Recently, Guangxi Normal University Press's youth brand "Mysterious Island" launched a new book "100 Schools of Thought in the Game" series, which is divided into six volumes: Confucius, Mencius, Zhuangzi, Mozi, Han Feizi and Xunzi, introducing their most representative life stories, philosophical ideas and related cultural knowledge and historical allusions in the form of comics and games. This set of books for preschool and lower primary school children has a novel form and lively style, and selects the content suitable for children's psychological and cognitive levels in the hundred schools of thought, presents it from the perspective and interest of children, and opens up new ideas and new situations on the topic of how to let children get close to the classics.
Zhuzi Baijia is one of the symbols of traditional Chinese culture, and their ideas have been integrated into the cultural genes of every Chinese. The series of "100 Schools of Thought in the Game" will be compiled with preschool and lower primary school children as the main readers, and select the most well-known philosophers among the 100 scholars who have the most far-reaching influence on Chinese history and culture, and introduce their most representative ideas and allusions in the form of games and simple language.
Jiang Jiang, graduated from Minzu University of China with a major in Chinese language and literature, has been engaged in editing and publishing for 15 years, and is a children's book planner and publisher. He loves classical literature and traditional Chinese culture, and is the author of "Reading Ancient Literature for a Thousand Years", "Famous Books Will Be Fun", etc., and his translated works include "If You Give Me Three Days of Light" and "Checkered Bacteria".
Before understanding the claims of these big thinkers, this set of books starts with letting children know who they are. Each book begins with a comic story about their lives. Every master also grows up little by little from a child, they have a fresh and vivid character, come to the child with a fun and cute attitude, play together, learn together, and grow together.
Yasheng Mengzi also had a childhood past when he didn't like to study, skipped school to play, and was severely taught by his mother; Han Feizi was once a stammering child who couldn't speak clearly, so he wrote everything he thought in his heart, and his thoughts and opinions were admired and admired by Qin Shi Huang; Confucius, who was revered by scholars throughout the ages as the "Master of All Ages", traveled to so many countries, but failed to get any monarch to accept his ideas...... They are not born to be admired by everyone, but more like ordinary and inconspicuous stones, after repeated learning and pondering, they finally bloom with dazzling brilliance.
Such true masters are lovely, amiable, and they are not far from us; Their ideas are not esoteric, they are easy to understand and can withstand pondering over and over again through simple stories. "Kiss his teacher, believe in his way." In this way, understanding the common sense of history and culture, studying the source of idioms and allusions, initially exploring the difference between Legalism and Confucianism, the controversy between the princes, and even internalizing the wisdom of the princes for their own use, are all additional rewards and inevitable gains.
In recent years, there has been an endless stream of traditional culture books for the public. However, how to make excellent traditional culture really enter children's lives? It's a conundrum. In this regard, Zhu Yongxin, the founder of the New Reading Institute, pointed out: "Through the creation of children's books, we have naturally reconstructed the tradition from the perspective and interest of children in the process of inheriting the tradition. Let children's books take on the important mission of re-expressing tradition to children in a form that children like to see, and establish a connection between tradition and modernity and the future. The reconstruction of tradition in children's books is not to break the original tradition, but to select, recombine and express the tradition appropriately, so as to increase the comprehensibility and attractiveness of the tradition in modern times and among children. This set of "100 schools of thought in the game" has brought a big surprise to people, which reflects the appropriate content selection, new organizational forms, and children's perspectives and interests emphasized by Mr. Zhu Yongxin, which has opened up new ideas and a new situation on how to let children get close to the classics. Li Xixi, president of the New Reading Research Institute, said that the "100 Schools of Thought" series allows games and books, children's two best friends, to become one. Play is in children's nature, and it is the best tool for them to learn and explore. By opening this set of books, children can invite parents and friends to join in and play and learn together, or they can explore through reading and play alone. Puzzle games with various forms and different difficulties are cleverly related to the thoughts and allusions of hundreds of schools, or make people easily unlock, smile, or make people suddenly realize after racking their brains. Ideal reading consists of several basic elements: natural interest, memory, and the construction of a body of knowledge. The life stories and ideological achievements of the hundred schools of thought are the eternal beacons in the history of Chinese and even world civilization, but for children, it is inevitable that there will be a sense of distance. In this set of books, the Hundred Schools of Thought are no longer difficult classics that make people sit and read in danger, or even prohibitive. Every thinker is alive and vivid, they come to the children with a playful and cute attitude, play together, learn together, stimulate empathy, and inspire thoughts.
