- 聖詩必須是具體的，使會眾唱時能心口合一。
- 要簡潔明瞭，淺白易懂，老少咸宜，雅俗共賞。
- 含有中國民族性，融合國人的日常生活環境。
- 基于聖經，能表達真誠的宗教經驗，並當讚美神。
- 每一首詩應該是一篇講章。
http://www.hymncompanions.org/Mar/02/stream.php
The Morning Song: An Old Chinese Hymn Grown from the Soil
A Legacy of
Life
There are always sounds and imageries in our lives that remain in our minds as we grow up. Some of them evoke images of our past, and others teach us for the rest of our lives.
In my former job, I chose a song for
the children whom I served: Morning has Broken by Cat Steven from the 1970s, as
a prelude to the morning assembly every day.
The song I have in mind is an old poem
written by a Chinese theologian, Zhao Zichen (1888-1979). The Morning Song, an
ancient Chinese hymn which I have known since I was six years old. Till now I
can remember it and in the rest of my life. This hymn reminds me of my
difficult childhood and the exhortations deep in my heart when I recitals it
every day.
Many Protestant churches in Hong Kong
have adopted popular hymns. In contrast, the more traditional churches still
sing Youth Hymns or universal hymnals, many of which are Irish folk tunes from
the 17th and 18th centuries.
However, it is easy to forget the
hymns written for the hard-pressed Chinese to praise the Lord. While people of
a certain age may still be able to speak of old hymns from the 1930s, those of
the Christian baby boomers may have a vague memory of early morning hymns. At
the same time, they may not be unheard of by the X, Y, Z generation, they may
feel that they are just old and out of date. The Chinese tunes are out of place
in a very westernized Hong Kong.
My primary education was at the S. K.
H. (Church of England) Primary School in Kennedy Town. With the rapid expansion
of population on Hong Kong Island, the city was spreading to the island west in
the first twenty years after WWII. The whole western district filled with
obnoxious urban back-up facilities, like the gas drums, cattle and pig farms,
chicken and duck pens, vegetable markets, slaughterhouses and rice barging
factories. Many of the population depended for their livelihood.
Every morning, hundreds of pupils
stood in the covered playground of this newly built Christian primary school, a
seven-story building facing the seafront.
After the assembly bell, the children walked from all corners of the playground to the assembly hall's front, when we sang "The Morning Song", our spirits soared up. The beautiful singing echoed on the hill. It became a School ritual that we hardly forget after leaving school.
As a little child, I didn't know much about this song. Whenever I thought of it as an adult, it was only because of the beautiful sentiments and teachings that it held in my heart. Still, I did not know much about the background of the song. The lyrics go like this:
The Morning Song
Lyrics: Zhao Zichen (1888-1979)
Song: Hu De Ai
Harmony: Fan Tianxiang
Translated by: Mrs Fan Tianxiang
Published: 1931
Rise to greet the sun, reddening in the sky, early in the morning
Warrior-like and strong, comely as a
groom.
Birds pass high in flight, Fragrant
flowers now bloom;)
Urging me to work hard, the Father has
a Gloria light. (With the Gloria light, my toil resume.)
Father, I implore, Safely keep this
child,
Make my conduct right, Actions calm
and mild.
I am venerating age, humbling teaching
youth.
Always serve diligently to show the
Father's kindness.
May God bless this day; Trusting
Jesus' love.
My heart is free from evil, Fair blue
sky above.
Glad for the cotton coat, Plain food
satisfies;
Glad for the cotton coat, Plain food satisfies;
All my countless needs, Thy kind hand supplies.
Grown from the Soil
I have an inexplicable affinity for
"Morning Song". Among the long and profound foreign poems in the
hymnbook, this Chinese hymn's tone was simple and easy for children to
understand. I love them even more than the Anglican School song that we sang in
important events. Compare with "The Morning Song", the children of
different ages understood the specific imagery and the rhyming lyrics were easy
to remember. Although during my primary education, I only met one or two loving
and caring teachers. I loved the happy scene described in the "Morning
Song". It slightly alleviates the unpleasant impression of my school life
in the past when the teacher-student ratio was extremely unsatisfactory, and
corporal punishment was a common occurrence. I was very introvert. I always
stayed in a far corner of the playground to avoid noise and be bumped into
other children. Once we sang along with the piano melody of "Morning
Song", I could feel that I was part of the group.
