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Post by con's fly is open on Jun 30, 2005 20:35:54 GMT 7
Yeah, now there is a crime against knowledge. The rest of us blurt out things we learn the instant we learn them, unconfirmed or otherwise. ESPECIALLY unconfirmed. Confirmation procedures usually take the sharp end off of the story.  GIMME INNUENDO! |
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Post by acjade on Jun 30, 2005 22:37:08 GMT 7
Yeah, now there is a crime against knowledge. The rest of us blurt out things we learn the instant we learn them, unconfirmed or otherwise. ESPECIALLY unconfirmed. Confirmation procedures usually take the sharp end off of the story.  GIMME INNUENDO! middleman. Think guanxi. Think I do not want to condemn anyone. They've already been blasted into their next incarnation. I wanna walk around the site, around the village. Mull over what I've so far learned.Talk to a few of the folks. Find out the little human details that make this anecdote a worthy epitaph to those whose story it really is. |
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woza17
SuperDuperBarfly! 
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Post by woza17 on Jul 1, 2005 19:21:36 GMT 7
This is an interesting topic. I would go for the human life over any historic artifact. Because we are the real thing. I would trash a mona lisa to feed my family and I think the painter would agree with me.
Whatever those 2 blokes had done I am sure I would have done the same. Maybe if they were more educated they could of cashed in better. What happened to the farmer who discovered the terra cotta warriors?
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Post by Lotus Eater on Jul 1, 2005 19:52:29 GMT 7
He has a full time job sitting at the Warrior Museum, signing copies of the books about the Warriors and charging 10Y a pop for having his photo taken. I want to know who they will wheel out when he pops off this mortal coil.  |
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Post by George61 on Jul 1, 2005 20:04:53 GMT 7
...except for sneaky George!
When I find it I will post it.....10 Y indeed!!
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gengrant
SuperBarfly!
Hao, Bu Hao?
Posts: 1,818
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Post by gengrant on Jul 1, 2005 20:18:58 GMT 7
wow, a photo of Sneaky George?!? That's gotta be about as old as the Warriors, right...? Gotta be worth a pooload of cash!  |
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Post by George61 on Jul 1, 2005 20:50:36 GMT 7
m'kaying ding-a-ling!!  In simple words...typed s l o w l y...George, being sneaky snuck a pic of the old man without paying 10Y...George is also "koumen!!" |
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gengrant
SuperBarfly!
Hao, Bu Hao?
Posts: 1,818
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Post by gengrant on Jul 1, 2005 21:23:46 GMT 7
That's all well and good, George. Still not as valuable as a picture of you, i'd imagine...you sneaky fella!  |
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Post by George61 on Jul 1, 2005 21:33:10 GMT 7
modesty forbids me!
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Post by Lotus Eater on Jul 1, 2005 22:36:52 GMT 7
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Post by George61 on Jul 2, 2005 2:13:57 GMT 7
I did once...a beggar came up with a bunch of notes in one hand, and the other held out pleading. I took the notes , said "xie xie" and smiled at him. Poor bastard didn't know what to do!
Yes, I did give him back his money. Sheeesh! I'm not that miserable!
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Post by Mr Nobody on Jul 2, 2005 6:29:54 GMT 7
One mona lisa. 10 billion shmucks. We can lose a few shmucks, if they throw themselves into the milling machine.
The whole POINT of mankind is things like the mona lisa, the moon landing, the cistine chapel, stonehenge.
Edited in later: Oh yeah, forgot. Also included are things like "The Thief of TIme" or "Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman?".
And Edited even later before someone (quite justifiably) jumps on me: Not all things are material, OK? Like many philosphies, ideas, thoughts, and other stuff.
