Sway of Chinese language on display

At a recent forum in Hong Kong, Jim Rogers, a Wall Street tycoon, played for the other participants a video of his daughter reciting aloud a classical Chinese poem. This is not the first time Happy Rogers, the elder daughter of the global investor, has exhibited her proficiency in the Chinese language.

At an event in Singapore in April 2013, the then 9-year-old studying in Nanyang Primary School showed off her nearly perfect Putonghua pronunciation and tone when she recited a not-so-well-known poem by Li Qiao, a Chinese poet during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). She won a big round of applause from the audience, most of them Chinese descendants. Happy's sister Baby Bee, then 5 years old, did equally well, singing nursery rhymes in Chinese, with a lovely sigh at the end.

While it is not uncommon for young Chinese language learners to recite ancient poems, Happy spoke in classical Chinese with a fluency that could make even some native Chinese speakers envious.