Practicing Counting in Winter

The north wind carried away the last trace of late autumn's warmth. Leaden clouds hung low in the sky, and the scent of approaching ice and snow filled the air. Like a silent giant, the Fire Tribe's newly built earthen wall shielded the people in the valley from the increasingly biting wind. In this season when all things were about to fall still and enter a period of rest and recuperation, the Fire Tribe's core members gathered in Chief Jianshi's hut-the largest, and the only one with stone-reinforced corners-for their last leadership meeting before winter arrived.

In the center of the hut, charcoal burned in a large earthenware basin, driving away the chill. The dancing firelight illuminated the faces seated around it: Chief Jianshi, the adviser Jianya, the valiant warriors Dali, Dazhuang, and Dabang, and... Wang Yan, the youth brigade captain who was only eleven, yet whom no one dared underestimate because of his age anymore. He had earned his seat here through his astonishing contributions over the past year and wisdom far beyond that of ordinary people.

The charcoal crackled. Jianshi looked around at everyone and spoke in a steady voice. "Winter will be here soon. The snow outside will be deep, the pond will freeze, and the beasts in the forest will hide away. This is our Fire Tribe's first winter since we grew stronger. We must get through it safely."

He began laying out the winter arrangements:

"The hunting team-the warrior team-will mainly keep watch and set traps this winter. Large-scale hunting trips will stop. Pick experienced old hunters and form a few small groups to set snares and pit traps in safe areas around the tribe. Whatever we catch will do; don't force it. We must also reduce the number of people fishing. Safety comes first."

"Pay special attention to keeping the animal pens warm. Lay down more dry grass and make sure those calves, lambs, and piglets survive the winter. They are our hope for next year."

"The women on the gathering team will mainly work indoors this winter, processing hides, weaving hemp cloth, making clothing, and looking after the elderly and children."

He concluded with an emphatic reminder. "In short, everyone should rest more and conserve their strength this winter, but we must not let our guard down! If any team has difficulties, report them promptly!"

Everyone nodded. These arrangements were sound and practical, in keeping with the demands of surviving winter.

Then Jianshi's gaze settled on Wang Yan, carrying encouragement. "Yan, you're the youth brigade captain and our tribe's 'little adviser.' Do you have any other ideas for this winter?"

Wang Yan had already thought it through carefully. He knew that the long winter was not merely a time to rest and regroup, but also a golden opportunity for learning and internal improvement. He sat up straight and said clearly, "Father, uncles, our tribe has more people now, and more and more supplies. I've noticed a problem-our methods of counting and keeping accounts are far too backward!"

He gave examples. "Before, when the tribe had fewer people and fewer things, we could barely get by with knotted cords to keep records, or by counting fingers and toes, adding those of the people around us at most. But now, how many baskets of dried fish do we have in our storehouse? How many bundles of hides? The warrior team has a hundred and fifty people. How much food do they consume every day? The youth team has over eighty people. How many supplies do they need? When we farm in the future, how much grain will we harvest from one mu of land? We simply can't work all this out clearly with knotted cords and fingers. It's very easy to make mistakes, and it can easily lead to confusion and disputes!"

His words struck right at the hearts of several of those in charge. Dali managed the hunting team's supply distribution, Dazhuang was responsible for construction materials, and Jianya oversaw the storehouse. All of them had keenly felt that, as the tribe grew, managing things was increasingly beyond their capacity. Given enough time, even they could no longer remember what a jumble of knots represented. When distributing things, they also often had to check the amounts repeatedly because the numbers were unclear, sometimes even provoking discontent.

"You're right, lad!" Dali slapped his thigh. "Sometimes when we divide the meat, it clearly feels about right, but someone always thinks they've been shortchanged. It's because we don't have an exact count!"

Jianya stroked his beard as well, his brow tightly furrowed. "I have a rough idea of what's in the storehouse, but if we really examined it closely, the accounts would be a muddle."

Seeing that his words had struck a chord, Wang Yan presented his solution. "So I want to use this winter to teach everyone in the tribe counting and simple arithmetic!"

"Counting? Arithmetic?" Dabang looked somewhat puzzled. "How would you teach that?"

"We can establish a unified set of numerical symbols." Using a piece of charcoal, Wang Yan drew the Arabic numerals from 0 to 9 on a flat stone slab beside him-he called them "Fire Tribe Numerals"-and explained what each symbol meant. "With these simple symbols, we can represent numbers of any size. We can write 157." He then briefly demonstrated the symbols and methods for addition and subtraction.

"We can start by teaching the squad leaders and the people in charge, and require them to learn it. Then we can use the youth team as our backbone and have them teach their respective teammates, who can go home and teach their families. Winter is long, and everyone spends plenty of time gathered together. It's the perfect time to learn!" Wang Yan laid out the steps for putting it into practice. "We can start by counting sticks and stones, then gradually move on to calculating daily food consumption and tallying the supplies in the storehouse."

He painted the prospect for them. "Once everyone has learned, managing the storehouse, distributing supplies, recording harvests, and even planning construction will all become perfectly clear."

The proposal made everyone present feel as though their eyes had lit up, as if a door to a new world had swung open! Before, they had only been plagued by the problem, never imagining that they could solve it at its root!

Jianshi even rose to his feet in excitement. "Good! An excellent idea!" "Yan, you've solved another major headache for the tribe! You'll have full responsibility for this! This winter, we won't just let our bodies rest. We'll get everyone's minds working, too! We'll learn this... counting!"

An unprecedented "Winter Literacy and Counting Campaign," intended to enlighten the people, was thus approved at this leadership meeting. Everyone had a feeling that the significance of this measure might be no less than that of building the walls or developing agriculture.