Helen Mirren, whose full name is Dame Helen Mirren, was born on 26 July 1945 in Chiswick, London. Her real name is IIlynea Lydia Mironoff. Mirren grew up in Essex, England. Her mother, Kathleen, was English, and her father, Vaisly Mironoff, was a Russian immigrant who later changed the family name to Mirren (Green and Heyman, 2). Helen began her career in 1965 at the age of 20 when she played the role of Cleopatra in the theatre production of Anthony and Cleopatra at the National Youth Theatre. Over her 50-year acting career, Mirren has portrayed numerous successful roles in theatre and has earned a reputation for her stage performances.

When she embarked on her career, Mirren expressed her desire to become like Sarah Bernhardt to her elder sister before auditioning for Britain’s National Youth Theatre. She succeeded in the audition and made her debut on the stage. Throughout her career, Mirren has portrayed various characters on stage, including Phedre, a role previously played by Bernhardt from her twenties to her late sixties. John Lahr compares Mirren and Bernhardt and concludes that “Mirren’s performance has been shown globally on more than two hundred screens so far and seen by about thirty-five thousand paying customers. Statistically speaking, Mirren, not Bernhardt, is now the most famous Phedre of all time” (1).

Phedre tells the story of the wife of Theseus, the king of Athens, who falls in love with Theseus’ son, Hippolytus. Hippolytus, however, loves Aricia, the daughter of a former enemy, whom his father has forbidden him to marry. Lahr comments, “Phedre’s obsessive, autoerotic suffering runs the risk of being dramatically one-note; Mirren, however, finds deep seams of emotional truth that transcend Racine’s structural contrivance. She parses Phedre’s brazen abasement with an excitement that manages to suggest both self-destruction and sensuality, both guilt and predatory wiles” (2). Mirren achieved great success in this tragic theatre production.

Another famous and successful stage role of Mirren’s is her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth II in the Broadway transfer of The Audience. This play, directed by Stephen Daldry and written by Peter Morgan, explores the private meetings between the monarch and her prime ministers over her 60-year reign. Mirren received much praise for her performance in this role. Variety critic Marilyn Stasio suggests that Mirren may win a Tony award. Ben Brantley describes her as “smashing.” Theatre critic Michael Glitz comments, “[N]one of it would matter without Mirren.” Elisabeth Vincetelli of The New York Post writes, “[T]o the surprise of exactly no one, Helen Mirren is absolutely terrific as Queen Elizabeth II in The Audience” (BBC NEWS).

From 1965 to 2015, Mirren has played roles in more than 30 theatre productions. In her performance in A Month in the Country, Mirren portrays a character whose passion is intertwined with jealousy, joy, rage, treachery, and a constant sense of disappointment. Her performance brought much laughter to the audience and elevated the play to new heights. Benedict Nightingale writes for The Times:

 I have not space to talk you through the monologue in which Natalya imagines Vera and the tutor in each other’s arms. Take my word that she stands there, alone and exposed and obliged to use a superannuated form of dramatic address; and yet she could not be more natural in her switches from pain to canny calculation to rapture to self-loathing to hope to despair. We in the audience laughed, and it did not matter. We were touched, and that was good, too. We all knew we were watching a major actress in her prime. (“A Month in the Country”)

When asked whether it was different, doing theater with new people, Mirren answered that “it’s the great pain and the great magic of theatre: there are infinite ways to play any role, and there are infinite ways of playing any lie. Quite often I ask someone else to say a line for me – a bit presumptuous to ask them to do a whole speech for you. But everybody inflects a line—the difference is infinitesimal—but it’s different” (Mirren and Eyre). For A Month in the Country, Mirren received a Tony nomination; for Orpheus Descending and Mourning Becomes Electra, she was nominated for an Olivier Best Actress Award; for The Audience, she won an Olivier Award, a What’s On Stage award, and the Tony Awards for Best Actress.

Besides theatre, Mirren also has done a great job in films and TV programs. Mirren can shift roles between theater, television, and film comfortably, and she never narrowed herself to a single character or to a special genre of theater; she can do many characters and she can play in different kind of genres.  In her career, Mirren is a professional actress; in real life, she is a kind lady who cares about people and the world and engages in charities. She is “actively involved with a number of charities, including Oxfam, with whom she originally worked some years ago on the Rwandan crisis, presenting a petition to Downing Street” (Perchard). In the early 1980s, Mirren had lived with actor Liam Neeson. In 1997, she married American film director Taylor Hackford, who is one year older than her and they live a lowkey life in L.A.

In her over 50 years acting career, Mirren has created many classic characters on stage, like Phedre in Phedre, Queen Elizabeth II in The Audience, Natalya Petrovna in A month in the Country. Her performances are applauded by the audience members around the world and she is nominated or wins awards as Best Actress. Her unique, natural, and professional acting skills make her outstanding. The play roles Mirren has created will not be forgotten. Her contribution to theater field both in the US and England will be written in history and her success sets her as an example for people in the world who are pursuing a theater performance career.

