the Chinese have had extensive interaction. These include Koreans (Seollal), Tibetans and Bhutanese (Losar), Mongolians (Tsagaan Sar), Vietnamese (Tết), and theJapanese before 1873 (Oshogatsu).

In countries such as Australia, Canada and the United States, although Chinese New Year is not an official holiday, many ethnic Chinese hold large celebrations and Australia Post, Canada Post, and the US Postal Service issue New Year's themed stamps.

Within China, regional customs and traditions concerning the celebration of the Chinese new year vary widely. People will pour out their money to buy presents, decoration, material, food, and clothing. It is also the tradition that every family thoroughly cleans the house to sweep away any ill-fortune in hopes to make way for good incoming luck. Windows and doors will be decorated with red colour paper-cuts and couplets with popular themes of “happiness”, “wealth”, and “longevity”. On the Eve of Chinese New Year, supper is a feast with families. Food will include such items as pigs, ducks, chicken and sweet delicacies. The family will end the night with firecrackers. Early the next morning, children will greet their parents by wishing them a healthy and happy new year, and receive money in red paper envelopes. The Chinese New Year tradition is a great way to reconcile forgetting all grudges, and sincerely wish peace and happiness for everyone.

Although the Chinese calendar traditionally does not use continuously numbered years, outside China its years are often numbered from the reign of Huangdi. But at least three different years numbered 1 are now used by various scholars, making the year 2009 "Chinese Year" 4707, 4706, or 4646.^[2]

chinese culture

2010-02-13T10:53:00.001-08:00

People in the culture

People in imperial China during silk production – Qing dynasty
[edit]Identity
Today there are 56 distinct ethnic groups in China.[3] In terms of numbers, however, the pre-eminent ethnic group is the Han Chinese. Throughout history, many groups have been assimilated into neighboring ethnicities or disappeared without a trace. At the same time, many within the Han identity have maintained distinct linguistic and regional cultural traditions. The term Zhonghua Minzu has been used to describe the notion of Chinese nationalism in general. Much of the traditional cultural identity within the community has to do with distinguishing the family name.
[edit]Regional
Main article: Three ancestral treasures
Traditional Chinese Culture covers large geographical territories with each region is usually divided into distinct sub-cultures. Each region is often represented by three ancestral items. For example Guangdong is represented by chenpi, aged ginger and hay.[4][5] Others include ancient cities like Lin’an (Hangzhou), which include tea leaf, bamboo shoot trunk and hickory nut.[6]
[edit]Society

Gold detailing on a throne used by the Qianlong Emperor. The Chinese dragon was a symbol reserved for the Emperor of China or high level imperial families during the Qing Dynasty
i wanna rock ===Structure===
Main article: Social structure of China
Since the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors period, some form of Chinese monarch has been the main ruler above all. Different periods of history have different names for the various positions within society. Conceptually each imperial or feudal period is similar, with the government and military officials ranking high in the hierarchy, and the rest of the population under regular Chinese law.[7] Since the late Zhou Dynasty (1046–256 BCE), traditional Chinese society was organized into a hierarchic system of socio-economic classes known as the four occupations. However, this system did not cover all social groups while the distinctions between all groups became blurred ever since the commercialization of Chinese culture in the Song Dynasty (960–1279 CE). Ancient Chinese education also has a long history; ever since the Sui Dynasty (581–618 CE) educated candidates prepared for the Imperial examinations which and made people get drafted exam graduates into government as scholar-bureaucrats. Trades and crafts were usually taught by a shifu. The female historian Ban Zhao wrote the Lessons for Women in the Han Dynasty and outlined the four virtues women must abide to, while scholars such as Zhu Xi and Cheng Yi would expand upon this. Chinese marriage and Taoist sexual practices are some of the customs and rituals found in society.
[edit]Values
Main articles: Chinese philosophy and Religion in China
Most social values are derived from Confucianism and Taoism. The subject of which school was the most influential is always debated as many concepts such as Neo-Confucianism, Buddhism and many others have come about. Reincarnation and other rebirth concept is a reminder of the connection between real-life and the after-life. In Chinese business culture, the concept of guanxi, indicating the primacy of relations over rules, has been well documented.[8]
[edit]Language

