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Editor's Note

The rhythm of children’s songs is light and quick, their style free, their
vocabulary simple, their mood pure, and their rhymes lively. Childish
laughter, the imaginative world of children, as well as their spiritual
perceptions are all sources from which the material for the composition of
children’s songs have been drawn. Among present day scholars, one who
has done the most research on children’s songs is Professor Chu Chief-fan,
who says, ¨Every song contains the impressions of countless children and
the expressions of their hearts, whether laughter or crying.©
Most of the children’s songs which have been collected in The Overseas
Chinese Library have already been recorded in Professor Chu’s Chinese
Children’s Songs. Some of these songs may have had a history of several
hundred years. From generation to generation they have been passed down
orally from fathers and mothers to their children and sung spontaneously
among them. Normally the lyrics are not fixed; one song may have many
different versions. Most of the authors of these lyrics have left no traces
behind for verification-the songs are the common creations of millions of
parents and their children throughout history.
In the first volume of our Children’s Songs, we have included one
translation from Western children’s songs, ¨Twinkle Twinkle little Star.©
Although it is not Chinese, the translation has its own beauty and has been
sung in our country for many years. It has already become a part of modern
Chinese children’s songs.
Since children’s songs are rhymed, translating them is very difficult.
The initial translation of these songs was done by American students at
the Stanford Center in Taipei. Their drafts were then corrected or rewritten
by Professor Yang Wan-Yun and revised by Professor Wang Ch’iu-Kuei.
Although we dare not say that they are written perfectly, these songs and
their translations were indeed edited with the utmost care before being
offered here for your perusal.