Short Story for January 2010 北京的春节

[Meng Lelan]

I'm baaaaaaack!!! Aced my exam in Foundations of Braille Literacy course, so now I got a month's vacation. Let's revive this Short Story project. To get you all in the mood for 春节 coming up in mid-February, let's get an early start on this story by 老舍 titled 北京的春节, a nice little trip down memory lane before the days of computers, iPods, 因特网, and other high tech garbage like that. Oh the good old days.

Maybe someone here can make a nice little file of this story in Chinese characters while I go get the scoop on 老舍 to post here. Have fun kiddies!

[roddy]

Attaching in .txt and .doc format. About 1600 characters, not too long.

beijingchunjie.txt

老舍的北京.doc

[Meng Lelan]

谢谢 to the Administrator for the nice files.

Lao She 老舍 (born in Beijing on February 3, 1899, committed suicide in a Beijing lake on August 24, 1966) was a novelist and dramatist. He was an ethnic Manchu. He was one of the most important writers of 20th century Chinese literature. Lao She is perhaps best known for his novel Rickshaw Boy 骆驼祥子 and the play Teahouse 茶館.

This story 北京的春天 appeared in 1951.

Edited December 11, 2009 at 05:23 AM by Meng Lelan

[taylor04]

I just finished reading it, pretty good, I enjoyed it. Took me quite a while, had to learn the names of a lot of lamps:D

[isela]

Welcome back Lelan! And congratulations on your test!

Yes. Nice article indeed! I find a Lunar New Year in here which I never knew.

It's actually really interesting to think about how the New Year has been changing across the years. I remember when I was a kid (like 20 years ago?) I used to really look forward to the fireworks and the sausages every year. My parents then would only buy me small 100-unit-whip firecrackers, and my cousin and I would dissemble these and light the crackers up one by one. The sausage was expensive and only on the new year was I allowed to have plenty. There were also new clothes to wear and of course dumplings to enjoy. And everybody would watch CCTV's 春节联欢晚会 on the 21" TV at my home, all together.

Today, we have the money to buy sausages and new clothes everyday. Fireworks are forbidden in the cities because of their danger and pollution, and all sorts of performances are put on on TV everyday, so much so that people feel sick about the 春晚 each year now. According to my parents, everyday now is like the New Year, and everyday is NOT like it. I can't agree more. It seems that many people are now a bit bored with their improved life, but nobody wants to go back... Strange feeling isn't it?...

Last, I have a suggestion for this project: When I was in elementary school we also learned an article from 老舍 named 猫, which was a fun short story. Maybe this can be discussed here too, Lelan?

[Meng Lelan]

Last, I have a suggestion for this project: When I was in elementary school we also learned an article from 老舍 named 猫, which was a fun short story. Maybe this can be discussed here too, Lelan?

Excellent idea, a fun short story also by 老舍, put a file in here when you find it.

Those two stories, I think, are appropriate for folks here who are finishing up finals and want something nice and fun to read.

[jbradfor]

For some reason the .txt file Roddy posted gave me issues. Anyone else? If this helps others, I attached a new .txt file generated from the .doc file Roddy posted.

LATER EDIT: Opps, encoding issue. Sorry Roddy to insinuate that you can't post a valid .txt file. To save others the embarrassment, Roddy's txt file is in simplified-GB format, while mine is in UTF-8.

老舍的北京.txt

[abcdefg]

Welcome back and congrats on your exam!

[Daan]

Congratulations on your test, Meng Lelan, and thanks for sharing this story! A nice way to get into the holiday spirit even when you're on sunny Taiwan, missing Dutch winters with ice-rinks and hot chocolate by the fireplace.

[Meng Lelan]

Sunny warm Taiwan seems nicer than dark icy Netherlands plus there's the Chinese language practice.

Has anyone found 猫 and made a file? I found several links to it, it's a very short story.

[Meng Lelan]

Kids! here's some vocabulary to help you along with 北京的春节, just something to get you all started.

农历 Chinese traditional lunar calendar

腊月 the last and twelve month of the above calendar

旬 is composed of ten days, a month has first ten days, second ten days, third ten days

寺 a Buddhist temple

观 a Daoist temple

春联 spring couplets, usually pasted over a doorway at 春节

年画 New Years Pictures, usually pasted up at 春节, Tianjin has great nianhua!

吆喝 the way vendors call out urging you to buy their goods

铺户 name of shops in old times

[knadolny]

I was sitting down to read this and I noticed that the first sentence seemed to be cut off. I looked up and found the story on xiaoshuo.com and I think Roddy you might have missed the first page of the story. Roddy, please correct me if I'm wrong.

