Associating from Europe Trip

I haven’t gone back to Europe to visit for over ten years, maybe because it is too popular for tourists, I don’t want to join the crowds. But one part of Europe I have never visited yet and always wanted to visit that is Scandinavia. I thought probably the best way to visit these smaller countries at one time is by cruising. So in May of 2005, Bill and I booked a ship, Constellation, by Celebrity cruise line. Since the cruise was started from Dover, England, we spent 5 days in England before the cruise, then after the cruise we spent more than a week in Ireland, one of America’s favorite country, but I have never been there either.

Before we left LA, I thought I knew Europe pretty well. This trip is going to be easy. Not like exotic Southern America or Africa that have so much ethnic novelties. But it was surprisingly fresh. Especially after I had just visited China for a few times in recent months, though it made me automatically to compare each other and associating from Europe to China and surrounding of my life from the past to today.

Idyllic Life

In England, we decided to drive by our self, travel to the countryside and stay in the B&B. After ten hours flight, we arrived in London. When we picked up our rental car at Heathrow airport, Bill automatically walked to the left side of the card and tried to open the door, then we both laughed. We forgot in England the driver’s seat is on the right side of the car and the car’s drive on the left side of the road, also the manual transmission was common in England. These conditions kicked me out of the driver seat, so Bill was the only driver.

The first destination was Avebury. After we left the airport, soon we were on the country road. Into my view were the bright golden yellow oil vegetable flowers in full bloom alternated with emerald green crops spread out of the endless rolling hills. The white sheep and black cows scattered all over the ground and embellished the landscape. I deeply breathed the fresh air and felt “ Ho! This is the paradise. This is a real idyllic life.” Only when the automobiles passed by from time to time, it bought me back to the current world. I didn’t believe I was in the 21^st century of England.

We were lost on the road. A young lady with the children in her car stopped and talked to us “May I help you?” she asked. After she learned our B&B address, she said: “I know this place, you just follow me. I will bring you there.” After we made a few turns, we stopped in front of a red brick house. An older lady walked out of the door to welcome us. She is the owner of this B&B, Mrs. Dixon. She and her husband were living in the down stairs, The up stairs had three tiny rooms were for the guests. I chose the one was facing the open country, I could see these brilliant yellow flowers and the pre-historical hill. In the room, the curtains, wallpaper and the bedspread were all decorated with trivial flowers. The prints hung on the wall. The fake flowers inserted in the vase. It was a typical working class taste, but had a clean and friendly atmosphere. If you want to see the real local people’s life, B&B was the best choice. Today In Europe, B&B is still popular, the strangers could stay with the owner in the same house that mean mutual trust, sincere and honesty are still in their custom. Through Mrs. Dixon’s small garden, I walked into the village. In an open space, I had chance to take a close look at English sheep. Their fat bodies with thick furs looked like the squares. I was fully in love with the traditional English style houses, and especially impressed with the straw roof. It was very thick, had carefully cut edges by following the shape of the windows, then covered by a layer of wire. On the wall, the dark wood stripes in the geometric shape had strong contrast with the white wall. They were very artistic, practical and graceful. Some of the houses showed their ages, but quite a few new houses still in the same style. I thought the British knew how to maintain their traditions.

The following days, we visited the Avebury and Stonehenge, the prehistorical sites, then visited the town of Bath and Stow on the Wold. We traveled in between the peaceful open country and the Middle Ages churches, ancient castles and villages. The past and present were harmonic blended together. I felt timeless and asked myself: “how is England, a first world country, at the same time could keep the ancient life style? Here I met people who were gentle, friendly and peaceful. They seemed no rush, no pressure and enjoyed their life style for centuries. They were going to stay at the same speed forever. I started to envy them and thinking of China.

