Before I forget...
The China stint is over,
There’s only a week to go,
I packed up a box of souvenirs
And trudged to the ‘you zheng ju’,
They cost me an arm and leg to send
By ‘shui lu lu xin jian, ’
I just have to pack a suitcase now,
Say ‘ron’ to a special friend.
The apartment’s almost empty,
It looks quite bare, forlorn,
As bare as the heart I gave to them
The people of old Zhejiang,
Their lives will go on without me now
As I head to the ‘Fei ji chang, ’
But I take my memories, every one
To the land where I come from.
The children dancing at ‘Dou Mei Li, ’
At the end of Wendi Lu,
The neon signs, the disco bars
And the Chimp from the Wenzhou Zoo,
The rat-tat-chatter of Chinese girls
The smiles from a Chinese cop,
The crazy lady at Ming Hang Lu
At the ‘I am your friend’-ly shop.
The buses rattling by non-stop
That take you to who knows where,
The moonlight rides in a trike, red top,
The crazies that drive ‘Jiao Che’s’,
All this I’ll remember while travelling home,
Then back to my life before,
But many a Chinese Moon will wane
Before I forget Zhong guo!
(Glossary and Pronunciation:
you zheng ju (Yo jung jew) – the Post Office
Shui lu lu xin jian (Shway loo loo shin jen) – Surface Mail
ron – Aussie expression – ‘Catch ya late(r on) .
Zhejiang (Ger –as in Germany – jang) – A Chinese Province.
Fei ji chang (Fay gee chang) – airport.
Dou mei li (Doe may lee) – Do&Me – Chicken place like KFC
Wendi Lu (Wendy Loo) – Wendi Street.
Ming Hang Lu (Meen Haang Loo) – Ming Hang Street.
‘I am your friend’ is the one English phrase known by this lady.
Jiao Che (Jow – as in ouch – Tchur) – Taxi
Zhong guo (Jong gwor) – China.
26 June 2006
poem by David Lewis Paget
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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Related quotes
The Endless Taxi
I staggered out the Monkey Ba
At three... or was it four?
I'd lost my watch and wallet there,
I'd not been there before,
But after drinks or three, I think
I wasn't seeing straight,
I only knew I'd smoked my last
So knew it must be late.
I searched my pockets, plumbed the depths
And found a crumpled note,
A twenty kwai had ‘scaped my eye,
Thank god for kindly fate!
I had a choice of yi bao yan,
A pack of Xinanjiang,
Or I could grab a ‘jiao che' home
At a cost of shi yuan!
I chose the smokes, and spent the ten,
That left me ten to go,
I knew the cost to Xia Lv Pu
Should only be ten kwai,
I hailed a Yellow Jiao Che and
Fell in the open door,
The cabbie grunted ‘na li - ah',
I mumbled: ‘Xia Lv Pu! '
My eyes were somewhat fuzzy
Rolling round my empty head,
I focused on the meter box,
Its numbers glowing red,
‘Shi er', it said, or twelve yuan,
That's when I sobered up;
Of course! Midnight! - the fares increase,
I didn't have enough!
We got to Xia Lv Pu too soon,
I shook my weary head,
And muttered ‘Ming Hang Lu, old chum,
Qu Ming Hang Lu, ' instead;
The cabbie looked me up and down,
Then shrugged and turned about,
And back we went to Ming Hang Lu,
The meter jumped about.
At fifteen kwai we hit the Lu,
I muttered, ‘Qu da Xue, '
‘Cos that was where the campus was,
And where I'd find old Lou;
He'd surely loan me twenty kwai
To pay for the blasted car,
But then I realised... I'd left
Old Lou at the Monkey Ba.
I tapped the dash, and said: ‘Hao de!
Wo yao qu Jiang Xing Island,
The cabbie was looking murderous,
I sensed that he wasn't smiling;
They've got no sense of humour here,
They're all just money crazy,
But still he turned and gunned the cab,
The meter was looking hazy.
By thirty kwai I'd lost the plot,
The Monkey Ba had closed,
Old Lou was nowhere to be seen,
I said: ‘Wo qu Hangzhou! '
He muttered something like ‘Xiagua!
Ni shi bendan, ' he said,
I flung the Xinanjiang at him,
Jumped out the cab, and fled!
So here I am, ten miles from home,
He's headed for ‘gang ting',
I think my luck is running out,
The police will run me in.