Work Cited

“A Month in the Country”, Celebrating the life and career of Dame Helen Mirren: www.helen-mirren.net/content/career/theatre/1994amonthinthecountry.html

“Biography,” Home/Recent News, www.helenmirren.com

Green, Mary, and J. D. Heyman, “Helen Mirren: ‘I’m Constantly Evolving’.” People, vol. 92, no. 22, pp50-52. EBSCO, accarcproxy.mnpals.net/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=keh&AN=139662848&site=ehost-live

“Helen Mirren Rules Broadway as Queen Elizabeth II.” BBC NEWS, 9 March 2015. http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-31795331

Lahr, John, “Sex in the Head.” New Yorker, vol. 85, no. 21, pp78-79. EBSCO, accarcproxy.mnpals.net/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=f6h&AN=43623782&site=ehost-live

Mirren, Helen, and Peter Eyre. “Helen Mirren.” BOMB, no. 52, 1995, pp. 36–41. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/40425607. Accessed 6 May 2020.

Perchard, Alex, and Helen Mirren. “Helen Mirren.” RSA Journal, vol. 153, no. 5521, 2006, pp. 16–17. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/41379656. Accessed 6 May 2020. 

In China Central Television’s Spring Festival Gala of 1987, Chinese-American singer Kris Phillips (Fei Xiang) danced when he sang the song Sexy Music. It was a new performance style to Chinese people, and its immodest surprised the audiences. Phillips and his dances became nationally famous in one night. He described in a talk show (Jin Xing Show) that the photographers of the gala were too astonished at his dance to photograph his dances, but focused on his face. Liu Huan is a famous singer and songwriter in China, and in his serious Chinese song, Asking Ten Thousand Times, inserts two English sentences: “Time and time again you ask me; Time and time again I ask myself.” This song was recorded in 1993. In the TV contest Super-Vocal 1, held in 2018, three young Chinese singers adapted the American song The Sound of Silence to a trio and they placed first in the contest. These three cases illuminate one truth: Chinese popular music has been influenced by American music styles.

In 1978, the Chinese government started a policy of economic reform and “opening-up”, under which foreigners were now welcomed and Chinese citizens were encouraged to travel abroad. Paul Friedlander points out in his essay “China’s ‘Newer Value’ Pop: Rock-and-Roll and Technology on the New Long March” that “[W]ith the end of the Cultural Revolution, economic reform, prompted increased international commerce; many students and business people travelled to the west, and soon after arrival began to send their friends and families back home a flood of packages of Western goods, including Western popular music.” Before the economic reform policy was carried out, popular music in China was less creative and less popular. During the performance, singers stood still on the stage without any gestures or dances. As time passed, Chinese popular music was more and more influenced by western music. As Hon-Lun Yang mentions in his essay “Music, China, and the West: A Musical-Theoretical,” he notes that “…Sino-Western musical interchanges within the West, especially interchanges pertaining to Chinese-American or Asian-American musical interactions within Canada and the United States.”

Three reasons have accelerated American music’s influence on Chinese popular music. First, the English language has been a required course for students beginning in middle school in China, which brought American culture into China, including music. Second, American television shows and films have been spread in China. The third and most importantly, American singers hold live performances in China frequently, and American tapes and CDs have occupied China’s markets. In the essay “The Expression of Chineseness and Americanness in Chinese popular Music: A Comparison of ABC Pop Stars Wang Leehom and Vanness Wu”, the author Boxi Chen reports that “in the early 1960s, American influenced on Taiwanese music, and it was decades later, around the early 1990s, Chinese popular music has been influenced by an increasing number of Chinee American musicians who decided to build their careers in China.” One important reason these Chinese-American musicians decided to come back to China is the economy of China has become “more prominent” (Chen) and the country offers good chances for people to pursue success in their careers.

American’s influences on Chinese popular music include the aspects below:

1. Lyrics and rhythm. In the beginning, as Friedlander points out, Chinese popular music followed “the formula which emphasized melody and lyrics rather than heavy distortion and a strong beat” and the lyrics usually focus on “romantic and historical topics.” 
2. Musical equipment. Electric guitars, trap drum sets, and pianos became popular in China. 
3. Live performance. Since the early 1990s, live performance thrived. Though most people couldn’t afford to buy a ticket to attend a live performance, many TV channels put on live performance recordings which included singers from America, like Michael Jackson, Madonna, and the Backstreet Boys.
4. Recordings. Friedlander points out that “Western-influenced popular music now pervades Chinese youth culture. Popular music cassettes are available in every part of the country from the shops of Beijing to the street vendor stalls in towns near the Tibetan border.”

In addition to the influence American music has had on both popular songwriting topics and performances styles, musical contests in China have also been impacted. In these contests, performing American songs become popular for the participants. In addition, these songs extend beyond a Chinese-only audience due to their use of English lyrics; the world is their audience. As Lijuan Qian writes in his essay “Which Identity Matters? Competing Ethnicities in Chinese TV Music Contests”, “A huge market for Anglo-American televised music and music-related talent contests has arisen, based in the world’s largest national network of around 4,000 TV stations, this serving a population of over 1.3 billion with over 731 million internet users. Such programs include The Voice of China (Zhongguo hao shengyin), Chinese Idol (Zhongguo meng zhi sheng), I am a Singer (Wo shi geshou), Sing My Song (Zhongguo hao gequ), and China Star (Zhongguo zhi xing), each of which sustains a high viewership.”

Since Kris Phillips brought the American style of pop song onstage performance to China, the Chinese pop song world started a new epoch. Based on the influence of America, Chinese popular music is connected not only with the western countries, but with the whole world, which is an unavoidable trend. I agree with Hon-Lun Yang’s notes that “A new generation of Chinese performers and composers is capturing world-wide attention, and Chinese composers’ compositions are foregrounding a complex synergy of Chinese and Western musical elements.”

