Hi, my name is Allen, known to the cyberworld as the chimeric Apeman. My Chinese name is Hou Hai (侯海;Pinyin: Hóu Hǎi; Wade-Giles: Hou2 Hai3). I am a Ph.D. student in sinology (Traditional Chinese: 漢學; Simplified Chinese: 汉学; Pinyin: Hànxúe; Wade-Giles: Han4-hsüeh2) at a major North American university, specializing in Classical Chinese poetry (zhongguo gudian shici 中國古典詩詞--note that this link is only to "poetry," shici 詩詞, all there seems to be so far), especially the Six Dynasties rhapsody (fu). I may also be able to contribute to Classical Chinese literature (gudian wenxue 古典文学--nothing much in Chinese here yet!), Classical Chinese language (gudian hanyu 古典漢語), Literary Chinese (wenyan wen 文言文 or shumian yu 書面語) or Literary Sinitic, and the Chinese classic texts in general, as well as individual poets, and premodern (especially early medieval) Chinese history, culture, especially religion (Taoism and Buddhism) and philosophy (Confucianism). I also know a little Japanese, and a little about Japan, traditional East Asian literature, history, and culture in general, Catholicism, and Christianity.


When I get around to it and learn how to use Wikipedia, I will create English language pages for Bao Zhao 鮑照 (d.466) , Jiang Yan 江淹 (444-505), Yu Xin 庾信 (513-581) and other Chinese poets, as well as add information to stubs for other Chinese poets.

Before I became a registered user, I added several names and links to Sinology and the List of Sinologists. Other contributions are recorded in my contributions.

Terms of interest related to my studies include translation, philology, linguistics, multilingual computing, comparative poetry, philosophy, rhetorical and literary devices and terminology, genre theory, form and structure in literature, etymology, dictionaries and ordering schemes, romanization schemes, orthography, phonology.

Travels, both research-related and personal, have taken me to Japan (20 months), Taiwan (10 months), China (10 months), and for shorter periods, Hong Kong, Korea, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Brazil. I have also driven across the USA, Canada, and to various places within Canada. While living or travelling abroad I mixed with local peoples, travelling by local bus, boat, train, or motorcycle, staying in churches or temples, etc, as much as possible. (I mean, just my backpack and I, not on organized tours, in tourist spots, and so on.)

Some personal loves, likes, and interests, in no special order, are playing music and listening to music, reading, poetry, books, being out of large cities and breathing fresh air, being with certain people, being, beauty, thoughtful and considerate human beings, elves, hobbits, battling the balrog, turning to the good, Levinas and his acolyte Derrida, bilocation (no success yet), . . .

This user is a bibliophile.
blfThis user believes in kindness.
This user is Roman Catholic.
...This user would like to be able to speak many more languages.
This user will eracism on Wikipedia.
This user likes . . . .
!!This user is a believer, amazed, amazing, in a state of transformative amazement, and is 非常非常好!