Chinese children’s rendezvous with coding
Vita, a primary school student from Shanghai, has garnered some 220,000 subscribers on a popular Chinese video-sharing platform.
The 9-year-old creates education videos on computer programming and has posted dozens of videos on the platform, with his video series receiving more than 4 million views in China, home to the largest online community in the world.
Vita is one of a generation that is not unfamiliar with artificial intelligence. In an era of exponential technological growth, programming is deemed a survival skill akin to English speaking.
Vita started learning programming at the age of 5 when he could not even use chopsticks at the dinner table with ease. At the age of 6, even before graduating from kindergarten, he had designed a countdown app with the help of his father. He can now code simple games on his own.
Vita studies coding in school and is often helped by his father at home in his pursuit of programming knowledge.
Some elementary schools in first-tier cities and coastal provinces, such as Beijing and Jiangsu, offer information technology courses.
Guantong Education has been providing AI learning facilities to more than 1,000 schools around Jiangsu Province. Many parents, however, see the class hours and extent of the curriculum as limited, said the company’s manager Liu Chang. Therefore, parents choose to buy online programming courses for their children, or even send them to after-school classes and early-education institutions, Liu added.
Besides, a range of programming apps for children is also available on smartphone app stores. The online lecturers guide children to drag and drop graphic modules on tablets to design animation effects.
The graphic modules can help children intuitively experience the operation mode of a computer, said Du Zide, secretary-general of the China Computer Federation.
The age of kids learning computer programming in China ranges from 3 to 19. According to a report by Analysys, an Internet data analysis service provider, the transaction scale of the children’s programming market reached 24.8 billion yuan (US$3.8 billion) in 2018 and 25.7 billion yuan in 2019.
A total of 91.7 percent of Chinese primary and middle school students showed a willingness to learn about artificial intelligence, according to an AI popularization education report released by the China Association of Children’s Science Instructors in 2018.
In 2017, the State Council, China’s Cabinet, issued a development plan for the new generation of AI, pledging to gradually promote programming education, offer AI-related courses at middle and primary schools, and encourage the development and promotion of programming-related teaching software and games.
Programming and computing systems are largely contributing to the modernized world. Rice cookers, speakers and even traffic lights have all become smart with the help of AI in today’s China. The development of AI technology has changed the new generation’s perception of the smart world.
Vita used to be curious about the parking lot system, said his father Zhou Ziheng. “Whenever I pay the parking fee using a mini-program on my phone, Vita would be intrigued by how the system recognizes the license plate, and the car park barrier lifts.”
Actually, the process is realized by a neural network algorithm, explained Zhou, adding that he believes a smarter world would influence his son’s learning process. “The study of programming can help children know the operation logic of the devices and better understand how the society works in a brand-new way.”
China is not the only country with a growing AI generation. In Britain, computer programming is a compulsory course for children above 5 years old. France has included programming as an elective course in primary education.
“We expect the programming to improve children’s abilities in abstract thinking, information sorting, communication and spatial thinking, rather than cultivating them into professional programmers,” said Zhou Cenyao, a mother of two in Beijing.
Some believe that the popularization of programming in China is deeply rooted in peer pressure and conformity of parents that come along.
“It cannot stem from parents’ anxiety about their children’s growth,” said Zhao Yu, an information technology teacher at a primary school in Beijing.
Some middle and primary schools have included programming ability in children’s assessment standards.
“During the compulsory education and preschool period, AI or programming should be introduced to cultivate children’s interests,” said Zhao. In middle schools, teachers should guide students to pay attention to the ethical issue brought about by AI development.
AI is a complicated subject and contains multidisciplinary knowledge including mathematics, physics, computing, linguistics, behavioral science, cognitive science and information science.
Tomorrow Advancing Life, an education and technology enterprise in China, suggests parents introduce AI-related courses to children after they are 7 years old.
If children do not have enough prior knowledge, their confidence and interest to study information technology further would be lost, said Zhao. “There are other ways to improve children’s logical thinking before the third grade at primary school. Board games, tangram and jigsaw puzzles could be good choices.”
For primary and middle school students as well as preschool children, mathematics, reading, writing and esthetics are still vital, said Du Zide, adding that abilities in these areas are fundamental for cognizing the world and expression.
The study of programming can help children know the operation logic of the devices and better understand how the society works in a brandnew way.
Chick Corea, a towering jazz pianist with a staggering 23 Grammy Awards who pushed the boundaries of the genre and worked alongside Miles Davis and Herbie Hancock, died this month. He was 79.
