1932: Playing with the Japanese Communist Party with a doll

Ah, you big-headed ghost.

As a result, it took another whole month just to teach the new Chinese pinyin. Almost half of the spring semester, which was less than 5 months long, was gone, and the teaching progress was far behind the original plan, which made the faculty and staff from all over the country very anxious.

Today, Lu Xun came as the Director of Education to inspect the results, listen to opinions from the grassroots, and give feedback to the Ministry of Education for improvements. However, he did not want to disturb the teaching of grassroots teachers, so he just stood at the back door and observed quietly through the glass window.

"...very good. All the students achieved passing grades in the last class test. I am very satisfied with this review."

Teacher Kobayashi, a young and gentle man who had just arrived from Japan to teach at this remote primary school in Harbin, smiled and praised everyone. Then he turned and wrote a big word on the blackboard:

"So, today, let's learn our first Chinese character, 人."

Before he finished speaking, a whisper broke out in the classroom. Ivan, a Russian student sitting in the last row, raised his hand, which was completely out of place for someone his age.

"Teacher Lin, that's not how people write!"

The classroom was in chaos, but Teacher Kobayashi still smiled gently: "Oh? Ivan, do you know how to write people?"

"Know! "

Ivan spoke in his half-baked Mandarin and gestured in the air with his fingers:

"That's how people write! My father once wrote a letter to His Majesty Kanezane, and I saw it. It started with "Your Majesty the Merciful One"! So that's how it's written! Ren!"

When the phrase "His Majesty the Merciful" was mentioned, the classroom buzzed again. Some students who were not from the Chinese language department nodded in agreement, but a sneer was heard from the corner:

"Oh, illiterate."

The speaker thought Ivan didn't understand, but unexpectedly, the other party knew the word and said angrily:

"Wang Weiguo! Don't you want to be beaten again?!"

"You're illiterate, yet you still flaunt it and don't let anyone say anything?"

A short but inexplicably strong Han boy curled his lips in disdain:

"Ivan, you don't want your parents to be called to school again, do you?" "You!!!"

Ivan's eyes unconsciously showed a trace of fear - those were the beautiful memories left in him by his father's belt and his mother's slap. But after a two-second pause, he rolled his eyes again:

"Humph! That's better than some people having no mother at all!" "You!!"

This time it's Wang Weiguo's turn to be popular.

The smile on Mr. Kobayashi's face on the stage completely disappeared at this moment. Looking at the two people about to fight, he slammed the table:

“Everyone, sit down!!”

Seeing that the usually gentle and amiable teacher Kobayashi suddenly got angry, the classroom suddenly fell silent.

"You! Wang Weiguo! You take advantage of your age and the fact that you learned Chinese characters earlier to wantonly mock and provoke other students. Is this how an elder should behave? Wang Weiguo, you've greatly disappointed the teacher!"

After scolding Wang Weiguo until he lowered his head in shame, Teacher Xiaolin turned his fire to the Russian students:

"And you! Ivan! Since you know that His Highness is kind and told me that you want to learn from His Highness, then you maliciously attack someone else's deceased mother and take pleasure in their pain. Is this your kindness?!"

"Both of you, stand up and apologize to each other!" "...I'm sorry."

"sorry."

The two apologized reluctantly, but judging from their expressions and averted glances, it was obvious that they were not convinced.

Teacher Kobayashi did not pursue the point. Instead, he picked up the chalk and wrote another word on the blackboard, then resumed his calm smile:

"Ren, Ivan, this is the Ren your father meant, the Ren of kindness." "Teacher, why do the two characters look so different when they clearly have the same pronunciation?"

"This is because Chinese is a pictographic language, and how it is read does not determine its true meaning."

"Hieroglyphs...?"

"What this means is that the shape of the character represents its meaning. What the character looks like is what it means."

Knowing that most students wouldn't understand this, Xiaolin drew a simple human figure on the blackboard. Then, he put his hands close to his trouser seams, stood with his legs apart, and gestured for a while in front of everyone:

"Look, this is the original character for '人'. It was written on a tortoise shell by ancient Chinese people a long time ago. Look at me again, standing like this... doesn't it look very similar to the character '人'?"

