Prized Memories From My Childhood
Aside from food, the most cherished recollections from my pre-teen years are from the games that I played in school and at home, in addition to the songs that I heard from Cantonese TV series. Now, I still listen to those old songs, while seeking new Cantonese movies to watch.
Below are links to each of the topics that I’ll explore:
- My Story
- Games
- Cantonese TV Series
- Cantonese/Mandarin Shows
- Continuous Improvement
- Lesson for Dumber Self
- Next Step for You
While I don’t talk much about my childhood, I think it’s helpful to share at least some of it with others to generate rapport.
My Story
As I reflected on the past, I realized that I usually don’t give many details of my childhood when talking to people. Normally when I’m conversing with someone, I’m focused on them and the topic at hand. So unless I’m asked a specific question to trigger a memory, I likely will not remember details in time to share during the conversation.
Now that I’m writing a little bit about my earlier years, I’ll have time to recall the specifics. Hopefully, this exercise will help me if these same subjects come up in a future discussion.
To bring me back to the fun and competitive times on the school playground or at the living room table at home, I just needed to think about the games I played. To remind me of the times my family and I did something enjoyable together on a regularly basis, I could just listen to the songs from the Cantonese TV series that we watched.
To extend the joy of hearing the Cantonese language in a day when I don’t speak it much, I continue to listen to the old songs and look for Cantonese shows to watch.
Games
Do you remember Chinese jump rope and Chinese jacks? Have you played Solitaire, the card game?
Chinese Jump Rope
In the fourth and fifth grades, I played Chinese jump rope with my friends at school. Some classmates were more eager to win, while others were good-tempered during playtime. Either way, we tried our best to select the better-skilled teammates and jump as high as possible.
The article, Chinese Jump Rope, from DoYouRemember? provides some diagrams and links to videos showing different versions of the game. The Six Step shown in the first video is similar to what I remember doing.
Chinese Jacks
When I had free time at home during my elementary school years, I practiced playing Chinese jacks, so I would beat my friends at school. One time while I was honing my skills, my dad came out of the kitchen to play with me. It was certainly an unforgettable moment watching him throw and attempt to catch as many jacks as possible. 😂
In case you’re wondering how the game is played, here’s a great video from Shayna Kusumoto, PLAY CHINESE JACKS – A STEP-BY-STEP HOW-TO – how to play Chinese Jacks.
Solitaire
At a young age, my dad taught me about Solitaire, from shuffling the cards to playing the game. What was impressive was when he quickly shuffled the cards without dropping them! As for playing Solitaire, it helped me pass many hours as a kid.
For instructions to the game, check out the How to play: Solitaire page on the Bicycle® website.
Cantonese TV Series
The one activity that we shared as a family for pleasure was watching Cantonese TV series. One series contained about 25 episodes, one or two broadcasted each weekend. Each series came with a theme song that triggered fond memories when I replayed it.
Here are a couple of the songs that I started to listen to when I was a kid:
- 京華春夢 (Yesterday’s Glitter) – The TV drama, with the same name as the song, starred 汪明荃 (Lisa Wang). A music video of this oldie from the 經典歌曲懷舊金曲 channel can be found here.
- 用愛將心偷 (Stealing Hearts with Love) – This theme song for TV series 千王之王 (The Shell Game) starred 汪明荃 (Lisa Wang) as well. A music video for this tune from the 經典歌曲懷舊金曲 channel can be found here.
Cantonese/Mandarin Shows
As I got older, I had less time to watch long series, so I added Cantonese movies that could be completed within a couple hours or so. However, as time went on, there were fewer movies filmed only in the Cantonese dialect. Eventually, movies were mixed with the Mandarin dialect.
Below are examples of shows that I liked from 10-15 years ago:
- 桃姐 (A Simple Life) – A review of this movie that starred 葉德嫻 (Deanie Ip) and 劉德華 (Andy Lau) can be found here at movieXclusive.com™ and the trailer can be found here.
- 新不了情 (Endless Love) – More details for this TV series that starred 薛凱琪 (Fiona Sit) and 陳坤 (Aloys Chen) can be seen on IMDb’s website and the theme song sung by 張靚穎 (Jane Zhang) can be found on janefever’s channel here.
At the moment, I don’t have any desire to refine my skills on the games from yesteryear. However, unless the movie industry changes again to have an abundance of shows using only the Cantonese language, I will need to adjust if I want to continue watching movies with at least some Cantonese in it.
To keep up with the trend and understand more of a mixed-dialect movie, I’ll attempt to do the following:
Continuous Improvement
- Learn Mandarin!
After I returned to the early part of my life, especially to when my dad played Chinese jacks and taught me Solitaire, I discovered something that I wish my younger self had known to do:
Lesson for Dumber Self
- Register why things happen and why people do certain things, so it’s clearer what step to take next and how to understand people’s intentions in a situation.
What will you do now?
Next Step for You
- Play some games from your childhood?
- Learn more about the history and future of the Hong Kong movie industry in Zolima CityMag’s article THE NEW GOLDEN AGE OF HONG KONG FILM?
- Read another post on this site? (Go to the menu at the top of the page.)