我們到北京，大家說，「下大雨！」困惑：這是小雨。至少，依臺灣的習慣，會說，下一點小雨。山上的人大概懶得撐傘。

到北京的前一週看氣象報告，吃驚！三十七度！三十六度！媽呀怎麼辦？托雨福，那幾天像臺灣的秋天。即使後來出大太陽，也許是緯度的關係，沒有臺灣的太陽那麼毒。

In Beijing, we were confused when people told us it was "raining hard." By Taiwan standards, that was a light sprinkle, and people in the mountains wouldn't even bother with an umbrella.

When it rained, the temperature felt like fall in Taiwan. Even though the stuff shone brightly our last couple of days, the rays were gentler than in Taiwan.

一直認為，百年後，蔣中正的地位將冉冉升愈。他非常符合華夏文化崇敬的一種悲劇英雄的典型；為臺灣同胞求命，不許美軍襲擊臺灣；鐵血駻衛國家、日本投降時寬弘大量將日本兵遷送回國；大義滅親，為國將愛子委質于蘇聯、任其盡受委屈；勦毛鬥朱，疲于奔命；效忠孫中山的三民主義、中華民國，其忠心不渝，從未想改朝換代；明知大陸不可能反攻，而「知其不可為而為之」；扗臺保衛中華文化，失之不滅于文化大革命；留守臺灣，不求安逸于海外；老不著西服，非戎衣則長袍馬褂；壽終正寢于臺灣而終不得返歸家鄉，這是可歌可誦的悲劇人生。身為佛弟子，卻為拉攏美援而受洗；剛柔並施、正邪通吃、他的個性多面、複雜、難測。

想：蔣、毛、周恩來、杜月笙、朱德、彭德懷、林彪、劉伯承，一群極為傳奇的人物，只等著五百年後，羅貫中轉生，寫一部『民國演義』，必定垂名千古。

想：蔣，像不像劉備？毛，像不像曹操？

如今中國前進迅速。因為改革、進步，所以不需墨守黨規，因而他們用心檢討歷史。我們扗北京，聽他們說，「我們以前學的是說老毛打日本鬼子，我們現在知道，這是胡說八道；抗戰時都是蔣介石去打日本人，老毛翹二郎腿，任日本軍去殺同胞，出動的話，頂多只是小規模的遊擊，如此而已。」

I have long suspected that Chiang Kai-Shek will be remembered much more kindly by future generations. He fits the Chinese ideal of the tragic hero to perfection. He is being reevaluated on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Even still, I was a bit surprised by what I heard in Beijing. People told me, "In school we were taught that during WWII, Old Mao fought off the Japanese imperialists all by himself. Now we know that's nonsense. Chiang Kai Shek did all the fighting, while Old Mao sat back to let the Japanese kill Chinese, and if he did any fighting, at most it was minor guerilla skirmishes."

overheard in Beijing

遊北京
臺胞甲：哇你看，無拒台素食超市，很有境界！
乙看： 妳是不是想到六祖惠能跟神秀，明鏡亦非臺，本來無一物？
甲： 是啊！
乙： 很不好意思….

無櫃檯素食超市

Viva la France!

Today we celebrate Bastille Day with several relevant quotes.
"I would rather have a German division in front of me than a French one behind me." - General George S. Patton.
"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion." - Norman Schwartzkopf.
"We can stand here like the French, or we can do something about it." Marge Simpson
"As far as I’m concerned, war always means failure" - Jacques Chirac, President of France
"The only time France wants us to go to war is when the German Army is sitting in Paris sipping coffee." Regis Philbin.

我們計畫北京行時，我想，到北京要看啥？要到北京就看北京人！房山離市中心不算太遠，主意一定，先email跟客棧安排。我們到京第二天就包車去。

早上，司機高師傅到了客棧，我們上車，但高師傅先不發車。「你們要到哪兒？」奇怪，客棧沒跟他說嗎？「我們要去周口店。」「周口店？」「是啊，我們想去周口店。」他想一想。「要不要去長城？」「不是，我們想去周口店。」「長城去過嗎？」「我們都去過，所以這次我們想到周口店看一看。」「好吧…怎麼去？」才知道租車公司忘了跟他說我們要去哪。(故意的嗎？)他沒去過，他打電話問很多司機，都沒去過，所以最後只好打電話問周口店地方政府，問清楚了，我們就上路了。高師傅說，「很少人到周口店。」我也有這種感覺。他自己也沒去過，所以我們說，好啊，也給你玩個新地方。

