FIRST SATURDAY PDX
  • "For Here or To Go?" - A Conversation with Curtis Chin, June 28, 2025
  • Season 2024 - 2025
    • Quick Preview of Season 2024 - 2025
    • Season Schedule (2024 - 2025)
    • Lesser and Well Known Chinese Species at Hoyt Arboretum 14 September, 2024
    • OCTOBER DIM SUM/ YUM CHA BRUNCH, 12 October, 2024
    • Heroism and Survival: Women’s Daily Lives in Japanese-occupied Shanghai (1937-1945), 2 November, 2024
    • Collecting Stories: Chinese Art through the Historians' Lens​, 7 December, 2024
    • Imperialism, Architecture, and Oberlin College: A Brief History of the "Golden Temple" , 4 January, 2025
    • 2 Feb 2025: Spring Banquet - Year of the Snake 4723
    • ​Down the Cultural Crosswords: The Chinese Dialect of Xining, 1 March, 2025
    • Chinese "Paintings of Beautiful Women" and their Global Circulation in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, 5 April, 2025
    • Remembering the Dead in Late Medieval China (7th–10th c.), 10 May, 2025
    • "For Here or To Go?" - A Conversation with Curtis Chin, June 28, 2025
  • About First Saturday PDX
  • THE FIRST 20 YEARS
  • PAST SEASONS & PROGRAMS
    • Past Seasons & Program Highlights >
      • Season 2023 - 2024 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2023 - 2024
        • Season Schedule (2023 - 2024)
        • * DIM SUM/ YUM CHA BRUNCH!! 9 September, 2023 *
        • A Question of Hu, 7 October 2023
        • "Mother of all Technologies": Accumulating Culture Through Chinese Textiles, PART 1 - November 4, 2023
        • "Mother of all Technologies": Accumulating Culture Through Chinese Textiles PART 2 - December 2, 2023
        • Xu Bing: Beyond the Book from the Sky, 6 January, 2024
        • Spring Banquet: Year of the Dragon 4722, 17 Feb, 2024
        • Year of the Dragon 4722
        • Making Hakka Women Visible: 6 April, 2024
        • Well Known and Lesser Known Chinese Species at Hoyt Arboretum - 4 May, 2024
        • Celestial Bridges: An Introduction to Architecture Over Water and Space From China's Past, Part One, 8 June, 2024
      • Season 2022 - 2023 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2022 - 2023
        • Season Schedule (2022 - 2023)
        • A Visit to the Soreng Gallery of Chinese Art ​at the ​Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art​, 10 September, 2022
        • ​China’s Last Imperial Frontier: Late Qing Expansion in Sichuan’s Tibetan Borderlands 15 October, 2022
        • Girls with Big Ideas: Gidget and Song of Youth 5 November, 2022
        • * DIM SUM/ YUM CHA BRUNCH!! 19 November, 2022 *
        • Following the Thread: China Along the Road of Silk 3 December, 2022
        • The Chinese Massacre in Hells Canyon 7 January 2023
        • Year of the Rabbit 4721
        • Spring Fundraiser Banquet Lunch/ Auction 18 FEB, 2023
        • "Model Letters" and the Audiences of Calligraphy in Early Modern China , 4 March, 2023
        • Women in the History of Tea in in China, 1 April, 2023
        • Tea and Wine: A New Look at the Song Dynasty Poetry of Li Qingzhao (李清照), 13 May, 2023
        • Summer Tour of the Garden of Awakening Orchids: 3 June, 2023
        • 2 Feb, 2025 - Spring Banquet: Year of the Snake 4723
      • Season 2021 - 2022 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2021 - 2022
        • Season Schedule 2021 - 2022
        • The Oregon Chinese Diaspora Project, 2 October 2021
        • Connecting to our Natural World: The Portland Botanical Gardens, 6 November 2021
        • Lan Su Chinese Garden: ​The Vision of a Classical Chinese Garden, 4 December 2021
        • ​Re-visioning ​Chinese History, ​900-1350: ​The New Look of Song and Yuan, 8 January, 2022
        • Chinese New Year 2022/ Year of the Tiger 4720, 5 February, 2022
        • Auspicious Seals and Chops, 5 February 2022
        • The Erhu and Erhu Music, 5 March, 2022
        • Pictorial Naturalism and "Truth": Contextualizing the Eleventh-century Luohan Sculptures of Lingyan Temple in China, 2 April, 2022
        • Celebrated Stories in Sichuan Shadow Theater,7 May, 2022
        • The Daode Jing's Forgotten Forebear: The Ancestral Cult 4 June, 2022
      • Season 2020 - 2021 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2020 - 2021
        • Season Schedule 2020 - 2021
        • Collecting Under Socialism: Philately in 1950s China, 12 September, 2020
