xhu

Part of my novel "Red River".

Sha Yan

Love

..................

The music started. It started with the smooth harmony like country and river. I liked the harmony and the modernization rhythm. I looked at Catherine, and found she is concentrating on the music, very enjoying. I sit back and started to enjoying the music myself.
The music went on for nearly two hours. I can see Catherine enjoyed the music, until the finish. I was quite happy. I thought she was happy too. I started to think to invite her sometime again to concerts, maybe arts museum, as there are quite a lot of art museums in Montreal.
After the music performance, we had coffee near the concert hall. And we talked a little about the music. I asked her, “do you enjoy the music.” She said to me with a smile, “yes, I do, it is very interesting music.” I said to her again, “then next time, we can come here again.” She raised her head, then said, “sure.”
When we had coffee, I talked a lot to her. About my family, my experience in America, but I tried to avoid my career now in Canada. She was stirring the coffee, without saying much. Suddenly, she said, “I saw you with another girl.” I realized that she might saw me the other day when I went to the concert with my girlfriend. But I pretended, “when?” I said.
“The day I had the concert, you came…” she said seriously and unhappily, “…with this girl, “ she stopped.
“Is she your girl friend?”
By now I can not lie to her, “yes,” I said with a smile, “my girlfriend.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I don’t have the chance,” I said.
I leaned to her, and said to her, “I… what can I say? …I love you more than her.”
I suddenly have some nerve, “I love you because you are beautiful, strong, decent, and … elegant.”
“Really?” she whispered.
I leaned to her again, raised up my limb, touch her face with my finger. She did not say nothing, there are tear drops in her beautiful eyes. “Really?” she said again.
“really.”
She smiled. And she turned her body away from me.
“I wanna go home now.”
“OK,” I said.

When we arrived at her apartment, she invited me for tea. She lives in a tall apartment building in downtown. It was about ten now. The dark blue summer sky filled with the moisture. It was a little humid, and it wasn’t too hot. Half moon night, I sighed. The sky was painted apparently with dark blue color. There weren’t too many people walking on the street. Larks have already slept at this time of the night. It was quiet, just some cars rushes over the streets had some sounds.
We walked in the apartment building; and went to the 9th floor. She brought out the key and opened the door.
After I entered into her living room, she told me, “have a seat on the sofa, I will make tea.” Then she quickly went into her kitchen.
There are some magazines laid on the tea table. In the corner, there is a large delicate stand with a mini CD player on the stand. Another corner is empty, and her fiddle was hanged over a metallic hook on the floor. Beside it, it is a bass. I turned my eyesight to the table beside the window. I saw a red single rose standing in a vase caught my attention. The rose is fresh. And you can see the trace of dews on the leaves and the flower. It is a delicate brownish vase with lilies painted on the outside. I picked the McLean on the tea table, sit on the sofa beside it and started to browse the pages.
In about five minutes, Catherine went out of the kitchen, carrying the blue tea set. Then she sit on the sofa, poured out some tea in the tea cup until fill. She handed me the cup, and said, “try it, it is Chinese green tea.” I smiled to her and took the tea cup, sipped the tea. The fresh smell of the tea with its special Chinese tea fragrance filled my mouth. I swallowed the tea, and told her, “it is good.” She also sipped the tea along the cup, then she smelled the tea with a deep swell, smiled to me.
She turned away from me, approached the CD player in the corner, played the music. The slow rhythmical Waltz started to fill the room. Then she asked me, “want to dance with me.” I said, “well, … I don’t dance too much.” Then I immediately said again, “I never liked dancing very much.”
“Oh, …” She said with some disappointment.
“You will learn it sometimes, I can teach you how.” Then she again said.
“Ok, maybe some times.” I said.
Then I started to think of her. She is such a smart lady. I remembered the other day when she is playing the violin, her 5th anniversary.

