Chapter II · The Implements: Close reading — The chuan string is made in Jiangdong and Huainan from…
Photo: Wikimedia Commons · CC BY-SA 4.0
The passage
“The chuan string is made in Jiangdong and Huainan from split bamboo, and in Bashan and the gorges from twisted mulberry-bark. In Jiangdong one jin is a large string, half a jin a medium, and four or five liang a small one.”
Close reading
In Chapter II · The Implements, this passage works as a definition rather than a decoration. It sets the terms that the rest of the chapter will use.
The key phrase is “The chuan string is made in Jiangdong and Huainan from…”. Read it slowly: what is being described, what is being judged, and what is being left out?
A close reading asks not only what the sentence says, but what it assumes about tea, tools, and the person drinking it.
Reading note
Read the passage once for the image, once for the judgment, and once for the practice it implies.
Practice
- Name one thing the passage asks you to notice.
- Compare it with a tea you know.
- Keep the question open.