Walden

I have read the Chinese edition of Walden written by Thoreau at the urging of a friend of mine (I'm trying to read the original work now, I think I'll learn more by this way.). My friend is a crazy economics fan, he loves this book so much that he needs someone to share the excitement with him. Unfortunately, I have little interest in this field though that was a part of my major at one time. However, the beautiful pond named Walden seemed really attractive when he described it to me at the first time.

Thoreau is the real person who knows how to enjoy his life. In this book, he showed us some trivial things about nature, such as plants, animals, worms, blue ice, colorful sand; his funny experiences of planting beans, fishing, discovering whether Walden Pond has its bottom; and his attitude of living. He wrote with his sincerity and humility as he required of other writers:“A simple and sincere account of his own life, and not merely what he has heard of other men's lives; some such account as he would send to his kindred from a distant land.”

In Thoreau's opinion, people demand too much from the world, and work hard under the unnecessary pressures which were created by our own imagination. We announce that we are free without knowing that we already became the slaves of our greed. “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!” That's the earnest appeal from the author, and the truth in life. “Instead of three meals a day, if it be necessary eat but one.”, “If it is neccessary, omit one bridge over the river, go round a little there, and throw one arch at least over the darker gulf of ignorance which surrounds us.”, and his wonderful theory of chairs:“one for solitude, two for friendship,three for society.” If we expect more, we must pay more, and the cost is often larger than that we gain. How many people wasted their lives in such a bargain?

The way of living chosen by Thoreau is considering himself as a harmonious part of nature. He thinks he is a leaf or mould to some extent. Squirrels don't care whether the woods will bear chestnuts this year or not, so a person shouldn't care about his harvest too much. He doesn't like the person who “loves not the beauty of his fruits, whose fruits are not ripe for him till they are turned to dollars.”

All in all, it's a great book that helped me unload some unnecessary burdens and let me think about the meaning of life again.

My Grandfather

My grandfather is more than 80 years old now, he graduated from a famous university in China, and his major was finance. He worked as an office clerk in a bank, then a maths teacher in a high school, at last, he became an engineer in a chemical plant. After he was retired, he started to learn painting, handwriting and seal cutting in an university which is especially for elders.

My grandfather is a funny and humorous person. He likes to praise my friends like this “you are so handsome!” or “you are so pretty!” Most of times, my friends felt very shy when they heard these words.

Grandfather is the best tutor in my life. He taught me swimming, drawing, handwriting, and answered my questions on English and maths when I was a high school student. His English is much better than I.

Grandfather likes cooking, when I visit his house, he will say:“Welcome to Grandfather's Restaurant!” I like all the dishes cooked by him except for fruits salad. :P

Grandfather often says:“No matter you will be poor or rich in furture, do what you love.” I think it is an important reason why I so respect him.

Computer Viruses

I had had my computer system reinstalled two months before, but the poor computer crashed because of 1612 viruses today morning. One of my friends laughed at me:“You almost can set up a virus museum in your computer.”I had to reinstall the system again, and it wasted me a lot of time. >_<

West Lake and White Bank

These pictures were taken at White Bank（白堤）.

The original name of this bank is White Sand Bank（白沙堤）, and it was mentioned in an ancient poem, reading“There is White Sand Bank in the shade of green willows（绿杨荫里白沙堤）.”

The citizens changed the original name of this bank to “White Bank” in order to commemorate a famous ancient poet Bai Juyi（白居易）who lived in Tang Dynasty（唐朝）.

Flowers in Autumn

My Eyesight

At a bus station, an old man asked me to notice the bus which he wanted to take. He explained: “my eyesight is bad. ” “No problem.” I replied to him.

Then we started to wait for the bus. Suddenly, the old man said: “Look, is the bus coming? Oh, yes, my bus is coming! Thank you!” But at that time, I still couldn’t affirm the number of the bus. I recognized the number when the bus was much nearer.