I wouldn't mind, a place to sleep
Would do me, I won't fret,
The only thing that bugs me is
I've got no cigarettes! '
(Glossary and pronunciation:
Ba - Bar. Twenty Kwai (Kwy) - 20 yuan
yi bao yan (ee bough yen) - one box cigarettes
Xinanjiang (See nan jang) - Brand of cigarettes
Jiao Che (Jou -as in ouch - Chuh) - Taxi
Shi yuan (Cher you ann) - 10 yuan.
Xia Lv Pu (She ah Luh Por) - a district in Wenzhou
na li - ah (narli-ah) where? The ‘ah' is Wenzhounese.
shi er (Cher aahh) - twelve. Ming Hang Lu (Meen Haang Lou) -
the name of a road. Qu - (chew) go to.
Qu da Xue (chew dar sure) - go to the University.
Hao de - (How duh) - Okay! Wo yao qu Jiang Xin -
(Wore yow - as in ouch - chew Jang Sheen)
I want to go to Jiang Xin Island.
Wo qu Hangzhou (Wore chew Hang-zoe) -
I want to go to Hangzhou - capital of Zhejiang Province, about
300 miles away. Xiagua (She ag wa) - idiot!
Ni shi bendan (Knee sir ben dan) - You're foolish!
gang ting (Garng Ting) - the police station.)
poem by David Lewis Paget
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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I would love mainland Chinese to read my book. There is a Chinese translation which I worked on myself, published in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Many copies have gone into China but it is still banned.
quote by Jung Chang
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I like to have Chinese furniture in my home as a constant and painful reminder of how much has been destroyed in China. The contrast between the beauty of the past and the ugliness of the modern is nowhere sharper than in China.
quote by Jung Chang
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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China Blue
I had seen him in the market,
I had glimpsed him in the rain,
I had tried to pick his trail up
On the Wenzhou-Hangzhou train,
Then he'd seen me drinking Kafei
In a little Shanghai Ba,
And had run the length of Nanjing Road
And fled in a jiao che.
He was Sun Peng Fei, her brother,
She was Sun Ye Ling, I knew,
But I'd always caught her smiling
When I called her China Blue,
She was sweet, and very pretty,
And I'd fallen for her, hard,
In the village school at Ping Yang
When I saw her in the yard.
We had taken to each other
And I'd tried to learn Chinese,
But she warned me of her brother,
He was grim, and hard to please,
And her parents had been angry
When they heard of me one day,
They had told her older brother
‘She'll not marry a yang wei! '
At the end of the semester
China Blue had disappeared,
And I asked the Zhongwen lao shi
If it was as I had feared,
She'd been taken by her parents
And her brother to Shanghai,
Thinking I could never find her,
But I knew I'd have to try.
A needle in a haystack
Would be easier than this,
There are twenty million people
In this huge metropolis,
But I knew that I would see them
If I watched the Nanjing Road,
In that swarm of Christmas shoppers
I stayed put, and watched the crowd,
A week before that Christmas
I could see them, in a queue,
Lining up for western presents,
Mother, father, China Blue,
Then I tapped her on the shoulder
And she turned and smiled at me,
So I took her by the hand
And then I whispered ‘Wo ai ni! '
‘Wo ai ni, ' she answered gladly
Flung her arms around my neck,
While the mother screeched at father,
And the father shook his head,
But they came with me together
And we sat in Mei Don Lao,
Where I slipped rings on her finger
And I made a solemn vow.
Then the mother, I won over,
And the father gave a grunt,
They agreed we should be married
If that's what we really want,
And the brother, he's no trouble
We go drinking, bowling too,
And I'm soon to be a father
With my love, my China Blue!
14 June 2012
(Glossary:
Kafei - (Karfay) - coffee
Ba - (Bar) - Bar
Jiao che - (Jow Tcher) - Taxi
Peng Fei - (Peng Fay) - male name
Ye Ling - (Yer Ling) - female name
Yang wei - (yang way) - Foreign devil
Zhongwen Lao shi - (Jongwen Lao Sher) - Chinese teacher
Wo ai ni - (war I nee) - I love you
Mei Don Lao - (May Don Lao) - MacDonalds)
poem by David Lewis Paget
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There are now hundreds of thousands of new engineers that are being trained in China. If people start finding themselves losing their jobs, not to the Chinese here but because China has become such a dominant force - then there could very well be a backlash.
quote by Iris Chang
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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When the Chinese first came to San Francisco, they were actually welcomed by the mayor and they had special ceremonies for them-again this is when their colony was very small, only a few Chinese.
quote by Iris Chang
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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In the Chinese county of Xiao Xing
was a poet by the name Hu Ling
when writing a song -
he never went wrong -
for in Chinese, all the words are rhyme Ming.
