12.2
A Chinese Proverb (2)
About two weeks ago, with a good friend of mine, I visited a scenic area known for its long history of ginkgo trees. We were supposed to see the golden leaves of the ginkgo trees, but it was not a good time because the leaves were just beginning to turn yellow.
Last Saturday, while hiking to a famous ancient academy in a small village, I saw some golden ginkgo trees beside the trail. I took a video of them, which you can watch here.
There’s a perfect proverb for this kind of situation: 有心栽花花不开，无心插柳柳成阴
Literally, it says that one plants a flower but the flowers don’t bloom, while she pokes a stick in the mud and it grows into a tree.
It means that things do not always turn out as one would expect. Well-laid plans may fail, and success may come where you least expect it.
12.5
Baby Panda
A couple of days ago, I made a Brazilian friend online. She likes pandas, so I told her the story about the first time I saw a baby panda.
It was over ten years ago. I traveled to Chengdu with two of my best friends. We ate many different yummy foods and had a lot of fun so we were a little tired.
But my friends still wanted to go to the Research Base of Giant Panda, which was quite far from our hotel.
Although I preferred plants to animals and just wanted to have a relaxing day, I followed them to the base. Because our rule was “the majority wins”.
You can imagine my low spirit after being stuck in traffic and then walking a very long distance.
Then we were pushed into the baby panda area by the crowd. Suddenly, I was delighted.
Servel baby pandas were basking in the warm sunshine on a hillside, about four meters away from us. They were laid down on a blanket by their babysitters. Most of them were obedient, but one of them was different. Its babysitter wanted to let it face toward us, maybe just to be polite. But it didn’t want to do that. It always turned its ass toward us. Its babysitter tried to adjust it a few times, then gave up.
I can’t describe how cute it was, even in Chinese!
That was the day I became a fan of pandas.
12.8
Some Advice about Visiting China During the Spring Festival
Early this week, I saw videos online about the news that UNESCO had added the Spring Festival to the intangible cultural heritage list. Many friendly comments were made below these videos. Some of them mentioned that they wanted to visit China to attend the Spring Festival.
Well, here are some pieces of advice if you have a plan to go:
1. Fly to the destination city directly.
Most people living away from home will return, making it the busiest time for transportation systems in China for about two weeks during the Spring Festival. Whether it is planes, trains, or roads, it will be extremely crowded. Believe me, you will not want to experience it. You can’t transfer trains or planes like you normally would if you don’t get the tickets in advance.
2. Choose a big city as your destination.
Except for the traffic problems mentioned above, markets in many smaller cities will be closed because the workers are going on vacation. Some stores will be closed in big cities too, but your basic needs can still be met.
3. If you prefer an authentic Chinese New Year experience, then you will need to go to a small village.
You can choose a village surrounding the big city where you land, and book a fancy B&B after confirming the activities with the host, especially the upcoming celebrations in the village.
A B&B can provide you with special food for the Chinese New Year, and some fireworks. However, the celebratory activities require a lot of people, so it’s a whole village thing.
Then you can pay the host to pick you up when you arrive.
That’s all for today. If you have any questions or advice, feel free to let me know. I’ll add it later.
12.9
Hiking in a Nature Reserve
Last Saturday, I went on a hike in a nature reserve on a mountain called West Tianmushan.
Many old trees were along the trail up to the top of the mountain. Some of them have been standing on the mountain for over 1000 years. It’s also a very historic place. Many famous people in history have been there. For example, Lu Yu, “the saint of tea”, once picked tea leaves there and said that it was as good as the tea in Longjing.
This mountain has a high attitude. The highest part is above 1500 meters, but the place where I went was just 1000 meters high. Still, I can feel it because when we started hiking below the mountain, it was like autumn, and when we got to the end of the trail, it felt like winter.
I think I froze a little bit so I didn’t feel well when I got home.
I uploaded a short video to record this hike
12.10
A Confusion
I am confused about the meaning of “or” in a negative sentence.
For example, what does the sentence “A does not like B or C” mean?
Does it mean that “A doesn’t like both B and C” or “A doesn’t like one of B and C”？ I thought it was the latter, but somebody told me I was wrong.
Was I? Why？