The Paper's reporter Zou Jiawen
On August 6, Wang Xinyu from Shixi Middle School became the first candidate in Shanghai to receive an acceptance letter from East China Normal University, majoring in the Qiangji Program in Chinese Language and Literature (Paleography).
Wang Xinyu received the acceptance letter
The knowledge system of ancient characters is based on "characters", and "a Chinese character is a cultural history". Because of the particularity of its knowledge system and transmission method, in the eyes of the outside world, paleography is "unpopular".
The profession seems to be unpopular, but for Wang Xinyu, the encounter with paleography is inevitable. She speaks slowly and leisurely, loves to visit museums, likes "Dream of the Red Chamber", read "Explaining Words in Speaking Texts", and will follow up on the b station to watch videos and courses related to ancient characters.
"Paleography will surely go to the world. Young people should have the consciousness of 'bench willing to sit cold for ten years', as long as the heart is sincere, the cold door is not cold, and the bench is not cold. Wang Xinyu said.
On August 13, Wang Xinyu shared with reporters his thoughts and past learning experiences on professional choices.
Wang Xinyu opened the envelope containing the acceptance letter
dialogue
The Paper: On August 6, what was the scene of receiving the acceptance letter?
Wang Xinyu: In fact, the first person who saw the admission letter that day was my parents, and I received it early in the morning. I happened to be away from home, and when I heard the news, I rushed back. On the way, I was very excited, and I felt that the dust had finally settled.
Although I checked the admission results two days ago, the moment I actually got the paper acceptance letter, it still felt different. When I was a child, I fantasized about coming to East China Normal University to study Chinese, and then I had the honor of attending an open class that Mr. Ni Wenjian gave in our high school, and listened to him guide the revolutionary literature unit of "Remembering Liu he Zhenjun" and "For the Memory of Forgetting"; I also watched a lot of videos of Teacher Liu Qing and Teacher Huang Ping on the b station, and established more feelings and yearning for this university.
Wang Xinyu performed poetry in high school.
The Paper: How did you think of majoring in Chinese language and literature (paleography) at that time?
Wang Xinyu: In April, East China Normal University released the enrollment brochure of the Qiangji Program, and I was very interested in the paleography direction of the liberal arts group.
It has to do with my homeschooling. My mother was a high school Chinese teacher, and I followed her since junior high school to read Xu Shen's "Explanation of Words and Characters". On weekdays, I also read Yu Dan's "Character Interpretation of Life", including I especially liked Huang Dekuan's "Paleography" of Tsinghua University, which took me to the door.
I was deeply impressed that when I was in elementary school, I went to see the exhibition of the Oracle Bone Covenant in the National Palace in Taipei, and from the oracle bone rubbings on the spot, I saw the symmetrical structure of the tortoiseshell centerline, many of which recorded divination, which made me feel very surprised and in awe.
In my opinion, the Oracle records historical truths that have never been read in books in the past, and it is the mission of contemporary people to pass on this culture and explore it.
The Paper: What preparations were made for the interview of the Qiangji plan?
Wang Xinyu: The interview was held on July 26, and I found the admission results on the 28th, and I was very happy.
For the interview, I read the essence of "Explaining Words in Words" and reviewed some knowledge of word making reasons. On the b station, I saw the open class of the entire Wuhan University "Explanation of Words and Characters", while learning, I remembered some of the more difficult ancient character compositions.
Wang Xinyu's notes on the interpretation of the text
Wang Xinyu's notes on the interpretation of the text
Wang Xinyu's notes on the interpretation of the text
After preparing these, it was relatively smooth to wait until I went to interview the Qiangji plan in July. The interviewer asked me where my interest in ancient characters came from, and asked me what I knew and analyzed about the interpretation of chinese characters. I talked about the "six books" theory of explaining the text and explaining the characters, and gave a few words to analyze, such as the hieroglyphic characters "day" and "month", and the finger words "up" and "down".
