The Adventures of Bubikins

Author: (China) Elin Biling, written by Wei Wei
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-01
Features: Many years ago, at a national conference in Yantai, Shandong, I proposed a view: Children's literature writers are the shapers of future national character. A few years ago, I revised this concept and made a new definition: The mission of children's literature lies in providing humanity with a sound foundation of good human nature. I now prefer this statement because it is broader and more aligned with the spiritual world of children's literature. In other words, the purpose of children's literature is to lay a "spiritual foundation" for people. This series of "Double-Masted Ship Classic Children's Books" selects classics from world children's literature, which are undoubtedly a spiritual feast for young people. These books are the kind I mentioned that can provide humanity with a sound foundation of good human nature. These books are books within books. I once called such books "King Books." Now, let's first discuss what the basic aspects of this so-called sound foundation of good human nature are—moral sense. The reason literature has been chosen by humanity as a spiritual form is that people discovered it could help reform and purify human nature. From the beginning to the present, literature has played an immeasurable role in reforming and purifying human nature. In the spiritual world of modern humanity, many beautiful and shining elements come from literature. In the wonderful qualities of human beings today, we can see the traces left by literature with just a little discernment. Without literature, there would be no world as it is today, no humanity as it is today. Without literature, humanity would still be in vast darkness and dullness, still in the turmoil of ignorance, still in a purely animalistic existence devoid of emotion and taste. Literature must have moral sense, and children's literature must have it even more. It must be admitted that inherent human nature is far from being so lovely and beautiful. In fact, it may be the opposite. Human nature contains a large amount of evil elements. These elements hinder humanity from advancing toward higher levels of civilization. To maintain the existence and development of humanity, the elite among humans realized that morality must be upheld in human society. The birth of this concept made it possible for humanity to move toward civilization. Over the centuries, the meaning of morality has evolved and changed, but it has gradually settled into some fundamental and constant elements: selflessness, integrity, compassion for the weak, helping those in need, opposing tyranny, resisting bullying, pursuing equality, yearning for freedom, respecting individuality, and nurturing benevolence. These moral banners, along with other spiritual forms (such as philosophy, ethics, etc.), effectively restrain the evil in human nature and continuously improve it.
Taste. Literature seems to have more power than any other spiritual form to help humanity develop taste. "The cold waves rise gently, white birds descend leisurely." "Sparse shadows slant across the clear water, faint fragrance floats in the dusk." "The orioles also love the coolness of the new season, singing over the shadows of green mountains." With concise words, literature can instantly inject the elements of taste into people's blood and soul. Dante, Shakespeare, Goethe, Tagore, Hemingway, Turgenev, Lu Xun, Shen Congwen, and Kawabata, one generation after another, with their noble and refined words, have transformed our lives into lives of taste. They have turned lifeless existence and mediocre objects into things of aesthetic appreciation. Taste has changed human nature, greatly elevating it in quality. And the cultivation of taste should begin with children. Taste should belong to the realm of aesthetics. My views have always been consistent. In my consciousness, there is something very important—I believe the power of beauty, the power of beauty, is no less than the power of thought. Even the deepest thought can become common knowledge, but only one thing never ages—that is, beauty. However, in the current context of China, there is a very strange phenomenon—"beauty" has become an overly sentimental term. This is extremely strange. No matter how I think about it, I can't understand: What is wrong with people? Why do they avoid and denigrate beauty? What is the mindset behind it? Is it truly that literature has no role or responsibility in elevating the taste and refinement of a nation? Let's leave adult literature alone for now and let it be. But when it comes to children's literature, we must speak up. Without laying this foundation, it is not possible. Without this foundation, human nature will be very poor. The gap in aesthetic education is one of the great mistakes in Chinese education. This mistake has far-reaching consequences. When Cai Yuanpei served as Minister of Education in the Republic of China, he proposed the idea of promoting the five types of education (moral education, intellectual education, physical education, worldview education, and aesthetic education) at the national education conference. Aesthetic education was included among these. However, the issue of aesthetic education sparked fierce debate and was almost rejected. Later, it was only accepted as a principle for primary and secondary schools, not as a national education principle. Over time, the understanding of aesthetic education became increasingly narrow, until finally, it was reduced to being equated with fine arts and music. In Cai Yuanpei's view, the five types of education formed a perfect system for cultivating a high-quality human nature. Moral education, intellectual education, and physical education were the lower half, while worldview education and aesthetic education were the upper half. However, this upper half was cut off. China's education system became a flawed one.
Emotional education. Classical literature has always entrusted itself to a core word: moving. Classical literature has spent centuries writing about moving people. But after the rise of modern literature, it no longer does this. Classical literature moves us precisely because of its spirit of compassion and its compassionate sentiment. Human society has rolled forward to this day and has gained much, but it has also lost or damaged much. The loss and damage are particularly evident in various emotions—passion, enthusiasm, compassion—even among children raised in this material and cultural environment (so-called "new humans") have raised concerns among anthropologists. One of the reasons for these concerns is the fading of compassion (they have not yet developed a spirit of compassion). We have seen that today's children seem to have little impulse to engage in such noble behaviors. The signs show that the process of modernization is not perfect. The benefits humanity enjoys today from the process of modernization have come at a great cost. The weakening of emotions is a prominent example. We have asserted that literature lies in providing and creating a sound foundation of good human nature for the existence of human society. And this "foundation" must necessarily include an important element: compassion. If we consider these aspects from the three basic points mentioned above, the works selected for "Double-Masted Ship Classic Children's Books" are ideal models. They strike a balance among the three. This balance is also a balance of humanity, the balance of humankind.