北京塞車，又下小雨，離開了市區，雨也停了。又開了一小時左右，到了周口店遺址。這就是馳名中外的世界重要的攷古遺址，因為就在這個地方，就在這個小山丘，五、六十萬年前的北京人當鬣狗、劔齒虎的餐點，留下很多啃過的碎骨，造福後代的攷古學者。

當時我們的祖先是直立人，男性成年平均身高一百五十六公分、女性一百四十四公分，頭腦比我們現在人的小很多，能做石器、能用火、有基本語言能力(能發幾個基本音，講單字不能講句子，大概不能表達複雜概念，語言能力大約相當于現在補習班裏大學生的英語能力)，很會爬樹：爬樹技術差的，委託鬣狗、劔齒虎將基因淘汰掉。

遺址有許多栩栩如生的野獸塑像，看到第一個真有點驚訝，因為很像是真的！只有北京人的塑像不照真實尺寸，反而都一百八十幾公分！或許主辦單位攷慮自尊，不得把祖先顯得矮小，但我認為，那麼個小不溜丟的還能與恐怖獵食動物共存，實在了不起！

臺南，在臺灣有人說是「古都」，才三四百年；周朝的冀、燕就是今天的北京：三千年。龍山文化的河南登封市的排水已經做的比今天的Boston好：四千年。山東濟南大概有七千年的歷史。了不起！

不要小看那些矮矮、頭腦不發達、不會用手機的北京人：他們在周口店住了二十萬年！

www.zkd.cn

Since we were going to Beijing, we laid plans: what did we really want to see? The Peking Man (Beijing Man) World Heritage Site at Chouk'outien (Zhoukoudian, CKT for convenience, unless you insist on ZKD) popped into mind, so we arranged for a car and driver to take us there on the second day of our stay.

Our driver, Mr Gao, led us to the car, got in, and asked, "Where is it you want to go?" Funny, didn't the hotel tell him? "We want to go to CKT." He mulled. "Would you like to go to the Great Wall?" "No, we want to go to CKT." "Have you been to the Great Wall?" "Yes, we've been there before, so this time we'd like to go to CKT to take a look." "Okay… how do we get there?" Apparently most tourists don't go to the Beijing Man Heritage Site, because Mr Gao didn't know how to get there, and phoning around showed that none of the other drivers did, either. No wonder the hotel didn't inform him ahead of time about our destination.
Finally Mr Gao phoned the local authorities at CKT and got directions. We worked our way through morning traffic and a light rain. An hour after we left downtown, we reached the fabled site, one of the most important archaeological sites in the world, where five and six hundred thousand years ago, primitive man proved that they could not outrun hyenas or saber tooth tigers, leaving behind gnawed bones to enrich our knowledge and provide material for generations of dissertations and theses.
These early humans, homo erectus, had smaller brains that ours, rudimentary language skills, could make stone tools, used fire, and the ones who could not swiftly climb trees got their genes eliminated by several species of large carnivores. The men averaged 156cm, the women 144cm, short by modern standards.
In various spots of the Site are statues of the wildlife the Peking Men lived with. They are so lifelike that they are startling. They are done to scale –except for the Peking Men, who are all about six feet tall. I suspect the authorities considered it a matter of pride, dignity, or face not to have a bunch of these little hominids scampering around our heritage. But consider that these little hominids survived life with cave bears and saber tooth tigers: very impressive, more impressive than if they had been gladiator size.
London is considered an old city: it dates back to Roman times. Four thousand years ago in Dengfeng city (Honan) the drains and sewer pipes worked better than modern Boston's. Jinan in Shandong has been inhabited for seven thousand years: ancient!
Yet those runty little hominids with their primitive tools and simple brains, lacking cell phones and flush toilets, lived in CKT for two hundred thousand years.

有個想法，也許有人認為古怪詭譎，但我認為旅遊時應該嘗嘗當地風格。若到北京住了五星級大飯店，有它的舒適，但不是道地的北京味：地道的北京味兒。所以我們選了衚衕裏的客棧，住了東城區禮士胡同的小院客棧。
小院客棧就是將舊房子翻新，所以還保存原來的格局。房間裏是舊式雕琢木床~看起來像櫸木，頭上有框架，四邊包起來的硬木板床，好舒服！我最怕飯店的軟床，睡幾天好像被腰斬。
客棧有兩個特點：其一，我們的房間很暗，燈不夠。我們請服務員來看有沒有辦法裝個燈，他進來轉了兩下，說，「沒辦法。」好吧，暗就暗。

其二，廁所沒鏡子。頭髮不梳就算了，可是刮鬍時戰戰兢兢，手持利刃，很怕割喉嚨。

增添很多趣味，住一般飯店沒有這種經驗吧！

Some people may think this is a strange idea, but I think that if you travel, you ought to see what that place is like. I'd rather not stay in a 5 star hotel, because they're all alike, wherever you go. You get pampered, but if it's not a business trip, why not see something?

