"[S]poken or colloquial Chinese is [...] in fact the language of a child. Now as a proof of this, we all know how easily European children learn colloquial or spoken Chinese, while learned philogues and sinologues insist in saying that Chinese is so difficult. Chinese, colloquial Chinese, I say again is the language of a child. My first advice therefore to my foreign friends who want to learn Chinese is "Be ye like little children, you will then not only enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but you will also be able to learn Chinese.""
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
page 103
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Gu_Hongming
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Gu Hongming
Gu Hongming, in his time known as Ku Hung-ming (18 July 1857 – 30 April 1928) was a Chinese thinker and man of letters. Famous for his knowledge of the English language and Western civilization, he however voiced an opposition to reforms of the Chinese society.
7 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Gu Hongming →
Related Quotes
"The serene and blessed mood which enables us to see into the life of things: that is imaginative reason, that is the …"
"In fact, the chief end of a woman in China is not to live for herself, or for society; not to be a reformer or to be …"
"A foreign lady friend of mine once wrote and asked me whether it is true that we Chinese believe, like the Mohamedans…"
"But people will say to me, "why ask selflessness and sacrifice only from the woman? What about the man?" To this, I a…"
"[T]he honour of a woman,— a true woman in China, is not only to love and be true to her husband, but to live absolute…"
"He was a crank but not a bore, for his was a first-class mind and he had, above all, insight and depth, as no man in …"
"This may be easy to know, but it is difficult to put in practice."
"He learns to recite the classics; he sings in the clear fragrance of the old masters He explores the treasures of the…"
"It is like following a branch to find the trembling leaves, like following a stream to find the spring."
"Caught between the unborn and the living, the writer struggles to maintain both depth and surface."