Although no one ever explained the
words and read them for us, as I moved up to the senior primary, this hymn
revealed its divine meaning more in-depth.
The charm of this hymn was in its
vivid imagery: [red sun rising in the east, majestic as a warrior, beautiful as
a bridegroom.] I later realized that the notion of "bridegroom"
actually refers to Christ. Zhao Zichen cleverly wrote as a metaphor and the
longing for the vast and idyllic land [ The birds fly in the high sky, the land
is enormous and the wildflowers fragrant ].
Later, when I was a bit older, I love
the deep meaning of "The sky is above my head, but there are no evil
thoughts in my heart." The second stanza's definition is different from
the textbook stanzas that I usually come across. The simplicity and positivity
of life in the stanza: "I am happy to be warm in cloth, I do not mind the
wheat and rice coarseness".
The simplicity and positivity of life
also struck me: "I was happy to be warmed by cloth; I did not mind the
coarseness of wheat and rice". As a child, the teachers used to teach us
to be humble and respectful to people. Although it was rather abstract to a
child, we all know that we need to practice the excellent conduct. Despite its
profound meaning, I have never forgotten the lyrics.
In the 1930s, the Republic of China
was in political turmoil and under the Japanese invasion. Millions of peasants
could make ends meet from the beginning of the year to the end of the year,
having worked hard in silence all their lives.
Nurturing People with Poets
Zhao Zichen was one of China's most
outstanding theologians in the 20th century. They spent most of his life in the
field and wrote extensively. He was born in Deqing County, Zhejiang Province,
to a family of small businessmen. At the age of fifteen, he enrolled in Zuiying
College, a church school in Suzhou, influenced by Western education. He was
baptized as a Christian in 1907. He went to study in the United States in 1914,
where he majored in sociology and philosophy and received a master's degree in
sociology and a bachelor's degree in theology in 1916 and 1917. Upon his return
to China, he taught at Soochow University and Yanjing University, where he
taught Chinese and religious studies. Zhao Zichen was ordained as a priest in
Hong Kong by the Anglican Church. He was released after being imprisoned for
six months during the Japanese invasion of China. After the war, he resumed his
studies at Yen University. He was awarded an honorary doctorate in theology by
Princeton University in 1947. In November 1979, a few months after his release,
he died in Beijing after a long illness.
Zhao Zichen was an accomplished Chinese writer and poet. Still, many of his poems were destroyed during the Cultural Revolution in the last century. He advocated that the Chinese church should be self-sufficient and self-supporting, and should not rely entirely on the West, but should also have indigenous poetry. Zhao believes that there should be several principles for poetry, for example:
·
The hymns must be specific so
that the congregation can sing them with one heart and one mouth.
·
They should be simple and
straightforward, easy to understand, suitable for young and old alike, and
appreciated by both the literati and the ordinary people.
·
It should be Chinese and blend
in with the Chinese people's everyday environment, particular the peasants.
·
It should be based on the
Bible, express a sincere religious experience, and praise God.
·
Each poem should be a sermon.
A Life from the Morning Song
Let's take a closer look at the Morning
Song's lyrics. We can find that it aimed at the ordinary people who did not
have the opportunity to receive formal education in those days. It showed
respect to hardships of the peasants. "Rising in the dawn, taking care of
the field, returning home with a hoe in the moonlight, the self-respect, the
self-reliance in a life of deprivation, and the wholehearted reliance on the
Heavenly Father. Zhao Zichen exemplifies these principles. So the Methodist
Church in the USA has included an English version of this song in its hymnbook.
The only hymn that the congregation sing whenever Chinese visitors come to their
church as a gesture of welcome.
Zhao Zichen might not know that during
the time of his suffering and imprisonment. On a small island off South China's
border. A group of poor children sang his hymn with one mouth every morning on
a small island off South China's edge. After many decades, one of those
children never forgot this song in all her moments of troubles and blessings.
It has shone throughout her whole life.
