9/28/2026
《读书郎》 — The Little Schoolboy
小嘛小儿郎，背着那书包上学堂。
不怕太阳晒，也不怕那风雨狂。
只怕先生骂我懒呐，没有学问啰无颜见爹娘。
朗里格朗，朗格里格朗。
没有学问喽，无脸见爹娘。
小嘛小儿郎，背着那书包上学堂。
不是为做官，也不是为面子光。
只为穷人要翻身哪，不受人欺负喂不做牛和羊。
朗里格朗，朗格里格朗。
不受人欺负喂，不做牛和羊。
Yesterday, while I was at my son's home, he played this song again for his baby boy: 《读书郎》 (Dúshūláng, “The Little Schoolboy”).
I learned this song when I was little. Years later, I sang it to my son when he was little. Now it is his son's turn to hear it and, perhaps one day, sing it himself. Three generations, one little song!
I have thought about writing about this song for a long time because I don't think my children fully understand the cultural background behind its cheerful, childlike melody.
Here is my attempt to translate it:
The Little Schoolboy
I'm just a little schoolboy,
With my schoolbag on my back, off to school I go.
I'm not afraid of the blazing sun,
Nor am I afraid of wind or rain.
The only thing I fear is my teacher scolding me for being lazy—
For if I learn nothing, how could I face my parents?
Lang-li-ge-lang, lang-ge-li-ge-lang.
If I learn nothing,
How could I face my parents?
I'm just a little schoolboy,
With my schoolbag on my back, off to school I go.
I'm not studying to become an official,
Nor am I studying simply to bring honor to myself.
I study so that poor people can rise up,
So that no one can bully us,
So that we don't have to live like cattle or sheep.
Lang-li-ge-lang, lang-ge-li-ge-lang.
So that no one can bully us,
So that we don't have to live like cattle or sheep.
I'm not going to get into the history of the song here. What interests me is what it reveals about the cultural meaning of education.
For today’s children, the most challenging line is: 只为穷人要翻身，不受人欺负，不做牛和羊.
Literally, it says that the child studies so that poor people can “turn their fate around,” so they will not be bullied and will not have to live like cattle or sheep. In other words, they will live like a human being.
The language may sound unfamiliar to young people today, but the underlying idea is surprisingly familiar.
Education has long been seen in Chinese culture as a way for an ordinary person to change his or her social status.
In the world reflected in this song in 1940s, the child didn’t have high expectations like becoming an official or gaining social prestige. He was studying because knowledge can help a poor person stand up like a man, with dignity, and have more control over his or her own life.
Today, a young person might express the goal very differently:
I study so I can get into a good university, find a good job, earn a decent income, and build a better life.
The language has changed, but the underlying belief remains remarkably similar.
Education is a means of changing one's life.
What has changed is our definition of what a “better life” looks like.
For a poor child in the era when this song became popular, education could represent something much more basic: dignity, freedom from humiliation, and the ability to live without being at the mercy of others.
For a young person today, education may mean economic security, professional opportunities, personal independence, and a comfortable life.
The goals are different. But the belief in the power of education is still there.
That may be one reason this little song has stayed alive for so many years.
I sang it to my son when he was a little boy. Now, he is singing the same song to his baby boy.
The baby does not yet understand a single word of it. But I think his dad will explain to him what it meant to a poor child in China in 1940s to dream of “turning his fate around.”
But perhaps that is how culture survives. Not only through history books, museums, or formal lessons, but through a parent singing an old song to a child—and then that child, years later, singing it to his own child.
Years later the little schoolboy is still walking to school, carrying his schoolbag on his back, and carrying the same hope: that learning can help him become independent, and more in control of his own life.