- Anming - Some people are easily influenced by music, others by written words, and some - me included - by both. During the last weeks, listening to the new Libertines album (recommended!) and reading short stories by Hemingway made me feel a bit like a teenager again. However, I am already in the summer of my life and should read accordingly.

The summer book of choice is the Chin Ping Mei, "Golden Lotus" or "The Plum in the Golden Vase". Hard to find, I managed with a little help from my boyfriend to get the translation by David Tod Roy from Peking University's library. With one hundred chapters and a promising story (the turning point is when the main character acquires “a powerful aphrodisiac from a mysterious Indian monk, who is presented to us, without comment, as the personification of a penis”), the Chin Ping Mei is the perfect book for those interested in the “clouds and rain”. Besides, my vocabulary got extended to phrases like “punting the boat by night”, “snitching chicken and filching dogs”, and - of course - “the divine turtle”. It seems to be quite suitable read for Beijing Autumn days, when the AQI index orders you to stay inside - wear mask - avoid ventilation. When air pollution makes us forget that a new season is waiting right outside the closed window, luckily, the Chin Ping Mei reminds us of the changes of seasons:

"Heaven has its spring, summer, autumn, and winter," just as "Man has his sorrows and joys, partings and reunions." There is no reason to be surprised that this is so.

(Preface to the Chin Ping Mei Tz'u-Hua)

In fact, there is reason to be surprised, as the year in Beijing is rather "Fifty Shades of Grey" than "The Four Seasons". Autumn in Beijing is the most beautiful time of the year. And it has always been. Lao She already knew this, when he wrote :

中秋前后是北平最美丽的时候。天气正好不冷不热，昼夜的长短也划分得平匀。没有冬季从蒙古吹来的黄风，也没有伏天里挟着冰雹的暴雨。天是那么高，那么蓝，那么亮，好象是含着笑告诉北平的人们：在这些天里，大自然是不会给你们什么威胁与损害的。西山北山的蓝色都加深了一些，每天傍晚还披上各色的霞帔。

来源：《四世同堂》　老舍　著　北京十月文艺出版社　

The time around the mid autumn festival is the most beautiful time in Beiping. The weather is just right, not too cold and not too hot, and day and night are of equal length. There is no sign of the yellow winds, which blow from Mongolia during the winter months. No sign of the hot summer days' hailing rainstorms. The sky is so high, so blue, so bright, just as if it told the people of Beiping with a smile: during these days, mother nature won't mean you any harm.

PS: I wrote that post before October 8th. Eventually, it is neither “Fifty Shades of Grey”, nor “The Four Seasons”, but “Gone with the Wind”! Not Surprising, but not encouraging either.

Further Readings:

Lao She, Autumn in Beiping: http://www.dangjian.cn/ds/jtrds/jpsz/201309/t20130923_1484971.shtml

The Plum in the Golden Vase, translated by David Tod Roy, Princeton Library of Asian Translations