Work Cited

Chen, Boxi. “The Expression of Chineseness and Americanness in Chinese Popular Music: A Comparison of ABC Pop Stars Wang Leehom and Vanness Wu.” Asian Music, vol. 43, no. 2, 2012, pp. 71–87., http://www.jstor.org/stable/23253610. Accessed 12 Apr. 2020.

Friedlander, Paul. “China’s ‘Newer Value’ Pop: Rock-and-Roll and Technology on the New Long March.” Asian Music, vol. 22, no. 2, 1991, pp. 67–81. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/834307. Accessed 12 Apr. 2020.

Liu, Huan. Asking Ten Thousand Times, YouTube, 5 Feb 2016, https://youtu.be/9eLSkZDbVts

Qian, Lijuan. “Which Identity Matters? Competing Ethnicities in Chinese TV Music Contests.” The World of Music, vol. 6, no. 2, 2017, pp. 57–82. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44841946. Accessed 12 Apr. 2020. 

Phillips, Kris. Sexy Music, YouTube, 3 Jan 2017,  https://youtu.be/fDF3tnN9RFA

Phillips, Kris, and Jin Xing. “Jin Xing Show: Spring Festival Special Version.” Jin Xing Show: Spring Festival Special Version, 2 Feb. 2017, https://youtu.be/mruaK187Zs0.

Simon & Garfunkel, “The Sound of Silence, Recomposed and Sang by Wang Xi, Ju Hongchuan, Liqi.” YouTube, 14 Dec. 2018, https://youtu.be/x6-2ER1IVzo.

Yang, Hon-Lun. “Music, China, and the West: A Musical-Theoretical Introduction.” China and the West: Music, Representation, and Reception, edited by Hon-Lun Yang and Michael Saffle, University of Michigan Press, Ann Arbor, 2017, pp. 1–18. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1qv5n9n.4. Accessed 12 Apr. 2020.

One morning, I woke up from a vivid dream in which I had eaten a kind of food I loved when I was in China. It was sold by a small movable cart, and the seller would put a spoonful of sweet rice in a bowl covered with a tiny plastic bag. He added cooked shredded carrots, potatoes, pork, kelp, fish mint, and a spoonful of special spicy sauce. Then, he covered it with another spoonful of sweet rice and finally squeezed the plastic bag into a ball. When I bit into it, a taste filled my mouth immediately, mixing sweet, sour, spicy, sticky, and fresh crispy veggies. The feeling of that dream stayed with me for the whole day, and I couldn’t stop thinking about those days when I was in college in China. In the mornings, my friends and I would go to the school gate to buy that food. It was one of the happiest and most memorable moments of my college life.

Last year, my husband’s grandma held a family reunion in Wisconsin. As we drove across a bridge, we stopped on the road alongside a big farm covered with corn and saw many raspberries hanging from the branches on one side of the road. In that moment, I felt like I was back in my hometown, on our own land where my mom and dad were planting corn and my brothers and I were picking raspberries. Although that feeling didn’t last long, it gave me the illusion that I had returned to my youth with my family in China.

Sometimes, when I listen to an old song or see a fragment of an old movie, I am transported back to a long-lost time. Memories flash so vividly that I can still feel the exact emotions I had when I first heard the song or watched the film. Occasionally, we may encounter someone unfamiliar who resembles an old friend we have lost contact with for a long time, and we can’t help but feel a sense of familiarity towards the stranger, as if they were our old friend.

All of these situations are related to “nostalgia” – a feeling of recalling the past, the places we have lived, or the happy moments we have experienced. Every person experiences nostalgia – missing old times, old friends, hometown, or home-cooked food. Unlike homesickness, which can cause depression and illness, nostalgia may make us feel a little lost, but it also has positive influences. For me, nostalgia inspires me to write. When I had that dream, I couldn’t help but write down what I had dreamed, my feelings, and my thoughts.

Nostalgia reminds us to cherish every day because we know that today will become a nostalgic memory in the future. It encourages us to cherish our family and friends, even if they are not physically present with us. We can reach out to them and let them know that we miss and love them. Currently, nostalgia is the biggest motivation for me to study hard and find a better job, so that I can save enough money to fly back to China to see my old friends, be with my family, savor Chinese food, and visit the places that have been lingering in my dreams!

Until I was 15, I lived in a remote village on a huge mountain in Guizhou Province, China, with my parents and two younger brothers. During the ’80s and ’90s, we lived in poverty. On our birthdays, we never had a birthday cake. Our gift was a hard-boiled egg. But when I turned 15, I got a special birthday gift: two plums.

There were three plum trees in front of my old house at the edge of a small, flat plain. During early June of the lunar year (August in the Gregorian calendar), ripe plums hung from the branches or rose through the leaves, shining in the sun.

The plums were big, with a layer of white fuzz that seemed like the frost that covers grass on an early fall morning. The sunshine turned one side of the fruit a light golden hue that faded gradually to green. The golden ones were the sweetest and most delicious. On each market day, my mom would sell the plums to earn extra money for us to buy pens and notebooks.

My two brothers and I climbed the trees as deftly as monkeys. I even could climb with a pair of slippers on! But I quit climbing trees when I went to middle school, and I started reading as a hobby.

At noon on my 15th birthday, my mom was napping and my brothers and father disappeared somewhere. The sun was tilted in the sky, and the shadow of our house’s eaves stretched across the yard. The breeze was gentle. The only sound was the song of one or two cicadas in the trees around the house.