Last summer, I went back to the Inner Mongolia (it is an autonomous region of China). That was my first time went back since I was exiled there twenty-five years ago. I heard, there has been lot of changes. So I chose the grassland as far as I could from the city, up to the north boarder of the Mongolia Country called Xilingelei County. It has high reputation for its fertile and boundless stretch of grassland. With a few old friends, we drove from Beijing heading north. The paved freeways were newly built, but for a long time, I couldn’t see the green color. The lands were dry and in the brown color. The scene indicated that in the past, through many times of the government issued arbitrary and impracticable orders to turn the grassland to the farmland. The result was it became the sandy wasteland. The traditional Mongolia yards were gone, instead the bold brick houses scattered on the open ground. Finally we reached the Xilnigelei County, as soon as we saw the grassland, the oil drilling equipments, the industrial chimneys stood out on the horizon. From time to time, we passed the river, the foul smell assailed to our nostrils. The cause of the smell was the paper factory dumped the wastewater into the river. I heard that the herdsman wanted to protect their land and river, and went to the court, but the owner of the mine and factory used money to bribe the local officials and to buy off the herdsman. Yes, today in China every thing is money. Who has the money who is the winner. The money even led the government’s policies.

China has been poor for centuries, especially from 1949 to 1980. The communist government made China totally isolated from the rest of the world. From early 80^s, the economical reform has led China went to a totally different direction. To be rich has become the number one goal. The whole country was rushed to making money. The people’s attitude was eager for quick success and instant benefit. After 25 years, a lot of people’s wallets were full of money, but the price of richness was high, After there were no protections for the people or the environment. This destroyed both the environment and culture. For instance, to modernize the Mongolia herdsman and make them wealthy, it seemed have to require them to give the right of their life style. Consequently the yards, the horses and the camels were gone. For Mongolians, in their whole history, since they were born, they grow up on the back of the horses. I remembered, 25 years ago, I saw the Mongolia babies even before they could walk, already rode on the back of the horses. This time, when I saw a Mongolia herdsman herding the horses and the same time his children dressed in the western sports jackets standing on the side, he told me that his children don’t know how to ride on horse any more. I could imagine some day the grassland will be gone too. Today the only Mongolia yards left were for the commercial tourism, they are fakes.

It was amazed me that England had been through the Eighteenth Century the Capitalist Revolution, the Nineteenth Century the Industrial Revolution and the Twentieth Century the Technical Revolution plus the two World Wars. Today they still are herding the cows and sheep even though they do drive the automobiles. It seemed they never want to be rich by giving up their traditional life style. The answer probably is because of it widespread higher education, the Christian faith and the democratic system make them to have a choice of more than just the material life. Last summer, I saw the Mongolia herdsman drive on the motorcycle to herding the horses and sheep, I felt a little weird, but they were still Mongolia herdsman and loved their animals.

Strangely, this time I found soothing calmness in my mind in England.

Old Town

Our first stop on the cruise was Copenhagen, Denmark, after that was Stockholm, Sweden, Helsinki, Finland and few more small countries plus the St Petersburg of Russian in Baltic Sea. In Scandinavia, these countries have a lot of similarities in their histories and cultures. My strongest impression of those cities was that I didn’t see any high-rise buildings. This was because they were old, most of them were built from the17^th century to the19^th century. The highest buildings were only four stories with high ceilings, big windows and hand carved decorations on their exterior and interior. They were mostly in the neutral and soft color tones. The exquisite workmanship and their age marks made them looked elegant and magnificent. I saw a lot of that was called “Old Town” in Europe, South America, Asia and rest of the world. They are the most tourist’s attractions in their countries, also they are the windows of their cultures and histories. In Scandinavia, the old towns are maintained very clean and fully occupant. The modern life activities were moving in between the quite streets, squares and the gardens blend together with ancient sculptures and the lush landscapes naturally and harmoniously.

