1908: Mountains of Poetry

Sitting Alone at Blessed Pagoda Mountain* by Tang dynasty poet Li Bai

All the birds fly high away.
Single cloud alone went quietly.
Won't tire of looking at each other:
There's only Blessed Pagoda Mountain.

*In An Hui province


1908 - age 7

Age 7 is the age you can go to home school (which is actually a private community school sponsored by a family who hires a tutor). My home school was located one house over from Wen Si's house. The teacher's name was Zhang. He was related to us by marriage and was a nice, kind, and patient educator. On the first day of class, your family prepared candles to honor Confucius, the utmost sacred teacher. Next is honoring your teacher (by kneeling before them). Then, honoring your classmates by bowing to one another. Having completed my ritual, I became a formal student of our Qu private school. The first task was learning the 3-word classic proverbs and Confucius' sayings. In those days, books had no punctuation, so the teacher used a red pen to add punctuation. All the students had to memorize and give recitation. After that came penmanship: we began with sheets of characters in red ink that we had to trace over with a pen. Before I left for the day, I paid my respect to Confucius and my teacher. If I met any elders on the way home, I bowed to them. When I arrived at home, I had to bow to my parents and the ancestral icon.

My house needed a lot of repairs. My dad remodeled our house, in a way. Besides the kitchen and bathroom, there were three bedrooms and a living room. My mother loved to keep house and tidy. Everyday she cleaned and dusted. The windows were clear and tables spotless. My extended family, when we had business meetings, usually met at my house. When I came home from school, my mom would watch me do homework. On the south side of my house, if you opened the door, you could see Lu Mountain. Later, when I grew older, I learned to write poetry. I wrote a poem about Lu Mountain in my book of poems.