Naughty Childhood

My father graduated from an old-style middle school in Changzhou and was among the first group of young men to cut off their queues. Though his ideas were not exactly modern, he had little regard for the traditional education system of private schools. By then, I was already 4 years old, so my father began to worry about my education. He set up a Shangfeng Primary School in the Ding Clan Ancestral Hall in the village, making use of whatever was available. Though my uncle had been married for many years, he had no children and doted on me. He let me ride on his neck and escorted me to school and back home every day. I still clearly remember the text we studied: “man, hand, foot, knife, ruler… 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…” In the evenings, we studied under the light of Standard Oil lamps for an hour before going to bed. We started learning English in the third grade of primary school. We sang the ABCs like mountain songs, and it was quite fun. The fourth grade passed in the blink of an eye, and I graduated. At that time, my godmother’s father had established a complete primary school called “Zuoren Primary School” in the village behind ours.