In today’s world, probably only in China doesn’t exist the “Old Town”. It is a shame for one of the oldest country of the world not to have a completed old city to show their consecutive history. Beijing has been the capital of China for over eight hundred years. I remembered, when I was a young child, Beijing had a square shape and was surround by the old city wall, in each corner of the wall had a gate. The whole city had totally 16 gates and towers plus a lot of the street’s gates. They were all built from 14^th Century to 16^th Century period (from The Main Dynasty to Qing Dynasty). In 1949, when Mao’s Communist party occupied in Beijing, some of the scholars suggested keeping the old city as it was and build a new capital at out side of old Beijing. A famous architecture professor Liang Sicheng expressed that the city wall was like a chain of the city. Then a government official, a poor-peasant origin, refuted that the city wall was not like a chain, it was like a shackle. As the result, they dismantled the whole city wall and tore town the most gates and towers (today, only two gates remain). Then the communist government established the headquarter right in the old palace. The old Beijing started to disappeare. Year to year, each political movement made more and more damages of old Beijing. Eventually, the city had changed beyond recognition.

The house, which I grew up, my family lived there for over 30 years, was a traditional Chinese courtyard style and built in the 1930’s. It was located next to the Tinanmen Square on a very quite residential street. In the yard, a huge walnut tree covered almost half of the yard. In the fall, we tasted the fresh walnuts. In the spring, the air was heavy with the aroma of the Lilac flowers. I could hear the crisp sound of the bamboo shoots grow. In the center of the garden, the golden fishes were lively swimming in the pond… But during the Cultural Revolution (from 1966 to 1976), seven families moved in to our yard, they destroyed the antiques, the plumping system and the structure. The whole courtyard was distorted.

I have not living in China for more than twenty years. Each time I go back to China to visit I always try to see my old courtyard to refresh my childhood and youth memories. Even though that courtyard has been ruined or worse, but it is still there and close to Tinanmen Square and the Forbidden City I was familiar with. Then when I look at the rest of Beijing, I feel only surprise and awe. The whole city is now full of huge modern buildings and skyscrapers. The streets extend extremely wide, the city is becoming larger and larger. The traditional Hutton and courtyard houses disappeared. Now most Beijing residents are living in the high-rise apartment buildings. To me Beijing is an ancient, sophisticated city of culture, it was my birthed place, I always have had a deep attachment and warm feeling with it, but now I feel like a stranger. The flashy, the superficial and commercial atmosphere are fill in the city. Beijing is like a monster to me now. Furthermore, other cities of China, it doesn’t matter big or small, they all appeared much the same. Skyscrapers and huge modern buildings are all over the country. The local characters and flavors have all disappeared.

To destruction of the old things does not necessarily to indicate an advance and to establish the new things may become the historical retreat. In recent Chinese history, the Communist used the Utopia dream to incite the poor peasants to rebellion and overthrow the corrupted government. The leader, Chairman Mao, came from a peasant family. He couldn’t avoid the personal instinct, after his army occupied the old capital of China, the throne was too attractive to him. He had to move into the palace and realize his dream of an emperor. Plus the Communism stand for a violent revolution. Of course, they had to break the old feudal city. It was followed their rational. That is way the old Beijing couldn’t escape by sheer luck.

Today the scene of Beijing is reflects the current leaders attitude and Chinese nature. China has eighty percent of the population are peasants, and most of them are uneducated. Through the fifty years of the Communist rule, the majority of the leading cadres at all levels are come from either worker or peasant families. In the early 80^’s, China started the economical reform. Now Chinese are getting richer and some of them have became the Bourgeoisie. In the history, Chinese always have had less reliance on faith and more on the practical. Especially through the Communist period, they prohibited any religions and force people to believe only one faith, the Communism. But the countless political movements, the poor living standard and the corruptions made the Communism not popular any more. When the Communism is gone, these extreme masses of people have left only money. How will they do behave? Most of them are pragmatists. They have no morale, no spirit and no culture. The only standard of life is the materials. The taste of flashy, showy, bombastic, superficial and vanity are all reflected on the city scenes.

In China today only two old towns left. One is a small town named Li Jiang located in the deep mountain of Yun Nan province. Because it was on an out-of-way place, the government forgot to destroy it. Another small town called Ping Yao at Shan Xi province. Because the local government was too poor and had no money to tear it down. Recently the Chinese government was very proud to announced that both towns were listed on the UN Heritage list. Since then they have became the hot spots for tourists.