I haven't dived into reading it just yet, but wanted to post this updated text, doc, and pdf for people to read.

I'll find some time this week to sit down and read it. As Laoshe notes, spring is coming, but we're just entering the coldest part of winter!

腊七腊八，冻死寒鸦

(my crude translation: "On the seventh and eight day of the 12th lunar month, a winter crow freezes to death", i.e. very cold)

I usually make Chinese files on my Mac at home (I'm at work) so forgive me if the file format isn't great for everyone.

Enjoy!

Cheers

北京的春节.doc

北京的春节.pdf

北京的春节.txt

[knadolny]

I like reading old stories that reminisce about how good the old times were and how things change. On my next trip to Beijing, I'm sure I'll ponder how much better it was when I was living there. The dumpling shop that I ate at every day is reportedly no longer around.

I would have loved to have seen old Beijing, or just China in general before the cultural revolution. To see the old city walls (like those in Xi'an) would have been quite a site. I haven't spent a traditional new years in China. Does anyone have good stories of their own to tell?

In Japan, they celebrate the solar new years now (i.e. January 1st). We eat a ton of food the night of, go to a temple to wish for a good new year (but only after 12am), eat a special soup in the morning with mochi (each region is different), have a special meal with lots of preserved fish, and then maybe go shopping or if you are up for large crowds go to the cultural capital of Kyoto. Sometimes Japan feels like a snapshot of China back in one of the older dynasties. I forget which one it gets compared to frequently. Will have to look into that.

Thanks for recommending the good story.

[skylee]

Sometimes Japan feels like a snapshot of China back in one of the older dynasties. I forget which one it gets compared to frequently.

Tang Dynasty, I guess.

[knadolny]

Tang Dynasty, I guess.

Yes that is what I was thinking too. Thank you!

[Meng Lelan]

Thanks for recommending the good story.

不客气。

I like reading old stories that reminisce about how good the old times were and how things change.

That's why it was my pick of the month.

I may cook up some short story for February too, it may or may not have a Chinese New Year theme, I don't know.

[creamyhorror]

It's actually really interesting to think about how the New Year has been changing across the years. I remember when I was a kid (like 20 years ago?) I used to really look forward to the fireworks and the sausages every year. My parents then would only buy me small 100-unit-whip firecrackers' date=' and my cousin and I would dissemble these and light the crackers up one by one. The sausage was expensive and only on the new year was I allowed to have plenty. There were also new clothes to wear and of course dumplings to enjoy. And everybody would watch CCTV's 春节联欢晚会 on the 21" TV at my home, all together.

Today, we have the money to buy sausages and new clothes everyday. Fireworks are forbidden in the cities because of their danger and pollution, and all sorts of performances are put on on TV everyday, so much so that people feel sick about the 春晚 each year now. According to my parents, everyday now is like the New Year, and everyday is NOT like it. I can't agree more. It seems that many people are now a bit bored with their improved life, but nobody wants to go back... Strange feeling isn't it?...

[/quote']

Ah yes, the miracle of progress and development. Back when people were poorer, treats were so much sweeter. Festivals were more genuine celebrations. Nowadays people don't know their neighbours and don't celebrate with them. It's just something rapidly developing societies have to learn to deal with.

edit: Part of it is also about being a kid, though. Everything seems more special. Eating 新年 treats like 肉干 and 年糕, visiting family friends and neighbours, seeing the streets and shops get decorated in red - it's all fresh to you when you're young.

[Meng Lelan]

Part of it is also about being a kid, though. Everything seems more special. Eating 新年 treats like 肉干 and 年糕, visiting family friends and neighbours, seeing the streets and shops get decorated in red - it's all fresh to you when you're young.

Yes, you summed this up very well, and so did isela. Actually in the Chinese countryside 春节 is still a very special occasion. Not like in the impersonal cities. Also I wonder if the impersonal nature and the stress of modern city life makes it harder to maintain traditional celebrations.

[creamyhorror]

Yes, you summed this up very well, and so did isela. Actually in the Chinese countryside 春节 is still a very special occasion. Not like in the impersonal cities. Also I wonder if the impersonal nature and the stress of modern city life makes it harder to maintain traditional celebrations.

Yeah, it's the impersonality of cities combined with rising incomes. Once people have broken long-term connections with their home community and start moving every few years, it becomes difficult to establish solid, enduring communities. Higher incomes and greater mobility also means less need to depend on your neighbours for favours and friendship.

Maybe I should visit to a village next new year's

[Meng Lelan]

Maybe I should visit to a village next new year's

I really think you should. It would be interesting to see if the rural areas develop some kind of holiday tourism industry where travelers from the city can experience holiday traditions in a rural setting.