 |
| Butterfly Lovers, painting on silk | by me |
If you plan on going to Hangzhou, China--or if you are only dreaming of it, or you like folk tales, I highly recommend
Tales of West Lake
by Izabella Horvath. I picked up this little book in Hangzhou. There
are 22 folk stories, each referring to a location around Hangzhou, and
with directions how to get to that location. One of the stories is Butterfly Lovers, a very popular story in China.
Here is a piece from my book soon to be published,
Stories on Silk; a Peek into China
Journal
entry
August
8
We
spent the afternoon in deep conversation with Yang Jian Hua and other
Chinese friends, visiting a beautiful garden park that once belonged
to a courtier of Kubla Khan, and ended the day with a long delicious
meal in a private room in a local restaurant. It was a meeting of the
“Speaking English Club”. Steve’s Chinese friends call him Lao
Wan Tang, which translates to “the ancient child”. I enjoyed the
conversation that slipped effortlessly between English and Chinese.
It didn’t bother me that I understand no Chinese, as I like the
sound of the language and because the tone of the conversation was
companionable and jovial no matter what language was being spoken.
No comments:
Post a Comment