The Hippies

Probably in today’s world, only one place has an active Hippie community that is in Copenhagen, Denmark. It called Christiania, established in 1971 and continually active to today.

I heard the word of Hippie that was after I came to the United States. I learned that in the 60^’s to 70^’s in the Western world had a big movement. The popular name called Hippie Movement. It began as a protest against the Vietnam War. The people who involved were mostly young college students. Later, it expended to the broader field to include materialism, sexism and racialism, even against the capitalism. They advocated the equality and the freedom. The movement quickly spread out of the Western world. The society was in some degree of a state of chaos. Some of the students’ demonstrations were out of control and conflicted with the authorities. A few students were killed by gunshots of National Guards. Another example of the social equality was: a black homeless man from Harlem, NY city attended the class at Harvard University. Soon he walked out of the classroom, because he didn’t understand what the professor talked about it. At the famous Woodstock gathering in NY State, thousands of people gathered there celebrating their liberation and had openly free sex and illegal drugs… Thirty some years later, now those people in their middle age, most of them came to the realty. They had families and were living a normal life. But the Hippie movement had changed the morality, the culture and the society of the Western world. I would call it the Western Cultural Revolution.

I am in the same age group as those Western rebels, but at the same period (60^’s to 70^’s) I was living in Beijing, China. Coincidently, at the same period, we Chinese had our own Cultural Revolution (1966 to1976), an ultra-lifted political movement. It was manipulate by Chairman Mao who used youngsters to rebellion and against his political opponents. Actually it had nothing to do with culture. These two revolutions had essential distinctions, but in the results of a state of chaos may had some of similarities. At that period of China, the whole education system stopped. There was violence all over the country. So many people were killed and so many antiques were destroyed. The economy was on the edge of collapse. In the beginning of the Cultural Revolution, I was in the junior year at my college. I had no idea what was going on. I created a political cartoon that cost me jai time. My college was closed and the whole school was transfer to the countryside. We worked in the fields as hard labors for years. Then I was exiled to the Inner Mongolia for another three years. For that ten years period, I barely survived, that experience is engraved on my bones and heart forever.

Probably that is the reason I had the curiosity to want to know what was happening at that period in America. Why these two revolutions happened in the same period? Are their had some connections? I heard that some of the Hippies were appreciative of the Chinese Red Guards radical and thoroughgoing revolutionary spirit. Now I have a chance to visit Denmark, I don’t want to miss the opportunity to see some of still alive Hippies.

In the two hours visit of Christiania, I had mixed feelings. It was a ramshackle world, the alternative housing, the carpenter shops, the Hippie Villas and the children’s playground even the furniture in the shop were all pieced together. None of them were complete sets. But the peaceful lanes were clean and showed some of the community rules. At the center of the compound was a few bars and shops with a crowed of people gathering there. When I walked to closer, I saw everybody was drinking. I talked to a middle age man with big beard. He came from England twenty some years ago, seemed he is the original Hippie. I asked him: “what you do every day?” He and a few women next to him happily replied: “we drink here all day long.” On the wall was posted a painted camera with a red cross on top. At the far corner, a few policemen stood there. I heard that because the drug traffic was still active there, so under the peaceful surface there actually was a sensitive and intense situation. The scene made me felt weird and raised a question: What is the meaning of Freedom? This word had never existed under the communist rule. In my youth I never thought and felt of it until I came to the United States. Then I enjoyed the freedom and valued it because I had real life experience living in the two extremely different worlds. So I know how to compare each other. Also I understand that freedom is relative not absolute. In a society, the freedom always related with institutions, rules and regulations. In a person freedom is related with responsibility and duty. Without the reality it is just like a person trying to hold his own hair in order to leave the earth. It is an idle dream. After World War II, America went through almost twenty years of peace and economical prosperity. The Hippies were emerged under these social backgrounds. Most of them came from middle class families. They had a comfortable life not yet seeking a livelihood, and therefore it was easy to believe the idealism that often became the Ultra Radical. But short it was of duration. In the early 80^’s, when I came to the United States I could clearly to see the social problems as result of the Hippie movement such AIDS and illegal drugs were rampant of in the country. But I also saw some of the positive way of changes such as women rights and racial equality that were much improved then the 60^’s and 70^’s I was one of the beneficiaries.

