How does Chinese culture cultivate children's creativity? The author of "Chinese Characters in China" shares "Wisdom and Life"
As one of the government open day activities of Pudong Library, the "Wisdom and Life" series of lectures recently invited He Furong, the author, writer, and chief planner of the "Chinese Character China" series of books, to give a lecture on "How Chinese Culture Cultivates Children's Creativity". In her view, Chinese characters are a unique element in Chinese culture, and children should be helped to absorb the unique way of thinking and life experience behind Chinese characters in the thousands of years of Chinese civilization history, and use the power of Chinese culture to cultivate their vision and ability to cope with the world.
He Furong worked in the financial industry for over a decade, and she started writing the book "Chinese Characters in China" due to parenting anxiety. "At the age of 3, my son can recite the" Three Character Classic ", but his understanding of 'Gou Bu Jiao' is really like a puppy not barking." He Furong realized that entering reading without going through the cognitive stage is problematic and cannot make the child develop a sense of familiarity with Chinese culture. So, she began to explain each word for half an hour every day, explaining the interesting stories behind Chinese characters to children. Finally, she wrote a book and shared it with more people.
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Through the display of oracle bone inscriptions, He Furong introduced that Chinese people can start from the simplest and gradually accumulate a vast and profound system. For example, the character "Zhong" can be said to be a pictorial representation of ancient people standing with poles to measure shadows. Day after day, year after year of time measurement, ultimately resulting in the 24 solar terms and complex calendars. Spinning was a necessary production method for ancient people and also gave rise to many Chinese characters. For example, the characters "jing" and "wei" can be seen from the oracle bone script, which originally refer to the longitudinal and transverse lines of fabrics. "Therefore, when studying geography, the north-south direction is called the longitude line, and the east-west direction is called the latitude line. Knowing the original meaning of the text will not confuse you."
"Where does creativity come from? It comes from careful observation and thinking about the world." In He Furong's view, creativity reflected through Chinese characters can make abstract things concrete, and we can also abstract concrete things into laws and logic. It is also possible to diverge from one point and connect seemingly unrelated things together. "I particularly hope that the way of thinking behind Chinese characters can be 'used for the present' or 'used for the foreign world'. Because this unique way of thinking has withstood the test of time and is also quite powerful. Chinese characters are a kind 'messenger'."
![How does Chinese culture cultivate children's creativity? The author of "Chinese Characters in China" shares "Wisdom and Life"](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/157b4bfdc56c50cc45171c358d11cf11.jpg)
It is reported that "Chinese Characters in China" consists of nine volumes. The first volume of Chinese characters, four volumes, was published and distributed by Beijing Normal University Press in 2021. Ranked as one of the "Top 100 Children's Books of 2021" by the Beijing Normal University Publishing Group, and the best children's book of 2021. The second volume of "Chinese Characters in China", five volumes, will be published and distributed by Southern Publishing House in 2022. At the event, He Furong donated nine volumes of "Chinese Characters" to the Pudong Library.
Text: Cao Zhiguang
![How does Chinese culture cultivate children's creativity? The author of "Chinese Characters in China" shares "Wisdom and Life"](https://a5qu.com/upload/images/3a3d77911e48b3115355cfe29aad9d25.jpg)
Image provided: Pudong Library