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🌸 Lesson 4 — Daddy's Flowers Have Fallen
"Bàba de Huār Luòle" by Lín Hǎiyīn · Prose · Modern Chinese Classic
🎯 Learning Focus
Reading
- Understand narrative method (3): episodic / scattered narration
- Recognise detail and summary in narration
- Revise chronological narration
- Apply reading strategy: pay attention to foreshadowing
Values and Attitudes
- Have the courage to take responsibility
- Cherish parental love
📖 Reading Hints
The text opens with Yingzi attending her primary-school graduation ceremony, then shifts from the present moment to a series of memories of Yingzi and her father. As you read, notice:
- Which paragraphs describe present reality and which describe memory?
- How does Yingzi grow up? How does her father help her grow?
- What does the phrase "Daddy's flowers have fallen" mean in the text, and what role does it play?
📚 Source: An excerpt from Lín Hǎiyīn's autobiographical novel Memories of Peking: South Side Stories (《城南舊事》).
👤 About the Author: Lín Hǎiyīn (林海音)
| Item | Details |
|---|
| Lifespan | 1918 - 2001 |
| Original name | Lín Hányīng (林含英) |
| Ancestral home | Miáolí, Taiwan |
| Birthplace | Osaka, Japan |
| Childhood | Moved to Beijing at age five; lived in the southern part of the city for about thirty years |
| Literary awards | Golden Tripod Award (chief editor), Chinese Writers' Association Literary Medal |
| Editorial work | Edited the United Daily News supplement; founded the literary magazine Chunwenxue and its publishing house |
| Major works | Essays, novels and children's literature, including Memories of Peking, Reading by the Window at Night, and Lín Hǎiyīn's Fairy Tales |
Memories of Peking (《城南舊事》) is Lín Hǎiyīn's representative work and a modern Chinese classic. Through the eyes of little Yingzi, the novel captures the customs and people of 1920s southern Beijing.
📚 Background: Memories of Peking
Memories of Peking is an autobiographical novel composed of five independent yet connected stories:
| Story | Theme |
|---|
| Huì'ān Hall 惠安館 | The story of "Crazy" Xiūzhēn |
| Let's Go Watch the Sea 我們看海去 | The story of a thief |
| Auntie Lán 蘭姨娘 | The story of Auntie Lán |
| Rolling like a Donkey 驢打滾兒 | The story of wet nurse Sòng Mā |
| Daddy's Flowers Have Fallen | Father's death; Yingzi shoulders responsibility |
💡 Central themes: Through the lens of "childhood" and "farewell", the book records a young girl's growing up, tinged with a gentle sadness and poetic feeling.
📝 Narrative Method: Episodic Narration
What is Episodic Narration?
Episodic (or scattered) narration strings together fragmented life scenes around one central theme.
The Episodic Structure of the Text
- Central event: Yingzi's primary-school graduation ceremony (father is ill and absent)
- Memory fragments:
- Father strictly urging Yingzi to recite her textbook
- Father sending Yingzi alone to remit money to her uncle travelling in Japan
- Father's instructions when gravely ill
- On graduation day, the pomegranate blossoms in the courtyard fall
- Central theme: Father's love and Yingzi's growth
Key feature of episodic narration: form scattered, theme unified — the surface looks like loose fragments, but one central theme holds them together.
Chronological vs Episodic Narration
| Chronological Narration | Episodic Narration |
|---|
| Follows time order | Strings fragments around a theme |
| Clear timeline | May disrupt time order |
| Strong narrative drive | Strong thematic focus |
| e.g. Record of a Carved Peach Pit | e.g. this story |
📊 Detail and Summary in the Text
How the Author Balances Detail and Summary
| Content | Detail/Summary | Function |
|---|
| Father making Yingzi recite her textbook |
Detailed |
Shows father's strict yet loving care |
| Yingzi remitting money to uncle |
Detailed |
Shows Yingzi has grown up |
| Graduation ceremony |
Summarised |
Triggers the flashbacks |
| Father's death |
Summarised |
Leaves space for reflection |
| Pomegranate blossoms falling |
Detailed |
Symbolic resonance |
Rule of detail and summary: Detail what serves the theme; summarise what is secondary. Mnemonic: "Theme is king; detail serves it."
🔍 Reading Strategy: Spotting Foreshadowing
What is "Foreshadowing"?
Foreshadowing means planting hints early in the text that pay off later. This text is full of foreshadowing:
| Foreshadowing (early) | Pay-off (later) |
|---|
| Father is ill but still instructs Yingzi |
Father dies later |
| Pomegranate tree in the courtyard |
Later the blossoms fall |
| Father says "Don't be afraid" |
Yingzi goes to hospital alone |
| Yingzi reads to father |
Yingzi delivers the thanks on behalf of classmates |
Effect: makes the structure tight, with clear echoes between the beginning and the end, and lets the story flow naturally.
💭 Theme Analysis
Three Layers of Meaning in "Daddy's Flowers Have Fallen"
- Literal meaning: The pomegranate blossoms in the courtyard really did fall.
- Symbolic meaning: Father has passed away (falling flowers = life fading away).
- Deeper meaning: Yingzi's childhood has ended — she must grow up and take responsibility.
Three layers of meaning: literal, symbolic, deeper. Mnemonic: "surface, symbol, soul."
📚 Key Vocabulary
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|
| 叮囑 dīngzhǔ | dīng zhǔ | To urge again and again, to enjoin |
| 驟然 zhòurán | zhòu rán | Suddenly, abruptly |
| 徘徊 páihuái | pái huái | To pace back and forth, to linger |
| 懊惱 àonǎo | ào nǎo | Annoyed, vexed |
| 散敘 sǎnxù | sǎn xù | To string scattered fragments into a narrative |
| 鋪墊 pūdiàn | pū diàn | Foreshadowing; laying groundwork |
| 象徵 xiàngzhēng | xiàng zhēng | To symbolise |
✏️ Quick Practice
Question 1: The Author
Who wrote "Daddy's Flowers Have Fallen"?
- A. Lín Hǎiyīn
- B. Qí Jūn
- C. Zhāng Xiǎofēng
- D. Yú Guāngzhōng
📋 Click to see the answer
Answer: A. Lín Hǎiyīn, originally named Lín Hányīng, from Miáolí, Taiwan.
Question 2: Narrative Method
Which narrative method does this text mainly use?
- A. Chronological narration
- B. Flashback
- C. Episodic narration
- D. Interpolated narration
📋 Click to see the answer
Answer: C. Episodic narration. The graduation ceremony strings together many memory fragments around the two themes of "father's love" and "Yingzi's growth".
Question 3: "Daddy's Flowers Have Fallen"
How many layers of meaning does the title carry?
📋 Click to see the answer
Three layers:
- Literal meaning: the pomegranate blossoms in the courtyard really fell
- Symbolic meaning: father has passed away (life fading)
- Deeper meaning: Yingzi's childhood is over; she must grow up
🎯 Lesson Summary
- "Daddy's Flowers Have Fallen" is an excerpt from Lín Hǎiyīn's autobiographical novel Memories of Peking
- Main narrative method: episodic narration (form scattered, theme unified)
- Detail/summary: serve the theme — central content is detailed
- Structure: foreshadowing and payoff, tightly connected
- Themes: father's love and Yingzi's growth
- Symbolic device: "flowers have fallen" symbolises father's death and the end of childhood
- Values: courage to take responsibility, cherish parental love
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