“孔子”讓我圓夢中國

文/Jens Hhne（何彥斯，德國籍）

Jens Hhne，北京語言大學外籍教師

7歲生日那天，我收到了一份新奇的生日禮物——一本來自中國的德語兒童書，內容是關于一位名叫“孔子”的中國古人的故事。我被書里的圖畫和內容深深吸引，一方面覺得書里的人物長相和自然環境與我生活的德國小鎮非常不同；另一方面是因為孔子作為一名偉大的教育家，為了推廣和普及他以“仁”為根本的儒家思想和教育理念，終其一生都在周游列國，過著顛沛流離的生活。孔子這種執著于內心的信念和以其思想改變世界的決心讓我非常佩服，因此在我幼小的心里把成為一名教師和到中國去作為自己長大后的理想。

On the day of my 7th birthday, I received a very surprising birthday present, a German children's book from China, about the story of an ancient Chinese named Confucius. I was deeply attracted by the pictures and content in the book. On one hand, I felt that the Chinese characters and natural environment in the book are very different from the small German town I lived. On the other hand, because Confucius is a great educator, in order to promote and popularize his state and educational philosophy based on “Benevolence”, he spent the rest of his life traveling from country to country and living a life of a homeless.Confucius’ belief in obsessing the heart and the determination to change the world with his thoughts made me admire him. Therefore, in my young heart the plan took form to become a teacher and go to China.

夢想成為現實

My childhood dream became a realily

With a lot of reading, my boyhood had passed by. Of course, this included a lot of books related to China. Unfortunately, there was no place in Germany to learn Chinese at that time, so I could only read Chinese literature translated into German to understand the distant and magical country. Time flies as if I have obtained a master’s degree in German language from the university in the blink of an eye, and I also obtained a professional teacher’s qualification. I have taken a step towards my childhood dream.

In the fall of 1997, my childhood dream finally became a reality. I came to China as a German Teacher with a German Government Program.The ancient capital of Nanjing was the first stop to open my life in China. At that time, there were very few foreigners in China, and my knowledge of the Chinese language was almost “zero.” Fortunately, the Chinese teachers and students around me extended their help to me with their enthusiasm and friendliness. When I first arrived in China, I was not used to eat delicious Chinese food that I eat today, so I ate very few and got hungry and thin. The German-speaking Chinese teachers who I worked together with learned that I missed German food very much. One weekend a teacher took me to the Western Restaurant of Nanjing Jinling Hotel where I had a good meal of German bread and sausage. After that, my Chinese colleagues often invited me to their homes to be a guest, and personally made a variety of delicious home cooking for me to eat. In this way, my “German stomach” began to slowly accept and eventually fell in love with the Chinese taste!

伴隨著大量的閱讀，我的少年時代匆匆而過，當然這其中包括了很多與中國有關的書籍，只可惜那時候在德國沒有可以學習漢語的地方，所以我只能通過閱讀翻譯成德語的中國文學作品來了解那個遙遠又神奇的國度。時光飛逝，仿佛轉瞬之間我就從大學獲得了德語語言學碩士學位，同時還取得了職業教師資格，我離自己兒時的夢想又近了一步。

1997年的秋天，我童年時的夢想終于成為現實，作為德國政府外派德語教師，我來到了中國，古都南京是開啟我中國生活的第一站。那時候在中國的外國人還非常少，而我的中文基礎幾乎是零，幸虧我身邊的中國老師和學生們熱情、友善、及時地向我伸出了援手。剛到中國的時候，我還不太習慣吃如今習以為常的中國美食，所以經常吃得很少，人都餓瘦了。一起工作的會講德語的中國老師們通過聊天，得知我非常想念德國的食物，就特意在周末休息的時候帶我去南京金陵飯店的西餐廳，讓我好好飽餐了一頓德國面包加香腸。此后中國同事們經常邀請我到他們的家里做客，親手做各種好吃的家常菜給我吃。就這樣我的“德國胃”開始慢慢地接受并且最終愛上了中國味道！

Teaching without feeling tired

At that time, at the Nanjing Foreign Languages School where I worked,my students were middle school students ranging from age 13 to 18 years old. They were very smart and hardworking students. There was a little boy named Peter who was very clever and especially fond of learning German. He often came to me after class with a lot of questions.He especially liked to read German books. Whenever I saw him, I could see myself collecting Chinese reading materials when I was young.Since the original German-language books suitable for young people in the school library were very limited, I ordered some books from Germany and sent them to China. In addition, every time I went back to Germany during the holidays, I would also carry back a lot of books suitable for students to read. When the new books arrived in my hands after a long journey, I would inform Little Peter to look at the books and to be the first to read them. I saw him sitting between the piles of books,he looked at me and asked me more questions, I felt very satisfied and the exhaustion melted away like snow. Perhaps this is what Confucius meant by saying “teaching without feeling tired”. Later, there were more and more books in my room and there was hardly a blank space on my desk and bed. After Peter’s father heard about it, one Sunday he came to me and made a small bookshelf, so that our “small reading room” would look more decent. Since then, this small bookshelf has travelled with me all the way from South to North China. I think it is the most perfect symbol of Confucius's concept of “respecting teachers and education”and it is the most precious gift I have ever received in China.

In 2006, I found a family in China. In order to reunite with my wife, I moved to Beijing, her hometown, to continue my work as a German teacher. In order to follow the “Chinese Dream” in my heart, I temporarily put down my beloved teaching in 2012 and came to the Chinese Language Institute of Beijing Language and Culture University to become a student,because here I could learn Chinese more systematically and learn more about the traditional Chinese culture that I am fascinated with. During my studies at BLCU I was deeply impressed by the extended knowledge and professional attitude of the Chinese teachers. At the same time, they care and help the students’ lives beyond the classroom. I should treat my students like my Chinese teachers treated me and educate my students from many aspects. “When you see the virtuous you want to be one of them” This is what Confucius said.