Corea died of a rare form of cancer. On his Facebook page, Corea left a message to his fans: “I want to thank all of those along my journey who have helped keep the music fires burning bright. It is my hope that those who have an inkling to play, write, perform or otherwise, do so. If not for yourself then for the rest of us. It’s not only that the world needs more artists, it’s also just a lot of fun.”
A prolific artist with dozens of albums, Corea in 1968 replaced Herbie Hancock in Miles Davis’ group, playing on the landmark albums “In a Silent Way” and “Bitches Brew.”
He formed his own avantgarde group, Circle, and then founded Return to Forever. He worked on many other projects, including duos with Hancock and vibraphonist Gary Burton. He recorded and performed classical music, standards, solo originals, Latin jazz and tributes to great jazz pianists.
Harvey Mason Jr, interim president and CEO of The Recording Academy, wrote: “Chick rewrote the rulebook for jazz in his more than five-decade-long career, receiving mass critical acclaim along the way for his musical excellence.”
Corea was named a National Endowment of the Arts Jazz Master in 2006. He was a member of the Church of Scientology and lived in Clearwater, Florida. He regularly won the title of Jazz Artist of the Year from Downbeat Magazine.
In addition to his Grammy wins, Corea also had four Latin Grammy wins. In a tweet, the Latin Recording Academy called him “a virtuosic pianist and one of the most prominent Latin jazz musicians of all times.” The Blue Note jazz club in New York City simply called him “irreplaceable.”
Drummer Sheila E. took to Twitter to mourn. “This man changed my life thru his music and we were able to play together many times. I was very fortunate to call him my family,” she wrote. “Chick, you are missed dearly, your music and brilliant light will live on forever.”
Hip-hop star Q-Tip called Corea “one of the coldest pianist/keyboardist/songwriters of all time” and rapper Biz Markie celebrated Corea’s 1972 jazz fusion group Return to Forever, calling it “fossil fuel for an eternity of rap samples.”
Last year, Corea released the double album “Plays,” which captured him solo at various concerts armed simply with his piano.
“Like a runner loves to run
because it just feels good, I like to play the piano just because it feels good,” he said at the time. “I can just switch gears and go to another direction or go to another song or whatever I want to do. So it’s a constant experiment.”
The double album was a peek into Corea’s musical heart, containing songs he wrote about the innocence of children decades ago as well as tunes by Mozart, Thelonious Monk and Stevie Wonder, among others.
Corea is the artist with the most jazz Grammys in the show’s 63-year history, and he has a chance to posthumously win at the March 14 show, where he’s nominated for best improvised jazz solo for “All Blues” and best jazz instrumental album for “Trilogy 2.”
Corea was born in Massachusetts and began piano lessons at 4. But he bristled at formal education and dropped out of both Columbia University and the Juilliard School. He began his career as a sideman.
Corea liked inviting volunteers onto the stage during solo concerts, sitting them down near his piano and creating spontaneous, entirely subjective tone poems about the person.
“It starts as a game — to try to capture something I see in music,” he said. “While I play, I look at them a couple of times like a painter would. I try to see if, while I’m playing, are they agreeing with what I’m playing? Do they think that this is really a portrait of them? And usually they do.”
Late last year, Corea had two commissions: a trombone concerto for the New York Philharmonic and a percussion concerto for the Philadelphia Orchestra.
“I get interested in something and then I follow that interest. And that’s how my music comes out,” he said then. “I’ve always followed my interest. It’s been my successful way of living.”
He’s also started teaching online, creating the Chick Corea Academy to offer his views on music and share the opinions of others, take questions and chat with guests. He hopes his students will explore their freedom of expression and think for themselves.
“Does everyone have to like what I like? No. And it’s what makes the world go around that
we all have different likes,” he said. “We come together and we collaborate.”
Corea is survived by his wife, Gayle Moran, and a son Thaddeus.
Béla Fleck, a virtuoso on the banjo, who recorded and toured with Corea, called him “my hero, mentor and friend,” adding: “The world has lost one of the great ones. I’m so honored to have known him.”
Hal Holbrook, the award-winning character actor who toured the world for more than 50 years as Mark Twain in a one-man show and uttered the immortal advice “Follow the money” in the classic political thriller “All the President’s Men,” died in Beverly Hills, California, last month. He was 95.
Actors across the spectrum mourned Holbrook’s passing, including Bradley Whitford, who called him an “incredible actor,” and Viola Davis, who wrote “RIP to the always wonderful Hal Holbrook.”
Holbrook pursued a busy career in theater, television and movies, winning five Emmys and a Tony. His more than two dozen film credits ranged from Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” to Oliver Stone’s “Wall Street.” He was a steady presence on TV as well, having appeared on such shows as “The West Wing,” “Grey’s Anatomy” and “Bones.”
