Posted in Books, Videos on 08/11/2010 02:57 pm by sophie
The Monkey King (Journey to the West) is one of the greatest and most engaging tales for young (and old) minds ever written. My son never tires of hearing and watching the stories and knows well the details of each character and their many adventures. Asia Society has posted a video of Professor Anthony C. Yu providing a somewhat academic look at why this story endures for children over so many generations.
An article posted on Tianya.cn about the rumor proposed two possible reasons behind Disney’s alleged interest in the program: either Disney is threatened by the Chinese cartoon so they want to buy it and hide it, or Disney is trying to Americanize the Chinese kids.
The article outlines how much the cartoon and its franchise have grossed over the past few years, adding, “As Chinese, we are so proud of the cultural value of The Pleasant Goat. How can Disney possibly understand the Chinese culture behind the show?”
Although Disney has become more culturally sensitive in recent times, netizens still refer to the company’s 1998 version of the classic Chinese tale of Mulan as an example of how the company sells out Chinese culture. “[Mulan] even speaks like an American,” says Wo Shi Yu Men Ge, the poster and author of the Tianya.cn article. “Although buying “The Pleasant Goat” isn’t a form of economic blockade, it is a form of cultural blockade. If the souls of our kids are invaded by America, what will China have left?”
We’ve never watched the whole movie of Mulan, but L loves watching this short clip on YouTube, which is actually a very sweet scene full of good animated kung fu and Taoist principles. As L says, “Mulan says we have to be gentle AND tough at the same time.” And YouTube has the same clip in English and Mandarin, good for language practice:
English:
We don’t have a lot of cartoon-themed toys or clothes or other paraphernalia in our house; We don’t have a TV so, with a few exceptions, my children don’t recognize most of the popular characters anyway so it’s not really an issue. (Now, if Pixar were to produce a decent blockbuster based on the Monkey King, it might be a different story…) But that all changed this summer, when Xi Yang Yang (ie “Happy Sheep”) entered our lives. A Chinese friend and an uncle both gave our kids DVDs, comic books (the full set of 20+), action figures, keychains, etc etc of “Happy Sheep and the Big Bad Wolf,” China’s hottest animated series. They are really pretty ridiculous looking, the animation isn’t even good, and the storyline is a silly, Wile E. Coyote-Road Runner type cartoon about a group of sheep who are always trying to fend off the latest attacks by the evil but incompetent Big Bad Wolf. The violence is of the Acme explosives variety, yet, from what I can tell, without the creativity or cleverness of Chuck Jones’ characters. (I have to admit I haven’t watched much yet, and my husband says some of the stories are pretty entertaining.) But my kids are hooked. Even little T toddles around the house asking for “Yang Yang, Yang Yang!”. The full line of Xi Yang Yang products can be found on this site and the Wikipedia entry introduces all the characters. The series even has its own Facebook page. Scroll to the bottom of this post for clips of the animated series via YouTube.
China promoted the cartoon as a local product to compete globally with Kung Fu Panda. The fact that you have never heard of it means that they weren’t too successful. (They could start by improving the official English translation of the name, “Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf.”) But it has apparently caught on in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and in our home. As L sits down to watch another episode, I have to remember, it’s good language practice…
Meanwhile, other American cartoons are a hit in China, especially Spongebob Squarepants (“Haimianbaobao”), who now has his own Chinese-language website. I also noticed on my last trip to Target that the PBS series Ni Hao Kai-lan, about the adventures of a Chinese-American girl, has its own line of merchandise. I wonder if Kai-lan will ever have the same mass appeal as Dora and Diego, her Spanish-speaking equivalents.
Clips of Xi Yang Yang (many more are available on YouTube by searching 喜羊羊与灰太狼):
Posted in Education, Videos on 07/20/2009 09:15 pm by sophie
A friend just sent a link for a new animated series designed to teach kids Chinese. Produced by aha!Chinese, Let’s Go Guang is a series of cartoons about a brother and sister and their dragon friend Guang who teaches them Mandarin phrases. From their own promotional materials:
New phrases are continuously introduced and each episode builds on the words and phrases learned in the episodes preceding it until the end of the series at which point “immersion” is achieved. The target age is for children 2-8 years old, however anyone who wishes to learn Mandarin Chinese will also enjoy the series.
