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YEARNING FOR LEARNING
Sunday Star, StarMag, Oct 9, 2005
MEW Chang Tsing loved reading so much as a child that when she went on a trip to Taiwan, her parents had to pay the equivalent of another airplane seat to bring back all the books she insisted on buying!
“I filled up a whole suitcase and we had to pay for the extra (weight). It was the price of another air ticket! That’s how much I craved reading,” says the 37-year-old dancer/teacher/choreographer with a laugh.
Luckily for the then 11-year-old, her dad was an avid reader himself, so he understood her thirst for books. Not that she needed his example to become enamoured of books. In fact, although she remembers her grandfather reading to her a bit, Mew says there was no real need for encouragement, as she just loved reading.
“As a child I always read storybooks and fables – a lot of the Monkey King, Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytales, Aesop’s fables. I think I read mostly fairytales and fables, whether Western or Chinese,” says Mew.
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Mew and her daughter Wen Xin reading a book. |
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The Monkey King comics, later books, that she read were “fun”, she says, explaining that she was also born in the Year of the Monkey, according to the Chinese calendar. And while she was having fun with the books, she also learned positive values and to discern right from wrong.
Another book she grew up reading and would like to pass on to her three-year-old daughter, Teoh Wen Xin, is a Chinese book called Fu Lei’s Family Correspondences.
According to Mew, Fu Lei is a writer whose son, Fu Cong, was the very first Chinese to win the Chopin piano competition in Poland; he was also the youngest winner. When Fu Cong decides not to return to a China still reeling from the effects of the Cultural Revolution, all Fu Lei could do was write tons of letters to his son to continue teaching him the values and other things that a father would teach his son.
“This book is a collection of the letters he wrote to Fu Cong. There’s one part where he writes, if you want to be a great pianist, first of all you have to be a great musician. In order to be a great musician, first of all you have to be a great artiste. In order to become a great artiste, first of all you have to be a great human being,” explains Mew.
It is a lesson that she believes is important in anything you do in life, and one that she hopes to pass on to her daughter.
Mew says she also loves reading books about kungfu and martial arts by Jin Yong. “They tell stories about kungfu from ancient times. So you have the kungfu master who can fly and jump across the roof, just like the characters in (Ang Lee’s movie) Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Some stories are set in the Soong Dynasty, some in the Ming Dynasty. Those stories normally focus a lot on loyalty.”
Right now, Mew is reading a book entitled Adventures in Creative Movement Activities: A Guide for Teaching by Marcia L. Lloyd.
The author teaches creative dance and in the book, she has recorded many of the experiences she had while she was in Malaysia.
According to Mew, what is good about this book is that the author explains everything simply and she gives a new perspective on what movement and dance is all about, especially when it comes to children.
Mew always knew there would be some books she would want her children to read: She bought two books by publisher Dorling Kindersley before she even got married. The Children’s Illustrated Encyclopedia and History of the World await an older Wen Xin because, says mum, “I wish I had something like this when I was young”.
For now Mew and her husband, Teoh Ming-Jin, The Actors Studio theatre manager, are still sharing picture books with their daughter. Among the books that Mew has picked up for Wen Xin is one about a little sperm who is bad at maths but is a very good swimmer. It’s a translation of an English language book by Nicholas Allan entitled Where Willy Went.
Copyright Star Publications (M) Bhd
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