The back packs were heavier, drenched by the huge tropical rain drops. We all knew the Viets where hiding all around us, it was an early morning the fifth of august 1936…
..Oh this is not my story. It is not even a story at all.
Actually, it begun the very first time I had to practice my hand writing in front of my Chinese tutor. The moment I started shaping the hanzi, he took my pen off my left hand and pointed my right hand with his finger. “To write Chinese, you should use your right hand”, he said. I gently explained I was left handed as he and his friend giggled.
I had no idea it would be such a trouble to be left handed in China. Every single Chinese is right handed, and I am still looking for the exception. The frustration is here, they don’t understand why I use my left hand. Moreover, I feel like the thought “yeah, left or right, it may be the same” does not cross their mind, even one second.
Your reaction is probably “who cares”, but still, think about it. Each time you grab a pen in a public place, you get this weird look on surrounding people’s face. Each time you study Chinese characters in your room, your roommate drops a nervous smile and observes: “It would be easier if you used your right hand”. Moreover, he decides to teach you how to write. The feeling is way beyond the “oh! You are left handed” reaction I usually get back in Europe. Often, it sounds more like a “look! He is obese!”, shouted on a crowded Brazilian beach.
..Oh this is not my story. It is not even a story at all.
Actually, it begun the very first time I had to practice my hand writing in front of my Chinese tutor. The moment I started shaping the hanzi, he took my pen off my left hand and pointed my right hand with his finger. “To write Chinese, you should use your right hand”, he said. I gently explained I was left handed as he and his friend giggled.
I had no idea it would be such a trouble to be left handed in China. Every single Chinese is right handed, and I am still looking for the exception. The frustration is here, they don’t understand why I use my left hand. Moreover, I feel like the thought “yeah, left or right, it may be the same” does not cross their mind, even one second.
Your reaction is probably “who cares”, but still, think about it. Each time you grab a pen in a public place, you get this weird look on surrounding people’s face. Each time you study Chinese characters in your room, your roommate drops a nervous smile and observes: “It would be easier if you used your right hand”. Moreover, he decides to teach you how to write. The feeling is way beyond the “oh! You are left handed” reaction I usually get back in Europe. Often, it sounds more like a “look! He is obese!”, shouted on a crowded Brazilian beach.
Thus I asked some friends if it was impolite to be left handed. The most gentles gave an answer conflicting with the facts: “No, it is okay, we rarely see left handed. We think they are cleverer”. The less gentles laughed and remained quiet.
Even the teachers noticed : “you look like you are drawing, not writing hanzi”. Such situations underline the gap there is between the country's evolution and its people's minds I guess. Please people, try to think a little, it is about time!
Even the teachers noticed : “you look like you are drawing, not writing hanzi”. Such situations underline the gap there is between the country's evolution and its people's minds I guess. Please people, try to think a little, it is about time!
3 comments:
Chen Shu - Regular
"proper"
"regulation of civil service examination enforced in the T'ang period (618-907) , each candidate had to be able to write a good hand in regular style. This imperial decree deeply influanced all chinese who wanted to become scholar and enter civil service. even though this examination was abolished in 1905 most chinese still try to acquire a hand in regular style even to the present"
so this could be the reason...
just tell them that you wont apply civil service position there...
but overall this is very interesting..if ı were you I would ask their reaction to being left handed in one word...and register all that...love to see those impressions..what they recall when they see a left handed person...imagination at left side...there must be a magic.....
and I wonder if the english version of
"pen-ts'ao Kang-mu" can be found in china...7 volume in total...
sorry out of subject ...
I don't dig my researches enough I guess.Thanks for the historical information, very interesting it is.
the "pen-ts'ao Kang-mu" is about Chinese medicine right? I'll take a look at the library for sure.
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