Year-End Visit to Hwa Chong, 2019

On 30 December 2019, I went back to Hwa Chong. It’s really hard to go back to school to catch up with friends and teachers now that I’m back in camp going through residential training. So when block leave was announced, I grabbed the opportunity with both hands. Coincidentally, it was the last buddies’ training session for the upcoming Secondary One Orientation.

Wearing my Advisor shirt, walking up Tan Kah Kee Drive, hearing echoes of cheering coming from the distance… It felt as if the years had never passed. A glorious vista of the clock tower bathed in golden sun greeted me. And those trees! Those yellow-leaved rain trees sparkling like glitter, swaying in the wind! The sheer open expanse (spanning three bus stops) always made you feel that the world’s your oyster, that no dream was beyond your reach. You couldn’t help but think that this was a very special place full of very special people. Such has been the spirit that pervades the air every time I go back.

I hummed the school song as I walked along. As I reacquainted myself with the tune, I remembered Cornell University’s anthem, Far Above Cayuga’s Waters, which shares the same melody (H. S. Thompson’s Annie Lisle). By the way, I particularly like this jazzy rendition by the Dixieland Ramblers.

Far above the busy humming of the bustling town

Reared against the arch of heaven, looks she proudly down

Before anyone screams about elitism, note that “looks she proudly down” is not an act of condescension. Here, Cornell is portrayed as a sacred intellectual sanctuary, gracefully tucked away from all the hustle and bustle. To metaphorically “look down [on]” would be to suggest arrogance, which contradicts the explicitly holy image. The syntax agrees: it’s “looks she proudly down”, not “proudly she looks down”, putting at the front and emphasising the literal “look[ing]” instead of pride. The natural imagery resonates beautifully with the first two lines of the school song, which is rich with Chinese classical allusions.

海天寥廓  云树苍茏  中有我华中

Within the expansive sea and sky, the clouds and lush trees, is our The Chinese High School

礼门义路  时雨春风  吾侪托帡幪

The ritual-door and rightness-road, the timely rain and spring wind, we entrust ourselves to her shelter

I was struck by the beauty of these lines — lines we sang proudly for six years — as well as how accurate and philosophically dense they were. I was so excited to start school every morning because the captivating scenery made me feel like I was there for a purpose. The zephyrs that frequently blessed Bukit Timah were truly “Eolian visitations” full of creative power.

With this creative power, I venture an English translation of the school song with annotations below. ∎

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Original Chinese	English translation
海天寥廓  云树苍茏  中有我华中	Within the expansive sea and sky, the clouds and lush trees, is our Chinese High School[1]
礼门义路  时雨春风  吾侪托帡幪	The ritual-door and rightness-road[2], the timely rain[3] and spring wind[4], we entrust ourselves to her shelter
猗与华中  南方之强  我中华之光	O! Chinese High, powerhouse of the South, glory of our Chinese civilisation
雄立狮岛  式是炎荒  万世其无疆	Imposingly standing on the Lion Island[5], a model for the scorching outlands[6], for ten thousand centuries and boundlessly beyond
人生茫茫  学海洋洋  吾侪当自强	Human life is vast, the sea of learning is multitudinous, we should improve ourselves (ceaselessly)[7]
朝乾夕惕  日就月将  莫负好时光	Strive upwards at dawn and be vigilant at dusk[8], achieve by the day and seize by the month[9], do not waste good times
猗与华中  南方之强  我中华之光	O! Chinese High, powerhouse of the South, glory of our Chinese civilisation
雄立狮岛  式是炎荒  万世其无疆	Imposingly standing on the Lion Island, a model for the scorching outlands, for ten thousand centuries and boundlessly beyond
迨予庶士  笃实辉光  斐然已成章	Awaiting when various gentlemen robustly irradiate brilliance and colourfully complete their chapters
膂力方刚  经营四方  前途浩且长	With vigorous strength[10] and enterprises everywhere, their futures are vast and long
猗与华中  南方之强  我中华之光	O! Chinese High, powerhouse of the South, glory of our Chinese civilisation
雄立狮岛  式是炎荒  万世其无疆	Imposingly standing on the Lion Island, a model for the scorching outlands, for ten thousand centuries and boundlessly beyond

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^[1] The Chinese High School, predecessor of Hwa Chong Institution
^[2] Mencius 5B7: “rightness is the road and ritual is the door” (Ivanhoe, 2011, p. 119) / “righteousness is the way, and propriety is the door, but it is only the superior man who can follow this way, and go out and in by this door” (Legge, 1875, pp. 303–304)
^[3] Mencius 7A40: “transforming influence, like a timely rain” (Ivanhoe 2011, p. 154) / “There are five ways by which the superior man teaches. There are some on whom his transforming influence comes like seasonable rain. There are some whose virtue he perfects, and some to whose talents he gives their development. There are some whose inquiries he answers. There are some who privately make themselves good, and correct themselves [from his example and recorded lessons]. These five are the ways by which the superior man teaches.” (Legge, 1875, pp. 362–363)
^[4] Shuo Yuan, Gui De 21: “I cannot use the spring wind to sway others, nor can I use the summer rain to soak others, oh I will surely wither!”, metaphors of the five ways of teaching that create the benign “transforming influence” in Mencius 7A40.
^[5] Clearly a reference to Singapore, the Lion City
^[6] “scorching outlands” is the antiquated Sinocentric (and imperialist) term for the southern tropics, i.e. Southeast Asia
^[7] Yi King, Treatise on the Symbolism of the Hexagrams, and of the Duke of Kau’s Explanations of the Several Lines: “Heaven, in its motion, (gives the idea of) strength. The superior man, in accordance with this, nerves himself to ceaseless activity.” (Legge, 1882, p. 267)
^[8] Yi King, Khien: “the superior man active and vigilant all the day, and in the evening still careful and apprehensive” (Legge, 1882, p. 57)
^[9] Shih King, The King Kih: “by daily progress and monthly advance, I will learn to hold fast the gleams (of knowledge), till I arrive at bright intelligence” (Legge, 1879, p. 330)
^[10] Confucian Analects, Book XVI Ke She, Chapter VIII: “There are three things which the superior man guards against. In youth, when the physical powers are not yet settled, he guards against lust. When he is strong, and the physical powers are full of vigour, he guards against quarrelsomeness. When he is old, and the animal powers are decayed, he guards against covetousness.” (Legge, 1861, pp. 176–177)