In Li Xixi's view, this set of books can be read and played, combining theory and practice, which perfectly fits the latest and most cutting-edge learning methodology. In the 20th century, Netherlands educator Jerome · van Merienberg defined "integrated learning" as "the integration of knowledge, skills and attitudes that can be transferred in new problem situations." The Ministry of Education clearly proposed to "promote comprehensive learning" in the "Compulsory Education Curriculum Plan (2022 Edition)". At present, the popular inquiry learning, theme learning, project learning, problem teaching, etc., all belong to the category of "integrated learning". Reading the classics of Zhuzi and understanding Chinese philosophy in the game is an excellent "comprehensive learning". As the best choice for the enlightenment of Chinese philosophy, Zhuzi Baijia not only explores and recognizes the universe, the world, nature and self, but also extends the knowledge of history, geography, literature and other aspects, which flow in our blood and become the unique cultural genes of the Chinese. In this set of books, each game starts from an idiom and allusion, there is a comparison between the original text and the vernacular, there is the integration of ideological theory and life practice, there is a game content that deepens memory and cognition, and there are also open-ended and heuristic questions, so that children can go deep into interesting and challenging comprehensive learning from multiple aspects.
The ideological achievements of the hundred schools of thought are the eternal beacon in the history of Chinese and even world civilization, but for children, it is inevitable that there is a sense of distance. But when it comes to games, all children's eyes light up. Play is in children's nature, and it is the best tool for them to learn and explore. This set of books is designed with a variety of puzzle games, including visual discovery (find differences, walk the maze, etc.), mathematics (four operations, geometric shapes, topology, etc.), language (radicals, sentences, etc.), logical reasoning, etc., the game content is cleverly related to the most well-known ideas and allusions of the hundreds of schools, which can not only improve the basic learning ability of children in the early transition stage, but also allow them to deepen their understanding of these ideas and allusions in the process of observation, reasoning and thinking.
By opening this set of books, children can invite parents and friends to join in and play and learn together, or they can explore through reading and play alone. Some levels can be easily unlocked and make people laugh, while others will make you brainstorm, and whether it's easy or difficult, the time spent in the game will be emotionally enjoyable and intellectually enlightening.
The thinkers in this set of books not only know how to learn, but also teach, Confucius focuses on self-cultivation, Mencius and Xunzi attach importance to learning methods and attitudes, and Mozi emphasizes hands-on practice. In addition to these "first principles" of learning, the book explains and analyzes the doubts and difficulties that children are familiar with but do not understand and are easy to confuse (such as "three days and four days" and "every time it gets worse"), and traces their sources (such as "negative pay to fight fires"), and combines stories and games to learn knowledge points, which children will never forget once they learn it.
For Chinese, the significance of the hundred schools of thought is by no means limited to the scope of school learning, but is deeply engraved in our cultural genes. How a person sees himself, how he interacts with others, how he understands the world, and how he understands the universe, the wisdom and philosophy of the hundred schools of thought are like Huang Zhong Dalu, which deeply shakes our hearts. For children, when they come into contact with these ideas at the beginning of their lives, they will have a different pattern and vision.
"Learn and learn, don't you say. There are friends from afar, and they don't talk about it. People don't know and are not ashamed, and they are not gentlemen. Confucius's opening sentences in the Analects seem prosaic, but they explain such a big topic as "happiness in life". And when we encounter misfortune in life, the butterfly in Zhuangzi's dream 2,000 years ago gently flaps its wings and brushes away the haze that envelops our hearts. As for what is the difference between humans and animals, whether human nature is inherently good or inherently evil, and whether there will be another self in different time and space, these questions that everyone will think about, but no one can understand, the book arranges the "same stage debate" of the sons. Maybe they don't have all the right ideas, maybe there are no real answers to these questions - this is not important, the important thing is that the child can appreciate the richness and diversity of the ideas of the hundred schools of thought, broaden their horizons, and start a broader and deeper reading.
Civilization is a great river with a source, whether it is children or adults, whether we want to or not, we are in it. The ideas of the hundred schools of thought are still nourishing our lives today. How to contend and how to develop is particularly important to the Chinese nation, which is on the road of great rejuvenation. I hope that more children can get close to the classics, get close to the tradition, take far-reaching roots, and create a better future with the wisdom of the hundreds of schools of thought. (Reader Daily all-media reporter He Jian)