V.
Project me you
Love all beings
There is a proverb in Chinese ”三岁定终⽣生”, which means that a child’s life is determined when he is three. If children of this age are not taught well, they may face problems when expressing their feelings and find it difficult to concentrate. In this project, I
I decided to translate Disciple’s rules, a children's poem into English, and thereafter, a song, for children to sing. Disciples rules is a long text that can be summarised into 6 big categories and I’ve extracted one section, called 泛爱众, which is to “Love all beings” for this project.
I hope language will not become a barrier for people to learn. I've translated this poem into English since it is widely used in most places around the world. I wish to teach children of age 0-6 traditional Chinese moral values through a song. As they sing along, they uncover what each word means and understand the story behind each of the phrases the poet wishes to teach in the poem” Disciple’s rules”. This will not only help individuals on a personal level but also society on the whole. With more graceful and considerate people, society can be filled with warmth, kindness, and virtuous individuals.
I also illustrated a song lyric book, with an adorable protagonist, Wisdom Bun, who is here to befriend the children. Wisdom bun looks innocent and pure, resembling a baby. I've sewn a wisdom bun soft toy with a built-in speaker. Parents can connect their phones to the speaker and play all the moral value songs for their children and sing along with them.
Rationale of project
According to a report by Epoch times, research by University of Pennsylvania, New Jersey
Institute of Technology and Dr. Liu Yu Wen, specialist of children development from Taiwan
found that the environment that a child of age 0-6 lives in, determines their life.There is a
proverb in Chinese ”三岁定终生”, which means that a child’s life is determined when he is three.
This is very true because a child’s brain is 80% developed by the age of three and reaches
90% by the age of six. The way they speak and their personality have matured. They are able
to express their feelings aptly and its the phase where they absorb anything taught to them
the best.If children at this age are not taught well, they may face problems when expressing
their feelings and find it difficult to concentrate. When they reach the teenage, they may not be
able to communicate well with others, in turn becoming depressed and has issues with social interaction.
Objectives
Educate young children age 0-6 years old with traditional Chinese moral values when they
are still pure and innocent through singing a song.
The Disciple's Rules
弟子规 also known as Disciple's Rules is chosen because it teaches the "Standards for being a Good Child" based on teachings of Confucius. It emphasizes the essential conditions to be considered a good person and how to live with others harmoniously.
What take away will my audiences have?
For Children: I wish that more children can be educated with moral values at a young age, so they will not face challenges in communicating with others or be easily led astray when they grow up.
For Parents: The earlier the parents start teaching their kids, the better their kids can remember the teachings. I wish that Parents can take the initiative to begin the education of moral values for their children even when they are still in kindergarten and at the same time, parents can learn these values too.
Who am I ?
Who are we?
I am a design student who believes that the birth of everyone has a purpose, is to serve the world and bring better lives to one another.
We as a country, Singapore, is a little red dot that is matured in terms of Economy and Politics, but young at heart. We are like a child learning from our big brothers and sisters (foreign countries), absorbing all sorts of culture and practices, still discovering what is most suitable for us. As a member of the world community, no matter where I am, I wish to contribute to the world by being a person with good moral values, influencing people around me with my actions and setting a good example.
What is the nature and purpose of creative expression?
Why did I choose 弟子规 (Disciple’s Rules) over of 三字经 (Three Character Classic)?
Disciple’s Rules was written in the Qing Dynasty by Li Yu Xiu during Emperor Kang Xi’s reign. It talks about the basic rules of how a human being should act. Whereas, the Three Character Classic was written 400 years before Disciple’s Rules, in the Song Dynasty. It was very well promoted and had the highest number of users, hence considered the most impactful classic for children.
The reason why I’ve chosen to translate and work on Disciple’s rules instead of the extremely popular Three Character classic is that after understanding what each poem is talking about, I find that Disciple’s rules are much more detailed in guiding an individual on how they should behave but the Three character Classic doesn’t. It briefly talks about some moral values and moves on to talking about nature and history, which is not apt in guiding a child’s growth.
Therefore, I chose to work on Disciple’s Rules, by extracting a section of it to translate for this project. The section I’ve extracted focuses on how one should treat people surrounding us, which I believe is a big issue we face in Singapore, where people are getting less and less gracious. We’ve always been deemed to be the “ Kiasu” and “ Kiasi” country and in hope of surviving and doing our best, many forgot to show appreciation and love to others, only caring for themselves. There is an urgent need to start educating our future generations to respect and care for others.
How is everything connected?
In today’s context, though lands are separated, no one nation is isolated. We are in fact not a citizen of a single country but citizens of the world. Traveling is made too easy for one to go over the world and be connected with all kinds of people. In the past, only the Chinese studied words of Confucius, but with the modern technology and knowledge, translating Mandarin poems to different languages is no challenge. This has made it possible to share the traditional Chinese cultural values such as harmony, benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom, honesty, loyalty, and filial piety to non-Chinese-speakers.
Getting there...
Play track as you read the lyrics
Thank you to Professor Jesvin Yeo for this project.
This project not only allowed me to reflect on what I like and what I grew up with but also gave me the opportunity to do what I never thought I would have done. I never knew I would write a song (in this case, translate one) as I always thought I do not have the language ability to do so. However, I proved myself wrong and did it with eagerness and fun. Moreover, translating a poem I recite since young, brings me back to my childhood when I attended classes every sunday to recite these poems. This time I got to research deeper into the meaning of each phrase rather than just blindly reading. I learn to appreciate Chinese characters and the three-character poem in another light. It is so fascinating to explore the essence of Chinese characters that I’m thankful that I can read and write this magnificent language created by our ancestors.