For our stay in Beijing, we opted for a small inn in an alley, named the Xiao Yuan Alley Courtyard Hotel. To give you an idea, when we arrived, the previous guest had just left, and it took three maids an hour to make up the room. We are not talking about hustle-bustle-at-your-service-Master. But it is pleasant, the location is good, staying in a hutung / alley gives you a different view of Beijing, and overall we enjoyed it greatly.

Of course, more is up to the observer than to the environment. The Hotel has a small(Western style) bar + restaurant. A young French couple spent most of their stay in Beijing in the restaurant playing board games with a young American. Well, after traveling all that distance, you wouldn't want to go outside and see anything, would you!?

For the first time since about last November, the ground around our house is drying out. There are even stars out.

扗北京看到很多招牌寫老北京：老北京炸醬麵、老北京燒餅、老北京布鞋、老北京香鋪等等。何謂老北京，也不太清楚，但應該是抗戰以前、毛建國以前、文革以前的往日：民國初年、清朝末年。

可見，人民想認識、品嚐、掏選、履行以前的傳統，知道傳統蘊含很多寶。寶，不一定是輝煌的宮廷、了不起的金銀琉璃；小到一個燒餅、剖木技巧，都是生活中的寶。

文革時破四舊，若提出甚麼老北京，肯定被批鬥、送勞改、不得翻身。幸虧，那段日子過了。願永不復返。

In Beijing, you see a lot of signs and stores that say Old Beijing: Old Beijing Noodles, Old Beijing Incense, what have you. Exactly what Old Beijing implies is not quite clear, but probably the times before WWII, Mao's takeover, and the Cultural Revolution: the early days of the Republic and the last days of the Empire.

During the Cultural Revolution, espousing anything Old was suicidal, but now people are going back to their roots to see what might have been neglected. It is safe to do so now. In China, communism is a label used to keep the country from shaking itself into pieces. In practical life, communism and Maoism are long dead. Robust capitalism and forward seeking venture are the facts of life in China today. But the past is still cherished.

華航還有很拘泥、很不會變通。我想做一項科學實驗，結果被他們擋住了、不准。本來想牽一隻牛到北京看是不是還是牛，結果華航不給上機，說甚麼牛繫不了安全帶啊、牛塞不進頭上的櫃子啊、一大堆理由，就是不讓我把牛牽到北京。大家這麼沒有科學精神的話，怎麼會進步呢？

Our 華航 China Airlines flight took off from Taoyuan, Taiwan, flying direct to Beijing. Computers can be vexing, and can get out of control, but overall I love computers and the internet. On back of the seat in front of us was a small screen, on which you could see your location in real time. (Coming home was even better: there were two cameras, one showing the view below the plane, the other straight ahead.)

As we flew up the coast towards Shanghai, I pondered, I have seen some incredible changes in my lifetime. In November 1971, I took a boat from Taiwan to Hong Kong to procure my visa (round trip was US$40, about half the price of an air ticket). Aside from vomiting prolifically, my main amusement on the trip down the Taiwan Straits was watching the fishing boats from 福建 Fujian and 廣東 Kuangtung / Guangdong. Recall that 1971 was about halfway through 文革 the Cultural Revolution, AKA 十年大浩劫 the Enormous Ten Year Catastrophe. Mainland China was closed to the world, writhing in turmoil, and immersed in poverty. I could clearly see that their sails were patched and worn; they all used sail, and not a motor was to be heard. The fishing boats kept a good distance from us; they were a world away.

In those days, the idea of flying direct between Taiwan and Beijing was preposterous. Preposterous, that is, for a commercial flight, but the prospect of military flights, on hostile missions, seemed very probable. But to fly from Taiwan to Beijing on China Airlines, the flag bearer of the Republic of Taiwan, Taiwan? Absurd!

But these flights have been flying regularly for some years now, and sitting comfortably, eating my breakfast, I looked forward to seeing Beijing again. I've been once before, in 1993. Would the changes I see live up to what my friends have described?

My first reaction on landing was, is this one airport or six? Beijing Airport is gigantic, huge, immense, and so forth. In its day, Chiang Kai Shek Airport was probably the best in the Far East; now renamed Taoyuan Airport, it could just about fit inside one terminal on the BJ Airport.