How could the Hippies be still existing in 2005? A thing cannot exist without its base. Today most of the Communist Camp already collapsed. Terrorism has come to the stage. In Scandinavia the Liberals and Socialists have strong influence. Their support may give the Hippie of the Twenty First Century an existing ground. Christiania is a “hot potato” there and often has been used as a weapon to against their political opponents. To me this compound look like an island, it is isolate and out of touch with the realty. The people who live in there either are antiquated Hippies or want to escape from the real world. There is not any vitality rather it is like an out-of-date human mishmash. Or just like those Minority Village and Historical House, the only reason to exist is for commercial tourism and all are fakes.

The Big Older Brother

In the 50^’s, when China and the Soviet Union were at their “Honey Moon” period, Chinese called them “The Big Older Brother” and looked up to them as a model. Chinese learned every thing from Soviet Union. From the economical system to educational system all were copied over. The Russian technicians who came to China led almost every important project. The Chinese government sent their excellent students to Russian to study. The Russian culture flooded with all fields in China.

At that time, I was just began my junior high school, an art academy. In my school, the teaching materials were all copied from Russian. Then I didn’t know many foreign artists, but I knew almost every one of the Russian masters. We read Russian novels, listened to Russian music, watched the Russian movies and learned Russian, the only foreign language it allowed to be thought at that time. This education was deeply marked in my memory and influenced on my life.

Almost a half of century has passed, the world has been tremendously changed: Between China and the Soviet Union became hostile a long time ago. The Communist Camp has collapsed. The Soviet Union disappeared. I have been living in the United States for more than twenty years. Before I couldn’t never dreamed of those changes. Now I had a chance to visit Russian for the first time, I was looking forward to finding some of my childhood idols.

On our cruise itinerary, stopped St. Petersburg for two days. On this trip, only Russian required a visa for an American to visit their country. The complicated situation limited our choice, so we decided to join the two days pre-design tour package that I usually always wanted to avoid. On early morning of May 29th, our ship docked at the port of St. Petersburg. First to come into my view was many huge cranes lined up, I could feel the great size of the port. The bus took us into the city. The sky was gray and the buildings, along the sides of the streets, were also gray. They were huge, old and characterless. Soon we reached the Volga River. The scene suddenly changed, the historical buildings one by one stood along the river. Every one of them had their own character, but the soft neutral color tones were harmonious together. They looked elegant and magnificent. I felt I was into the Nineteenth Century of Russian.

The first stop was The Hermitage Museum, famous for its huge and the world-class arts collection, from the Middle Age to Renaissance and Impressionist. Almost every period of master’s works could be found there. When I was very young I first saw the prints of the artwork from this museum. To see the original master works was my main reason to come to Russian. When we were waiting in the line to get in, I felt I was a pilgrim to pay the masters homage. But after coming into the lobby of the museum, it was full and extremely crowded with tourists. People shoulder to shoulder almost couldn’t move. The hubbub made me feel like I was in the market. Before we started the tour, our guide, Elena, gave us ten minutes to use the restroom. This was the only restroom in the museum we could use. As I walked toward the restroom, I could smell from distance the strong urine odor. The equipments in the restroom were old and filthy. I was surprise to see the restroom of a national museum had such poor management. But on the other hand it seemed familiar with, it was the vestige of the Communism. The Hermitage Museum was a palace built in the 17^th Century by Elizabeth, the daughter of the Peter of the Great, the famous Russian emperor. The design of the palace had strong influence from 17^th Century French style decorated with resplendent and trivial ornaments, combined with Russian magnificent quality. Through many rooms, eventually we reached the section of the master art works. When I stood in front of the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Tizianno, Raphael and Rembrandt, my heart was pumping hard, it was worth the whole trip, forget the bustling crowds. Two and a half hours to visiting the museum were way too short. I could stay there for days.

