By SUSTC News Agency

Of the many societies in SUSTC, the Cantonese Society has always been low-profiled. The students come from all parts of China to Shenzhen of Guangdong, where they find the Cantonese quite attractive for them. For local students coming from Guangdong, their love of Cantonese contains the emotions towards hometown and the mission of inheriting the local cultures.

Daily activities of Cantonese Society include large-size and small-size classes. Large-size classes use classrooms in the Teaching Building, teaching phonetics, grammar and knowledge of history of Cantonese. Small-size classes happen at any time and place. When the time is set, the Society members would gather with the Head of the Society leading people to learn to sing Cantonese songs. At 3 p.m. on the afternoon of Saturday, familiar songs would be heard in the function room, telling us that small-size class of Cantonese Society is going on.

When the journalist came to the members of Cantonese Society on the last Saturday, the Head of the Society was teaching the other members to sing Cantonese songs by showing great patience and harmonious atmosphere in the Society.

Cantonese Society was learning Cantonese songs at the lake side

“Happen to shoulder the mission”

The incumbent director of the Cantonese Society is Feng Jian, who was enrolled in SUSTC in 2014. Not long after his enrollment in 2014, Feng Jian and a few other senior students rehearsed a Cantonese song for the Welcome Party for the Freshmen. However, the selection process was not smooth and their performance didn’t get through, meaning their efforts were wasted. However, Feng Jian, in the process of rehearsal, got to know Long Yongkang, who was then the Director of the Society and other students loving Cantonese language and singing beautifully.

  “I am a Cantonese person and I love singing. However, because I grew up in the Cantonese environment, I had never thought of teaching other people or thought of working as the Director. Probably this is fate”. Feng Jian had never thought of becoming Director of the Society. Probably due to the failure in the performance selection, he was given the mission to boost the Cantonese Society.

After the Spring Festival of 2015, the Director of the Society changed and small-class Cantonese song programs were kicked off in the Society. At that time, song programs were popular on TV. The classic songs such as Love You and Half Moon Serenade were sung by other singers and got popular across the country. This was the wonderful opportunity for the small-size Cantonese song class. Thanks to the organizing work done by Tang Shiyu and Zhao Ziyu, the small-size class would be held once a week even in bad-weather days, gathering 3 to more than 10 students. They would decide which song to practice beforehand and use mobile Baidu to get the lyrics and Cantonese Pinyin. The participants followed the Director and sang with the rhythm.

“The Cantonese songs are quick to learn and people can show off their songs to others. Haha.”

 At the Welcome Party for Freshmen in 2015, Feng Jian, Yu Ouran, Jiang Yiwei, Zhang Cheng, Zhang Diwen and Shi Chen, after a few rounds of selection, gained the opportunity to perform in the prime time in the Party. They sang a Cantonese song called Countless Songs, which promoted the Cantonese Society in front of the freshmen, making a perfect conclusion to the one-year efforts. Even more, Yu Ouran and Shi Chen made their own performance at the Party. And Jiang Yiwei won the first place in the following SUSTC Voice Competition. The small-class members, because of their passion and love for Cantonese language and music, became the pride of SUSTC.

“You like it? Yes, you can learn it.”

At present, the Cantonese Society has about 200 members. When talking about the size of the Society, Director Feng Jian said, “There are 3 types of members in the Society. Most of the Society members belong to Type I just to learn Cantonese songs because Cantonese songs are very popular. Type-II members are those who hope to learn Cantonese so that they don’t have language problems when visiting Hong Kong. Type-III members have interest in Cantonese culture and hope to learn Cantonese. However, they can learn Cantonese if they love it.”

The key members of the Society give careful teaching in the large-size class, the members listen to them attentively, and the members are active and dynamic in the small-size class, revealing their passion for Cantonese.

“Inherit legacies”

Feng Jian became serious when talking about the inheritance of Cantonese language, “Anyway, Cantonese has come to the most dangerous period. Promotion of Mandarin is supported by the government. English learning is also supported for the purpose of international development in China. But people learn Cantonese spontaneously because of their love for the language. Some people inherit legacies for the past masters. But we do it for ourselves.“

The success of the small-size Cantonese song class is just a small milestone of Cantonese Society. But the difficult part is how to let the students learn Cantonese in a systematic way and master Cantonese as a language. “The large-size class is not active. Of course, the grammar is dry. But all language learning involves the dry aspects.”

 “Of the many societies in SUSTC, the Cantonese Society is unique. There are not large activities or large-sum fund”. “Compared with the fund, the more important thing is the sincerity of learning. Many students are ambitious in the beginning, but disappear after only a few times presence in the class”, added Feng Jian, “I hope the members really learn something in the Society, not just to be superficial learners or seek pleasure or fun only. ”

Zhang Cheng, who is a pillar member in the Society, feels the Director should be strict, “After all, this the style in the Cantonese Society. Only in this way can we learn things. It is not necessary to adapt to all people. After all, I feel good at the present stage.”

Talking about future, the Cantonese Society will continue its large-size and small-size class system. After 2 years’ accumulation, the Society has a number of fans. And some students have started with nothing till they are able to tour Hong Kong speaking fluent Cantonese. And the unique teaching methods, the boutique education and affinity between teachers and students are quite distinctive in the Cantonese Society. The love with no cause and spirit of persistence are probably the best interpretation of Guangdong culture.

In SUSTC, an innovative university of science and technology with dense cultural atmosphere, the Cantonese Society will definitely make stable progress and hold its own position.