In Chinese IV, we’ve recently been learning about ancient Chinese fables. These fables show us the mistakes people from the past made, and what we could do to avoid them. In 杞人忧天, a man from the Qi province feared the sky would fall and crush him. Wath the video above to learn from his foolish mistakes!
春秋时候，杞国有一个人，担心天塌下来，怕自己没有地方回去。因为他怕天，所以他睡不了觉，也吃不下饭。他的朋友看杞人怕天的时候，他朋友劝他说，天是由气体组成的，气体是不会塌下来的。
这种气就是天，你为什么还担心天会塌下来呢？”杞人问：“天如果真是气，那太阳、月亮和星星，不会掉下来吗？”朋友说：“太阳、月亮和星星也是由气积而成，不过是一种有光亮的气，即使掉下来也不会打伤人的。”杞人又问：“那么，陷下去怎么办？”朋友说：“地无非是积聚来的土块，充满在各个角落，没有一个地方没有土块。你走路、跳跃，整天都在地上活动，怎么还怃愁地会陷下去呢？”这时，杞人才放心了，髙兴得跳了起来。
Video by Larry Ding & Avery Porges
Cool video Larry and Avery! I too, learned this in class. I think the story is interesting. I think it’s funny that the man could not eat or sleep because he thought that the sky would fall. I like how his friend brought him back to his senses. Great video editing!
Avery, this was an excellent video. I find that these metaphors and euphemisms in Chinese culture are very similar to the expressions that we have in English, and are very important to understand when learning a foreign language. I also had the opportunity to make a film about these sayings, and did 杞人忧天, as well as 画蛇添足. I hope you enjoyed the production of this film, since it did look very good. Thank you for sharing!
中国有很多这样类似的寓言小故事，每一个小故事都能告诉大家一些道理。寓言一般都是带有讽刺意义的。通过一个很普通的日常故事来说明人们做的一些错事儿。郑人买履，南辕北辙等这些都是中国很著名的寓言故事。就比如杞人忧天告诉了我们做人不要想的太多，容易担心的太多。
This is an amazing representation of the famous Chinese fable. I think that this lesson has taught us to not to worry about the trivial things in life. I love how you were able to make this story even more interesting.
Avery, this was an excellent video. I find that these metaphors and euphemisms in Chinese culture are very similar to the expressions that we have in English, and are very important to understand when learning a foreign language. I think it’s funny that the man could not eat or sleep because he thought that the sky would fall. I like how his friend brought him back to his senses. Great video editing!
Great video! I really enjoyed learning about these stories in Chinese class, and appreciate all of their lessons. It’s also interesting how some of the stories seem very random, but teach a very valuable lesson for people. I hope you make more friends and share them on The Daily China. Thanks for sharing!
Excellent video Avery and Larry! I like the idea of using Chicken Little since the same story line occurred in that movie as well. We learned this same story in class and I really enjoyed learning fables in another language. It was very interesting and also taught me some lessons although the story line was odd. It was cool to understand these morals from a different perspective, especially since it was in the Chinese language. Thanks for sharing!
Great video Larry and Avery! I loved your way of integrating Chicken Little into the story as the Chicken Little movie was built on the same idea. I personally enjoyed learning about this particular story in class not only because of the message but also because I could relate it to something I had watched. I now know where the story of Chicken Little came from! Thanks for sharing!
Nice video! The fable is truly very touching, but I never knew “Chicken Little” was adapted from it! I love how ironic it is that the monk is the one receiving advice and wisdom. His friends explain a common theme in several fables: that you should live life to its fullest, whatever it is. Rather than worry about your surroundings, be satisfied with what you have. The monk finally realizes this at the end, and jumps up in epiphany. Beautiful story!
Amazing video! The fable is one the is unique and triggers many emotions. The monk receiving wisdom really illustrates that there is always more to learn. His family friend explains something very true: you must live your life with value to the end of the earth and until your deathbed because you never know what will happen at every turn. Don’t envy other people they might have something better than you in one facet of their life but may not be as fortunate as you in other areas of their life. The monk learning this is finally content with his life and happy for what he is. Beautifully illustrated.
Great video Avery! I loved how you were able to incorporate the popular children’s movie into your video as a means to tell the story. As the two are related, it is easy to see where they got the inspiration for the movie. This video was also a great review for me to re-familiarize myself with the story of 杞人忧天. Thank you for sharing!
Great job Avery! Your videos are always so informative and creative. I’m really surprised to see that you were able to combine an old Chinese metaphor with a new children’s movie. Learning 杞人忧天 and other fables in class demonstrated and taught me a lot about Chinese culture. I hope our class can do a similar style project next year. Keep up the amazing work, and thanks for sharing!
This is an amazing representation of the famous Chinese fable. I think that this lesson has taught us to not to worry about the trivial things in life. I love how you were able to make this story even more interesting through your video. It’s interesting how you were able to connect this movie to the iconic fable. They fit so well together!
This article was very informative. Stories and fables are important parts to all cultures. I just didn’t know any Chinese ones. This video was also very entertaining and helped me learn about the story in a interactive way. The video and the article help bring the fable and its meaning into an easy to understand package.
这篇文章是在我很小的时候就阅读过的，因为我妈妈用这个词语形容过我。有时候想的太多并不是一件好的事情，不要过于担心那些不需要你担心的事情。但是同样我们还是需要担心一些我们应该担心的，也不要让自己一味的放松。
虽然这个故事很滑稽，但是我却很喜欢这样的幻想，也说明了古人对宇宙的猜想。