        • Myriad Treasures: Celebrating the Reinstallation of the Soreng Gallery of Chinese Art Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, 3 October, 2020
        • The Real Mulan? Tales of a Female Rebel in 18th century China 7 November, 2020
        • Spice it Up! ​How the Chile Pepper Flavored Chinese Culture 5 December, 2020
        • A Century of Collecting Chinese Painting at Oberlin College 9 January, 2021 ​
        • Chinese New Year 2021/ Year of the Ox 4719
        • Artistic Exchange Between China and Europe in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 6 March, 2021
        • For Here or To Go : A Conversation with Curtis Chin, June 7, 2025
        • The Scholar’s Retreat: Loss and Resilience in the Chinese Landscape and Garden 3 April 2021
        • Simmering, Whisking, Steeping: Methods for Preparing and Consuming Tea in Premodern China
        • Silk and Sericulture: Beauty Inspired by a Social Contract
      • Season 2019 - 2020 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2019 - 2020
        • Season Schedule 2019 - 2020
        • Mawangdui: The Tomb of China’s Sleeping Beauty, 7 December 2019
        • Field Notes from Sichuan: Learning To Be a Foreigner, 5 October 2019
        • In Search of Korean Liberation in China, 2 November 2019
        • From an Architect's Perspective: 3, 5, 7, 9 Column Halls: Status and Hierarchy in a Confucius Society, 7 December 2019
        • China Under the Covers - ​A Bookbinder’s Journey to the Roots of Books 11 January, 2020
        • Lunar New Year Lunch, 1 February, 2020
        • Early Phonetic Rendering Schemes for Chinese Characters, 7 March 2020
        • The Garden of Elk Rock at Bishop's Close, 4 April 2020
      • Season 2018 - 2019 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2018 - 2019
        • Season Schedule 2018 - 2019
        • Notable Women of Portland, 8 September 2018
        • Mooncakes: A Hallmark of Tradition of the Mid-Autumn Festival, 6 October 2018
        • Music: A Universal Language for Healing and Touching the Soul, 3 November 2018
        • China: In the Pursuit of Happiness, 1 December 2019
        • Babur's Gardens: An Illustrated Introduction, 5 January 2019
        • Chinese New Year Lunch 2 February, 2019
        • ​​Living with Penjing: Three Dimensional Poetry - Mark Vossbrink March 2, 2019
        • Discovering the Intellectual and Sensory Essences of Chinese Literati Gardens, 6 April 2019
        • Sino-Japanese Cultural Connections in the Yuan Dynasty, 4 May 2019 ​​
      • Season 2017 - 2018 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2017 - 2018
        • Season Schedule 2017 - 2018
        • Developing Patronage: Chinese and Asian Pacific Heritage, 9 September 2017
        • Every Plant Has a Story to Tell: Bamboo, 7 October 2017
        • Wonders to Enjoy: Chinese Snuff Bottles, 4 November 2017
        • Sichuan Shadow Theater: Messages from Hell Courts, 2 December 2017
        • Legacy of the Qing Manchu Culture: The Sibe of Northwest China, 6 January 2018
        • Chinese New Year Brunch, 3 February 2018
        • Classical Tradition: Ancient Musical Instruments of China, 3 March 2018
        • Ancient Traders of the Silk Road: The Uyghur People of Xinjiang, 7 April 2018
        • "Poetic Exposition on Heaven and Earth": A Third-Century Chinese Verse on How the Cosmos Began, 28 April 2018
        • Word Play: The Art of Xu Bing, 2 June 2018
      • Season 2016 - 2017 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2016 - 2017
        • Season Schedule 2016 - 2017
        • Contemporary Chinese Society: A View from the Films of Zhang Yimou, 6 May 2017
        • Chinese New Year Brunch, 4 February 2017
        • The Uyghurs: History of a People at the Center of Asia, Part 1, 4 March 2017
        • Creating a Tea Aesthetic ​in Tang Verse, 3 June 2017
      • Season 2015 - 2016 >
        • Season Schedule 2015 - 2016
        • Guzheng and Erhu: A Dialog Between the Strings, 2 April 2016
      • Season 2014 - 2015 >
        • Season Schedule 2014 - 2015
      • Season 2013 - 2014 >
        • Nurture and Healing:​Chinese Medicine for Summer - Dr Elise Wong, 14 June, 2014
      • Season 2012 - 2013
      • Season 2011 - 2012
      • Season 2010 - 2011
      • Season 2009 - 2010
      • Season 2008 - 2009
      • Season 2007 - 2008
      • Season 2006 - 2007
      • Season 2005 - 2006
  • Videos
  • Partners
  • Join our Email List/ Contact Us
  • Volunteer
  • Zoom!
  • Stop Asian Hate Resources