xhu

中国人卖书就是这样，先让人看点内容，看了好了才让人掏钱。可这个洋人不理解，他宁可买有评论的，名声在外的，得奖的，古典的。洋人真不聪明，他就买中国人作得翻译的作品而不买没有名声也是中国人作的英文作品，有点滑稽。我是指我的散文，和很多中文翻译出来的是一样的，可人家就不买我的英文原创。没办法，作评论吧，可评论不是一切，往往不甚了了。感觉到这卖书很吃力了，真是吃力不讨好啊！中国人，更别想他掏钱买英文作品了，吃饭还嘿持嘿持的。。。。。。。。

xhu

都说东方不亮西方亮，我看是反过来的，老外不买我的书，好像在北美没一个中国人畅销书作家，中国人作家在美国倒是不少，加拿大倒也不多。抢人家饭吃，先别说你写的有多棒，得求着点，这个到符合中国人做生意特点了，一向是求财的。。。。。。。。。

xhu

The title of the hardcover "Chinese Incarnation" by Sha Yan was changed to "China Tower", also a hard cover by Sha Yan. 中文名是“中国塔”，沙雁作。

Please check the website below for ordering info.

http://www.lulu.com/product/hardcover/china-tower/11903309

xhu

林语堂“京华烟云”最早版本是英文的，书刚出来卖了一万多本。真羡慕他，那时中华民国国民在世界上地位比现在从中国来的移民高，外国人也对中国人的文章感兴趣。现在就难，书是很难卖，人家不骂你抢人饭吃就对你不错。。。。。。。