For the two days we were like sheep, Elena held a small flag and walked in the front. We just followed her. Like any other tourists, we visited The Summer Palace, Petershof, St. Isaac’s Cathedral... On the way to those places, we through many city streets, I saw neither the modern shops nor crowd of shoppers. From Elena, we learned a little bit of the average Russian’s life. Elena who was in her fortieth has typical Russian chubby face. She was a high school teacher. Being a tour guide was her second job “Every body need have to have a second job to be survive.” Her English had a strong Russian accent. Her parent generation suffered more and missed the Communist period, but her daughter’s generation seemed to like the freedom and opportunity. When we passed the residential area, there all apartment buildings, it looked old, dirty and style less, a rather said the communistic style. Elena said: “Some of them were built in Stalin period and some of them built in Heloshafe period. Some of those apartment have to share the kitchen and bathroom between two families.” Today in St. Petersburg 95% of the people were living in these apartments. The majority of them were still living in those old buildings. If you want to buy a new apartment, you have to pay cash by once. No mortgage, no credit, as the banking system was corrupt. Their situation was similar to China today, but much worse.

On the second day, we had our lunch at a luxurious hotel. A local band was performing the traditional Russian music and dance for us. When they started, they sang the song “Caqusha” and “At the Evening of the Suburb of Moscow” I couldn’t help myself and excitedly sang with them. At my table, other tourists curiously looked at me and couldn’t understand how I could know those songs. Oh yes, I do. Those songs accompanied me through my youth.

Finally I found something exciting. But in the two days, I felt a lot of disappointments. Like a childhood dream, after the child grows up and visits that dreamed place, it looked totally different. Because the society changed and I changed too, I am not only grew up but rather to look at things from an American point of view. Thing are different. But one thing would never changes and that is the master’s artwork, it doesn’t matter the times and the ages changes. They always shine their lights absolutely forever. That’s why we call them the Masters.

An Unspoiled Spot

Under a chilly wind, a group of young girls dressed in transparent costumes were dancing on the pier. A full band of musicians stood neatly in line playing the welcome music. Our ship’s captain led his cruise officers dressed in their formal uniforms. The local Mayer was specking on the stage of the welcome ceremony. I hadn’t seen such grand reception on the whole trip. That was in Klaipede, Lithuania, the last stop of our cruise. But it was not in our original itinerary. Our captain decided to change although this ship had never stopped in this country.

At that day (June 1, 2005) the weather was unusually cold plus the chilly wind. We layered up our whole cloths and covered our heads. When I was watching those girls almost naked and dancing under the strong wind, they couldn’t stand still, I was touched. The program and the costume seemed little funny in that environment, but it clearly showed the sincerity.

Who is Lithuania, I repeated the pronunciation then suddenly realized that it was LI Tao Wan (Chinese pronunciation). I knew the name since I was in elementary school. It was one of the Satellite Stars of the Soviet Union. After1990 they became an independent country.

When Bill and I headed into the wind and walked to town, two local TV reporters stopped us. One of them held a video camera another held the microphone and interviewed us with a strong English accent: “Where you come from?” “Is this your first time visit our country?” A short distance from the pier, the amplifier echoed local language in the air to tell the citizens of our arrival. In the town square, a lot of small vendors just set up the tables, most of them selling the amber, the local specialty. From there Bill and I separated, I followed the road and arrived at the riverside. There had more vendors selling the crafts, woodcarvings and fresh foods that they had made by themselves. A local band played the traditional music. A few young women and men dressed in their traditional costumes were dancing on the stage for while, then they came down to the ground and held some of the audiences hands while dancing together. The crowds were not only tourist also a lot of the locals. By then the wind had stopped and the sun came out. The atmosphere was natural and happy, it seemed like the country festival.