The Paper: This year, Shanghai senior high school students spend part of their time in online classes, what kind of learning experience do you have?
Wang Xinyu: This year, our online classes have been held from the end of March to the beginning of June. In fact, at the beginning, I was worried that I would not be able to resist the temptation and "mess up" at home, but in fact, it did not have much impact on me. Instead, I controlled the pace of learning with a calmer mindset and was able to rest more fully.
Although there are fewer students around to write books, in fact, our connection is still very close, every day we go to class during the day, and at night we will open tencent self-study rooms for self-study. I set up an iPad next to me, turned on the camera, and pushed each other to write homework with my friends, usually from 7 pm to 10 o'clock. If we have a topic that we do not understand, we will call the students who understand it at work, listen to his explanation together in the online self-study room, and the software has the function of a whiteboard, which is very convenient.
Returning to campus in June, knowing that the college entrance examination was postponed for a month, some students felt a lot of psychological pressure, but for me it was more like an additional "welfare". Taking advantage of the extra month, we simulated the scene of the college entrance examination, offline exercise to do the feel, and prepared more fully. This year's college entrance examination scores have also met their expectations overall.
The Paper: I see that you can also perform drama in middle and high school, in addition to traditional culture, do you have other hobbies?
Wang Xinyu: I like to read, fiction and non-fiction works will read a little, fiction class like "Marco Waldo", "The Place where Lagu Chants", and also like the books recommended by the Blancpain Ideal Country Literature Award, such as "Submarine at Night" and "Immortal Disease". Non-fiction categories prefer Liang Hong's "China in Liangzhuang" and "Liangzhuang Ten Years".
"Dream of the Red Chamber" was actually seen before high school, but at that time, I couldn't watch it for a while, so I read it intermittently from the beginning to the high school. When I got to high school, I took it out and read it carefully, and I still couldn't read it fast, but I felt like I had read it.
Mr. Cao Xueqin, the author of "Dream of the Red Chamber", can create so many poems that match their personalities according to the tone of different characters, and I am very impressed while reading. My favorite character is Xue Baochao, she is erudite, well-behaved, and has the talent of management, "good wind with strength, send me to Qingyun", really powerful.
I also love drama. In middle and high school, I wrote a total of three plays, one was an adaptation of "Phantom of the Theater"; The first is to combine the poems of Xu Zhimo and Lin Huiyin to tell their stories of that era; There is also a called "Flag Bearer and Xiao Hong", about Xiao Hong's writing of "The Field of Life and Death", ran to Lu Xun to learn the process, this script before and after I spent a month polishing, to understand Xiao Hong's life background, turned over her works, and watched Xu Anhua's "Golden Age".
Ancient characters photographed by Wang Xinyu in the museum.
The Paper: Are there any arrangements for the summer before going to college?
Wang Xinyu: Recently, I was reading professional books, and I read the book list opened by a student of the department of Chinese on a social platform, so I first picked "Introduction to Literary Criticism" to read. This book teaches you how to combine theory and practice and write good critical commentary articles. It was only half of what I read for a week, reading and thinking, a little slowly.
In addition, I logged on to the website and social platform of East China Normal University to understand the school, I watched some clubs, and I hope that I can have the opportunity to go to the drama club in the future.
The Paper: Do you have any expectations for the majors that you are about to devote yourself to?
Wang Xinyu: For me, I hope that in the process of future learning, I can follow the teachers to dig out new unique texts, translate it, explore the inheritance of thousands of years of history, and see the social soil behind the words. At present, I think that I can take the academic route in the future.
To tell you the truth, when I first saw the "unpopular absolute learning", the whole person trembled, and the height of the four words "unpopular absolute learning" was too high, and I felt that it should be the most powerful person to study the most powerful things. But as a young person, I also think that there should be the consciousness and spirit of "sitting on the bench for ten years". I think that paleography will definitely go to the public and the world, as long as the heart is sincere, the cold door is not cold, and the bench is not cold.
Senior Editor of this issue Zhou Yuhua