When I was four to seven years old, I followed my mother to live in a coal mine in Ci County, Hebei Province where my father worked. The mining area has no villages in front and no shops in the back. It was the enlightenment course my father taught me in elementary school.

When I was four to seven years old (1929-1932), I followed my mother to live in a coal mine in Ci County, Hebei Province (later Fengfeng Coal Mine) where my father worked. The mining area has no villages in front and no shops in the back. It was the enlightenment course my father taught me in elementary school. My father is a graduate of Tianjin Beiyang Institute of Technology. His family and relatives all said that he was knowledgeable and decent. But he is usually very serious and I am afraid of him. When I started to remember, he had been away from Tianjin for many years. It was only during these three years in the mining area that I lived with him. In the past three years, he only spent one hour teaching me every day before going to work. He comes home from get off work and sometimes I fall asleep. He sometimes goes home for lunch, but not often. In 1932, my mother and I returned to Tianjin and could not see him again all year round. However, in these short three years, in addition to teaching me literacy, addition, subtraction, multiplication and division, and memorizing Jiujiu songs, my father also taught me three "basic skills" that have benefited me throughout my life. Looking back on my ability to survive in the academic field, I can't help but feel lucky because I have laid the most basic foundation.

pictures come from the Internet

One is the "stroke order" of Chinese square characters. When I recognized a new character, my father told me the stroke order of the character; when I was writing a new character, he strictly supervised my writing according to the stroke order. Slowly, I also mastered the rules. This makes the words you write more standardized, which is not only easy for you to remember, but also easy for others to recognize. Later, I gradually realized that Chinese square characters need to be "written" rather than "drawn". Of course, from oracle bone inscriptions to bells and tripods to small seal scripts, it seems that there are still many elements of painting. But then it was all about “writing”. Write and experience it yourself, you can write the charm and spirituality of Chinese characters, and you can also nurture and stimulate your own emotions in the writing process. In the past two decades, writing has been basically done by computer input, and writing is rarely done with a pen. But after decades of writing experience, I seem to still have the same affinity for square characters. I don’t understand. Today’s children have less and less time to write, and the training process of understanding the charm of square characters through years of “writing” is getting shorter and shorter. Will this shortcoming be made up for by other ways?

The second is phonetic symbols and pinyin. Pinyin literacy, which has been called "fanqie" since ancient times, is a basic skill for literati. But in fanqie, the initial consonant is a Chinese character, and the user must distinguish the initial consonant it represents from this character; the final consonant is also a Chinese character, and the user must distinguish the final consonant it represents from this character; and then the initial consonants and finals are related to each other. spell to determine the pronunciation of the target word. However, this kind of skill can only be mastered by those with strong family background and particularly smart qualifications. It is extremely difficult for children to master it. My father should be able to do Fanqie because he knows the essentials of Pinyin. But he skipped Fanqie and went straight to teaching me phonetic symbols and pinyin. The phonetic symbols had just come out a few years ago and are still used in Taiwan today. In this system, one symbol represents one pronunciation, which is unmistakable. Using phonetic symbols and pinyin to read Chinese characters is easy for children to master. My father attached great importance to this basic skill and urged me to learn it and master it very strictly. I remember that there is a "ㄠ (pronounced ao)" in the final. In the continuous reading, I can read and write, but when I mention it alone, I can't remember what it should read. After repeating it many times, my father got angry and asked me to read this "ㄠ" a hundred times alone in a room. I felt very wronged at the time, so I cried while reading. Later, my two sisters always teased me about this incident, saying that I was meowing like a cat. However, I did learn the phonetic symbols and pinyin relatively well. When the Chinese Pinyin was promoted after the founding of the People's Republic of China, I naturally mastered it because I had a background in phonetic symbols. Many of my peers have never learned phonetic symbols and often find it difficult to break through the Chinese pinyin barrier. As a result, they later encounter "stumbling blocks" in inputting Chinese characters on computers.

pictures come from the Internet

The third is to look up the dictionary. At that time, all dictionaries used by primary school students had adopted phonetic symbols. There is no problem with pronunciation. The difficulty lies in getting familiar with the "radicals". The radicals at that time basically followed the radical classification of the "Kangxi Dictionary".Today's dictionary radicals are mainly based on "shape", while classical radical design is not only based on shape, but also seems to be based on the original meaning of the word. For example, the word "Jue" refers to two pieces of jade that are put together. The radical of the word "王" actually omits the word "yu" with "," in the composition of the text. This radical was called "narrow jade" and "Xianyu" at that time. To check this radical, you should look for it in the five paintings instead of the four paintings. There are many similar examples. Although it takes a lot of time to learn, it should be said to be a basic skill for understanding Chinese square characters. My basic skills in this area seem to have continued to improve in middle school and even beyond. For example, I later taught myself the "Six Books" on the formation of Chinese characters; I also sometimes read " Shuowen Jiezi " to understand the origin of the evolution of radicals. Because I didn’t learn it when I was young, my foundation is not strong. But even this kind of foundation can also help improve one's ability to read ancient books, and provide a basic key for consulting ancient "like books".

This article is excerpted from "Huang Da's Academic Autobiography". The book is divided into six parts: First, before entering the academic field, the influence of family environment, school education, etc. on the author, some good study habits and methods of the author, some logical thinking abilities, and some interests and hobbies have been formed since childhood. The second is to enter an unfamiliar field that I have struggled with all my life - the field of finance. Repeated reading of " Capital " laid a solid foundation for the author to study finance. The third is to think independently and be based on reality. After in-depth research in finance, I am confused in many aspects and have my own unique insights. However, the author starts from reality, is based on national conditions, conducts independent analysis, and is quite successful. The fourth is to provide suggestions for reform and help introduction. The author explains the ins and outs of his suggestions and writing of the book. The fifth is to return to discipline construction and explore the origin of disciplines. The author has made great contributions to the advancement of education in subjects such as "Finance" and "Money and Banking". Sixth, the wish that cannot be let go - how the essence of Eastern culture can play its due role in the construction of monetary and financial disciplines.

Editing | Mao Yifei

Proofreading | Luo Yuqi

Recommended reading