Menu of Chinese Stories (sample)

Transcription

1 Confucius Institute at the University of Sheffield Menu of Chinese Stories (sample) Story Title: Monkeys that Played Ape Suitable age range: 5-8 Length of story: 4-5mins An old man carries his hand-made straw hats to the market. He takes a rest on his way and falls asleep, and wakes up to find all his straw hats on monkeys heads! Cross, he tries to find a way to get his straw hats back, but nothing works. The monkeys only copy what does. Then he has a brilliant idea... Story Title: The Peacock Princess Type of story: Fairy tales Suitable age range: 7-12 Length of story: 6-7mins A romantic story about a brave young man and a beautiful peacock princess. The two fall in love but are separated by an evil witch. With the help of a mysterious hunter, the brave young man goes through a series of ordeals and finally finds his princess again.. Story Title: Maliang and his Magical Brush Type of story: Legends Suitable age range: 7-12 Length of story: 7-8 mins Maliang loves drawing but he can t even afford to buy a basic brush. Instead, he uses sticks and coal to practice drawing day after day and year after year. One day in his dreams he is given a brush by an old man, and wakes up to find that the brush was real and it was a magical one: whatever he draws with it comes alive! Maliang uses the magical brush to help the poor, but a greedy rich man and an even greedier emperor try to lay their hands on him...

2 Story Title: Dragon Boat Festival Type of story: Festivals Suitable age range: 8 12 Length of story: 8-10mins The fifth of May of the Lunar Calendar is the Dragon Boat Festival. There are many legends about this traditional festival and the most popular one is the story of Qu Yuan, who was a Chinese scholar and minister to the King of State of Chu during the Warring States period. He was famous for his loyalty to the state. The story of Qu Yuan reveals the origin of dragon boats and of zòngzi (glutinous rice dumplings traditionally eaten during the Dragon Boat Festival) Story Title: Clumsy Birds Have to Start Flying Early Suitable age range: 5 8 Once there was a little bird which was so clumsy that it was always bullied by its siblings. However, it was very patient and determined to learn to fly. Despite its small and weak body, it had a tough mind and strong will Story Title: Kong Rong Gave Away Bigger Pears Suitable age range: 5 8 Kong Rong was the youngest son in the family. He was very wise and generous. One day, his father bought some pears home. Everyone wanted the biggest pears. However, Kong Rong did not want a big one Find out why?

3 Story Title: The Frog in the Well Suitable age range: 8 12 Length of story: 8-10 mins Once there was a frog who lived in a small well on an island. He thought he was the best creature in the world, and was convinced the well was the best place to live in the world. One day, however, he met a turtle from the sea, and was very surprised Story Title: The Difference Between Fifty Yards and a Hundred Suitable age range: 8 12 Suppose one man runs a hundred yards and another man fifty. Is the one who has fled only fifty yards, right to laugh at the one who has fled a hundred? This story will tell you the answer. Story Title: A Story about the 12 Chinese New Year Animals Type of story: Festivals Suitable age range: 8 to 15 Length of story: 20 mins I m born in the Year of the Pig. My brother is a Dog. Doesn t this sound very strange? This story will tell you why every Lunar Calendar year is named after one of 12 animals, and in what order the animals follow in the Chinese zodiac. Story Title: The Fox Borrows the Tiger s Fierceness Length of storytelling: 5mins A fox is caught by a tiger. In order to escape, the fox tricks the tiger and says he is the King of the Forest. The tiger follows the fox into the forest to find out whether what the fox said was true or not...

4 Story Title: It Is Never Too Late to Mend One day, a shepherd finds out some of his sheep have gotten lost because the sheep pen was broken. There seems to be nothing the poor shepherd can do about it - or is there? Story Title: Three Monks Once, there were three monks living on the top of a hill. They were all very selfish and none of them wanted to walk down the hill to get some water. One night, a rat came to scrounge and then knocked down the candleholder, leading to a devastating fire in the temple which forces the three to finally pull together. Story Title: The Man Who Professed to Love Dragon A man called Lord Ye told everyone he was a dragon lover and kept a lot of images of dragons in his house. A real dragon was so impressed by his behaviour it decided to visit him. However, when it turned up on his doorstep Lord Ye was not excited to see the real dragon at all... Story Title: Be There Just to Make Up the Number During the Warring States Period ( BC), the King of the State of Qi was very fond of listening to yu (a Chinese wind instrument) ensembles. A man named Nanguo managed to become a member of the band, although he could not play the yu very well. Whenever the band played for the king, Nanguo just stood in the line and pretended to play. Several years later, the king died, and his son who preferred yu solos became the new ruler. Could Nanguo still continue pretending?

5 Story Title: Blessing or Bane Suitable age range: 8-12 Near China's northern borders lived an old man who had a lot of strong horses. One day the man found out his favourite horse was missing, but believed it might be a blessing. When his missing horse came back with another wild horse, he said it might be a bane. Is it a blessing or bane? The story will tell us. Story Title: Waiting for a Hare In the State of Song, there was a man who was famous for staying by a stump waiting for hares to come and bump against it. Why did he do this? Story Title: An Illusory Snake in a Goblet In the Jin Dynasty there was a man named Yue Guang who invited a friend to his house to drink. Suddenly, his friend saw the reflection of a snake swimming in the goblet. He was very frightened and took ill on bed after getting home. No doctor could help him. Yue Guang found out about this and invited his friend to his house again to show him something that would cure his illness Story Title: The Origin of Moon Cakes Type of story: Festivals Suitable age range: 5-10 In ancient China, soldiers used to eat moon cakes to celebrate victory. The Moon symbolizes reunion and today people traditionally eat moon cakes during the Mid- Autumn Festival. The story illustrates the origins of the moon cake and related traditions.

6 Story Title: The Greedy Puppy One day, a greedy puppy found a big bone in the thick grass. He picked up the bone and went home proudly. One his way back, he found there was another puppy in the river holding a bigger bone in his mouth. The greedy puppy wanted both his own bone and the other puppy s bone! He got an idea Story Title: The Tiger Learns New Skills An incompetent tiger learned lots of skills from Master Cat and became very strong. However, he used his skills to bully little animals. Animals complained about the tiger s rude behaviour to Master Cat. Master Cat reproached the tiger, but the tiger wouldn t listen. Therefore, Master Cat decided to teach the tiger a lesson Story Title: Forest Concert Little Bear wanted to hold a concert in the forest. He invited Little Donkey, Little Goat and Little Monkey to join the concert. Everyone could play his own instrument very well, but it sounded awful when they played together! Why did this happen? Could they hold a successful concert in the forest? Story Title: Three Kittens Mother Cat had three babies, Little Flower, Little White and Little Black. Little Black was always ignored by his two brothers as he was black and thin, and they never played with him. While the other two kittens played around every day, Little Black spent lots of time on his own improving his ability and skills. Did Little Black win his brothers respect in the end?