A Special Kindergarten

HE stretched out his hand but he could not fix his eyes on me. After a brief hesitation, I grasped his small, warm, thin hand .From Director Yang who was at my side I knew his name was Du Xin and that he was eight years old. Then I found that part of his forehead obviously protruded and his eyes slanted to both sides. He drew me lightly to him and pointed to a photograph on the wall behind us. In it Du Xin was playing the piano and sitting in a man's arms. When I said "Nice sound," he also said "nice sound." Then he drew me to a corner lit by a colored revolving light. When I said, "How beautiful!" he clapped his hands happily.     

An Ordinary Mind——Woman Bears Tragedies by Practicing Qigong

Iremember clearly how despaired I was seven years ago when I received the doctor's diagnosis of my illness—multiple hysteromyoma. "Mum, you'd better to have the operation," said my 15-year-old son. "Ⅰ'Ⅱ go to the hospital to take care of you." His mention of the operation disheartened me, because I had already had three operations. During these operations, it was my husband who helped me through the difficulties. He cooked delicious food for me and took care of my daily needs. But he has passed away. I did not know how I could go through this fourth operation without his help.     

Small Generation Gap

IT was while I was making milk for my son that I discovered the generation gap between us. A little thing of two years and three months, my son stood on a big chair I brought him and joined me to make milk. Holding a small spoon in his plump little hand, he scooped flour out of a jar and poured it into the feeding bottle and then scooped milk powder and     

Pasta, Shanxi Style Hand-pulled Noodles Loved by Tourists and Residents Alike

I had my most delicious meal with noodles in a small village along the Yellow River. It was on a March day a decade ago, when I had just moved to Shanxi Province. I was out in the field as a reporter, and was exhausted and starving after traveling more than 50 kilometers on foot and by bus. A middle-aged man, whom I did not know, was standing in front of his dugout cave, the traditional dwelling of the Shanxi people." He called to me and invited me to have a meal in his home. Upon entering the cave, I was asked to sit on a kang, a brick bed, while the man's wife busied herself with cooking my meal. In no time a huge bowl of youpomian, noodles with Chinese prickly ash oil, was on the table in front of me. My nostrils were immediately filled with the strong and delicious smell of chili and prickly ash.     

Health Consultation in China

ONE Sunday morning, I noticed some people gathered at a clearing outside a school in which my family had an apartment. Feeling curious, I joined them to find that some young dentists, wearing their white coats, were offering free consultations for people. They were selling toothbrushes and dental floss at the same time. One of my teeth was bothering me. It always felt odd when I bit something cold. I consulted with a young dentist, who was wearing a pair of glasses. He asked me many questions like when had it begun to hurt, if I felt the pain, how long it had been since I had it filled the previous time. He asked me to open my mouth and checked the tooth carefully. "You should have your     

The Origin of "The East Is Red"

"THE east is red, the sun rises. China brought up Mao Zedong. He fights for the happiness of the people, he is a great liberator of the people." All Chinese know this song, but few know the origin of it. Composer Liu Zhi recalled, "I was a young actor in the Yangge Team under the Lu Xun Arts Institute of the Red Army 60 years ago. One folk performer in our troupe called Fang Xianzhang used to make a living by performing on both banks of the Yellow River. He knew a lot of Shanxi folk songs and once taught me a love song called Sesame Oil. It turned out to be the same tune with The East Is Red.     

Dongpo Meat

Su Dongpo (1037-1101), a famous literary figure of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), was fond of pork braised in brown sauce. He liked it so much that he wrote a poem about how to cook the dish. When Su took the post of Hangzhou Prefecture chief in 1089, he organized laborers to dredge the West Lake, store water and irrigate the fields. The locals, knowing that Su liked to eat meat, presented him with gifts of pork to show their gratitude for his good service. Soon, Su had so much pork that he did not know what to do with it He     

郑人买履(英文)

To be like the man from Zheng who bought shoes. (To believe only in dogmas and ignore the objective reality). A man from the State of Zheng was going to the market to buy himself a pair of shoes.Before he left home, he measured his feet with a piece of string. He cut the sting to match the size of his foot. Then he got dressed and set off for the market. It was quite a long walk, and by the time he arrived, it was almost noon. He wasted no time in shopping for     

始终味淡

A man was cooking soup.He fetched a spoonful of the soup and tasted it Feeling ittoo bland,he added some salt.Before long,he tasted the soup again,not the soupin the pot,but that in his spoon.Still it was too bland.Saying to himself,"Somemore salt,"he dropped some extra salt into the pot,in this case,he repeatedlyadded more and more salt to the soup until he exhausted 10 ounces of salt.Even at thiSmoment,he was complaining with a puzzled look."What'S this salt?It's so weird!"     

The Ancestors' Legend

The Fairy Lady of Wushan Mountain Yao Ji, youngest daughter of Emperor Yandi, sent to thesouth of Wushan Mountain in the Three Gorges, was named theFairy Lady of Wushan Mountain. When King Chu Huaiwangwas on a tour to Gaotang. he dreamed of the fair lady. Later,when King Chu Xiangwang was on the same tour, he too mether in a dream. Yao Ji grew a majestic plant, plucked it andmade it an iris. It was said that if stewed and eaten, the one whoate may chance to meet their lover in their dreams.     

