On the first day of the tenth month, Chen Caozhi and Liu Shangzhi formally began studying at Xu Clan Thatched Cottage. That morning, they listened to Master Xu lecture on phonology and Luoyang-style Chant. When Chen Caozhi heard Master Xu Zao chant "The Quiet Maiden" from the Book of Songs in Luoyang Standard Pronunciation, with its rising and falling rhythms and rich, deep, voiced tones, he was utterly astonished. How did this so-called Luoyang Standard Pronunciation have so much in common with the southern dialects of later ages? Many of the fricatives and voiced sounds in Southern Min, Hakka, and Gan dialects closely resembled it.
The Wu and Yue dialects of later ages had actually preserved echoes of the northern official speech of sixteen hundred years earlier. This was a delightful surprise to Chen Caozhi. He was a southerner himself, so learning Luoyang Standard Pronunciation would yield twice the result for half the effort. He immediately concentrated on Academician Xu Zao's pronunciation and chanting, committing them carefully to memory.
Gentry and commoners did not share seats. Of the more than thirty students studying at Xu Clan School, over ten came from gentry clans and over twenty from humble families. They formed two distinct camps, as clearly divided as the Jing and Wei rivers. The gentry youths gathered for lectures in the south-side Thatched Cottage facing north, while the students of humble birth sat in the Thatched Cottage opposite. Xu Zao, an academician of the Imperial Academy, stood in the covered pavilion between the two rows of cottages, pacing with measured steps as he taught in a ringing voice.
Half an hour quickly passed. Master Xu cleared his throat and said, "That will be all for today's lesson on phonology. Practice diligently on your own and chant often. This afternoon, at