如今,"六一"早已不是小朋友的"专利",那些唱着"不想长大"的"老小孩"也开始"搭车"蹭节,期盼借此找回曾经的童心。
As the Children's Day draws near, various children gift sales are booming. Some old-style toys are especially popular among the post-70s and 80s generations, who buy themselves or their friends toys as gifts. Transformers and Barbie dolls are most popular, while some other classic ones like iron toy cars, building blocks and water guns are all flying off the shelves. Most orders' shipping addresses are at office buildings, enterprises and institutions, a toy shopkeeper said.
Most adult kids appreciate their childhood very much. Their feelings get intense when Children's Day is near. Their childhood memories are entangled with symbolic foods, toys and ballads revived on the same day. Do you still remember those delicious snacks such as Dada bubble gum, White Rabbit creamy candy, dried plum powder and Small Raccoon crispy noodles? How to play those simple but interesting games like paper folding, hopscotch and iron ring pushing? And how to sing those childhood ballads like Maibaoge (newspaper selling song), Xiaoluohao (conch) and Zhaopengyou (making friends)?
On every Children's Day, some of the post-70s and 80s generations would get together, wearing red scarves of the Young Pioneers, striped shirts and white sneakers, to do gymnastics to music on the radio and play the kids' games like eagle vs chickens, shuttlecock kicking, rubber band skipping, marbles playing and rope skipping. They found their trouble-free old time joy in running after each other, screaming and laughing. "We are confronted by complicated societal relations and various pressures after stepping into society," a post-70s who takes part in the celebration said. "The games we played at an early age can purify our heart and help us get back the purest part we had."
Zhang Wenjun, a post-70s, obsessively played classic Nintendo Famicom games such as Contra, Super Mario and Battle City. "Our passion for these old games is hard to understand by kids growning up playing computer games and PSP," he said. When he was a kid, his parents were too strict and didn't let him play those games except on big holidays. Playing video games brought him great happiness then. Playing them now seems to take him back to his childhood.
A post-80s office lady said she would watch a few favorite cartoons on every Children's Day to remember her childhood memories and happiness. As a kid, she would sit tight in front of the TV set at 6 pm everyday to watch cartoon series like "Black Cat Detective", "Calabash Brothers", "Doraemon" or "Tom And Jerry". Today those familiar scenes and characters still make her feel joyful and happy.
Xinxin, a post-80s netizen, posted her elementary school textbooks on a microblog, evoking childhood memories in others. Some said those familiar textbook covers, illustrations and articles almost brought tears to their eyes. Those fading memories suddenly were fresh and alive. The painting style of the illustrations for "A Pony Crossing a River" is really cute, some netizens said. Maths textbook covers were always yellow and blue, and you could tell from the covers their content was getting more and more difficult. And you could immediately sing a song from those familiar lyrics in music textbooks: "Little birds lead ahead, wind breezes us..."
As post-70s and 80s generations, though we are grown up, we still miss our childhood, a netizen said. Our celebration of the holiday is to soothe our heart where a kid is still living inside, he added.
Though nowadays people celebrate more holidays, either traditional as Spring Festival and Mid-autumn Day or western like Valentine's Day and Christmas, they have invariably turned into something hateful and commercially oriented. People always get exhausted by the holidays themed with feasting, present giving and partying. In contrast, Children's Day is far simpler in its content, as a day full of balloon, spun sugars and playgrounds, and a day those grown-ups covet most to find back their self-esteem.
老玩具
小人书: picture-story book
玻璃弹珠: marbles
铁皮青蛙: iron jumping frog
橡皮泥: plasticene
变形金刚: transformer
芭比娃娃: Barbie doll
万花筒: kaleidoscope
魔方: magic cube
积木: building block
游戏类
老鹰捉小鸡: chicken vs eagle
丢手绢: drop the handkerchief and guess
跳皮筋: rubber band skipping
滚铁环: iron ring pushing
折纸: paper folding
跳房子: hopscotch
翻绳: turned rope
跳大绳: rope skipping
零食类
大大泡泡糖: Dada bubble gum
大白兔奶糖: White Rabbit creamy candy
跳跳糖: popping candy
棉花糖: spun sugar
酸梅粉: dried plum powder
小浣熊干脆面: Small Raccoon crispy noodle
膨化食品: puffed food