quote by by Otido Omukuba
Submitted by Dan Costinaş
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Chinese Girls
(jack hues)
A star is shining
Into my eyes
It will not fall
A star is wise
Across the harbor
Perfumed hills
The silent waters
And all is still
Oh yeah
Chinese girls stand, see right through you
Chinese girls can sway
Chinese girls will melt your heart
And take your breath away
Chinese girls would dance with god
Chinese girls dont care
Put their hands around their heads
And through their chinese hair
She is not moving
She does not talk
Birds in her hair
Where she walks
And when she gazes
Theres a pearl
I will not forget
My chinese girl
song performed by by Wang Chung
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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London Bridge Song, The
Joni's lighthearted take on "london bridge" was a crowd pleaser in her mid-sixties club show, before she signed her first recording contract. this transcription includes spoken patter
Combined with her music, enchanted audiences back in the early days when joni was playing the smaller, more intimate venues she has always enjoyed most.
(spoken words are in italics)
London bridge is falling down
See the people in my town
They're the ones who bring it down
(it's true they've been for centuries,
Walking by it and saying, you know,
London bridge really is falling down, poor thing,
It just fell down in shame)
My fair lady-o
London bridge is falling up
Save the tea leaves in my cup
Guess the cup is cracking up
My fair lady-o
(i'll have to get a pyrex one)
London bridge is up for sale
Booze heads put my friend in jail
Spent my bridge money on bail
My fair lady-o
(sure would've like to have bought that bridge)
(couldn't let him go to jail)
If the bridge belonged to me
I would serve you tarts and tea
Smiles, that's all the tolls would be
(don't grant you people would be getting across at all)
My fair lady-o
On the bridge there stands a car
Painted with peculiar flowers
It's the beatles' it's not ours
(guess they're looking at the bridge)
(hope they buy it)
My fair lady-o
London bridge is falling down
(something like that)
London bridge is coming down
Coming down on london bridge
Ice cubes melting in my fridge
(they always, do you know those fridges are terrible, they're always melting things and ice cubes are dripping all over the floor)
(and the vegetables are all rotten and your friend turns to you in her very british way and she says: "you know i paid two bob for this. it smells a bit peculiar doesn't it, but don't you t
.. well, we can serve it anyway" and she does)
Coming down on london bridge
Mutton rotting in my fridge
Coming dow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow
Coming-ming-ming-ming-ming-ming
(a little electronic music there for your pleasure)
Coming down on london bridge
My fair lady-o
song performed by by Joni Mitchell
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Hang On Your IQ
Chinese masseuse,
comes between us talks in haikus,
plastic venus.
Got a headrush,
in her pocket two rubbers two lubes,
and a silver rocket.
Hang on,
hang onto your IQ,
to your ID hang on,
hang on to your IQ,
to your ID I'm lonely Every morning,
my eyes will open wide I gotta get high,
before I go outside.
Roll another,
for breakfast burning clouds around,
and in my solar plexus.
Hang on,
hang on to your IQ,
to your ID hang on,
hang on to your IQ,
to your ID I'm lonely Legs eleven,
makes me stay up late two fat ladies on my back,
and now it's 88.
I'm a fool,
whose tool is small it's so miniscule,
it's no tool at all.
Hang on,
hang on to your IQ,
to your ID hang on,
hang on I'm lonely Oh
song performed by by Placebo
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Somebody who was born in this country who visited China would later face difficulty getting back in to the USA. We have to keep in mind that the struggles of the Chinese against these exclusion laws really laid down the foundations of civil rights law.
quote by Iris Chang
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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London Bridge Song
Jonis lighthearted take on london bridge was a crowd pleaser in her mid-sixties club show, before she signed her first recording contract. this transcription includes spoken patter
Combined with her music, enchanted audiences back in the early days when joni was playing the smaller, more intimate venues she has always enjoyed most.
(spoken words are in italics)
London bridge is falling down
See the people in my town
Theyre the ones who bring it down
(its true theyve been for centuries,
Walking by it and saying, you know,
London bridge really is falling down, poor thing,
It just fell down in shame)
My fair lady-o
London bridge is falling up
Save the tea leaves in my cup
Guess the cup is cracking up
My fair lady-o
(Ill have to get a pyrex one)
London bridge is up for sale
Booze heads put my friend in jail
Spent my bridge money on bail
My fair lady-o
(sure wouldve like to have bought that bridge)
(couldnt let him go to jail)
If the bridge belonged to me
I would serve you tarts and tea
Smiles, thats all the tolls would be
(dont grant you people would be getting across at all)
My fair lady-o
On the bridge there stands a car
Painted with peculiar flowers
Its the beatles its not ours
(guess theyre looking at the bridge)
(hope they buy it)
My fair lady-o
London bridge is falling down
(something like that)
London bridge is coming down
Coming down on london bridge
Ice cubes melting in my fridge
(they always, do you know those fridges are terrible, theyre always melting things and ice cubes are dripping all over the floor)
(and the vegetables are all rotten and your friend turns to you in her very british way and she says: you know I paid two bob for this. it smells a bit peculiar doesnt it, but dont you t
.. well, we can serve it anyway and she does)
Coming down on london bridge
Mutton rotting in my fridge
Coming dow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow
Coming-ming-ming-ming-ming-ming
(a little electronic music there for your pleasure)
Coming down on london bridge
My fair lady-o
song performed by by Joni Mitchell
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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I think because of their terrible past, particularly this century, the Chinese have come to accept cruelty more than many other people, which is something I feel very unhappy about.