"Oh! So that's how it is!!"

Ivan and many students who were not from the Chinese civilization circle exclaimed in amazement. Although some of them had learned Chinese characters before, they had never thought about it in this way.

It is similar for students from China, North Korea and Japan. Although they are more familiar with Chinese characters, they are still so young after all, and generally no one tells them the meaning behind the Chinese characters.

So, this is how the Chinese characters we have been learning came from... "Okay, everyone pick up your pencils and write it with me on paper, 人..."

The rustling sound of writing masked the principal's hurried footsteps. Lu Xun waved his hand, and the principal quickly stopped talking. Seeing that the other party was interested, he felt relieved and explained in a low voice:

"Director Zhou, Mr. Xiaolin is an expert on China. He has a very in-depth understanding of Chinese characters and the Chinese language. However, he doesn't strictly follow the textbook, so his progress is lagging behind..."

"It's okay. The teaching materials and teaching methods themselves are constantly being improved. This period is like an experiment. As long as it doesn't violate the principles, it's fine. I'm actually very interested in her teaching methods."

"Yes." The principal said with a wry smile:

"To be honest, Mr. Kobayashi almost never speaks Japanese and never writes Japanese characters. He really doesn't look like a Japanese person."

"According to what you said, Fujiwara no Kanezane doesn't look like a Japanese either." "Uh..."

This topic was quite sensitive, and the principal, who was also an underground party member, didn't know how to answer. Lu Xun just smiled:

"Okay, keep watching!"

The character "人" (person) is relatively simple, and most students who have a basic understanding of Chinese calligraphy learned to write it quickly. Teacher Xiaolin then wrote another character on the blackboard:

"Everyone, look, what is this?"

"...Um, teacher, two people?" "This is from!"

As if to vent his anger on Ivan, Wang Weiguo said loudly:

"Follow those who come from where they go! Follow those who follow! Obey those who obey!"

"

"..."

Ivan clenched his fists but didn't get angry. Teacher Kobayashi glanced at him but didn't praise Wang Weiguo for answering correctly.

"Mr. Ivan is right. These are two people, so they are called 'from'."

As she spoke, she mentioned the names of two people:

"Student Ivan, student Wang Weiguo, please come to the podium together."

"Um?"

The two of them stood in front of the podium in a daze.

"Okay, please imitate what I did just now. Put your hands together, stand with your feet apart...Okay, that's it."

After arranging the two, Teacher Xiaolin asked with a smile: "Students, what is this word?"

There was a moment of silence before a North Korean student cautiously said, "Teacher, it's two people! It's from! It's the word from!"

"That's right!"

Teacher Kobayashi clapped his hands and smiled, then stood between the two of them in the same posture and asked again:

"Now, what is this word?"

A few seconds later, someone shouted confidently, "Teacher Xiaolin, it's the public!"

"That's right, it's '众!' It's the '众!' Classmates, do you understand? Chinese characters are not just individual symbols. They can be combined together to form new meanings. This is pictographic writing! This is Chinese characters!!!"

In the classroom, Teacher Kobayashi's voice was still gentle, yet it carried an indescribable passion, guiding the students' cognition and thinking:

"Chinese characters are not just symbols; they are the crystallization of Chinese cultural wisdom and the inheritance of Chinese civilization for thousands of years. Every character has its own story, its own meaning, and its own soul..."

After letting the two return to their seats, Teacher Kobayashi drew a slightly rounded "日" character on the blackboard:

"Let me give you another example... What character is this?" "日! It means sun!"

"What about this?" "Moon! Moon!" "Put them together..."

"Ming! The sun and the moon together represent brightness, which means bright!"

"Great, what's the word?" "Fire!"

"Two fires?"

"The character 'yan' is made up of two 'huo' characters put together, meaning a huge flame, like a raging fire!"

"What's this word?" "Wood!"

"What about the two 'wood' characters?" "Lin! It means trees!" "That's also Mr. Xiaolin's Lin!" "Yes! That's great!"

Xiaolin couldn't help laughing:

"Chinese characters can make people see a picture and feel an emotion when they see them. This is the charm of Chinese characters! This is why we must learn Chinese characters well!"

