This is the last part about Kangxi The Emperor and the last in our series of Kids in Ancient China (at least for now; I might research and write some more stories later). After this I might post one of the biographies I wrote, part by part. If you want to buy a PDF copy of all of the Stories of Kids in Ancient China, go to www.lulu.com or my patreon account.
Dictionary
“I’m going to have a new job soon,” said the grandfather to his son and grandson.
“Are you sure? Shouldn’t you be slowing down a little?” The dad asked.
“No, you should never slow down my boy! Keep going, keep going!” The grandfather sad.
“Ye ye (“Grandpa” in Chinese), what are you going to do? Is it going to be a fun job?” Asked the boy.
“Yes, I think it will be fun. I enjoy writing Chinese characters and this project has a lot to do with Chinese writing,” said the older man.
“What exactly are you going to be doing?” Asked the dad.
“It’s not me, it’s a whole group of us. The Emperor wants us to help him make a dictionary. It’s a book that will have all of the Chinese words and what they mean,” said the grandfather.
“Do you mean that you actually saw the Emperor? How is he like? How’s the Palace like? Is it as big inside as it is outside?” Asked the young boy excitedly.
“No, I didn’t see the Emperor. My good friend asked if I could help him and a group of people put this book together. It’s going to be a lot of work. You know, none of us really liked this emperor from the beginning, but I think this book, this dictionary of his, is a great idea. Nothing has ever been done like it before and it’ll be a great way for people years from now to remember how this time was,” said the old man.
“Can I help you? Can I? Can I?” Asked the young boy.
“Well, maybe. I’m not sure. I’m going to meet with a few other other old, wise men and teachers to come up with a plan. I think we might write down a list of words and then each of us take part of the list to write the meaning of those words. Maybe you can help me think of a good way to say what each word means.”
“That sounds boring, Ye Ye,” said the young boy.
“Boring? Language is not boring young man! We can draw each word on the ground with a stick and have a good think about what it means,” said the old boy.
“It still sounds boring. I like the stick idea though. I can go with you and help you find a big stick, one that’s great for writing on the ground,” said the young boy.
“Ok, ok. Tomorrow we can go out and look for a good writing stick,” said the old man.
The next day the old man and the young boy went for a walk just outside the city but close to their home. They lived inside the city, but on the edge of it. The old man often went for walks outside the city to have a good think.
Over the next few weeks and months the boy did help his Ye Ye. The old man would often talk with the young boy and read him the definition of words to see if they made sense. Some of the words were too complicated for the young boy, so for those words the old man would ask the other teachers and old men he was working with what they thought of them. The young boy loved spending time with his Ye Ye and helping him make the dictionary made the young boy feel important.