God, my eyesight is so bad now? :(

A Beautiful Night

(This photo was searched out from CCTV.com)

West Lake International Firework Festival was opened last night. 100 thousand fireworks were displayed in the night sky over Qiantang River. It was the beginning of the 7th China Hangzhou West Lake Exposition. During the firework festival, a great many policemen were working hard and keeping the crowd in order.

Wushan Temple Fair

Yesterday afternoon, my friends and I went to Wushan Temple Fair（吴山庙会）. There were all kinds of snacks in the fair, and we hardly miss chances of having delicious snacks.
I bought a bunch of roasted mutton from a merchant who came from Xinjiang（新疆）. He kindly welcomed us to visit his hometown, and gave me a big one. All of us ate too much food like fried smelly tofu（臭豆腐）, wonton（馄饨）, cakes, roasted meat and so forth.
Besides food and drink, there were lots of groceries. We also met some merchants who came from India, Nepal, Italy, Pakistan, and so on. They could speak good Chinese.
In the end, we walked into Huichuntang（回春堂）, a famous traditional Chinese herbal medicine store which was set up in 1649. We sat down and had cups of fragrant herbal tea for free. In this store, they provide free tea everyday.

Qiantang River Bridge

These photos were taken without tripod, so it seems not very clear.:P

Qiantang River Bridge（钱江大桥） was designed by Mao Yisheng （茅以升）and completed in 1937. It is the first bridge that totally designed and built by Chinese people in China.

Happy Mid-Autumn Festival

Today is Mid-Autumn Festival, it’s the day for family reunions. Early in the morning, my parents started cooking, and I was busily playing with my cousins. We hadn’t seen each other for a long time.

After the big dinner in the evening, the whole family went out for a walk. A full moon was hanging in the sky, bright and big. It let me think about the famous ancient verse which was written by Su Shi（苏轼）: “We wish each other a long life so as to share the beauty of this graceful moonlight, even though miles apart（但愿人长久，千里共婵娟。）.” (The English edition of this verse was searched out by Google. )

Later, we came back home and ate mooncakes（月饼）. In recent years, we have had varies choices of mooncakes. Traditional ones make you fill full, and ice-cream ones make you fill cool. Both of them are delicious!

According to the Chinese proverb, Tomorrow’s moon will rounder than today’s（十五的月亮十六圆。）. I’m waiting for it.

Mooncakes

Ancient Structures

This photo was taken at Dajing Alley（大井巷）in Hangzhou.

Dajing Alley ：There is a 1000-year-old big well in this alley. Most of the structures are built by bricks and timber，and they have existed for more than 350 years.

There are four special reports about protecting ancient structures in the latest magazine "Outlook Weekly". I'm pleased to see that so many people are trying their best to protect them.

Many antique buildings were already destroyed in order to build modern cities. It's time to save and repair the rest of them properly now!

As a historical culture city, Hangzhou has lots of characteristic ancient structures too, and the city government has protected them in these years.

Old Letters

My bookshelf was too full, so I wanted to clean it up. I found a pack of my old letters. After dealing with my bookshelf, I sat down and began to read these letters.

I’m a person who is easy to slide into memories, though I know it is not very good.

These letters were written by my old friends, and started with my nicknames, like ”little grass” and ”lamb”, it made me can’t help laughing. The letter pads were all picked out elaborately, and full of familiar handwritings and drawings.

One of the letters said: Please take care of the cactus which I sent to you. I absolutely remembered the cactus. Six years before, I had wanted to see if the cactus could live without thorns, therefore I had cut its thorns away with my scissors. Unfortunately, the experiment had been unsuccessful.

Maybe I can consider reading old letters as my favorite pastime. The activity makes me happy, and I think that’s enough.

National Holiday

Yesterday was National Day, and we have 7 days’ national holiday.

The city is full of tourists, so you can imagine how heavy the traffic is. I just have a good rest at home, and contact with two of my friends. We haven’t seen each other since we left the university in June. One of them will go to France in several days. We have no idea when we can meet each other again.

Anyhow, I love holidays!