Chapter 12 After reading "Spring and Autumn Stories"

Someone sent me a copy of "Spring and Autumn Stories", and I picked it up and read it from the beginning. I was so happy that I couldn't help picking up a pen and writing a few words of introduction. That's a long way to go!Over the years, I have had many opportunities to talk to young people. These children with a strong thirst for knowledge often express to me their distress, that is, they feel that in their field of knowledge, there is a lack of a very basic and precious thing—— - Basic knowledge of the history of the motherland.Some Chinese idioms, they don't understand when they say it, and they don't know some Chinese historical figures when they say it.

Let’s find a book to read. I don’t know where to start with a Twenty-Four Histories, and the classical Chinese seems difficult. Even if I understand it, I don’t know when this incident happened, and how far away from their era?Where did it happen, that is, where did it happen in modern times?For example, when they heard the idiom "Old Horse Knows the Way", they went to find the source of this story, and they found a lesson in the old "Chinese Textbook": Guan Zhong said: "The wisdom of an old horse can be used," but he let the old horse go and followed, and thus learned the old way.

① "Spring and Autumn Stories", edited by Lin Handa, published by China Children's Publishing House. ——The author read this paragraph, even if they know that Huan Gong is the Duke of Qi, Guan Zhong is the minister of Qi, and Qi is in the present Shandong Province, but where is Guzhu? In what year and month did this happen?Questions like these prevent the stories they have read from securing a fixed place in the historical and geographical diagrams of their minds. The advantage of this "Spring and Autumn Stories" is that the historical stories of the past dynasties in China are arranged according to the age, and the common idioms are used as the title, such as "One Drum", "Searching for the Orphan and Rescuing the Orphan", "Lying on the Salary and Tasting the Courage"... Putonghua based on the Beijing dialect speaks clearly and vividly.The best thing is, if you encounter a year, write down how many years before BC, and if you encounter a place name, write down where it is now, for example, the passage "Old Horse Knows the Way". After we read it, we will know that this happened In 663 B.C., two thousand six hundred and twenty-five years from now.Guzhu Country is located in the area from Lulong County, Hebei Province to Chaoyang County, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.What's even better is that when encountering difficult characters, such as ancient place names and people's names, they are also annotated with pronunciation.This reminds me that when I was young, I read classical novels day and night, such as Ru He, and when I was fascinated by it, I didn’t bother to ask people or look it up in the dictionary when encountering difficult words, so far-fetched I kept reading it, so it is a bit difficult to read, but I still read it according to the pronunciation I gave Ann decades ago!

This "Spring and Autumn Stories" has a "Spring and Autumn Map" on the front. The ancient place names are printed in red letters, and the current place names are printed in black letters. It is confirmed by two pairs, which is clear at a glance.There are also "Chronology of General History of China" and "Chronology of Major Events in the Spring and Autumn Period" and "Phonetic Table of Difficult Words" at the back.This is of great help to our young readers, and even old readers like me. As the editor said in the preface: "China has a written history, longer than any other country, and more interesting and interesting historical stories than any other country." We have such a huge historical treasure house, Our little readers in China should also be the happiest.I have always hoped that there will be a Chinese historical story suitable for children to read like "Spring and Autumn Stories". Now, my wish has come true, and the editor also said: "We intend to compile a set of stories from ancient times to the present. "Chinese History Stories Collection." This is really good news!Together with thousands of young readers, I am waiting excitedly!

(This article was originally published in "People's Daily" on June 1, 1962.)