GE1401 - Freshmen English
2013年11月20日 星期三
2013年10月17日 星期四
Chinese as major
As writing represents spoken language in visible form, literature
mirrors human’s thoughts and it is about life as its core. Yet, some may regard literature as the study of artwork appreciation, which are just meant to be
entertaining and irrelevant to the reality. However, I think besides entertaining,
the main purpose of literature is to give the author a chance to express
themselves, as well as arouse reflections and reveal the livelihood in the past
society. I value literature
as the record of the past events. As past and present
are truly inseparable, what we are today has been the result of what
we did yesterday. Chinese is fascinating because the literature we are
studying is in fact the experiences from our ancestors. I believe words impact
lives. Through the literature, we can understand more about the Chinese
tradition and history in different perspective. The moral values that taught by
Chinese cannot be easily observed from other subjects. In my opinion, only by studying
our past could we learn our lessons and create a better future. This is the drive which “forces” me to study Chinese now as
well as in the future.
My interest in Chinese, especially Chinese Literature, was first aroused during my senior secondary education.
I chose Chinese literature as one of my elective subjects simply because I love
reading. From then on, I have a lot of chances to interpret different genres of
literature and gradually realize how the power of words influences my thoughts
and perspective on judging things. One of the areas that particularly interests
me is the short stories in late Qing China, especially from the downfall of the
dynasty until the outbreak of Xinhai Revolution. The foreign wars made the
literature published in this period particularly fascinating as many writers
indicated how the old
Chinese struggled to see the bigger world and discarded
what they valued for the scale of progress.
Lu Xun, one of the most typical
writers in late Qing, is my absolutely favorite writer because I highly
appreciate and admire his lofty sentiment of choosing to be a writer rather
than a doctor. Lu was once a medical student, but then he decided to abandon
medical studies and pursue literature and art because he felt the stupid and ignorant
of his fellow Chinese and realized the importance of changing this conservative
nature of the Chinese. He thought that educating the citizen is the only way to
build up the nation, and the key to educating people is the arousal of
personality and the stimulation of spirit. It was a decisive step in his life
when he chose to be a writer, using a pen as a weapon to save and rescue the
country, and using words as medicines to treat the mentality of the people. His lofty sentiment influences my attitude
towards the power of writing. Besides, his influential writing style also
impresses me a lot. Lu wrote many reflective short stories such as “Medicine”
and “Public Exhibition”, which mirror the real situation of the early period of
Xinhai Revolution in an implicit and sarcastic way. The opportunity to study the modern literature is the chief reason why
Chinese appeals to me.
Undeniably, the study of Chinese aims at inheriting the traditional
beauty of Chinese philosophy, and offering guidance to the present generation on doing the right things. Therefore, I would like to choose Chinese as my major and
bear the responsibility of carrying on the Chinese tradition. Upon completing
my degree, I wish to either
continue my study of Chinese as a postgraduate or be an
educator, letting
the young appreciate and value the traditional Chinese
culture. I would
always love to train my next generation to
nurture knowledgeable and responsible citizens for our nation.
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