Season 2022 - 2023

​
13 May, 2023  
​

9:30 - 11:00 am PT - Webinar

11:00 - 11:30 am PT - First Saturday PDX Tea House
​
An Online Presentation
Video



Tea and Wine:  A New Look at the Song Dynasty Poetry of Li Qingzhao (李清照)
 
​Presenter:
Melody Ren, MA
​

REGISTER HERE
season quick preview
season schedule (2022 - 2023)
Picture
Tea and Wine:  A New Look at the Song Dynasty Poetry of
​Li Qingzhao 
(李清照)
Melody Ren
13 May, 2023      ​
​9:30 am - 11:00 am, PT
《如梦令•常记溪亭日暮》
常记溪亭日暮,
沉醉不知归路。
兴尽晚回舟,
误入藕花深处。
争渡,争渡,惊起一滩鸥鹭。
"A Dream Song" - translated by Wang Jiansheng 

It was a day at Brookside pavilion
That I often fondly remember,
When, flushed with wine
We could hardly tear ourselves away
From the beautiful view of sunset.
Returning late by boat
​When we'd enjoyed our fill,

We got lost and strayed
To where the clustered lotuses
Were at their thickest.
Pushing and thrashing,
Pushing and thrashing as best we could,
We scared into flight
​A shoreful of dozing egrets and gulls.
Considered one of the greatest poets in Chinese history for her significant contribution to Chinese literature, Li Qingzhao 李清照 (1084 – ca. 1155), also known as Yian Jushi 易安居士  was a prominent female poet in the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279). ​ In the male-dominated world of Chinese literature, Li Qingzhao's poetry provided a unique perspective on the life of a female scholar in her time.   Her poems about tea and wine, which held great cultural value in the Song Dynasty, offer a glimpse into the emotional depth and complexity associated with the consumption of these beverages.  Li Qingzhao's writing transcends time and place, capturing the essence of the human experience through the refinement and aestheticism of tea, and the conviviality and social bonds fostered by wine.  First Saturday PDX invites you to join us as Melody Ren explores Li Qingzhao's life and her work, with a focus on her poetry referencing tea and wine and its cultural significance in the context of her time and beyond.
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About the speaker:
Before coming to the U.S. in 2019, Melody  Ren was a senior wine educator and consultant in Shanghai, China, with a WSET Diploma from the U.K. and an MBA from France. She holds an MA degree in Applied Linguistics from Portland State University, where she is currently collaborating on a project to combine wine education with language learning and socialization.  Melody's passion for tea extends beyond her professional expertise - she is a tea practitioner who believes that wine and tea share many similarities. She has a deep dedication to promoting and sharing Chinese culture with the world, and a belief in bridging cultural gaps and fostering greater understanding through education and appreciation.