As I always did, I sat on a wooden chair under the eaves, reading — “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon” on this day. I was too engaged in the novel to notice my parents’ movements around me. My father approached from the narrow road that connected to our yard, and my mother had gotten up and was sitting on a low chair to one side of the gate, across from me.

“Where have you been?” my mom asked my father. Her voice caused me to look up.

“Over there,” my dad answered with a mysterious smile. He was at the end of the road, in the bright sunshine.

I resumed reading. My dad said, “Ying, do you remember what day it is today?”

I shook my head no. My mind was full of Yu Jiaolong in the novel and her newborn baby.

“Your birthday,” my mom said, yawning. Sleep was still in her half-closed eyes.

“Oh,” I said, returning to my book.

“Here it is,” my dad said, stretching one hand to me.

Two big golden plums lay in the center of his palm. He had scratched off the white fuzz so that the fruit skins were smooth and shining.

I picked up the plums.

My brothers had climbed the plum trees every day without finding any over the past week. “These must be the last two,” my father said.

I split open the fruits, took out the stones, and put the flesh in my mouth: crisp, fresh, sweet mixed with a bit of sour. Today, I can still recall that taste. I have never found a plum as delicious. I didn’t say thanks to my dad, and my dad didn’t say “Happy birthday” to me.

This is how I get along with my parents. Most of my friends from my hometown have the same way of being with their parents — we have never said “I love you” or thank you to one another. No matter how big a mistake the parents made, they didn’t apologize to us, their kids. I have never held my mom’s or dad’s hands when we go out together. It is as if there is an invisible barrier between me and my parents.

In 2014 I moved to the United States and married not long after. To my surprise, I noticed that my husband always said thanks to his parents, something that where I am from was only expressed to and from guests. I noticed, too, that my husband and his parents always ended a phone call with “I love you,” loud and natural. On our son’s first drawing, my mother-in-law taught him to write “To mummy, love, Rang.” I can’t imagine what my hometown people would think of these declarations of affection, for where I come from, love can’t be expressed by words but through actions.

On the first day of the Chinese New Year, I video-chatted with my mom and dad. There was no “Happy New Year” uttered between us. I wanted to say something, but I was afraid they would consider me more of a guest than a family member if I did.

My parents and I will not change our habits of expressing love. But I have learned to say thank you, sorry, and “I love you” to my son, and I enjoy and appreciate his hugs and kisses.

NOTE: This essay is accepted, edited, and published in The Boston Globe Ideas section on June1, 2022.

A parent writes to Dr. Dana Johnson, pediatrician of Meriter Health, that her “18-month old doesn’t seem to be talking as much or as clearly as other kids her age,” and she wonders should she be concerned? As a basic skill to people’s cognition and communication, language development in children is important. But some children, known as “late-talkers” and without any deficiency, speak late, which is called language delay. Language delay in children may cause a reading disorder and social problems in their future development. If the children’s first word or phrase does not come out normally, the parents should send them to do an early assessment. Because language delay hinders the children’s future development, strategies such as language therapy, creating communicative surroundings, and choosing the right media can be applied by parents, educators, and pediatricians to help the kids.

     Language is a very important ability for a human being. Without language, people struggle to express their ideas and understand each other’s opinions. As Sarah Grison and Michael S. Gazzaniga, authors of Psychology in Your Life, state, “Thanks to language, we can live in complex societies where our ability to communicate helps us learn the history, rules, and values of our culture. Language also helps us communicate across cultures and learn much more than other animals can” (134). When babies are born, along with their other abilities, language develops as they grow up. Grison and Gazzaniga conclude that “[b]y the end of their first year, infants around the world are usually saying their first words…By about 18 to 24 months, children’s vocabularies start to grow rapidly. They put words together and form basic sentences of roughly two words…By about age 6, children use language nearly as well as most adults. Their vocabulary will continue to grow throughout their lives” (135). Children’s language develops step by step and there’re evaluation standards at each step. 

However, some children do not speak within their first year or speak only a few words as they grow older. These kids should be considered late-talkers or language-delayed. Jin-Kyung Kim et al. of Catholic University of Daegu School of Medicine, confirm children in all countries can master “the basic of their language” by “4 years of age,” but “5%-8% of children experience speech language delay or disorders in preschool years…” (363) Late-talkers typically don’t have any physical deficiency such as hearing loss or autism, and their health assessments are normal. Some bilingual children are late-talkers too. Kerry Danahy, Ebert et al. define bilingual as “[c]hildren who must learn and use two languages, either simultaneously from birth or sequentially in early child-hood, can be classified as bilinguals” (980). 

Language delay may be caused by bilingual environments. Ebert et al. admit, “Language learning is proposed to influence attention in bilingual children, and attention is proposed to influence language learning in children with developmental language disorder, though the hypothesized influences are controversial in both literatures” (982). It is important to determine whether the native language, the second language, or both languages are delayed. Less involvement by the fathers may lead to children’s language delay too. Typically, people think mothers play an important role in children’s growing up, especially at their young ages. But new research by Tamesha Harewood from Michigan State University points out that fathers’ language significantly contributes to children’s “later expressive language development”, while mother’s language contributes to children’s “receptive language” (4). Harewood also reports that “whereas the current study showed that fathers’, but not mothers’, stress influenced their toddlers’ cognitive development” (12). Cognitive development is related to language development. With the developing of technology and internet, children grow up with media, even from their infant time. Dwi Herawati Ritonga and Sri Sofyan from Universitas Sumatera Utara, Medan, Indonesia point out that “high television exposure in first year of life is related to lack of attention in school especially with language and reading.” 