We got off the plane and marched into the terminal, and what was the first sign to meet my eyes? STARBUCKS. You barely need to travel anymore. The next sign we saw was KFC. You could go around the world eating nothing but KFC and Mickey D, with stops in Starbucks. It'd probably make you sick, well deservedly sick, but it could be done.

Things improved quickly. Today's Beijing is overpowering. More on that later. Good night.

The monolith is finally starting to crack. Good luck to all in North Korea... and hope you are soon well fed, warmly clothed, and decently housed. Amitabha.

here

各位鄉親父老兄弟姐妹好！我們平安從北京回來了，心得一簍筐、感想堆積如山，請待我徐徐道來。
(加上：在王府井書店買到了蒙曼寫的「隋煬帝楊廣」)
簡單一句話：紐約、東京、芝加哥、香港、洛杉磯等等，我這輩子不再去也無所謂，但北京呢，意猶未盡。
尤其因為回家後，才發現我錯過一處非常迷人的場所：中國西瓜博物館。西瓜博物館的網站(here)說，佔地兩萬兩千平方公尺，建築面積四千六百平方公尺，館藏圖片九百幅、蠟質西瓜模型三百一十餘件、雕塑模型七組、書法美術藝術作品三十六件、還有十組青銅雕塑講述西瓜的故事。這個不看的話，真會成為終身遺憾！

We're back from Beijing. Put it this way: I took so many photos that I ruined my battery charger and had to rein myself in. There are about 1200 photos in my camera now. Only about 1200 photos.

I came back with a lot to ponder, but first, let me say, simply: if I never go to New York, Tokyo, Bangkok, Chicago, or Hong Kong again, that's fine with me. But Beijing is a city to visit.

Especially since after my return, I discovered I had missed one of Beijing's main attractions: the Chinese Watermelon Museum, which, according to its official website (here) boasts a collection including 900 pictures of watermelons, over 310 wax models of watermelons, seven sets of carvings, 36 works of calligraphy and art, and ten bronze statues narrating stories of watermelons. How could I have missed that!?

朝發軔于烏來兮
夕余至乎北京
鳳皇翼其承旂兮
高翱翔之翼翼
我們到北京。有人請阿超開四天的工作坊，我抬行李。北京美金，美金北京，北京是美金最多的地方。說不定我去哭他們的中央銀行，看會不會可憐可憐，分我一下。隨意~~~隨億。

We are headed for Beijing, where Chao is holding a four day Dance Therapy workshop. I'm tagging along to tote luggage. Thanks to Presidents Reagan, Bush, and Bush, Beijing has the world's largest collection of US Dollars. Maybe if I hang around their treasury looking pitiful, they'll give me some.

And remember, the jing in Beijing is pronounced like the jing in jingle.

at this very moment, millions of people are trying to stand an egg on end.

Taiwan was really lucky this time. We get lots of typhoons every summer, that's part of the charm of living in Taiwan: watching rain sweep horizontally like it's getting shot out of a fire hose. Typhoons come as early as about May and as late as about December, but mostly in August and September. No matter what, the very worst time to have a typhoon is at the new moon or full moon, because the springtides often cause tidal surges.

But typhoons come off the Pacific, from the East, and usually break on the high mountains (high: Botonguanu is 3952m) that run down the center of this island.

Rarely, one comes up the Taiwan Strait, from the west, and strikes the heavily populated western plains. This happens about once a decade, I'd guess, but these typhoons are rightly feared, because they usually wreak enormous damage.

The other day a typhoon formed off Hainan Island, of all places, and came up the Taiwan Strait. What's worse, it came on the new moon and the day after, when springtides occur, and cause the danger of tidal surges. Fortunately, it brought some rain, but not much, and very little wind. There was damage, of course, but nothing compared to what could have happened. We got off lightly. Amitabha.

理論上，大家都知道忠言逆耳。那麼，為甚麼消費者被廣告捧上天還相信呢？

Who said bass fishermen have more brains than the fish they catch?

The Tayal have a tradition of facial tattoos, which were an honored mark of valor and skill. This is the English version: NOT the way to do it!!

Favorite comment: He looks like he dipped his nose in a pot of paint.

the bitter truth, seen on a T shirt:

your parents lied to you
you aren't special
you're just stupid


 good speech, lousy delivery

Okay, so we didn't get a real good view of the Venus Transit: click::

But this will more than make up for it: click
or
click