Princess’ Recitation of 白米饭 and 悯农

It was Princess’ first solo performance on stage at the Annual Home-School Year-End Concert 2009, and unfortunately Mummy Eliz was not able to make it.

Daddy Tiong brought her, and despite feeling nervous, she managed to overcome her fear and did the whole recitation. Well, she missed out all the actions that accompanied the recitation though.

Nevertheless it was a feat, at least for her age. And we are proud she did not back out.

The fear she had to overcome was equivalent to the fear an adult would feel when asked to do a presentation in front of perhaps a C.E.O, C.O.O etc.

~ Princess on stage ~

~ A video of it, catch her hat falling off during her bow ~

PS: Her recitation

Part 1 - Children’s poem titled: “Bai Mi Fan” or A White Grain of Rice

白米饭

白米饭，香喷喷，
小朋友，来吃饭。
吃得饱，长得胖，
不把饭粒掉地上。

Part 2 – Famous Tang-style poem titled: "Min Nong," or "Compassion for the Farmer."

悯农

锄禾日当午，
汗滴禾下土。
谁知盘中餐，
粒粒皆辛苦。

“粒粒皆辛苦” roughly translated as "A grain of rice is a drop of sweat." is the last line from the famous Tang-style poem titled: "Min Nong," or "Compassion for the Farmer.” Singaporeans should have some impression of it as the tagline used in TV commercials by some rice companies.

The poem describes the hardships that a rice farmer must go through in order to harvest the rice that will end up in the rice bowls of people. To leave food left in one's rice bowl is very rude, for not only is it wasteful, but it is also disrespectful to the farmers who toiled in the fields to bring such foods to one's rice bowl.