Every civilisation has a past, and a present and a future, so it is no different here in China. It is just that as a stranger I notice the old character of the architecture thrown into relief by the present-day skyline which is rapidly being taken over by the skyline-in-progress. It shows in the architecture, in their dancing, in their everyday fashion, and in their cuisine. As a stranger, I admire the ancient aspects which the urban avant-garde artists, composers and writers probably scoff at - just as I feel the Jindyworobaks held Oz lit back, and Banjo and Henry Lawson take space on bookstore shelves which should be showcasing contemporary poets and writers. (BTW, in a rare English bookstore in Kunming, called Mandarin Books ironically, I found an old A&R paperback of Christopher Brennan's poetry. I already own it, so I bought Du Fu and and a collection of Tang & Song literature instead.)
In business, in the dim distant past, I tried to live by the principal that what you did today influenced your business tomorrow, so I had better stop rambling here and write a poem in the hope of influencing my published output tomorrow ...
No comments:
Post a Comment