Delay in speaking influences children’s future development and leads to reading disorders and social difficulties. Kim et al. state that “[c]hildren with speech and language impairment persisting at age 5 years were at high risk for language, literacy, and educational difficulties throughout childhood and into adolescence,” and “some children, whose language delays at age 3 or 4 years had apparently resolved, show difficulties in reading” (363-364). Elisabeth Rose, from Department of Developmental Psychology, Otto-Friedrich-University, points out that “early language abilities have been found to predict the development of cooperative behavior, aggression, and emotional self-regulation over a 4-year period” (778). Language delay in children is a matter which should be paid attention to and strategies are needed to treat this situation which relate to parents, pediatricians, and educators. 

Pediatricians and educators should take an early diagnosis or assessment to determine if the children are language-delayed. Kim et al. comment that “early evaluation can help to identify children with language delay who will benefit from intervention and/or additional evaluation” (368). For bilingual children, Stanley Greenspan, the clinical professor of psychiatry, behavioral science, and pediatrics at the George Washington University Medical School, suggests if the child is more than six months delayed, “it’s essential to consult a speech pathologist” to have “speech and language therapy.” He also encourages parents and teachers to create communicative environments for the children, like play “whistling and blowing games”, “make practice fun,” and “parents do three or four 20- to 30-minute floor-time session a day.” Improving late-talkers’ speaking includes not letting children aged “two years up to five years” watch some television shows, and if this is an avoidable action, however, the benefit of watching TV shows “depending on the quality of the program content, the compatibility of television program content with the age of the child, and the opportunity of interaction with the companion while watching” (Ritonga and Sofyani).

Parents should spend more time with their children, like playing games with them, telling stories to them, or taking them out for a walk. As Harewood states, “More specifically, it is the quality of parent-child interactions that influences both language and cognitive development” (3). Parents let the children attend a special education program or send them to preschools with special language educations. Educators will offer professional help. As Greenspan suggests, “teachers pair up the language-delayed child with another child doing something that involves a lot of back-and-forth talking, Teachers and aides should be conversing with the child, again with a lot of two-way interaction.” He also acknowledges that “the rhythm of interaction is critical for language development, so it’s very important for the child to have communicative and verbal peers. What we want is interaction, interaction, interaction!”

In conclusion: Though language-delayed development has a negative impact on a child, parents shouldn’t panic, because their panic will transfer to their children, who may become nervous and that will not help their speaking. Parents need to calm down and search for help. There are a lot of strategies and speaking programs to help children with issues speaking. As Dr. Johnson answered the parent that asked the question earlier, “[l]anguage delay occurs in one out of every five children and is the most common developmental delay.” Kim et al. also point out that “[s]ome children with language delay ‘catch up’ during the preschool years (late bloomer)” (367). 

Work Cited

Johnson, Dana, pediatrician, Meriter Health “Language Delay in Children is Common.” Wisconsin State Journal, Sep 25, 2013. ProQuest https://search-proquest-com.accarcproxy.mnpals.net/docview/1436477238?accountid=48834

Ebert, Kerry Danahy, et al, “Attention in Bilingual Children With Developmental Language Disorder.” Journal of speech, Language & Hearing Research, vol. 62, no. 4, pp979-992. EBSCO, doi: 10.1044/2018_JSLHR-L-18-0221

Greenspan, Stanley I. “Working with the Bilingual Child Who Has a Language Delay.” Early Childhood Today, vol. 20, no. 3, Nov/Dec2005, pp27-28. EBSCO. web.a.ebscohost.com.accarcproxy.mnpals.net.

Grison, Sarah, and Michael S. Gazzaniga. Psychology in Your Life. W. W. Norton & Company, 2016.

Harewood, Tamesha, et al. “More than Just the Breadwinner: The Effects of Fathers’ Parenting Stress on Children’s Language and Cognitive Development.” Infant & Child Development, vol. 26, no. 2, Mar/Apr2017. EBSCO, doi: 10.1002/icd.1984

Kim, Jin-Kyung, et al. “Developmental Profiles of Preschool Children with Delayed Language Development.” Korean Journal of Pediatrics, vol 57, no. 8, 2014, pp363-369. EBSCO, doi: 10.3345/kjp.2014.57.8.363

Ritonga, Dwi Herawati, and Sri Sofyani, “Language Development and Television Exposure in Chilren.” Pediatric Oncall Journal, vol. 15, no. 4, Oct/Dec2018, pp. 89-91. EBSCO, doi: 10.7199/ped.oncall.2018.39

Rose, Elisabeth, et al. “The Roles of Receptive and Productive Language in Children’s Socioemotional Development.” Social Development, vol. 27, no. 4, Nov 2018, pp. 777-792. EBSCO, doi: 10.1111/sode.12317.

As stars twinkle in the sky, literature has shone throughout China’s more than 5000 years of history. Like cobblestones left in rivers, many books have withstood the test of time and become classics. Among these timeless classics, there are eight excellent books that one must read to truly appreciate Chinese culture and literature. These books are known for having the best acceptable translations compared to others.

1. Dream of the Red Chamber by Cao Xueqin.
Published in the mid-18th century, Dream of the Red Chamber is considered a masterpiece of Chinese literature. It tells the captivating love story between a young boy from a wealthy family and his cousin, as well as the eventual downfall of the affluent families. This novel, being the first to criticize feudal ethics and sympathize with the struggles of women, was warmly embraced by both the nobility and common people upon its release. Beyond its narrative, the book encompasses a wealth of knowledge, including architecture, geography, Chinese medicine, fortune-telling, politics, religions, stitchwork, cooking, antiques, and phytology. Scholars have delved into the field of “Redology” to uncover information about the author, his family, the characters’ prototypes, and the historical context of the story.