quote by Jung Chang
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It's a wonderful thing to see a segment of our population that is open and eager to learn more about Chinese culture. It has filtered into the mainstream. You see credit-card ads on TV with white couples and Chinese babies.
quote by Iris Chang
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The Chinese seemed to be mourning Mao in a heartfelt fashion. But I wondered how many of their tears were genuine. People had practiced acting to such a degree that they confused it with their true feelings.
quote by Jung Chang
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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My Friend...
Hatred filled me up
Lost! ...Give me a map
Seen a friend I named HOPE
Though my friend does not dope
My friend's always up high
I always keep an eye
My friend is tough
My friend doesn't cough
My friend can't laugh
Everytime i see my friend
I can see the solution for my problem to end
Smile i could send
My friend is the only one i want to hang
My friend is not a snake, My friend don't have a fang
My friend soon, I will hang to you
NO my friend, not when i'm blue
It'll be when i get so bored w/ happiness
As well as with loneliness
When i'm plainly who i am
and everyhting seems calm
My friend, it wil be so soon
and i will be your own
my friend hope,
who doesn't dope
but my friend is a special ROPE.
poem by Aez NewHeller
Submitted by Poetry Lover
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China is more prosperous than before. The people have better lives but they are not happy and confident because the scars are still there.
quote by Jung Chang
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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October Silk
I liked the rice candy
at the Chinese market
at University Heights
where the Chinese lady
with the blue-black bangs
wrapped Almond cookies
in cellophane packets
where Pork Fried Rice
came in square containers
with no.3 choice of chow mein,
as people lined up out the door
and into the street
Four lanes of heavy bags
of Jasmine rice and Plum paste
of Green tea and rice cakes
and I stumble into the aisle
You like cookies? the Chinese man
asks holding up the small bag,
leaning over the rows of Bok Choy
and loose-packed Snow-peas
The Chinese lady
moves in October silk
she gives me my Rice candy
and a sample of dried Plums,
the fragrant smell of Jasmine
and Vanilla Bean heavy in the air.
poem by Louise Marie DelSanto
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The End Of The Ming
Out in the hinterland the wild wolves call
While the soldiers shiver, strung along The Great Wall,
Their hands on their quivers, with their arrows, full flight
As they listen for the Manchu troops in the night.
They would beat off the peasants at the Shanhai Pass
As The Wall held firm, for the Ming's last gasp,
But the rebels beat the army of the last of the Ming,
In the city of the Emperor, the Old Beijing.
And they fired the city under Li Zicheng
While the Emperor despaired, he was called Chongzhen,
He threw a final feast for the House of the Ming,
And he called for his daughter, the Lady Chang Ping.
When the feast was over they awaited his word
But he slew each one with the point of his sword,
And his daughter too, bowed down to his will,
Then he fled the palace grounds, to Jingshan Hill.
And there with a rope on a myrtle tree
Chongzhen hung himself as high as could be,
While the leader of the peasants, this Li Zicheng,
Tried to found the Shun, as he buried Chongzhen.
But a General of the Ming, one Wu Sangui
He opened up the gates of The Wall one day,
And the Manchu troops streamed through to Beijing
Where they finished off the army, and Li Zicheng.
It was written in the stars, shining down on The Wall
That a dynasty rises as a dynasty falls,
But the soldiers on The Wall, now finished with the Ming,
Still keep a steady watch for the House of Qing.
For out in the hinterland the wild wolves call
And a soldier's duty is to guard The Great Wall,
For it little matters here about the Emperor's plan,
Just the wives and children of the soldiers of the Han!
poem by David Lewis Paget
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If children were brought up to become non-conformists it would only ruin their lives. So parents all over China who loved their children told them to do as Chairman Mao said. It was not possible to tell them anything else.
quote by Jung Chang
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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