Suggested Resources:

Further Reading:

  • ​Chang, Kang-i Sun; Saussy, Haun; Kwong, Charles Yim-tze, Women Writers of Traditional China: An Anthology of Poetry and Criticism. (Stanford University Press. 1999 ISBN 978-0-8047-3231-4.)
  • Li Ch’ing-chao (1980), Li Ch'ing-chao: Complete Poems, translated by Rexroth, Kenneth; Chung, Ling, (New Directions, ISBN 0811207455.)
  • Wang Jiansheng (translator), The Complete Ci-poems of Li Qingzhao: A New English Translation (Sino-Platonic Papers,Number 13 October, 1989,  Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations University of Pennsylvania )
  • Egan, Ronald [translator], Shields, Anna M. [editor] The Works of Li Qingzhao (De Gruyter Mouton.,  January 2019. ISBN 978-1-5015-0451-8)
  • Egan, Ronald. The Burden of Female Talent: The Poet Li Qingzhao and Her History in China. (Harvard University Asia Center Publications. 2013) Available through Amazon 
​​Informational Websites:
  • Beauty of the Rhymes and Vibes in the Song Dynasty - A poetry platform where English readers and learners can enjoy Chinese poems written by the best poets of the Song dynasty ( 960 - 1276). https://www.rhymesandvibes.com/

Videos on YouTube about Li QingZhao:
  • UC Berkeley Elvera Kwang Siam Lim Lecture: The Remaking of Li Qingzhao in Late Imperial and Modern China.  A public lecture by Ronald Egan, East Asian Languages and Cultures, Stanford University.  2014
  • Song Dynasty Tea Demonstration & Li Qingzhao poetry reading - Tea with Li Qingzhao | Song Dynasty Tea | Historical Tea Sessions. 2020https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=av8T0vm8zJA
  • Famous Song Dynasty Poet Li Qingzhao. 2022.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=50mpq4OUsbg
  • Li Qingzhao "Searching, Seeking" [Chinese Poetry Narrated by Dashan] in Chinese with English subtitles. 2022.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lkKKl0Bd3k