xhu

旧道德好得很，旧道德不吃人，鲁迅错了。只有现实是吃人了。鲁迅当时得现实是，他不批有人会批，他批了，也因他左派文人的身份批出了名。。。。。。。

xhu

中国人多现实啊！吃的人恐怕比加拿大人多吧！

xhu

喝香槟，吃人，意像上的。。。。。。。鲁迅也吃人，他吃了他妹妹，分了几片吃了还不知道自己吃了人。。。。。。。

Champagne, marinated, ice cream, coffee and tea


The racetrack is the hottest spot in the summer. Racers are all engaged to start. Audiences are getting popcorn, ice cream and hot dogs. It is hot and sweaty. T-shirts sales people are going here and there to sell race car T-shirts. Personnel of the F-1 formula race are working with their fullest potential.
Summer is the best season of this place. Sunshine, trees, flowers, campground, and swimming pools are people's most love. Sweet smiles on girls face and steady please and thank you from guys' mouth in every shop you visit make sure you are still in heaven. Grilled chicken, marinated, fries and salad, dish everyone wants to order in all seasons comes into everyone's home, a gas powered BBQ oven in one's back yard is definitely an asset. When time past 5pm, lines of traffic on the high way facing the coming down sun in the slightly reddish and golden shiny sky move slowly and quietly. TVs just finish American soap opera and get ready to let everyone know what happen in the world and the city today. When the sky turns dark, local restaurants, bars, dance clubs and downtown streets are full with people's laughs, jokes and humours. Restless cityThe next morning, an alarm wakes you up. After coffee, toast and a TV newsbreak and a couple of phones calls to the bank and the insurance company and stockbrokers, you are on your way to work with your new Pontiac Grand AM. At the lunch break. Grilled chicken, marinated with fries come across your mind, one more thing, salad and coffee, maybe Pepsi.
Seasonal alternation comes fast, moments of glory on maples and oaks with some aged dark brownish grayish barks slipped away from my mind. Yearly sea brushed natural stones on the shore standing tall and round from coast to coast are all over in this place. The prime time on newscast is always fast paced at clock speed. Slowly, the first crystal shiny snow flick drops to this Northern land. By the time Christmas comes, exhausted year and passionate people in the city and the country are all celebrating in their home beside their fireplace or at dinner parties. Nut Cracker and Tin Soldier are the best Christmas shows here.
On the other side of the earth, in the early morning northern China, traditional hot soymilk with a deep fried historical bread stick takes everyone's dinner table. At about the same time, Tiananmen Square and parks scattered throughout the city fill with people at all ages practicing Qi Kong and Chinese martial arts. After 8am, streets are full of bicycles and motor vehicles. The city gets busy. Beijing has lots of government departments, agencies, and universities and research institutes and companies from local and all over the world, as the capital city of China. Shopping centres, supermarkets and stores in the city open their doors at nine. They are the best places for visitors, housewives and some others. Sports centres and gyms in the morning are not very busy, but personnel are all looking at engaging for the afternoon. One quarter past ten, an old retired factory worker brings his tea cup, joining two others carrying their tea cups and Chinese chess set at the corner, heading to the park two blocks north. When the lunch time comes, Chinese fried chicken competing with Kentucky fried chicken beside McDonalds does not attract a lot of customers' attention, rather in beef noodle restaurant next to them, a line is formed. Well, McDonalds then, impatient young men and well dressed office women are arguing. Their older aged male manager say, let's have Korean BBQ beef. Of course, the check will be billed on corporate credit card. Time past three, busy phone lines still make receptionist headache transferring callers to managers, associates, agents and others. By 5pm, one associate still hasnt figured out how he will finish his own work, the manager requested him to work it out for the remaining of the day. He will get a good pay for his overtime, and if he did a good job, he would be better rated for the once a year yearly bonus. And his good work will be directly reported confidentially to the company headquarter in Hong Kong. That means the next time his manager went to a different department, his record would be shown on company president's name list. Well, 7% GDP growth in modern China every year does not come from nothing, and it does not lead to nothing.
Back to this place, passionate high school students carry their beautiful school bags to and from their educational institutes. They study almost the same as people elsewhere, one more important subject they study is the moral. School districts directors always have these in their mind. After school in the afternoon, people always stop by at the ice cream shop in the corner and buy a delicious ice cream. Math class is the top priority in high school education here. Well, engineers here earn a lot, and life isn't easy. Students here wish to become a doctor, a dentist, an engineer, a scientist or an artist since very young, and they work hard. Back to China, adults always ask young boys and girls, What do you want to be in your future?Answers are the same. I wanted to be a teacher, I said, I remembered. School teachers are considered the most godlycareer there. Beer, please, here I am when the waiter passes by. I was smiling at my choice while I was having my beer; it is a brave one to become king of monkeys.
Time goes by fast, arts, science, literature and engineering always take my mind. It has been quite a while since my last employment. Last one was short. Linear fit with a suitable least square value did make computer on my desktop running smoothly wild. By 2004, an advanced 64 bits AMD commercial personal computer enters into the market place, before that, IBM Super Blue and Chinese Galaxy competed with each other in their processing speed for building nuclear bombs. A couple years ago, Romanias Kasterof defeated IBM Deep Blue with a score 3:2 is still record breaking for high speed computing. It has been quite sometime since the invention of this device. Now almost everyone has obtained one at home here, and of course, the country is computerized and everything looks running at the computer speed. Time after 5pm, lines of traffic facing the golden shining sunset is still calm and quiet. Cities in this continent relaxed after NYSE, NASDAQ and TSE closed their last bid.

It only takes a while standing in a line to order a cheeseburger at McDonalds, maybe it takes a little shorter at Harveys. For a couple dollars more, you can get a good grilled marinated chicken meal. Students at campus can get a cheaper price on their meals. Coffee, Pepsi and Coke do not sell expensive too. 6pm news session specially talked about mad-cow disease, anyway, antibiotic bred beef does not make you a better appetite, even with a top bloody-Mary cocktail. People here buy cheap market price chicken at well-regulated supermarket. Life isn't easy.
The time for high school students going to colleges has come. Med-school, dental-school, law school, science, engineering and arts and education and social science are on their lists. They usually get what they want; lost ones go into their second or third choice of their applications. Well, education with specific religious or moral ingredients takes every students' and school districts directors mind. Top priority in this place is not easy too.
At the start of college students' academic life, well-disciplined seniors do not give their young student fellow an easier time. After a couple of lecture classes, student fellows always say, piece of cake. Like tackling problems do not need much time. Physics, chemistry, math, biology with some social science electives filled with one's busy schedule. They now want tutors in their spare time in order to get a good grade in their next quiz despite of only regular lecture hours. After fully completing their exam books, they went home, instead regretting about the mistakes they made, they move forward to the one and the next one exam. When the spring break comes, people skiing in the countryside mountains are most young college students. On Saturday night, downtown pubs and dance clubs filled with strange and familiar faces in the dark remind one to have a beer here sometimes again. Unlike those in China, professors here never rank their students; likewise, they do not announce one's grades in the classes. Still, straight A's never come easy. But Bs or Cs can make one graduate too.
Time has approached the final exam; students are busy at preparing themselves for the exam. The exams are not easy, most students can make it, and some of them, can perform very good and obtain good results. There are some students among student fellows cannot make to the end of the competition. They lost the race in the first round. Winning students went on for their college education, and spent stressful time over and over again until they made to the end of the race. Sometimes, they play PC games with an advanced ATI Rage-Pro video graphic card. Lost ones are not easy, they may want to start again after initiating some action on their own behalf starting a different program or repeating classes they failed. Of course, more caution will take place deliberately this time. They will stop saying things like piece of cakeand continue to be stressful. Some of these young men may decide directly to abandon what they have already made and go on for a different life after consulting with their parents, like joining the work force. Highly competitive environment is not built for everyone.

