Chinese kid's stories
Saturday, August 29th, 2009 02:37 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
afunaToo tired to continue working, but too awake to go to sleep (it's one of those moods), so I'm opting to read a set of children's stories in Chinese. Been a while since I tried reading anything in this language; pleasantly surprised that a lot of the words are still familiar. Of course, that is because it's basically a kiddy form of the texts we used to take up in elementary/highschool...
The collection is: "Twenty-four stories about xiao4". I'm trying to remember what xiao would be in English -- paterna- something? Basically something along the lines of "Honor your father and your mother". Ah! "Filial", I guess?
Ever notice how messed up most kid's tales are, by the way? Especially the ones meant to teach right conduct and good values.
For example, this very first story goes:
And this is supposed to be a good thing! I guess it's not that much more disturbing than Cinderella, and it's definitely not the worst of the lot. I'm pretty sure in one of the stories later on, someone offers to breastfeed their mother or grandmother or something... (judging by the pictures, this is what happens. I haven't bothered to figure out what the words mean).
PS. I miss li shi -- Chinese history, now. Lots of interesting, and occasionally very surreal stories. I took it for granted back when I was in highschool. Regret not paying closer attention now!
The collection is: "Twenty-four stories about xiao4". I'm trying to remember what xiao would be in English -- paterna- something? Basically something along the lines of "Honor your father and your mother". Ah! "Filial", I guess?
Ever notice how messed up most kid's tales are, by the way? Especially the ones meant to teach right conduct and good values.
For example, this very first story goes:
Yao was a great emperor; under his reign the people prospered and they loved him as they would a father. In his old age, Yao asked his officials to recommend a successor:
"In Li Mountain lives a filial kid named Shun. Even though he didn't grow up in a warm, loving family, he was still very filial to his parents, and loved his younger brother.
"In his home, Shun often had to bear the physical and verbal beatings of his mother and father, but he never bore any bitterness, only during the times he could no longer bear it would he run outdoors and secretly cry tears.
"Every day, Shun would tend the fields all by himself; his parents and brother never bothered to help. However, the wild beasts of the mountain all helped him."
Hearing this tale of Shun's filialness, Yao then asked him to come help govern the country, and gave him two concubines -- E Huang and Nu Ying.
Not long after, Yao stepped aside and gave his position to Shun; under Shun's rule the people lived very peaceful and happy lives.
And this is supposed to be a good thing! I guess it's not that much more disturbing than Cinderella, and it's definitely not the worst of the lot. I'm pretty sure in one of the stories later on, someone offers to breastfeed their mother or grandmother or something... (judging by the pictures, this is what happens. I haven't bothered to figure out what the words mean).
PS. I miss li shi -- Chinese history, now. Lots of interesting, and occasionally very surreal stories. I took it for granted back when I was in highschool. Regret not paying closer attention now!
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Date: 2009-08-28 09:47 pm (UTC)我要一个中文 icon...
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Date: 2009-08-29 04:11 pm (UTC)Hm, I don't have any Chinese icons either. Have some kittens cuddling instead!