Beijing Travelogue

北京紀遊 Beijing Travelogue By Catherine Chuang 蘇莊 碧雲天﹐黃葉地﹐秋色蕭蕭﹐寂寞京師﹐空寥無極﹐人間天上皆是情。 深似海﹐偶相逢﹐飄萍一生﹐難回憶。 Green Cloud Day Yellow leaves on the ground Color of autumn with chill The lonely capital is vast without end This world and above all with love Deep as an ocean Meet by chance Like patches of drifting duckweed Hard to reminisce 又在秋季來到北京﹐已習慣美國不浮華的簡單日子﹐不食人間煙火的﹐一下子投入中國首都﹐如置身紅塵十丈。

I arrived in Beijing again in the autumn. I am so used to the American simple life, without tasting the bustling of the capital. 搭了12小時的飛機﹐深夜﹐迷朦中﹐被一陣柔和的音樂喚醒﹐不知今夕何夕﹐原來是電視機未關﹐正在播演“寶蓮燈”﹐沈香救母的故事﹐優美的男音把中國語言唱的好動聽。

After a 12 hour flight, in the deep night, I was awakened by a wave of soft song. Where am I? It was the sequel of the ancient folklore, "Treasure Lotus Lantern". It is about Sheng Xiang, who saved his mother. It was sung by a very tender male vocalist. 小時後大概六歲﹐母親帶我去看此部民間文學電影﹐是香港拍的﹐由她在南京的四明女校同學林黛所當綱演沉香﹐她嫁給云南軍閥﹐龍雲的兒子﹐但卻為情自殺。

When I was 6 years old, I saw this movie with my mother. It was made in Hong Kong, and the heroine was played by Linda Lin Dai, her classmate in the capital Nanjing SiMing middle school. Linda Lin Dai later was married to a Yunlan warlord's son, but she committed suicide in her heyday after winning several best actress awards in Asia. 如今﹐又是新一批人馬在演同樣的劇本﹐想必有千年﹐共產黨不再演江青提倡的樣板戲﹐在香港看到的猙獰的殺人犯模樣的演技﹐已被中國人民傳 統的民間文學藝術代替﹐演的有情感﹐這是我認為中國進步的地方。

Today, another group is playing the same 'folklore' with a thousand year old touching story. Chinese are no longer playing Mao's wife, Jiang Qing's cookie sheet revolutionary style show, with bloodthirsty stare to want to persecute people. This is the progress of China, I think. The acting is very well with great emotion.