Graduation does not come easy. Alternation of seasons makes one think and feel matters differently. After the successful moment when the school principle congratulates one with a satisfied smile, he/she moves forward to dive into the pool of crowdedness. Some may want to continue their education towards higher, and then, they engage themselves into a new sound familiar racetrack or brand new ones. Life went on and on, so was the race.
When the street light turned red early evening, my cab stopped right at the front of the traffic, a song ...doctor and dentist, she drives all day...playing on FM radio got into my brain. It seems the best human genome can offer spreads wide here. I think the song was sung by a good singer of its kinds. Right, doctors, dentists, lawyers, scientists and engineers and some others are the best careers in this world. Racers are on the right track in this fast paced world. Modern computers have a glorious history of more than twenty years already, as the most frontier and advanced technology human ever invented.
After having a burger as my lunch, I went into a cafe, and ordered a cup of coffee. After sitting down, I figure what I eat do not relate to what I do, really, I don't know why. Don't know what others may think though. After I finish my coffee, I walked along on the street. Sunshine in the early afternoon in the spring here is warm and comfortable. Strangers with familiar English accent walk while talking to others on the downtown streets. Movie advertising on the main street caught me, the American movie Lost in Translationwould be the one on my must watch list. Life became less stressful after my last employment.
F-1 formula racetrack is still hot. Hot and steamy weather condition makes people sweat a lot. One round after the other, fully engaged racers driving their sponsors' race car are just in their best mood to challenge each other. Excited fans and audiences are weaving their hands and T-shirts and cheering for the excitement. Elsewhere, the swimming pools are full of people, so are the gyms and the weight rooms. After the NHL Hockey season, NBA, NFL and baseball courts are the new hot spots. Selected from students, sports professionals are engaging themselves for whatever competition they face in their career and their life. The best out of the best enters the championship, the world championship, Olympics and the winter Olympics. Champagne does not taste easy, but it surely tastes good.