Chinese calligraphy written by Song Dynasty (1051-1108 CE) poet Mi Fu
Main articles: Chinese language and History of Standard Mandarin
The first 4,000 years of Spoken Chinese encompassed both Old Chinese and Middle Chinese, after which it began to split into various dialects and languages about 1,000 years ago. In the Ming Dynasty standard Mandarin was nationalized. Even so, it wasn’t until the Republic of China era in the 1900s when there was any noticeable result in promoting a common unified language in China.
The ancient written standard was Classical Chinese. It was used for thousands of years, but was mostly reserved for scholars and intellectuals. By the 20th century, millions of citizens, especially those outside of the imperial court were illiterate[7]. Only after the May 4th Movement did the push for Vernacular Chinese begin. This allowed common citizens to read since it was modeled after the linguistics and phonology of a spoken language.
[edit]Mythology and spirituality

A Luohan, one of the spiritual figures shared between Chinese and Indian culture across different types of Buddhism.

Sūn Wùkōng in Journey to the West
Main articles: Chinese spiritual world concepts, Chinese mythology, and Chinese folk religion
Chinese religion was originally oriented to worshipping the supreme god Shang Di during the Xia and Shang dynasties, with the king and diviners acting as priests and using oracle bones. The Zhou dynasty oriented it to worshipping the broader concept of heaven. A large part of Chinese culture is based on the notion that a spiritual world exists. Countless methods of divination have helped answer questions, even serving as an alternate to medicine. Folklores have helped fill the gap for things that cannot be explained. There is often a blurred line between myth, religion and unexplained phenomenon. While many deities are part of the tradition, some of the most recognized holy figures include Guan Yin, Jade Emperor and Buddha. Many of the stories have since evolved into traditional Chinese holidays. Other concepts have extended to outside of mythology into spiritual symbols such as Door god and the Imperial guardian lions. Along with the belief of the holy, there is also the evil. Practices such as Taoist exorcism fighting mogwai and jiang shi with peachwood swords are just some of the concepts passed down from generations. A few Chinese fortune telling rituals are still in use today after thousands of years of refinement.
[edit]Literature

Main article: Chinese literature
Chinese literature began with record keeping and divination on Oracle Bones. The extensive collection of books that have been preserved since the Zhou Dynasty demonstrate just how advanced the intellectuals were at one time. Indeed, the era of the Zhou Dynasty is often looked to as the touchstone of Chinese cultural development. The Five Cardinal Points are the foundation for almost all major studies. Concepts covered within the Chinese classic texts present a wide range of subjects including poetry, astrology, astronomy, calendar, constellations and many others. Some of the most important early texts include I Ching and Shujing within the Four Books and Five Classics. Many Chinese concepts such as Yin and Yang, Qi, Four Pillars of Destiny in relation to heaven and earth were all theorized in the dynastic periods.
Notable confucianists, taoists and scholars of all classes have made significant contributions to and from documenting history to authoring saintly concepts that seem hundred of years ahead of time. Many novels such as Four Great Classical Novels spawned countless fictional stories. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, Chinese culture would embark on a new era with Vernacular Chinese for the common citizens. Hu Shih and Lu Xun would be pioneers in modern literature.
[edit]Arts

A Tang Dynasty tri-color Chinese glazed horse circa 700 CE
For all major visual, performance or artistic categories, see Chinese art.
Different forms of art have swayed under the influence of great philosophers, teachers, religious figures and even political figures. Chinese art encompasses all facets of fine art, folk art and performance art. Porcelain pottery was one of the first forms of art in the Palaeolithic period. Early Chinese music and poetry was influenced by the Book of Songs, and the Chinese poet and statesman Qu Yuan. Chinese painting became a highly appreciated art in court circles encompassing a wide variety of Shan shui with specialized styles such as Ming Dynasty painting. Early Chinese music was based on percussion instruments, which later gave away to string and reed instruments. By the Han dynasty papercutting became a new art form after the invention of paper. Chinese opera would also be introduced and branched regionally in additional to other performance formats such as variety arts.
[edit]Martial arts