I walked back to the old town center and found a history museum set in a tinny house. The displays of the museum didn’t have English captions, but they provided a guide for me who could speak English. A nice looking, petite young lady gave to me an hour tour, and at the same time we had a personal conversation. She learned English when she was working on a cruise ship. For six years she saved some money, then she bought an apartment in her hometown. She was divorced but happily living with her son and her mother. I asked how she felt before and after the Soviet Union. She replied that life was still hard especially for the older generation, but she enjoyed the freedom. I was also surprised to hear that in her country the mortgage, the credit, the insurance and the banking system all worked just fine. Then I learned that the current premier of Lithuania was studied in the US then in the 80^’s. He worked in the White House under the president George H. Bush. No wonder the economy of Lithuania was better than Russian. When I walked out of the museum door, I automatically took some cash out as a tip, she politely refused: “There is no need.” with sincere expression, I felt embarrassed.

By the time I returned to the ship, on the pier there was already a crowd of people. They were holding the old by arms and the young by hands all looked up at the ship. They had never seen such big cruise ship (hold 3,000 passengers). When the ship slowly left the pier, it looked like the entire city showed up.

I was amazed to see the cordiality and the sincerity. As a tourist I traveled to many places. When I visited some of those hot tourist spots, I often received the commercial treatments. They all looked the same, the flashy, rough and expensive souvenirs and treated me like “big Fish”. The bustling, exciting sceneries but often were fake, it rarely in touch with the local people and life. When travel has become a business, the tourism, the money became the number one thing. Behind some of the prosperous tourist places, the locals may get richer, but their native culture are changing and disappearing. I felt lucky I had a chance to see the part of fresh Lithuania. I am afraid some years later, they will find it hard to avoid the evilness of the tourism.

The Castles

Bill caught a cold on the cruise ship. When we arrived in Shannon of Ireland, Bill still had a fever but he had to drive, as was still the only driver. Without a reservation it was almost impassible for us to find a B&B. It was a long holiday weekend that we didn’t know about. It took us four hours to find one. The entire night Bill was coughing. By the early morning of the second day Bill said: “I want to go home.” We decided to cancel the rest of the trip and drive to Doubling to catch a flight and go back to LA. That was straight a crossing the country from west coast to the east coast. We couldn’t make that distance easily in the same day, in the afternoon we stopped in the small town of Athlon, right in the middle of Ireland.

For Bill’s health, we checked in to The Radisson hotel in Athlon. When Bill touched the pillow, he went to a full a sleep. I walked to town and the first scene was an old and bold stone castle, it right in the middle of the town center seemed the rest of the town was built around it. I started walking on the rough and huge steps up to the castle. From the top of the castle, I could view the whole city and imagine this 13th Century fortress in the Viking period wild and rough life. It was magic, after Bill had a long and good sleep, he felt much better. We did not mention about going home any more. I have to thank the Radisson hotel. The comfort made his recovery much faster. In general I don’t like those big chain hotels. They are stereotypical and boring, but this time I have to say they were reliable.

Now our travel in Ireland had no plan. We were heading south and where we found an interesting castle we would stop. In the third day we saw the 17^th Century Kilknny Castle at Kilknny. Then the fourth day we stopped at the Rock Castle. From the distance, we could see the Gothic style top of the castle stuck into the sky and outstanding on top of the mountain. This 14^th Century castle has lasted through many vicissitude of life and left this ruin, it has the magnificent beauty. When I stood on top of the castle, the strong wind blew through the open spaces of the ruin. It added more ancient atmosphere. Then I looked down and around the countryside, I started to feel in love with Ireland. Since we drove on the country roads, we saw housing was widespread. The towns were clean and pretty. It showed that the country was prosperous and ridded me of my prejudice of Ireland as a poor country. These ancient castles were embellished in the scenes and harmonized together with the contemporary life. In many ways Ireland has been influenced by England, but the feeling of Irish culture has more original and straightforward qualities although not as sophisticate as England. I liked their raw and uninhibited characters.

