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🌳 Lesson 7 — Crying Tree

"Kūshù" by Zhāng Jūnmò · Prose · Lyrical Sketch

📘 中文筆記 📘 English Notes 🎧 Q&A Podcast 🎧 MP3 ✏️ Exercises

🎯 Learning Focus

Reading

  1. Master indirect expression of emotions through scenery (borrowing scenery to express emotions)
  2. Review expression of emotions through events

Values and Attitudes

  1. Appreciate nature
  2. Protect the environment

📖 Reading Hints

Crying Tree describes how a green avenue changed after the author moved to a new home, and the feelings the change evoked in the author. While reading, notice:

  1. What was special about the green avenue?
  2. Why did the appearance of the avenue change?
  3. What feelings does the author express through narration and description?
💡 Reading strategy: Notice how the author uses descriptions of the big tree to express regret at environmental destruction.

👤 About the Author: Zhāng Jūnmò (張君默)

ItemDetails
Original nameZhāng Jǐngyún (張景雲)
Ancestral homeJiāngmén, Guǎngdōng
Born1939
Early lifeMoved to Hong Kong with parents in 1946; could not finish secondary school due to tuberculosis; joined the workforce after recovery
Editorial workServed as chief editor of Science World magazine, deputy editor of Ming Pao supplement, etc.
AwardWon the Guangzhou "Huacheng Literary Award" in 1984 for his novella Love of a Model
Major worksFragrant Grass, Episodes of Youth, The Distant Starry Night — Selected Works of Zhāng Jūnmò, Coarse Coffee, etc.
Zhāng Jūnmò is a Hong Kong writer with extensive experience in editorial work. His prose is known for being lyrical and rooted in everyday life. Crying Tree uses the fate of one tree to reflect on environmental protection.

📚 Background

Crying Tree was written against the backdrop of rapid urbanisation. In cities like Hong Kong, many tree-lined avenues were felled to make way for new buildings and roads. Through the fate of one tree, the author reflects on the relationship between humans and nature and calls for environmental protection.

⚠️ Key context:
  1. Urbanisation: rapid city development, felling of trees
  2. Environmental damage: tree-lined avenues disappearing
  3. Emotional outlet: the author's sympathy and regret
  4. Environmental awareness: a call to cherish nature

🎭 Writing Technique: Emotions Through Scenery

What is Borrowing Scenery for Emotions?

Borrowing scenery to express emotions is an indirect way of conveying feelings through descriptions of nature. The writer does not state emotions directly but embeds them within images of landscape.

How This Text Uses the Technique

The text uses the fate of the big tree to embody the author's feelings:
  1. The tree's former lushness → symbolises the city's vitality
  2. The tree being felled → symbolises environmental destruction
  3. The tree's "crying" → symbolises the author's regret
  4. New saplings being planted → symbolises hope

Features of the Technique

  1. Implied: emotions are not stated outright
  2. Concrete: rooted in tangible scenery
  3. Deep: leaves room for the reader's imagination

📚 Key Vocabulary

WordPronunciationMeaning
綠蔭 lǜyīnlǜ yīnGreen shade from trees
大道 dàdàodà dàoA broad avenue
砍伐 kǎnfákǎn fáTo cut down (trees)
移植 yízhíyí zhíTo transplant
惋惜 wǎnxīwǎn xīTo regret, to feel sorry about
繁茂 fánmàofán màoLush, flourishing
枯萎 kūwěikū wěiTo wilt, wither
凋零 diāolíngdiāo língTo wither and fall
蒼翠 cāngcuìcāng cuìVerdant, lush green
樹蔭 shùyīnshù yīnShade of a tree
蔭庇 yīnbìyīn bìTo shelter, to protect
萌芽 méngyáméng yáTo sprout; to begin
庇護 bìhùbì hùTo shelter, protect
哀鳴 āimíngāi míngTo cry plaintively

💭 Central Theme

By tracing the fate of a single tree — from the lush avenue of old to the felled stump and replanted saplings — the author expresses regret at environmental destruction and reflects on the human-nature relationship, calling for environmental protection and care for nature.

Three layers of theme:
  1. Surface: narrative of a tree from thriving to disappearing
  2. Middle: expression of regret at environmental destruction
  3. Deep: a call for harmony between humans and nature
Text structure: flourishing → felling → regret → hope
Mnemonic: "rise, fall, grieve, hope"

🎭 Symbolism of the Big Tree

ImageSymbolism
The green avenue A city's beautiful memory, harmony with nature
The big tree Life and nature, the city's guardian
Felling Modernity's damage to nature
"Crying Tree" The author's regret at nature's disappearance
New saplings Hope and future
⚠️ Important test point:
  1. "Crying Tree" uses personification
  2. A tree cannot truly cry; "crying" is a projection of human feeling
  3. The author's regret is embodied through the tree's "crying"

✏️ Quick Practice

Question 1: Who is the author?

Who wrote Crying Tree, and what is the original name?

📋 Click to see the answer

The author is Zhāng Jūnmò, original name Zhāng Jǐngyún, originally from Jiāngmén, Guǎngdōng, born in 1939, moved to Hong Kong with parents in 1946.

Question 2: Borrowing Scenery for Emotions

What is jiè jǐng shū qíng and how does this text use it?

📋 Click to see the answer

Borrowing scenery for emotions is an indirect way of expressing feelings through descriptions of nature.

How the text uses it:

  1. The tree's former lushness → the city's beauty
  2. The tree being felled → environmental destruction
  3. "Crying Tree" → the author's regret

Question 3: The Title "Crying Tree"

What figure of speech is used in the title "Crying Tree", and what does it mean?

📋 Click to see the answer

"Crying Tree" uses personification. Trees cannot truly cry; this is a projection of human feelings — the author's regret at environmental destruction, conveyed through the tree's "crying".

Question 4: Central Theme

What is the central idea of the text?

📋 Click to see the answer

The text traces the fate of a tree to express regret at environmental destruction and reflection on the human-nature relationship, calling for environmental protection and care for nature.

Question 5: Symbolism

What does the "big tree" symbolise in the text?

📋 Click to see the answer

The big tree symbolises:

  1. Life — a symbol of nature
  2. City's guardian — shelters passers-by
  3. Human-nature bond — the tree has grown with the city
  4. Hope — new saplings represent future

🎯 Lesson Summary

  1. Crying Tree is a prose piece by Zhāng Jūnmò
  2. Theme: environmental protection and harmony with nature
  3. Writing techniques: borrowing scenery + personification
  4. Symbolism: "Crying Tree" = the author's regret
  5. Structure: flourishing → felling → regret → hope
  6. Values: appreciate nature, protect the environment

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