h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi, I'm Sam - I've come across your entries and I feel compelled to congratulate you on them. They're excellent I don't speak Chinese but I can speak a little Japanese. I am interested in Chinese things though, like the films of Zhang Yimou (often with the lovely Gong Li) and the drinker-poet musings of Li Po (who, while staring up at the moon, slipped and fell into the lake and drowned). A while back I wrote a short story about this and if I can find it, I'll post it up.

The Chinese seem to know a lot about health, too. Daniel Reid's *The Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity* is a fascinating introduction.

Don't know what to make of Taoism. On the one had it appeals, on the other it doesn't. As a Hong Kong film-maker once said to me (I can't remember his name) "Watch out for that Taoist stuff - believe in that too much and you end up doing nothing!"

I like Hermann Hesse and I have a vague inclination towards something like an east/west mind - a cosmic combo... something like that, anyway (the philosopher Jung talks about this).


Take it easy

Sam

Hi there, Sam, thanks for writing. I just got done writing an entry called Tones In Mandarin, but I think I screwed up and posted a couple of rough drafts along with the final copy. Ah, the life of a novice. Try the latest version, if you're interested- it's the good one.

As for Gong4 Li4, you are not the first person to fall under her spell! Recently, she's been doing t.v. commercials for Gai4Zhong1Gai4 (a vitamin supplement, I think), and I saw her intervewed a couple of weeks back. She's not working with Zhang1 Yi1Mo4 anymore...hmmmm.

I would agree with your HK friend about Dao4 ists- they don't do anything! Honestly, I've read Dao4ist poems about how wonderful it is that the poet's children can't tell the difference between 6 and 7 (uneducated children being much, much less likely to become involved in politics, wars, etc.)

Dao4 ism seems like a great idea, but on the other hand it seems pretty selfish, questing after immortality for yourself, and almost cynical in the way that it advocates turning one's back on human affairs. That's what life is all about, after all! We need people to get more invloved in solving problems, I'd say.

As for Li3 Bo2, he is a master. His poem about dancing with the moon and his own shadow is world famous, and rightfully so. You might enjoy reading poems by Li3's contemporary and friend, Du4 Fu2. His "Northward Journey" is very moving, taking as its subject the aftermath of the An2 Lushan (forgotten his tones, sorry) rebellion in the Tang2 Dynasty. I am also very partial to the work of Su1 Shi1, a Song4 dynasty poet.

Chinese literature has an almost inexhaustable wealth of treasures like these- but I have only scratched the surface. Anyway, it's nice to know that there will always be something new to discover, right?