The translators of Dream of the Red Chamber, Yang Xianyi and his wife Gladys Yang, are highly skilled professionals in translating ancient Chinese works. Yang Xianyi was born and raised in China, while Gladys Yang was born and raised in England. Their translation accurately reflects the original Chinese expressions and caters to the reading habits of native English speakers.

2. The Plum in the Golden Vase.
Composed by Lanling Xiaoxiao Sheng, a pseudonym, during the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), this book had been banned for a long time due to its explicit sexual descriptions. In contrast to its contemporaries that focused on male heroes and significant events, The Plum in the Golden Vase provides a glimpse into the daily lives of ordinary people. It delves into their friendships, encounters with prostitutes, extramarital affairs, as well as their experiences with eating, drinking, quarreling, and fighting. The wealthy businessman Ximen Qing serves as the central character, surrounded by six beautiful wives with intricate backgrounds. While he loves each of them and they are devoted to him, their relationships are marked by jealousy and secret conflicts.

The translator David Tod Roy dedicated 40 years to studying and translating this classic into English, resulting in his version being widely regarded as the best.

3. Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong.
Based on the actual historical events of the Three Kingdoms period, this novel was published in the 14th century. It vividly depicts famous figures of the time, such as the wise Zhuge Liang, the fierce Cao Cao, the ambitious Liu Bei, and the jealous Zhou Yu. Through this novel, readers who may shy away from dense history books become captivated by and gain a deeper understanding of this period. The author employs concise yet powerful sentences to portray epic battles, strategic tactics, great leaders, common people, loyalty, betrayal, heroes, villains, governance, family dynamics, and love affairs. Numerous adaptations in the form of films, TV shows, operas, and novels have been inspired by this masterpiece.

There are two notable translated versions: one by C.H. Brewitt-Taylor, published in 1925, and the other by Moss Roberts, published in 1994. Both translators are highly regarded, and their respective versions have garnered praise.

4. The Journey to the West

Published in the Ming dynasty (16th century), Wu Cheng’en created this novel based on the legendary and true story of a monk named Xuan Zang in the Tang dynasty. Xuan Zang embarked on a journey to India to obtain Buddhist scriptures. Accompanying him are three apprentices, two of whom were transformed from a monkey and a pig, while the third was once a soldier of the Heavenly King. Xuan Zang’s horse was transformed from the third son of the King of the West Sea. Starting in China, they encounter various monsters, genies, and natural disasters along the way. After experiencing 81 challenges, they finally obtain the scriptures and return to China.

The translator Anthony C. Yu, who was born in Hong Kong, is a scholar of literature and religion with expertise in both Eastern and Western cultures. For the translation of this book, he received assistance from several English-speaking scholars, resulting in his version being considered the best in faithfully conveying the original meaning and presenting it in beautiful and fluent English.

5. Outlaws of the Marsh by Shi Nai’an.
One hundred and eight individuals, each with their own reasons—some having killed villains, others having dealt with unfaithful wives, disobeyed local officials, or kidnapped wicked ministers—gather at Mount Liang and form a formidable army to resist the central government. Eventually, the government recognizes their efforts and assigns them to campaign against invaders. However, in the end, the prominent leaders are killed by the government, and the group is disbanded. The story is based on an actual historical event in the late Song Dynasty (960-1279) when Song Jiang assembled 36 men to revolt against the government. The 108 characters in the story represent 108 heroic individuals. One interesting comparison can be made: in The Plum in the Golden Vase, the protagonist Ximen Qing and his lover Pan Jinlian get married and live together until they both die of illness. However, in Outlaws of the Marsh, they were never married and maintained an affair, leading to their eventual demise at the hands of Pan’s brother-in-law, Wu Song, who had slain a tiger after drinking 18 large bowls of wine. Due to Outlaws of the Marsh, Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian have become symbols of betrayal in Chinese marriage culture.

Translator Sidney Shapiro, born in New York, USA, moved to China after graduating from Columbia University and Yale University, where he majored in Chinese language, history, and culture. He has translated over 20 Chinese books into English and was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in Translation by the Translators Association of China in 2010.

6. Fortress Besieged by Chien Chung Shu.

Have you ever heard of the saying “truth is naked,” where a lady is referred to as “partial truth” because she wears only a scarlet top and navy blue, skin-tight shorts? Have you ever experienced waking up from a hangout and feeling a “sawing pain” in your head, with your tongue feeling like a coir doormat used for wiping shoes before entering a house? Do you know what would happen if you witnessed a dirty girl seizing a louse and squeezing it? Do you agree that people who don’t readily speak give the impression that they are packed with wisdom, just like a locked, tightly sealed chest is assumed to be filled with treasure? These vivid narrations and funny metaphors are from the Chinese novel “Fortress Besieged,” written by Chien Chung Shu and translated by Jeanne Kelly and Nathan K. Mao. The story takes place during the wartime of Chinese anti-Japanese resistance and revolves around the life, love, marriage, and career of Fang Hung-chien, a returnee.

