Yes, these are Chinese characters.
My eyes opened wider as we read the introduction of the poem
“Kubla Khan” not only because it has something to do with ancient China, but
also because I had no idea who Kubla Khan was. So I googled it right after
class, and it turned out that I did know him (phew!) only by a different name.
(Because he was a Mongol king; Mongol people and Han people, who are the
majority of Chinese, have totally different languages and cultures. But that's a
story for another time)
I find the little in-class activity “Imagination and
Connotation” quite interesting. I put bath tub for lifeless ocean; cream for
milk of Paradise; red riding hood for ancient forest; and dead body in the sea
for flashing eyes and floating hair. To further show that I didn’t link up my
knowledge of Chinese history with their names in English, I actually wrote mythical
God as the connotation for Xanadu. It’s funny how they mean so differently in
the poem from what I first thought of.
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