But his most famous movie role was as a key source for Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward (played by Robert Redford) in the 1976 adaptation of “All the President’s Men,” the best-selling account by Woodward and fellow Post reporter Carl Bernstein about their investigation of Richard Nixon’s administration and the Watergate scandal that led to his resignation.
Holbrook played the mysterious informant “Deep Throat” (later revealed to be FBI official Mark Felt) who provided key information to Woodward. The most famous tip, uttered from the shadows of a parking garage — “Follow the money” — became an instant catchphrase but was never said in real life. The line was invented by screenwriter William Goldman.
“Follow the money” may have been his most famous film words, but Twain was his defining role. The association began in 1954 when an instructor at Ohio’s Denison University gave Holbrook the role as part of a thesis assignment.
Holbrook and his first wife, Ruby Johnson, later created a two-person show, playing characters from Shakespeare to Twain. After their daughter, Victoria, was born, he started working on a oneman Twain show while working on the soap opera “The Brighter Day.”
Holbrook, raised in Cleveland, was 29 when he first performed as Twain (who was portrayed as 70) and eventually developed the role into a two-act, oneman show called “Mark Twain Tonight!,” taking it to schools, nightclubs and theaters. He took it to Broadway three times — 1966, 1977 and 2005 — and won a Tony Award as best dramatic actor for the 1966 version.
“The truth is that he’s been wonderful company,” Holbrook told The Plain Dealer newspaper in 2017. “It would be an understatement to say I like him. He never ceases to amaze me. Even after all these years, I’m still stunned by his insight into the human character. So much of what he had to say more than 100 years ago is right on the money for today.”
In 1959, after years of honing his material in small towns, Holbrook debuted his Twain at an off-Broadway theater in New York to high critical praise. “Mr Holbrook’s material is uproarious, his ability to hold an audience by acting is brilliant,” said The New York Times. The
New Yorker called it a “dazzling display of virtuosity.”
Holbrook would tour as Twain — with the writer’s familiar white suit and white hair — whenever he wasn’t busy with other acting jobs. He would update the show to fit the times and performed the role by his account some 2,200 times. He hung up the white suit in 2017.
“He did a ton of work over the years, never less than first-rate, but the Twain performances approached perfection, and they will stay with me forever,” tweeted Michael McKean.
He was meticulous in his preparations, taking as long as 3.5 hours to don his make-up and insisting on oversized stage furniture so that, at 6 feet tall, he wouldn’t appear larger than the 5-feet-8 .5-inch Twain was. He read books by and about the author and scoured newspaper files in search of interviews with Twain and stories about his lecture tours.
During a performance on the opensided stage at Wolf Trap near Vienna, Virginia, lightning flashed and thunder cracked just as Holbrook reached toward the humidor for a cigar. He scuttled backward. A roar of laughter followed. Holbrook looked out over his glasses at the audience. When he could be heard again, he spoke: “He wasn’t talking to you.”
Over the years, Holbrook took “Mark Twain Tonight!” to numerous foreign countries, including Saudi Arabia. His audiences included Presidents Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson and Carter.
When he wasn’t portraying Twain, Holbrook showed impressive versatility. He was Burt Reynolds’ crotchety fatherin-law in the 1990s TV series “Evening Shade.” He appeared as Abraham Lincoln in two different miniseries on the 16th president and won one of his Emmys for the title role in the 1970-71 TV series “The Senator.”
Other notable stage credits included “After the Fall,” “Abe Lincoln in Illinois” and “I Never Sang for My Father.” In 2008, at age 82, he received his first Oscar nomination for playing a lonely widower who befriends young wanderer Christopher McCandless (Emile Hirsch) in director Sean Penn’s “Into the Wild.”
In 1980, he met actress Dixie Carter when both starred in the TV movie “The Killing of Randy Webster.” Although attracted to one another, each had suffered two failed marriages and they were wary at first. They finally wed in 1984, two years before Carter landed the role of Julia Sugarbaker on the long-running TV series “Designing Women.” Holbrook appeared on the show regularly in the late 1980s as her boyfriend, Reese Watson. She died in 2010.
Holbrook had two children, Victoria and David, with his first wife, and a daughter, Evie, from his second marriage to actress Carol Rossen. He was stepfather to Mary Dixie Carter and Ginna Carter.
It would be an understatement to say I like him. He never ceases to amaze me. Even after all these years, I’m still stunned by his insight into the human character. So much of what he had to say more than 100 years ago is right on the money for today.