In this novel, highly educated individuals are not what we typically perceive them to be as understanding, generous, and knowledgeable. On the contrary, they are portrayed as selfish, snobbish, vain, and childish, much like William Makepeace Thackeray’s “Vanity Fair.” Like Thackeray’s work, Chien’s novel is filled with irony and humor. The slogan of the novel, “marriage is like a fortress besieged, people inside want to rush out, and people outside want to rush in,” applies not only to marriage but also to life and career, making it a popular and often quoted motto since its publication.

The translation by Jeanne Kelly and Nathan K Mao captures Chien Chung Shu’s humorous expressions and ironic metaphors, making it the only English version available.

7. Love in A Fallen City by Eileen Chang.

This is a collection of Eileen Chang’s six novellas. “Aloeswood Incense: The First Brazier” tells the story of a young girl student who falls in love with a playboy, marries him, and resorts to sleeping with other men to earn money to support him. “Love in a Fallen City” narrates the story of a divorced woman who finds love with a man in the backdrop of Hong Kong during the war. “The Golden Cangue” follows the life of a poor girl who marries a disabled wealthy man in pursuit of a better life. As she grows older, her thoughts and personality become twisted, leading her to seek revenge on her son and daughter, resulting in her wife’s suicide and her fiancé fleeing. The other three novellas included are “Jasmine Tea,” “Sealed Off,” and “Red Rose, White Rose.” Eileen Chang’s stories revolve around the love and destiny of ordinary women. Her words are like a luxuriant yet cold sword, piercing through beautiful facades to reveal the ugly truths beneath. Eileen Chang is one of China’s greatest authors, adept at capturing people’s emotions, thoughts, sounds, and views through the use of metaphors. Reading her stories will provide a deeper understanding of the challenging living conditions faced by women during that time.

Translator Karen S. Kingsbury is an expert in the study of Eileen Chang and her works. Her translation stays true to the original versions, capturing the sentence styles, word choices, and conveying the intended meanings.

8. The moment in Pecking by Lin Yutang.

This is a novel written in English. The story takes place from 1901 to 1938 and revolves around Yao Mulan, a beautiful and intelligent girl from a Taoist family who marries a young man from a Confucian family. However, she is in love with another young man who is dedicated to establishing a new and progressive China. As the story unfolds, the three prominent families navigate and adapt to the historical events of the time, including the Boxer Uprising, the Republican Revolution of 1911, the Warlord Era, the May 4th Movement, and the start of the Sino-Japanese War of 1937-1945.

Lin Yutang, a writer, scholar, translator, and linguist, composed this novel between 1938 and 1939 while living in Paris. The novel’s success earned him a nomination for the Nobel Prize.

Today, my father, my husband Tyler, and I visited the Drum Tower, the Bell Tower, and the Wild Goose Pagoda.

The Drum Tower and Bell Tower are the only ancient buildings that stand in the center of Xi’an. Surrounding them are modern, tall, and brightly colored buildings—Xi’an is a city of contrasting colors. There’s a photo from 1960 showing the Bell Tower surrounded by stylish old buildings—quadrangle dwellings with grey brick walls and dark black roofs. Unfortunately, they are no longer there. Taxi drivers told me that they didn’t feel any regret about the disappearance of the old houses but suggested visiting other well-preserved ancient buildings for sightseeing. They view things from an economic and business perspective, and it’s the price of development.

The Wild Goose Pagoda is a wooden tower. We paid extra money to climb up the narrow, dim, and sloping wooden stairs to the top. The climb wasn’t particularly worth it, except for the opportunity to take photos of the city through small windows. It was extremely hot and crowded.

In front of the pagoda, there are musical fountains that are truly remarkable and worth seeing. It’s amazing how the designers make the water dance to the music! I enjoyed walking in the vast parks surrounding the fountains and pagoda—they were peaceful, clean, and expansive. If I were a high school student, I would enroll myself in one of the universities in Xi’an. On weekends, I would stroll in the parks with my boyfriend, hand in hand, enjoying old-fashioned ice lollies, discussing our dreams, window shopping for cute crafts, sitting under a weeping willow tree, savoring the gentle breeze, listening to stories about Chinese cultural history, and watching the dancing fountains. Everything would be perfect and romantic!

My son developed a high fever in the middle of the night. He woke up crying and trembling. My parents and mother-in-law suggested taking him to the hospital, and I was terrified because he had never been so sick before!

The hotel assisted us in finding a taxi, and within ten minutes, we arrived at the hospital. After paying and receiving a name card for my son, we carried him to the second floor, where three people were waiting ahead of us. The doctor was elderly and typed on the computer so slowly that she had to check the keyboard before each keystroke. I wondered why the hospital didn’t assign a nurse to assist her. My son was burning up and shaking, and my worry turned into frustration with the slow doctor.

Fortunately, another doctor appeared and directed us to the next room, where she insisted on checking my son’s temperature. I had to pay 10 RMB to rent a thermometer from a nurse. My son didn’t like the thermometer and refused to let me use it on him. I had to insist, and he cried with a raspy throat. My heart broke. The result was 39.7 degrees Celsius (103.46 degrees Fahrenheit). The doctor immediately prescribed medication and requested a blood test on the first floor.

After 40 minutes, we received the blood test results and returned to the doctor. The doctor who initially examined us had finished her shift, and a new doctor took over the case. She didn’t explain the blood test results but asked to recheck my son’s temperature. Seeing that it was still high, she prescribed another medication and advised us to wait for two hours until the temperature dropped below 38 degrees Celsius (100.4 degrees Fahrenheit).

Raising a child is incredibly challenging!

