Talking about Shanghai Opera (Part Two): Educating Tiger Glory (from Chicken Feathers Flying to Heaven)

Apart from Abida Going Back to My Mother's Home, what impressed me the most was Ding Shie's Feathers Flying to Heaven. The tune is simple, just like the usual dialogue. The performance scene is the story of teacher Ding's education of students. The story content is the teacher's own personal experience.

When I was a child, my grandmother often hummed this passage, and the literacy class mentioned in the aria also experienced it personally. At that time, the phenomenon of son preference in rural areas was very serious. When there are many children at home, daughters often have no chance to study, and mothers belong to this category. At that time, the village called these people to form a literacy class, but these mothers and aunts didn't cherish it so much. Class parents are short and have poor learning efficiency. I didn't expect this literacy class to be a good enlightenment to me unintentionally. Every time the teacher asked a question about last class, my mothers and aunts froze, but I always answered positively. Later, before each class, the teacher focused on not letting me answer questions. One to two, the literacy class laid a foundation for me, so I haven't gone to primary school yet, and in fact I have far exceeded the literacy level of my peers. Mothers can only understand their own names after so many years of literacy classes.

But in the eyes of my grandmother, the second half of the lyrics often reminds me to cherish the opportunity of learning, and let me know that it is not easy to get into school since I was a child. Only by studying hard can we live up to the expectations of our families. Children's songs taught in primary school still reverberate in my mind:

I wonder if children can still sing this children's song now. When I was a child, I always asked myself when I was humming this nursery rhyme. What did you learn today? Remind yourself not to waste. Once, I took a ten-minute break in class and played "Chicken feathers flying into the sky (education tiger glory segment)". I didn't know how the students would react at that time. I remember no one communicating with me after class. Maybe I didn't understand it because of the dialect? Many years later, by chance, I saw the memories of previous students' college study experiences on the Internet, and even mentioned the process of playing Shanghai Opera during recess. They didn't understand the teacher's difficulties at that time.

No matter in study or life, some things come too easily, but they will not be cherished. I always feel that these are all deserved. Who would have thought that everything has a history, and it is so hard-won! Cherish the present and live a wonderful life is the duty!

February 20, 1995. Late grass.