​Join us after the webinar from 11 - 11:30am in our First Saturday PDX Tea House with the speaker to further the discussion and online social time.  Bring a cup of tea! 
​
(Separate  access link for this will be provided in your single registration for this event.)
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Our program series is supported by Portland State University's Institute for Asian Studies, Northwest China Council, Portland Chinatown Museum, and Lan Su Chinese Garden.  All our programs are free and open to the public.    ​​
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​© 2014 - 2025  First Saturday PDX
  • "For Here or To Go?" - A Conversation with Curtis Chin, June 28, 2025
  • Season 2024 - 2025
    • Quick Preview of Season 2024 - 2025
    • Season Schedule (2024 - 2025)
    • Lesser and Well Known Chinese Species at Hoyt Arboretum 14 September, 2024
    • OCTOBER DIM SUM/ YUM CHA BRUNCH, 12 October, 2024
    • Heroism and Survival: Women’s Daily Lives in Japanese-occupied Shanghai (1937-1945), 2 November, 2024
    • Collecting Stories: Chinese Art through the Historians' Lens​, 7 December, 2024
    • Imperialism, Architecture, and Oberlin College: A Brief History of the "Golden Temple" , 4 January, 2025
    • 2 Feb 2025: Spring Banquet - Year of the Snake 4723
    • ​Down the Cultural Crosswords: The Chinese Dialect of Xining, 1 March, 2025
    • Chinese "Paintings of Beautiful Women" and their Global Circulation in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, 5 April, 2025
    • Remembering the Dead in Late Medieval China (7th–10th c.), 10 May, 2025
    • "For Here or To Go?" - A Conversation with Curtis Chin, June 28, 2025
  • About First Saturday PDX
  • THE FIRST 20 YEARS
  • PAST SEASONS & PROGRAMS
    • Past Seasons & Program Highlights >
      • Season 2023 - 2024 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2023 - 2024
        • Season Schedule (2023 - 2024)
        • * DIM SUM/ YUM CHA BRUNCH!! 9 September, 2023 *
        • A Question of Hu, 7 October 2023
        • "Mother of all Technologies": Accumulating Culture Through Chinese Textiles, PART 1 - November 4, 2023
        • "Mother of all Technologies": Accumulating Culture Through Chinese Textiles PART 2 - December 2, 2023
        • Xu Bing: Beyond the Book from the Sky, 6 January, 2024
        • Spring Banquet: Year of the Dragon 4722, 17 Feb, 2024
        • Year of the Dragon 4722
        • Making Hakka Women Visible: 6 April, 2024
        • Well Known and Lesser Known Chinese Species at Hoyt Arboretum - 4 May, 2024
        • Celestial Bridges: An Introduction to Architecture Over Water and Space From China's Past, Part One, 8 June, 2024
      • Season 2022 - 2023 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2022 - 2023
        • Season Schedule (2022 - 2023)
        • A Visit to the Soreng Gallery of Chinese Art ​at the ​Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art​, 10 September, 2022
        • ​China’s Last Imperial Frontier: Late Qing Expansion in Sichuan’s Tibetan Borderlands 15 October, 2022
        • Girls with Big Ideas: Gidget and Song of Youth 5 November, 2022
        • * DIM SUM/ YUM CHA BRUNCH!! 19 November, 2022 *
        • Following the Thread: China Along the Road of Silk 3 December, 2022
        • The Chinese Massacre in Hells Canyon 7 January 2023
        • Year of the Rabbit 4721
        • Spring Fundraiser Banquet Lunch/ Auction 18 FEB, 2023
        • "Model Letters" and the Audiences of Calligraphy in Early Modern China , 4 March, 2023
        • Women in the History of Tea in in China, 1 April, 2023
        • Tea and Wine: A New Look at the Song Dynasty Poetry of Li Qingzhao (李清照), 13 May, 2023
        • Summer Tour of the Garden of Awakening Orchids: 3 June, 2023
        • 2 Feb, 2025 - Spring Banquet: Year of the Snake 4723
      • Season 2021 - 2022 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2021 - 2022
        • Season Schedule 2021 - 2022
        • The Oregon Chinese Diaspora Project, 2 October 2021
        • Connecting to our Natural World: The Portland Botanical Gardens, 6 November 2021
        • Lan Su Chinese Garden: ​The Vision of a Classical Chinese Garden, 4 December 2021
        • ​Re-visioning ​Chinese History, ​900-1350: ​The New Look of Song and Yuan, 8 January, 2022
        • Chinese New Year 2022/ Year of the Tiger 4720, 5 February, 2022
        • Auspicious Seals and Chops, 5 February 2022
        • The Erhu and Erhu Music, 5 March, 2022
        • Pictorial Naturalism and "Truth": Contextualizing the Eleventh-century Luohan Sculptures of Lingyan Temple in China, 2 April, 2022
        • Celebrated Stories in Sichuan Shadow Theater,7 May, 2022
        • The Daode Jing's Forgotten Forebear: The Ancestral Cult 4 June, 2022
