Primary Sources 1A.04—My Book Bag 我的書包

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Primary Sources."
One year ago on Round and Square (5 May 2011)—Endings: The Rhetoric of Fiction
Click here to access Round and Square's "Primary Sources" Resource Center 

[a] Bagged RF

Over the course of the next year or so, Round and Square will take readers step-by-step through a very particular kind of primary source—the elementary school readers used in the mid-1980s in the Republic of China educational system. Every schoolchild on the island of Taiwan read these texts back then, and they are the foundation for understanding matters of education, acculturation, language acquisition, and translation. They were also the source of a very large chunk of my early anthropological and historical education. 

I encourage readers of Round and Square to follow these posts whether or not they read Chinese. It is clear enough where I begin speaking to language learners (the section called "Language Notes" at the end). Everything else, with the exception of the actual Chinese text, can be understood by anyone who takes the time to think about what an entire education from the ground up might be like. The introduction to this series explains these matters thoroughly, and will be posted soon. In the meantime, take a look at how first-graders (for that is where we begin) started to read their world in Taiwan a generation ago. This is "textbooks from history," and there is much to learn.

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Off to school we go. After three straight texts from a first-grade girl's point of view (all of which, for better or worse, centered on life at home), a little boy packs up and heads to school (上學去). As I discuss below in the notes, book bags are packed with culture and personality. As we age, so are purses, glove compartments, and car trunks. What we pack into storage spaces tells us a great deal about both an individual and the culture in which s/he lives. Books, pencils, and a little ball? Serious and well-rounded. A peanut butter and jelly sandwich and a picture of Millard Fillmore? Oh, wait. That would be my life. Never mind (I'll tell you later).

4—My Book Bag

Wearing my book bag                I go to school
Inside my book bag                   There are books and pencils
I have four books                       I have three pencils 
There is also a small ball           Inside my book bag

四  我的書包

背書包                     上學去
我的書包裡             有書也有筆
我有四本書             我有三枝筆
還有一個小皮球     也在我的書包裡

四     書     包     學    去     有     本     枝     小     在

                                背     裡     筆     還     個     皮     球 

Text in Simplified Chinese (简体字)*

四 我的书报
背书报                    上学去

我的书包里            有书也有笔

我有四本书            我有三支笔

还有一个小皮球     也在我的书包里    *A simplified text is unthinkable in an ROC worldview. I don't "work" for them, though, and am including it for two reasons. First, an almost disturbingly large number of my students these days can't read traditional characters. This is a travesty, but I acknowledge (grudgingly) the reality. Second, it should be an eye-opener for students on either side of the "simplified/traditional" divide. Just look. Finally, if you want to read anything written before 1950, you need to learn traditional forms. Get over it. It's not political. It's literature...and politics and history. If you can only read simplified forms, you can read what (Mao) wrote, but not what he read (unless it has been edited and adapted). Think about it.

[b] Carry on RF

History and Culture Notes

Book bags are a big deal for elementary school students all over the globe. This 1985 text shows their cultural importance on the island of Taiwan several decades ago. Even back then, I remember what a big deal it was for parents and grandparents to take budding first-graders shopping for their first book bag. Commercial outlets all over the cities and towns of the island focused on this as both an entrepreneurial opportunity and cultural milestone. Living in Japan many years later, I was struck by an additional kinship overlay. It was "traditional" for grandparents to buy the little students their first bag, and the shopping challenge was akin to buying a Christmas tree in the West.

The young man in the textbook picture would be thirty-three years old today...if he weren't fictional. Let us continue to imagine his life, though. That book bag would have given way by now to a briefcase or perhaps a satchel of some kind. The cultural centrality of storage, however, doesn't go away. Of course, this is a practical problem of structure, history, and culture on one level. There is a bunch of stuff. It needs to be transported somewhere. We pack it into a (book) bag. Simple? Nope. That's where the "history and culture" part gets interesting. What's in the bag? What does it say about our little textual hero?

We have books, pencils, and—just to show that all work and no play makes Zhang Yi (Chang I) a rather dull boy—a little (leather) ball. We also have a formidable list of characters to memorize now that the second semester of first grade is starting to heat up. There are ten to memorize (and upon which students were tested) and another seven to recognize. 

By the way, the images above come from a real first-grader's text—an expatriate at the Taiwan International School—who marked hers with flourish. It was the only volume I didn't have until, by chance, I fell into a conversation with her a few years ago. She kindly allowed me to copy it. Now she is studying for her doctorate. Draw your own conclusions.

[c] Color board RF

Translation Notes

The meaning is not difficult to translate here, but those who don't read Chinese might be surprised by a few things. The first three characters (背書包) can be translated somewhat literally as "back book bag." I have also translated 筆 as pencil here. If it were a text about college students, I would probably say "pen." These are first-graders, though, and the little guys tend to use pencils...even today.

The only other translation issue of any note is the last line. If I were to try to show the parallel phrasing in English, it would be awkward (something along the lines of "There is also a small ball / Also inside my book bag"). Translation, even at this very basic level, is always a give-and-take between attempts to convey the structures and rhythms of the text and English sense-making. If even a first-grade text presents a little challenge or two, imagine what it is like to translate lyrical works such as the Songs of the South (楚詞), which has been my "day job" lately. In a funny sort of way, though, it's all the same.

[d] Old gingko; young student/teacher RF

Language Notes

There is not really much in this text that would present difficulties for the student of Chinese. First, even though 皮球 is literally "leather ball," it has become a combination that covers pretty much everything from cowhide to polyurethane. It's a ball. 

The most significant thing to note is the introduction here of measure words for books (四本書) and writing instruments (三枝筆). Moreover, the last line (to which I alluded, above) has the first instance of the very common phrase 還有, which will be seen in numerous texts and meaning anything from "still more" to "also," depending on the context. It is also how Ed McMahon introduced Johnny on the old Johnny Carson show. 

Allegedly.

One last thing for today—pay attention to all of the different characters used for li (in/inside). The school system in the Republic of China seems to be trying a few variations in these first few texts. Go back and take a look if you doubt it.