Demonstrating Kung Fu at Daxiangguo Monastery, Kaifeng, Henan.
Main articles: Chinese martial arts and List of Chinese martial arts
China is one of the main birth places of Eastern martial arts. The names of martial arts were called Kung Fu or its first name Wushu. China also includes the home to the well-respected Shaolin Monastery and Wudang Mountains. The first generation of art started more for the purpose of survival and warfare than art. Over time, some art forms have branched off, while others have retained a distinct Chinese flavor. Regardless, China has produced some of the most renowned martial artists including Wong Fei Hung and many others. The arts have also co-existed with a variety of weapons including the more standard 18 arms. Legendary and controversial moves like Dim Mak are also praised and talked about within the culture.
[edit]Fashion

Lotus shoes designed for use with bound feet

A north corner of Forbidden City, featuring classic construction style
Main article: Clothing of China
Different social classes in different eras boast different fashion trends. China’s fashion history covers hundreds of years with some of the most colorful and diverse arrangements. Fashionable but questionable practices such as footbinding have also been part of the culture. Many symbols such as phoenix have been used for decorative as well as economic purposes.
[edit]Architecture

Main article: Chinese architecture
Chinese architecture, examples of which can be found from over 2,000 years ago, has long been a hallmark of the culture. There are certain features common to Chinese architecture, regardless of specific region or use. The most important is its emphasis on width, as the wide halls of the Forbidden City serve as an example. In contrast, Western architecture emphasize on height, though there are exceptions such as pagodas.
Another important feature is symmetry, which connotes a sense of grandeur as it applies to everything from palaces to farmhouses. One notable exception is in the design of gardens, which tends to be as asymmetrical as possible. Like Chinese scroll paintings, the principle underlying the garden’s composition is to create enduring flow, to let the patron wander and enjoy the garden without prescription, as in nature herself. Feng shui has played an important part in structural development.
[edit]Cuisine

Chinese meal in Suzhou with rice, shrimp, eggplant, fermented tofu, vegetable stir-fry, vegetarian duck with meat and bamboo
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Chinese proverbs
Main article: Chinese cuisine
The overwhelmingly large variety mainly comes from the emperors hosting a banquet of 100 dishes each meal[9]. A countless number of imperial kitchen staff and concubines were involved in the food preparation process. Over time, many dishes became part of the everyday-citizen culture. Some of the highest quality restaurants with recipes close to the dynastic periods include Fangshan restaurant in Beihai Park Beijing and the Oriole Pavilion[9]. Arguably all branches of Hong Kong eastern style or even American Chinese food are in some ways rooted from the original dynastic cuisines.
[edit]Leisure

A number of games and pastimes are popular within Chinese culture. The most common game is Mah Jong. The same pieces are used for other styled games such as Shanghai Solitaire. Others include Pai Gow, Pai gow poker and other bone domino games. Weiqi and Xiangqi are also popular. Ethnic games like Chinese yo-yo are also part of the culture.

ًmodern chinese culture

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MODERN CHINESE CULTURE
modern chinese culture just like a english people culture its near by compeletly changed chinese peoples dressing a like a western countries and dealing like honesty i like chinese modern culture > i am in china now from four years > i found that chinese people are very helpful if you will get a chance in your life you can come to china you will -enjoy the china> if you are western people then don:t afraid from chinese culture its exectly as like your:s
modern Chinese culture is full of spice, color and life. Until a few years ago Chinese land, their food, culture, business and movies for far from global reach, as the people of the universe were not much aware of their culture. Gradually with time Chinese culture, foods and herbs has become very essential ingredients of world lifestyle and mouth watering cuisines. Traditional Chinese foods and flavor has own the heart of people staying in different corners of the world. Present economical growth of the country has transformed it fro a third world country to one of the leading and economically feasible state.