xhu

中国人也该读读英文文学，有的很深刻的。。。。。。。。我不会很矫情地说不是为了自己能多卖几本书，嘿黑，我不会。。。。。。。。

xhu

Post by xhu;2648972
喝香槟，吃人，意像上的。。。。。。。鲁迅也吃人，他吃了他妹妹，分了几片吃了还不知道自己吃了人。。。。。。。

Champagne, marinated, ice cream, coffee and tea


The racetrack is the hottest spot in the summer. Racers are all engaged to start. Audiences are getting popcorn, ice cream and hot dogs. It is hot and sweaty. T-shirts sales people are going here and there to sell race car T-shirts. Personnel of the F-1 formula race are working with their fullest potential.
Summer is the best season of this place. Sunshine, trees, flowers, campground, and swimming pools are people's most love. Sweet smiles on girls face and steady please and thank you from guys' mouth in every shop you visit make sure you are still in heaven. Grilled chicken, marinated, fries and salad, dish everyone wants to order in all seasons comes into everyone's home, a gas powered BBQ oven in one's back yard is definitely an asset. When time past 5pm, lines of traffic on the high way facing the coming down sun in the slightly reddish and golden shiny sky move slowly and quietly. TVs just finish American soap opera and get ready to let everyone know what happen in the world and the city today. When the sky turns dark, local restaurants, bars, dance clubs and downtown streets are full with people's laughs, jokes and humours. Restless cityThe next morning, an alarm wakes you up. After coffee, toast and a TV newsbreak and a couple of phones calls to the bank and the insurance company and stockbrokers, you are on your way to work with your new Pontiac Grand AM. At the lunch break. Grilled chicken, marinated with fries come across your mind, one more thing, salad and coffee, maybe Pepsi.
Seasonal alternation comes fast, moments of glory on maples and oaks with some aged dark brownish grayish barks slipped away from my mind. Yearly sea brushed natural stones on the shore standing tall and round from coast to coast are all over in this place. The prime time on newscast is always fast paced at clock speed. Slowly, the first crystal shiny snow flick drops to this Northern land. By the time Christmas comes, exhausted year and passionate people in the city and the country are all celebrating in their home beside their fireplace or at dinner parties. Nut Cracker and Tin Soldier are the best Christmas shows here.
On the other side of the earth, in the early morning northern China, traditional hot soymilk with a deep fried historical bread stick takes everyone's dinner table. At about the same time, Tiananmen Square and parks scattered throughout the city fill with people at all ages practicing Qi Kong and Chinese martial arts. After 8am, streets are full of bicycles and motor vehicles. The city gets busy. Beijing has lots of government departments, agencies, and universities and research institutes and companies from local and all over the world, as the capital city of China. Shopping centres, supermarkets and stores in the city open their doors at nine. They are the best places for visitors, housewives and some others. Sports centres and gyms in the morning are not very busy, but personnel are all looking at engaging for the afternoon. One quarter past ten, an old retired factory worker brings his tea cup, joining two others carrying their tea cups and Chinese chess set at the corner, heading to the park two blocks north. When the lunch time comes, Chinese fried chicken competing with Kentucky fried chicken beside McDonalds does not attract a lot of customers' attention, rather in beef noodle restaurant next to them, a line is formed. Well, McDonalds then, impatient young men and well dressed office women are arguing. Their older aged male manager say, let's have Korean BBQ beef. Of course, the check will be billed on corporate credit card. Time past three, busy phone lines still make receptionist headache transferring callers to managers, associates, agents and others. By 5pm, one associate still hasnt figured out how he will finish his own work, the manager requested him to work it out for the remaining of the day. He will get a good pay for his overtime, and if he did a good job, he would be better rated for the once a year yearly bonus. And his good work will be directly reported confidentially to the company headquarter in Hong Kong. That means the next time his manager went to a different department, his record would be shown on company president's name list. Well, 7% GDP growth in modern China every year does not come from nothing, and it does not lead to nothing.
Back to this place, passionate high school students carry their beautiful school bags to and from their educational institutes. They study almost the same as people elsewhere, one more important subject they study is the moral. School districts directors always have these in their mind. After school in the afternoon, people always stop by at the ice cream shop in the corner and buy a delicious ice cream. Math class is the top priority in high school education here. Well, engineers here earn a lot, and life isn't easy. Students here wish to become a doctor, a dentist, an engineer, a scientist or an artist since very young, and they work hard. Back to China, adults always ask young boys and girls, What do you want to be in your future?Answers are the same. I wanted to be a teacher, I said, I remembered. School teachers are considered the most godlycareer there. Beer, please, here I am when the waiter passes by. I was smiling at my choice while I was having my beer; it is a brave one to become king of monkeys.
Time goes by fast, arts, science, literature and engineering always take my mind. It has been quite a while since my last employment. Last one was short. Linear fit with a suitable least square value did make computer on my desktop running smoothly wild. By 2004, an advanced 64 bits AMD commercial personal computer enters into the market place, before that, IBM Super Blue and Chinese Galaxy competed with each other in their processing speed for building nuclear bombs. A couple years ago, Romanias Kasterof defeated IBM Deep Blue with a score 3:2 is still record breaking for high speed computing. It has been quite sometime since the invention of this device. Now almost everyone has obtained one at home here, and of course, the country is computerized and everything looks running at the computer speed. Time after 5pm, lines of traffic facing the golden shining sunset is still calm and quiet. Cities in this continent relaxed after NYSE, NASDAQ and TSE closed their last bid.