“誨人不倦”

那時候，在我任職的南京外國語學校，學生是年齡從13歲到18歲不等的中學生，他們都是非常優秀又勤奮的學生。有一個叫Peter的小男生十分聰明而且特別喜歡學德語，下課后經常會帶著一大堆問題來找我，他特別喜歡閱讀德文課外書。每當看到他，我就仿佛看到了年少時四處搜集中國讀物的我。由于學校里適合青少年閱讀的德語原版圖書比較有限，我就從德國訂購了一些圖書寄到中國；另外，每次放假回德國探親，我也會隨身背回來很多適合學生們閱讀的讀物。當新書經過長途跋涉到達我手上后，我就會第一時間通知Peter來挑書，看到他如饑似渴地坐在書堆中手不釋卷的樣子，邊看邊問我一些問題，我就感到十分心滿意足，背書的辛苦蕩然無存，也許這就是孔子所說的“誨人不倦”吧。后來宿舍里的書越來越多，書桌和床上都快堆不下了，Peter的爸爸聽說后，利用一個周日的時間親手為我做了一個小書架，這樣我們的“課外圖書室”就顯得更像樣了。此后，這個小書架跟隨我在中國從南到北，一路旅行，我認為它是孔子“尊師重教”理念在中國人心目中最完美的體現，也是我收到的最珍貴的禮物。

Peaches are full of the world

When my Chinese study was coming to an end, one of my teachers recommended me to the German department, so I proudly became a teacher at Beijing Language and Culture University. I changed from a student to become a teacher again. Among my students are not only Chinese students, but also international students; not only Han students, but also minority students, so I feel that it is necessary to apply Confucius’s educational philosophy of “teaching students according to their ability”. There is a Uyghur girl from Xinjiang. Because of her accent, she usually had very little communication with other students. She did not speak much in the German oral class. Realizing this, I would practice dialogue with her in my class and found out that she does not understand so I explained and described the meaning to her by drawing simple drawings. Slowly, her attitude towards speaking classes became positive. One day, when she said to me in German, “I start to like German a little!” At this moment, I felt that all my efforts were worth it!

2006年我在中國成了家，為了和妻子團聚，我搬到了她的故鄉北京生活，繼續從事德語教學工作。為了更好地圓我心中的“中國夢”，2012年我暫時放下了心愛的教師工作，來到北京語言大學漢語速成班成了一名學生，因為在這里我可以更加系統地學習漢語，從而更深入地了解令我著迷的中國傳統文化。在北語學習期間，中國老師們專業的知識和敬業的態度都給我留下了深刻印象，同時他們在課業以外對學生們生活上的關心和幫助更是令我難忘，我想以后我也要像我的中國老師們一樣對待自己的學生，從多個方面教育引導他們，這就是孔子所說的“見賢思齊”吧。

“桃李滿天下”

在我的漢語學習將近尾聲的時候，我的一位老師把我推薦給了德語系，這樣我從一名北語的學生驕傲地成為一名北語的老師。在我的學生當中不僅有中國學生，還有留學生；不僅有漢族學生，還有少數民族學生，因此我覺得很有必要把孔子“因材施教”的教育理念運用到自己的教學方法中。有一個來自新疆的維吾爾族女生，由于她的普通話不好，所以平時和其他同學的溝通很少，上德語口語課也不怎么開口說話。意識到這一點，我會在我的課上和她一起練習對話，發現她有不懂的地方，就通過畫簡單的圖案給她解釋和描述。慢慢地，她上口語課的態度變得積極了。有一天，當她用德語對我說：“我有一點喜歡上德語了！”這一刻我覺得我付出的一切努力都是值得的！

到今年9月，我來到中國就已經有23年了。在這23年間，我的無數中國學生通過他們熟練掌握的德語，實現了他們的夢想：小Peter成為一名中國駐慕尼黑領事館的外交官，維吾爾族女生在她家鄉的海關從事入境檢驗工作；有很多當年的學生與我成為同行，有的在中國國內的北京大學、南京大學任教，也有的在德國的孔子學院從事教學工作。

在中國有“桃李滿天下，春暉遍四方”的說法，意思是老師教授的學生遍布天下，而學子們帶著學到的本領，作為知識的種子傳播到四方。我非常幸運能夠帶著我兒時的夢想，來到中國這個東方的文明古國，在這里把我的夢想變成現實，同時通過對孔子教育理念的理解和踐行，幫助我的學生們插上翅膀去放飛他們的夢想。孔子離我們的時代并不遙遠也不陌生，他的思想發源于古代的中國，卻始終影響著今日的世界！

何彥斯（右）和他的學生

By September of 2020, I have been in China for 23 years. During these 23 years, my countless Chinese students have realized their dreams through their proficient German: Peter has become a diplomat at the Chinese Consulate in Munich, and the Uyghur girl is engaged in immigration inspections at the customs of her hometown; Many of the students of that I taught over the years became teachers like me.Some are teaching at Peking University and Nanjing University, and some have been teaching at the Confucius Institute in Germany.

In China, there is a saying that “the peaches are full of the world and the springs are all over the place”, meaning that the teachers and professors have students all over the world, and the students have learned the skills and spread them to the Quartet as the seeds of knowledge. I am very fortunate to be able to bring my childhood dreams to China, an ancient civilization in the East, to turn my dreams into reality, and to help my students plug in through the understanding and practice of Confucius’ educational philosophy.Wings go to fly their dreams. Confucius is not far from our era and is no stranger. His thoughts originated in ancient China, but they always affect the world today!