小燕子- The Little Swallow

Title: 小燕子

General Information about Item:

Informant Data:

Stanley Li was born on December 8, 1962 in Guangzhou, China. He lived there until after he graduated from college, and then moved to the U.S. Growing, Stanley spoke Cantonese at home and with friends but learned and spoke Mandarin at school.

Contextual Data:

Social Context: Stanley learned this nursery from a teacher at school during music class as a way to learn music notes and words. The nursery rhyme was then sung by children during recess or field trips during the springtime or happy moments.
Cultural Context:The nursery rhyme is pervasive throughout the nation and is uniform in structure and lyric. Like other informants who learned Chinese nursery rhymes, the folklore was first obtained in a school environment from an adult.

Item:

Audio file:

Original Text:

小燕子，穿花衣，

年年春天到这里，

我问燕子你为啥来，

燕子说，这里的春天最美丽

Transliteration:

xiao yan zi, chuan hua yi

nian nian chun tian dao zhe li

wo wen yan zi ni wei sha lai

yan zi shuo zhe li de chun tian zui mei li

Word-for-word translation:

Little swallow, brightly dressed

Year year spring day come here

I ask the swallow, “Why do you come here?”

The swallow said, “Here spring is the most beautiful.”

Free translation:

Little swallow, brightly colored

You come here every spring

I ask the swallow, “Why do you come here?”

The swallow said, “The springs here are the most beautiful.”

Informant’s Comments:

Stanley interpreted this song as one form of propaganda that praised a new China with the emphasis of a beautiful spring and an eager swallow, as it was published six years after the Cultural Revolution. The spring underscored new beginnings after a colder and darker time period, as represented by a new spring.

Collector’s Comments:

The nursery rhyme could also be interpreted as a way to appreciate nature once spring has once again emerged. Springs often represent renewal of hope due to the better weather but not necessarily within the cultural and historical context of mid-1900 China.

Collector’s Name: Jasmine Li

Tags/Keywords:

Dartmouth Folklore Archive