On the fifth day we reached the famous Bunrathy Castle. Originally built in the 13^th Century, today’s feature is the 15^th Century vestige. It looks like a huge vertical rectangle box shape, almost ten stories high, with top four corners towers standing out. The entire structure has almost no windows. At Inside of the castle was basically one big open space. The first floor was for the guards. The second floor was the master living quarter with an extremely high ceiling. Extending all the way to the top of the castle with skylights, and the beautiful decorations. The wooden furniture all had detailed and complicated carvings. The huge hand made tapestries showed the histories and the figurative lamps had such unique shapes. At the four corners were narrow, spiral stone stairs leading to the bedrooms and all the way to those top towers. I could imagine at that period of life was pretty rough and every thing built for force and defense. I felt I was into the scene of Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

On the following day, we went to east and toward Doubling. We enjoyed droving on the picturesque country roads. When the sun was gradually dropping to the horizon, I saw a town greeting to my eye. The dark brown and gray structures were set off by the pink sky. Their outlines clearly showed they were the ancient castles. We were into a medieval town, Rosecrea, and stayed over night. From my hotel room window, I looked out, across a street and there a 13^th Century church ruin was right in front of my face. Then on the right side of the hotel, only a few yards away, there was a very high 12^th Century tower. I couldn’t wait. Before dark I walked around the town. Everywhere in town was in walking distance. A huge castle was in the center. The square shape with big yard showed the 14^th Century style. Attached to the stone wall were other ancient buildings next to each other. Along the narrow stone street was a stream flowing crystal clear water. Crossing the small stone bridge were a few Christian churches standing in the background they seemed built in the 17^th and 18^th Centuries in the Gothic style. I didn’t see any tourists and only saw a few locals. I felt I was passing and into the history. Suddenly a voice came from the other side of the street. “Where do you come form?” an old man asked me with high voice. “ From California.” I answered. “What does your husband do?” he was still walking on the other side of the street paralleled with me. I laughed. Behind this question was: how could you have money to travel to here? Your husband must be rich. I thought he must been drinking too much.

I was falling in love with Irish castles, even though I have been visit a lot of European ancient castles. But it seemed this time I had more feeling and thinking, not only the history and the feature of the castles, more importantly is the whole environment and the atmosphere. Those castles were original and natural, no polish, no affectation, the roughness and the rawness show the Irish temperament and characteristic. They integrate with nature and today’s life to show the coherence of Irish history.

From this point I was thinking about China again, known as five thousand years histories. China is the only country in the world that has the same civilization continued from the beginning of the record history to today. In whole Chinese history, it was rarely fully occupied by the foreign countries. Every dynasty changes were almost always started by the peasant rebellion including recent Mao’s Communist revolution. During the time of change, the rebels would not only overthrow the old ruler, but often destroyed their palace and built a new one. This cycle repeated again and again, but the feudal society and Chinese culture were still in the same. Today in China, it is rarely to find an over thousand years old structure> Sadly because they were destroyed by Chinese themselves. In my lifetime, I have been already through two periods of disaster. One was from1967 to 1976, the Cultural Revolution, led by Mao’s extremely leftists. They destroyed countless temples, ancient structures and antiquities. Another one is from the 80^’s to today under the slogan of “To be modern and to junction with the world”, Chinese destroyed the old Chinese cities. For instance in Beijing the traditional courtyards, the Hutous (ally) all disappeared instead the high-rise buildings are all over the city. The artificial amusement parks are scattered in the country irrelevantly with Chinese landscapes. Why are Chinese like this? Maybe because China still is an agricultural country, 80% of the populations are peasants, and not educated. They are ignorant, backward and narrow-minded. Those characteristics are the roots of current leaders of the country in every level. Even though they called them selves educated, but the effect shows a craving for greatness and success. Their vicious temperaments are not far from the peasant and just another side of inferiority.

A scene of a country is an indicator of it is civilization. If a nation could not respect their history, how is it called it civilized? By the time the majority of Chinese realize the value of their history, it maybe will be too late because too many valuable things will have been destroyed.