Fortunately, my son’s temperature eventually subsided, and we returned to the hotel. The manager kindly pressed the elevator button for me and offered assistance if I needed anything, which warmed my heart.

We had to cancel the appointment for the next day’s Terra-Cotta Warrior’s visit. Only if my son recovered, I didn’t need to visit any place anymore.

Mom joined us on our trip to Xi’an.

When we arrived at the airport and attempted to check-in, we had to walk a long distance, and mom walked slowly. I couldn’t imagine how much pain she was experiencing. Seeing her like that broke my heart, but she reassured me that she didn’t feel much pain.

Xi’an is a hot and dry city. The roads are wide, clean, and flat, and the terrain is flatter compared to Guizhou Province. The taxi driver spoke with a different Mandarin accent and recommended places worth visiting.

After checking into the hotel, we slept throughout the entire afternoon. I slept so well that it made up for staying up late the previous night.

The five days spent in my hometown city feel like a distant memory, hazy like a dream. However, I haven’t had the time to reflect on or miss it just yet.

This was an unlucky day. In the morning, while my mom was trying to cross the street to buy candy for my son, she was hit by a scooter. Her shoes flew off, and she couldn’t get up.

My brother and I accompanied her to the hospital. Thankfully, there were no fractures, but she was in noticeable muscle pain and unable to walk. I worried about our planned trip to Xi’an tomorrow. My husband suggested that my mom might hide her true pain in order to travel with us. His words saddened me. I know my mom misses me and is thrilled to travel with us. She’s proud that I bought the tickets and arranged a hotel for her. If she can’t go, she will be so disappointed. I comforted her and made the decision that I would take her only if she could manage to walk a bit.

After helping my mom take her medication and gently massaging her bruised legs and toes, I sat in the living room and showed my husband and mother-in-law a picture of the boy I had a crush on in middle school. I was excited at the thought of seeing him later in the evening. While my mom rested, we went out for shopping. Right at the district gate, a man called out my name, and when I looked up, it was the boy! My husband and mother-in-law laughed and asked if it was him. I couldn’t help but laugh and told the boy that I had already confessed my crush to my family, and he laughed too. I didn’t expect it to be so easy and fun to speak about such a “big secret.” He invited us to his home, but we didn’t have time. I asked if he would attend the party tonight, and he said he was busy due to someone’s passing. Just like when he was a teenager, he hasn’t changed much; he didn’t enjoy socializing with other students.

For dinner, we met with my former colleagues and three female teachers. Their stories were fascinating, and I wished I had more time to listen: to hear about their teaching experiences at different middle schools, stories about their children, and anecdotes about other old coworkers whom I might not see again for the rest of my life. However, my mother’s well-being was my primary concern. Additionally, my other friends were waiting for me at another party. After dinner, I said goodbye to them and hurried into the heavy rain.

We invited one of our middle school teachers, whom I hadn’t seen in a long time, to another party. He had aged, and it was disappointing that the boy I had a crush on didn’t come.

There were five of us classmates and two teachers at the party. We drank, reminisced about the past, teased each other, and shared secrets about which classmates had crushes on the teachers. I could still see the pride in my teachers’ eyes when they looked at me. Middle school was my glory days when all the teachers liked me, and all the students admired me because I consistently ranked first in all subjects: Chinese, English, Math, Physics, Chemistry, and Politics.

I was happy to see my former colleagues, classmates, and teachers. I wish I had more time to spend with them and so many questions I wanted to ask.

We stayed in the city for only five days, and since it was weekdays, there were some friends I couldn’t meet or accept their invitations. It was a pity.

This afternoon, one of my cousins invited us to dinner. After that, I attended a small party organized by my former students whom I had taught 10 years ago. Those small kids have grown into big and handsome young men.

At the beginning, they asked me to guess their names. I had forgotten some of their names, and their appearances had changed a lot. Even when they told me their names, I couldn’t connect them with the images I had in my memories. They were very polite in front of me, refraining from using any inappropriate language. One boy pulled up his T-shirt and was asked to put it back down, and he obeyed.

They shared many interesting stories from middle school, which surprised me. They talked about a boy who fell in love with a girl and how he won her heart. They mentioned two boys who gambled under the desk during my English class, and I had no idea. Some boys even took photos of me in class, and I didn’t even know they had phones at that time! They were mischievous and clever.

They shared their love stories, college experiences, and work anecdotes with me. I felt sorry for one boy who didn’t show up today. Since primary school, he had been the top student. In Grade 6, his parents—his father was my coworker—asked me to teach him English. All the teachers believed he had a bright future ahead. But no! He lost interest in studying after entering high school. He started doing business to earn money, like buying T-shirts wholesale and selling them to his classmates at retail prices. His exam scores plummeted. After graduating from high school, he fell in love and got married. He was too young to obtain a legal marriage certificate, and soon after the wedding, he had a son. However, he ended up getting divorced, and his parents had to raise his son. The worst part is that he became addicted to gambling and lost more than two billion RMB (around 300,000 USD). Although he was born into a wealthy family and his parents can pay off his debts, I still feel sorry for him. If he had maintained his excellent academic performance from middle school, he might be leading a different life. Maybe not as rich or successful, but at least he could raise his child and not make his parents worry so much. I hope he can quit gambling and become a responsible father and son.

All the students who attended the party often gather together because they live close to each other. The government bought the land where they lived in order to develop it into a large town, and their families received a significant payout from the government. They talked about gambling with large bets, something I had never considered or been brave enough to try. It highlights the gap between them and me.