      • Season 2020 - 2021 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2020 - 2021
        • Season Schedule 2020 - 2021
        • Collecting Under Socialism: Philately in 1950s China, 12 September, 2020
        • Myriad Treasures: Celebrating the Reinstallation of the Soreng Gallery of Chinese Art Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, 3 October, 2020
        • The Real Mulan? Tales of a Female Rebel in 18th century China 7 November, 2020
        • Spice it Up! ​How the Chile Pepper Flavored Chinese Culture 5 December, 2020
        • A Century of Collecting Chinese Painting at Oberlin College 9 January, 2021 ​
        • Chinese New Year 2021/ Year of the Ox 4719
        • Artistic Exchange Between China and Europe in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries 6 March, 2021
        • For Here or To Go : A Conversation with Curtis Chin, June 7, 2025
        • The Scholar’s Retreat: Loss and Resilience in the Chinese Landscape and Garden 3 April 2021
        • Simmering, Whisking, Steeping: Methods for Preparing and Consuming Tea in Premodern China
        • Silk and Sericulture: Beauty Inspired by a Social Contract
      • Season 2019 - 2020 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2019 - 2020
        • Season Schedule 2019 - 2020
        • Mawangdui: The Tomb of China’s Sleeping Beauty, 7 December 2019
        • Field Notes from Sichuan: Learning To Be a Foreigner, 5 October 2019
        • In Search of Korean Liberation in China, 2 November 2019
        • From an Architect's Perspective: 3, 5, 7, 9 Column Halls: Status and Hierarchy in a Confucius Society, 7 December 2019
        • China Under the Covers - ​A Bookbinder’s Journey to the Roots of Books 11 January, 2020
        • Lunar New Year Lunch, 1 February, 2020
        • Early Phonetic Rendering Schemes for Chinese Characters, 7 March 2020
        • The Garden of Elk Rock at Bishop's Close, 4 April 2020
      • Season 2018 - 2019 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2018 - 2019
        • Season Schedule 2018 - 2019
        • Notable Women of Portland, 8 September 2018
        • Mooncakes: A Hallmark of Tradition of the Mid-Autumn Festival, 6 October 2018
        • Music: A Universal Language for Healing and Touching the Soul, 3 November 2018
        • China: In the Pursuit of Happiness, 1 December 2019
        • Babur's Gardens: An Illustrated Introduction, 5 January 2019
        • Chinese New Year Lunch 2 February, 2019
        • ​​Living with Penjing: Three Dimensional Poetry - Mark Vossbrink March 2, 2019
        • Discovering the Intellectual and Sensory Essences of Chinese Literati Gardens, 6 April 2019
        • Sino-Japanese Cultural Connections in the Yuan Dynasty, 4 May 2019 ​​
      • Season 2017 - 2018 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2017 - 2018
        • Season Schedule 2017 - 2018
        • Developing Patronage: Chinese and Asian Pacific Heritage, 9 September 2017
        • Every Plant Has a Story to Tell: Bamboo, 7 October 2017
        • Wonders to Enjoy: Chinese Snuff Bottles, 4 November 2017
        • Sichuan Shadow Theater: Messages from Hell Courts, 2 December 2017
        • Legacy of the Qing Manchu Culture: The Sibe of Northwest China, 6 January 2018
        • Chinese New Year Brunch, 3 February 2018
        • Classical Tradition: Ancient Musical Instruments of China, 3 March 2018
        • Ancient Traders of the Silk Road: The Uyghur People of Xinjiang, 7 April 2018
        • "Poetic Exposition on Heaven and Earth": A Third-Century Chinese Verse on How the Cosmos Began, 28 April 2018
        • Word Play: The Art of Xu Bing, 2 June 2018
      • Season 2016 - 2017 >
        • Quick Preview of Season 2016 - 2017
        • Season Schedule 2016 - 2017
        • Contemporary Chinese Society: A View from the Films of Zhang Yimou, 6 May 2017
        • Chinese New Year Brunch, 4 February 2017
        • The Uyghurs: History of a People at the Center of Asia, Part 1, 4 March 2017
        • Creating a Tea Aesthetic ​in Tang Verse, 3 June 2017
      • Season 2015 - 2016 >
        • Season Schedule 2015 - 2016
        • Guzheng and Erhu: A Dialog Between the Strings, 2 April 2016
      • Season 2014 - 2015 >
        • Season Schedule 2014 - 2015
      • Season 2013 - 2014 >
        • Nurture and Healing:​Chinese Medicine for Summer - Dr Elise Wong, 14 June, 2014
      • Season 2012 - 2013
      • Season 2011 - 2012
      • Season 2010 - 2011
      • Season 2009 - 2010
      • Season 2008 - 2009
      • Season 2007 - 2008
      • Season 2006 - 2007
      • Season 2005 - 2006
  • Videos
  • Partners
  • Join our Email List/ Contact Us
  • Volunteer
  • Zoom!
  • Stop Asian Hate Resources