The Chinese title of this book is《鱼游哈佛》(yú yóu hāfó), which literally means “swim like a fish at Harvard”. Though the translation may sound strange to the ear of an English speaker, this phrase has a nice ring to it in Chinese, and there are good reasons why editor Haiqin Yu has chosen it as the Chinese title. Yu’s family name Yú (于) sounds exactly the same as the Chinese word for fish (also pronounced yú, but written in Chinese as 鱼). She believes this phrase best captures her joy and learning experiences as a visiting scholar at the Harvard Graduate School of Education (HGSE). But the significance of this phrase goes deeper. Yiqi Mei, praised as the “Eternal President” of Tsinghua University, had two famous assertions. One was the “theory of the masters”, referring to masterful educators: “A university does not depend on having buildings, but on having masters”. The other theory, which could be translated literally as the “follow-swim theory” but understood as “the little fish follow the big fish”, used swimming as a metaphor to emphasize the special role of teachers in relation to students. President Mei likened the school environment to water, teachers to big fish, and students to little fish. This metaphor vividly expresses the teacher-student relationship as one of guiding and following, and resonates with the opening phrase of the Chinese classic Daxue (The Great Learning): The way of a university lies in illuminating one’s bright virtue.
The original cover design was inspired by a prose piece written by Mr. Ziqing Zhu, a modern Chinese writer who was a professor of Tsinghua University at that time (July, 1927). (Please see the updated version of this design on the following page. This design will appear on the cover of the upcoming Chinese edition to be published by China Economic Publishing House.) Entitled Moonlight Over the Lotus Pond, the piece is a description of the beauty of the lotus pond under the moonlight on the Tsinghua campus, an image which reflects the mission and responsibility of intellectuals. In Chinese culture, the lotus flower symbolizes what is holy and noble.
Swimming in the lotus pond is a school of carp. In traditional Chinese culture and art, the pattern of “fish” and “water” is a symbol of prosperity and abundance. People also use the saying “the carp leap over the loong gate” to symbolize the realization of dreams – especially passing the university entrance exam – and career success. This saying originates from an ancient legend which refers to a certain canyon, known as the “loong gate”, along the Yellow River in present day, Henan Province. According to this legend, the carp who leapt over this canyon would transform into loongs, mythical creatures which have traditionally – but rather misleadingly – been translated as “dragons”. In
Today, this metaphor also means to swim upstream, strive upward, and overcome suffering. In Chinese, the number “nine” (九, jiǔ) shares the same pronunciation as the word for “forever” (written as 久) and thus has taken on this meaning by association. We have therefore chosen to depict nine carp – of a variety of colors – on the cover in order to express our heartfelt wish for the everlasting happiness of all. These nine fish are also a fitting image for a book whose foundational inspiration is the hope of promoting educational success, particularly among the children in poor, remote, and mountainous areas of China. These children find themselves at the precipice of a metaphorical canyon which is quite vast. It is our sincere hope that the ideas and practices put forth in this text can help them to make the leap over the loong gate.
