During dinner, my son suddenly burst into song, “好一朵美丽的茉莉花，好一朵美丽的茉莉花”。
Stunned, I asked him who had taught him that. The cognitive dissonance was unsettling - hearing such an old-school song coming out from his young mouth.
My kindergarten teacher, he said.
I choose to use Mandarin with my boy, simply because 华人华语 (I view being able to speak Chinese as inextricably integral to being of Chinese descent). But yesterday struck me forcibly about how 文化精髓、代代相传 (the core memories of a culture are passed down from one generation to the other).
So, we sang the song together. And I can’t get it out of my head. I will probably find the time to print out the lyrics when I have a free period later.