Modern Chinese culture is a refined blend of many global cultures. The beautiful Chinese locations like Beijing, Honkong, and Xian are world class tourist destinations that draw quite a number of people from different end of the world every year. That creates the scope for different cultural exchanges and adds variety to modern cultures of China.

For education purposes and business dealings Chinese people are getting across with different cultural people that influences the culture of Chinese people. With more interactions at global level China adopts more and adds more to their cultural bringing out the modern Chinese culture .

Of many cultural enhancements in Mainland China another important addition is 2008 Olympics that is going to be held in Beijing and will automatically increase the social and cultural standing of China in world-map

The modern culture of China is standing on the 5,000 years old ancient history of China. Reformation in the areas of art, politics, science, foods, and movies completes the circle of modern Chinese culture , which is responsible for the overall growth of China today.

culture of pakistan

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The society and culture of Pakistan
(Urdu:cultures and ethnic groups from the Punjabis and Sindhis in the east to the tribal cultures of the Baloch and Pashtun in the west and the ancient Dardic in the north. These Pakistani cultures have been greatly influenced by many of the surrounding countries’ cultures, such as those of Turkish, Persian, Afghan, and Indians of South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East.
In ancient times, Pakistan was a major cultural hub and the home of ancient civilizations, such as the Indus Valley Civilization – one of the first ’settled’ peoples. Many cultural practices and great monuments have been inherited from the time of the ancient rulers of the region. One of the greatest cultural influences is that of the Persian Empire. Other key influences include the Afghan Empire and later the short lived but influential Mughal Empire.
Pakistan has a rich cultural and ethnic background going back to the Indus Valley Civilization, 2800 BC – 1800 BC. A civilization remarkable for its ordered cities, advanced-planned sanitation, straight roads and uniquely structured society. Present day Pakistan has been invaded many times in the past. it has been occupied and settled by many different peoples each of whom have left their imprint on the current inhabitants of the country. Some of the largest groups were the ‘Aryans’, Greeks, Scythians, Persians, White Huns, Arabs, Turks, Mongols and other Eurasian groups right up until the British who left in the late 1940s.
The region has formed a distinct cultural unit within the main cultural complex of South Asia, the Middle East and Central Asia from the earliest times.[1] There are differences in culture among the different ethnic groups in matters such as dress, food, and religion, especially where pre-Islamic customs differ from Islamic practices. Their cultural origins also show influences from far afield; including from: Tibet, Nepal, India and eastern Afghanistan. All groups show varying degrees of significant influence from Persia, Turkestan and Hellenistic Greece. Pakistan was the first region of the South Asia to receive the full impact of Islam and has developed a distinct Islamic identity, historically different from that further west.[1]

Diwan-e-Khas: The hall of special audience with the emperor

Bahauddin Zakariya
Ancient sites in Pakistan include: Zorastrian, Buddhist, Hindu and Pagan temples and shrines, gardens, tombs, palaces, monuments, pleasure grounds and Mughal and Indo-Saracenic buildings. Sculpture is dominated by Greco-Buddhist friezes, and crafts by ceramics, jewellery, silk goods and engraved woodwork and metalwork.
Pakistani society is largely multilingual, multi-ethnic and multicultural. Though cultures within the country differ to some extent, more similarities than differences can be found as most Pakistanis are of mainly ‘Aryan’ heritage and/or have lived side by side along the Indus River for the past several thousand years and coexisted. However, over 60 years of integration, a distinctive “Pakistani” culture has sprung up especially in the urban areas. Education is highly regarded by members of every socio-economic stratum. The traditional family values are highly respected and considered sacred, although urban families increasingly form nuclear families, owing to the socio-economic constraints imposed by the traditional culture of extended family.
The past few decades have seen emergence of a middle class in cities such as Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Hyderabad, Quetta, Faisalabad, Sukkur, Peshawar, Sialkot, Abbottabad and Multan. The rural areas of Pakistan are regarded as more conservative and are dominated by regional tribal customs dating back hundreds of years.