I haven’t yet seen the full videos, but you can watch a sneak preview of the first video here.
Found this short video clip on the Montessori for Mandarin Chinese site, which has some useful resources for teaching young children Chinese (including pirated clips of popular DVDs filmed off the blogger’s TV).
A couple of years ago, all on his own, L began to memorize Tang poems from a tape he loved to listen to. He recently made an effort to remember some of his favorites, including the first one he ever memorized, The Geese by Luo Binwang, In honor of his efforts, here it is (translation found on this site, which also includes the pinyin):
咏鹅
骆宾王
鹅 鹅 鹅，
曲 项 向 天 歌。
白 毛 浮 绿 水，
红 掌 拨 清 波。
Ode to the Goose
Luo Binwang
Goose, goose, goose,
You bend your neck towards the sky and sing.
Your white feathers float on the emerald water,
Your red feet push the clear waves.
And while looking for an animation of the poem, I found this little story about the poet Luo Binwang, which ends with a recitation of the poem. Read the rest of this entry »
Grace Lin‘s picture books have beautiful and lively illustrations that children love. Her book One Is a Drummer was one of L’s favorites and it almost single-handedly taught him how to count. The books are in English but introduce Chinese culture and especially food in a very inviting way. On the China Sprout blog, Xiaoning interviews Grace about her work and her transition to writing longer novels for older kids.
Posted in music, Videos on 02/22/2009 10:01 pm by sophie
As I have written before, memorizing songs and poems was one of the first ways L learned to speak Chinese. There is something about the rhythm of classical Chinese poetry that makes it very appealing to children; they can memorize the rhymes without even realizing that they are learning some of the most beautiful, eloquent, and profound works of literature ever written anywhere.
One of the most common poems, memorized by almost every schoolchild in China, is “Jing Ye Se” by Li Bai. Watch an animation on YouTube:
Here is the poem, in simplified characters with pinyin, followed by the English translation:
Before my bed, the moon is shining bright,
I think that it is frost upon the ground.
I raise my head and look at the bright moon,
I lower my head and think of home.
This site provides a nice version of the poem, with pinyin and English translation as you hover the mouse over each character.
Posted in Books, Videos on 02/17/2009 02:36 pm by sophie
With a four-year-old boy in the house, we spend a lot of time talking about, dressing up as, watching, and otherwise channeling the great spirit of Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. L and his Baba spend many hours telling the numerous, intricate stories from the epic Journey to the West, and the full DVD set of the CCTV animated mini-series (52 episodes), provided by an uncle in Shenzhen, is just about the only movie or TV L watches. He loves the characters: A magical, omnipotent but mischievous monkey; his traveling companions a Buddhist monk, a pig, and a white dragon horse, and all the creatures they encounter on their way to India, where they have been sent to retrieve Buddhist scriptures.
We have many books which tell stories of Sun Wukong’s adventures. L’s favorite, which has beautiful illustrations with tales adapted into short but detailed stories easily digested by four-year-olds, is published by the Shanghai Century Publishing Group (上海世纪出版集团少年儿童出版社) and is hard to find outside of China. But another favorite that is in both English and Chinese, and is more widely available here (including from Amazon) is Tang Monk Disciples Monkey King. This is part of a series by the same authors.
The CCTV-produced animated series is a rich, beautifully conceived piece of work which, with 52 episodes, provides endless entertainment. The full set can be bought on VCD through ChinaSprout. L has memorized and frequently belts out the theme songs from the series. Clips of the songs are on YouTube (see below). Read the rest of this entry »
We don’t have a lot of cartoon-themed toys or clothes or other paraphernalia in our house; We don’t have a TV so, with a few exceptions, my children don’t recognize most of the popular characters anyway so it’s not really an issue. (Now, if Pixar were to produce a decent blockbuster based on 
‘s picture books have beautiful and lively illustrations that children love. Her book 
in a very inviting way. On the China Sprout blog, 
This is part of a series by the same authors.