It only takes a while standing in a line to order a cheeseburger at McDonalds, maybe it takes a little shorter at Harveys. For a couple dollars more, you can get a good grilled marinated chicken meal. Students at campus can get a cheaper price on their meals. Coffee, Pepsi and Coke do not sell expensive too. 6pm news session specially talked about mad-cow disease, anyway, antibiotic bred beef does not make you a better appetite, even with a top bloody-Mary cocktail. People here buy cheap market price chicken at well-regulated supermarket. Life isn't easy.
The time for high school students going to colleges has come. Med-school, dental-school, law school, science, engineering and arts and education and social science are on their lists. They usually get what they want; lost ones go into their second or third choice of their applications. Well, education with specific religious or moral ingredients takes every students' and school districts directors mind. Top priority in this place is not easy too.
At the start of college students' academic life, well-disciplined seniors do not give their young student fellow an easier time. After a couple of lecture classes, student fellows always say, piece of cake. Like tackling problems do not need much time. Physics, chemistry, math, biology with some social science electives filled with one's busy schedule. They now want tutors in their spare time in order to get a good grade in their next quiz despite of only regular lecture hours. After fully completing their exam books, they went home, instead regretting about the mistakes they made, they move forward to the one and the next one exam. When the spring break comes, people skiing in the countryside mountains are most young college students. On Saturday night, downtown pubs and dance clubs filled with strange and familiar faces in the dark remind one to have a beer here sometimes again. Unlike those in China, professors here never rank their students; likewise, they do not announce one's grades in the classes. Still, straight A's never come easy. But Bs or Cs can make one graduate too.
Time has approached the final exam; students are busy at preparing themselves for the exam. The exams are not easy, most students can make it, and some of them, can perform very good and obtain good results. There are some students among student fellows cannot make to the end of the competition. They lost the race in the first round. Winning students went on for their college education, and spent stressful time over and over again until they made to the end of the race. Sometimes, they play PC games with an advanced ATI Rage-Pro video graphic card. Lost ones are not easy, they may want to start again after initiating some action on their own behalf starting a different program or repeating classes they failed. Of course, more caution will take place deliberately this time. They will stop saying things like piece of cakeand continue to be stressful. Some of these young men may decide directly to abandon what they have already made and go on for a different life after consulting with their parents, like joining the work force. Highly competitive environment is not built for everyone.

Graduation does not come easy. Alternation of seasons makes one think and feel matters differently. After the successful moment when the school principle congratulates one with a satisfied smile, he/she moves forward to dive into the pool of crowdedness. Some may want to continue their education towards higher, and then, they engage themselves into a new sound familiar racetrack or brand new ones. Life went on and on, so was the race.
When the street light turned red early evening, my cab stopped right at the front of the traffic, a song ...doctor and dentist, she drives all day...playing on FM radio got into my brain. It seems the best human genome can offer spreads wide here. I think the song was sung by a good singer of its kinds. Right, doctors, dentists, lawyers, scientists and engineers and some others are the best careers in this world. Racers are on the right track in this fast paced world. Modern computers have a glorious history of more than twenty years already, as the most frontier and advanced technology human ever invented.
After having a burger as my lunch, I went into a cafe, and ordered a cup of coffee. After sitting down, I figure what I eat do not relate to what I do, really, I don't know why. Don't know what others may think though. After I finish my coffee, I walked along on the street. Sunshine in the early afternoon in the spring here is warm and comfortable. Strangers with familiar English accent walk while talking to others on the downtown streets. Movie advertising on the main street caught me, the American movie Lost in Translationwould be the one on my must watch list. Life became less stressful after my last employment.
F-1 formula racetrack is still hot. Hot and steamy weather condition makes people sweat a lot. One round after the other, fully engaged racers driving their sponsors' race car are just in their best mood to challenge each other. Excited fans and audiences are weaving their hands and T-shirts and cheering for the excitement. Elsewhere, the swimming pools are full of people, so are the gyms and the weight rooms. After the NHL Hockey season, NBA, NFL and baseball courts are the new hot spots. Selected from students, sports professionals are engaging themselves for whatever competition they face in their career and their life. The best out of the best enters the championship, the world championship, Olympics and the winter Olympics. Champagne does not taste easy, but it surely tastes good.

似乎还不太深刻，但不敢说，怕洋人放火烧我。像鲁迅那样子写的话，在西方恐怕被教会烧了吧。。。。。。。。