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At a business networking event, the organizer invited me to give a speech on stage, and out of courtesy, the host also introduced the "Cantonese Rhyme Tang Poems" and "Cantonese Rhyme Song Ci" that I participated in the creation, and praised me.
When I returned to the audience, a "bare-necked" Mrs. Kuotai who was sitting next to me asked me: "Do the children in the family formation class use Cantonese to read ancient poems?" I was stunned for a moment, but soon understood the confusion behind her......
Nowadays, the so-called "useful" education is usually to make children score high on exams, get into good schools, get good jobs, start unicorn companies, achieve financial freedom, marry Bai Fumei or marry a rich handsome, and become a winner in life...... Otherwise, everything else is a "useless" dragon slaying technique that has been learned.
▲ Whistler
However, in this impetuous and utilitarian society, I always believe that in addition to power and money, there are still many things in life that are worth sticking to and pursuing. Here, I would like to share some of my life experiences and experiences.
My parents grew up in that era when the "theory of the uselessness of reading" was prevalent, and when they reached middle school, they went to the mountains and countryside as intellectual youths to receive re-education from the poor and middle peasants; After the reform and opening up, they followed the tide of economic development to go to the sea to do business, and ran for business every day.
However, because my grandparents and parents-in-law were both educated in the old style, my parents were naturally influenced by their grandparents as well—my father was able to write handmade calligraphy, and he often wrote poems and sentences; My mother has a cabinet of classical novels, and when she uses letters to contact relatives and friends overseas, she also writes in traditional Chinese and classical Chinese.
▲ The author and his mother
While I was babbling, my parents also began to cultivate my interest in classical Chinese literature, and it all started by teaching me Tang and Song poems in Cantonese.
Someone said: "A child's recitation of poems is unspeakably bitter, just like a strong wine entering the throat, spicy and difficult to swallow, and once sweet, it is wonderful." ”
But my parents didn't have too utilitarian ideas in this matter, so they didn't force me to memorize it, and Cantonese has nine tones and six tones, the ancient rhyme still exists, and it itself has a very strong sense of rhythm, even if I was young and ignorant and didn't understand its meaning, I can still feel its artistic conception, and it is as catchy as singing after reading it a few times, and it is not easy to forget.
Besides, my parents are busy with work on weekdays, and it is rare to teach me Tang poems and Song lyrics before going to bed every night, which is not so much an enlightenment lesson as a parent-child game. My mother used to say to me, "If you are familiar with 300 Tang poems, you will steal them when you don't know how to sing." ”
▲ The author's childhood photo
Therefore, by the time I was studying, the ancient poems I had read when I was a child had inadvertently influenced my speech and writing.
For example, at the family gathering of the Mid-Autumn Festival, my cousin would say "The Mid-Autumn Festival moonlight is big and round", and I would naturally say "I wish people a long time, thousands of miles together".
When I returned from the autumn trip to school, I had already written the allusion of "panic on the beach, sighing in the ocean" in my travelogue......
That feeling is like watching a play, and I didn't know why at the time, but after the life experience is brewing, until I encounter a certain situation or mood, I will naturally resonate with that drama, and I will feel it heartily. This is a feeling that can only be reached by poetic scenery.
▲ Whistler
Although my father has passed away a few years ago, and my mother has reached the age of old, whenever I read ancient poems, I will recall the time when my parents were by my side when I was young, teaching me to read poems aloud sentence by sentence, and this was my happy childhood.
When I reached the age of the weak crown, I stepped into the society, the workplace was ups and downs, and the shopping mall struggled, although it was all the way to growth, but also all the way to thorns. Outsiders can peek at the fresh clothes and angry horses, but the inside is bloody, tears and bitterness, the ups and downs of life, who can tell and who understands?
▲ Whistler
But when I savor the poems I learned when I was a child, the ancient poets were like traveling through a thousand years: when I felt lost, they would say to me: Life is not a hundred, often with a thousand years of sorrow, the days are short and the nights are long, why not travel with candles; When I experienced failure, they would say to me: I was born to be useful, and I will come back when my wealth is gone; After I have gone through ups and downs, they will say to me: Go back, there will be no wind, no rain and no sunshine; When my life is good, they will say to me: the spring breeze is proud, and I can see all the Chang'an flowers in one day.
Ancient poets and lyricists never regarded themselves as life mentors, but they would use golden sentences to inspire you to go from mountains and rivers to the willows and flowers at a critical time in your life.
▲ Illustration of "Cantonese Rhyme Song Ci".
Zhuangzi said: "What is useless is of great use." "Teaching children to recite ancient poems in Cantonese may not make them prosperous in the future, but it is believed that they can at least become a loving, funny and courageous person, who can draw endless power from the classics even if the world is unpredictable in the future.
It took me four years to create "Cantonese Tang Poems" and "Cantonese Song Songs", which are the first sets of Chinese studies books to be recited in Cantonese.
Dear friends,
What do you think are the benefits of reading ancient poems in Cantonese?
Feel free to leave a message in the comment area!