Shanghai's Chenghuangmiao Area Boasts Legendary Fare

IF you ask most people, they'll tell you they think their hometown is the best. My husband is no exception. Recently I went with him on my first trip to his native place—a village of rivers and lakes in the southern area of the Yangtze River. He was so pleased when we arrived. You see, he thinks that only the sky of his hometown is truly blue, only the water of his hometown is truly clear. And as far as food is concerned, only the food     

My Ping-Pong Family

WHEN I was born, my father was 40 and my mother was 36. Father is a man of few words and an introverted nature. He belongs to that type of people who are very tough and strong-willed; he has worked hard all his life. Mother, on the other hand, is extroverted and eager to excel. My personality is a combination of both of their characters. Father loves playing ping-pong ardently. He used to be a top player of the Henan provincial team and won the men's singles championship in a contest of five provinces in central and southern China. Mother, a worker at the No. 4 National Textile Mill in Zhengzhou, also loved to play ping-pong when she was young. It was because of the sport that she and Father were brought together and got married. When the Henan     

Promises

AT dusk, I switched on my radio. What I heard was a special call-in program entitled "New Air of the City," on a local music channel; the two silver-tongued hosts were discussing the topic of promises. A young woman with a soft voice managed to get through first. She said that she had been in love for many years. She and her fiance often went to the banks of the Yangtze River in their spare time, lifting stones to look for small crabs, as tiny as fingernails. They liked to raise the crabs in a glass bowl. But one day, there were few stones by the river; they searched for a long time, but found nothing. An old man who was catching fish told them that it was difficult to find those crabs on the bank. Then he took several crabs out of his     

Ying Ning

A young man named Wang Zifu saw a pretty woman on the outskirts of town. Afterwards, he missed her so much that he fell ill. Discovering the reason, his mother lied to him in order to console him. She said the woman was their relative and lived in Nanshan (South Mountain) so it was easy to visit her.     

Making a Life Choice At 15

I am 76 years old this year. I was one of the women cadres who participated in the War of Resistance Against Japan in 1937. I was born in a village located in Shenxian County, Hengshui Area, Hebei Province. Mine was a big family. Two of my uncles were teachers of an old-style private school. They enjoyed a decent social status and were respected by the local people. My father used to work in the county seat; later on, he also returned to his native village. Though he worked as a farmer, he too had had some schooling. At that time, Dr. Sun Yat-sen had established     

A Love Story

LI Zhijun, a platoon leader, was injuredand became blind when he led hismen to remove an unfired gun in1981. Wang Ping was his then fiancee. LiZhijun was in a dilemma-if he told her hehad lost his sight, he was afraid that it woulddevastate her; if not, how long could heconceal the truth? After several days of mentaltorture, he decided to tell her the truth and toask her to leave him.     

It's…Quadruplets!Couple Suddenly Becomes Family of Six

ON January 16, 1993, I received a letter from Shan Jiazhi, professor of gynecology and obstetrics at Shandong Provincial Hospital. In his letter, Shan informed me that a woman would soon give birth to quadruplets and asked me to quickly come to the hospital. In his office, Professor Shan produced two X-rays of the lying-in woman. "This woman, Su Lixin, is a worker with the Jinan No. 1 Machine Tool Factory. Since she was hospitalized, we've applied modern comprehensive measures to control the occurrence of complications and have striven for international standards for the gestational period reaching or surpassing 37 weeks." He then told me that in the United States, 100     

A Pitiable Devil,a Satanic Hero——On Heathcliff's Character in Wuthering Heights

Emily Bronte is one of the most famous and outstanding novelists in English literature. In her only novel Wuthering Heights, Emily successfully depicts a very complex character – Heathcliff,who is the central figure of the whole story. He is regarded as a devil for his brutal behaviors of revenge. However, his ruthlessness on the surface cannot completely reflect the feeling of his interior world. As a matter of fact, he is only a solitary and pitiable man who lives a miserable life since he is born. Although he acts entirely like a devil in pursuing revenge, he still can be called a hero because of the good qualities hidden in the depth of his soul. Heathcliff is such a unique character in Wuthering Heights that it is always difficult for readers to comprehend his inner conflict and make an appropriate judgment for him. This thesis offers a detailed analysis of Heathcliff's special character and gives a new interpretation for the complexity and profundity of human nature.     

Spring Festival Memories: A Common Man Goes Home

1. HAVING eaten labazhou, a kind of rice porridge with nuts and dried fruit eaten on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the Spring Festival was fast approaching. After I finished my college education and became a public servant, it was not easy for me to ask for leave. So, when I walked along the road to my native village, it was already the 24th day of layue(the twelfth lunar month).     

Close to Wurina

AT the Central University for Nationalities campus, I met a Mongolian teacher. Knowing I am a journalist in charge of the column "Ethnic Women," he opened-up. He told me that Mongolian women are traditionally good at singing and dancing, warm-hearted, outspoken and industrious. Pride can be read from his words, "At the Central University for Nationalities, there are a lot of female Mongolian teachers. Prof. Wurina, who teaches the history of foreign literature in the Chinese Department, is one of the most prominent. She is deputy to Haidian District People's Congress of Beijing.