None of the 50 students present, regardless of age, race or nationality, were distracted. They all watched attentively and were completely immersed in this novel teaching method.

Some of the students here may have attended private schools or folk primary schools before coming here, where they learned Chinese characters or other writing systems. But how did the teachers there teach?

背!

If you can't memorize it, I will slap your palm until you remember it! But Teacher Kobayashi is different.

She never hits or scolds anyone. Although no one is afraid of her, they are willing to listen to her.

After giving a bunch of similar examples, Teacher Xiaolin wrote the character "Ren" on the blackboard again, with a slightly strange "ren" radical on the left, and said to Ivan and Wang Weiguo:

"My dear classmates, do you know that the word 'benevolence' that Ivan just mentioned actually has a deeper meaning?"

"...'man' and 'two'?"

"Yes, this word means that when people are together, they should learn to be considerate of others and help others. Only when you learn to be kind and help others can you be called 'benevolent'..."

Teacher Kobayashi said softly and respectfully:

"His Highness is like that. He can empathize with and understand the sorrows and joys of others, and he always helps us live a better life. That's why he is a benevolent prince, the kindhearted one your father, Ivan, would say."

Ivan and Wang Weiguo were shocked!

Ivan's parents were both veteran technicians who had been left behind by the Soviet Union in Northeast China. Due to the "Chinese Eastern Railway" issue, the Soviet Union and Japan had a fierce conflict, and they were trapped in Northeast China and were almost killed.

However, after Fujiwara no Kanezane arrived, although he was still dealing with the Soviet Union, he did not use force to embarrass these ordinary technicians. Instead, he prohibited Japanese soldiers from harming them.

In the end, Ivan and his family stayed in "Manchukuo" because they felt they had become accustomed to life in Northeast China, and because they were dissatisfied with the Soviet Union's failure to rescue them and were attracted by Fujiwara no Kanezane's policies.

Where is Wang Weiguo?

His family received even more favors from Fujiwara no Kanezane!

Because his father was once a lowly Chinese coal miner!

If Fujiwara no Kanezane hadn't led his men to kill those Japanese, Russian, and Chinese overseers and enacted strict safety and labor laws, his father would have likely become a pile of bones in the coal mine like his companions!

What now?

He became a glorious worker, and his salary alone was enough to support the whole family!

Thinking of this, and thinking about their own behavior, Ivan and Wang Weiguo felt extremely ashamed. They looked at each other and bowed to apologize:

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have hit you." "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have..."

This time, the apology and expression were sincere, and it seemed that they had indeed reconciled. The classroom erupted in applause.

Infected by her emotions, not only did the students suddenly realize and feel inspired, but even Lu Xun and the principal outside the door felt their scalps tingling and were deeply touched!

Can Chinese be taught this way?

If they weren't worried about disturbing the teaching, Lu Xun and the principal outside the door would also want to applaud loudly.

This teaching method is much better than the rote learning that Lu Xun had seen before!

It not only teaches children how to write, but also teaches them how to behave. It also inspires students' enthusiasm for learning and cultivates their sense of identity with Chinese culture!

If this continues, where will the Chinese, Japanese, Koreans, Russians, Mongolians, and Jews still be?

Hiss... A Japanese actually understands our culture better than we do? At this moment, Lu Xun, who once called for the Latinization of Chinese characters, felt ashamed.

Although he did so in the beginning, it was largely to open the window out of spite to those who "abolish Chinese characters", and although his cultural level was by no means lower than that of Mr. Kobayashi, he was indeed far inferior to Mr. Kobayashi in guiding students.

Perhaps Teacher Xiaolin wasn't entirely right, for example, her interpretation of the character "仁" (benevolence) clearly had a forced connotation, but she had already accomplished the most important task of an educator—teaching and educating people—nearly to perfection!

Not to mention, Fujiwara Kanezane once mentioned in conversations with He Baozhen and Lu Xun that she should subtly cultivate students' sense of Chinese cultural identity and moral values, and thoroughly integrate the next generation. She also achieved this!

This Japanese teacher is amazing... How about we recruit her to the Ministry of Education?

524 Genius Girl and Barefoot Doctor