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Post by acjade on Jul 2, 2005 10:46:44 GMT 7
 All names have been changed to escape protect the corrupt innocent. Chapter one.Yang Kan and Fu Wong were born in a village overlooking the ancient city of Xianyang. After school the boys worked together on the communal farm. When Yang Kan and Fu Wong were in their second year of junior middle school Mao Ze dingdong decided the intellectuals were the cause of the Middle Kingdom's malaise. Like the First Emperor of our ancient city whom he admired he decided to fen shu keng ren - burn the books and bury the scholars. Yang Kan was disappointed with the Cultural Revolution. He was a bright student and dreamed of attending university. But now his life was stunted, confined to the fields, his dreams buried in the dirt. Fu Wong enlisted in the Red Guard but returned home after a month to join Yang Kan in the fields. Yang Kan asked his friend many questions about his experiences but Fu Wong did not respond. He would shake his head and then drive his hoe deeper into the ploughed soil as though burying his memories. When the first snow fell Yang Kan's mother made jiaozi - to keep the ice out of their ears- and invited her younger brother, Fu Wong's father, and his family to share their meal. She also invited the counter-revolutionary painter, Ting, who had been sent to the village to work in the fields heaving the frozen earth with a hoe instead of spreading discontent with his paint brush.Ting was a gaunt, sick man. He worked dutifully but he missed his wife and sons. Everyone was so hungry that at first they only opened their mouths to eat. Finally, when the last dumpling disappeared Ting lit his pipe and Yang Kan's baba poured rice wine into little cups. The men played drinking games in which they had to sing old songs or tell tall tales from the time of the First Emperor, Qin Shi Huangdi. In ancient Xianyang the First Emperor built legendary palaces on the outskirts of the city. One of these palaces was built for his favourite sister, Qin li whom the Emperor endowed with the title of queen. Even two thousand years later they could see traces of Queen Qin li's ancient palace beneath the terracced orchards. It endured as earth mounds and a tomb that protruded like a small grassy mountain.
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Post by acjade on Jul 2, 2005 13:19:04 GMT 7
Chapter 2
In the early Spring when the snows were melting and the fruit trees were budding Yang Kan and Fu Wong were sent down to the lower fields to dig up the last of the winter potato crop. Before they left the tang Fu Wong's grandmother reminded them to beat their chopsticks against their mei fan tins to frighten away Qin Li's ghost.
'Xie xie, Nai nai,' the boys replied affectionately. Nai nai was almost a ghost herself. Her fingers were as skinny as scallions, her skin as shrivelled as dried noodles.
'I'll bring you back a spray of peach blossom, Nai nai,' Yang Kan promised. He loved Nai nai deeply. His own grandmothers had both died in childbirth and from the day he was born nai nai treated him as if he was her own grandson and always put food from her own bowl into his and into Fu Wong's. 'Growing boys need this more than a toothless old woman,' she would laugh when her sons and daughter-in-laws protested.
Fu Wong put an arm around her. He could feel the bones in her shoulders beneath the patched grey jacket. She was shrinking even as he embraced her. Starving to death while the commune sent their crops to the city to meet their quota.
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Post by Mr Nobody on Jul 2, 2005 14:42:15 GMT 7
Alright, so we give you the chicken-scaring award. Get to the meaty bits.
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woza17
SuperDuperBarfly!
Posts: 2,203
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Post by woza17 on Jul 2, 2005 17:39:43 GMT 7
Jade that was beautiful how can you quantify that human emotion. Maybe you can't eat art.
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Post by con's fly is open on Jul 2, 2005 17:42:20 GMT 7
I'm liking the yarn so far. G'wan!
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Post by Jollyjunklass on Jul 2, 2005 23:05:09 GMT 7
Bond,
Without mankind many of the things you mention would not exist. The whole point of mankind is mankind, treating mankind decently.
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Post by Mr Nobody on Jul 3, 2005 8:26:43 GMT 7
I tend to differentiate between those who contribute towards the betterment of Humanity and those who hold us back.
To me, being a Human Being isn't a birthright but something you earn by your actions and your thoughts.
If the person doesn't behave and act like a decent human being, then the person is just another common and potentially dangerous animal.
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Post by acjade on Jul 3, 2005 9:52:39 GMT 7
Alright, so we give you the chicken-scaring award. Get to the meaty bits. Alright, alright already. Sheesh! Well we all know what ultimatley happened to our friends, Yang Kan and Fu Wong. Nai nai died a month after the boys were sent down to the potato field. After ten years in the village the counter revolutionary artist Ting returned to the city and was reunited with his wife and three sons. The years in exile irrevokably damaged his health and he died two years later. By an odd twist of fate I ended up teaching his grandson last semester. His paintings are now sought after by collectors and are valued at multi-millions of kwai. The ancient black thingie.It also goes by the alternative name of a muzhi (buried tablet) To bury a tablet with the dead person was an established practise among the Han in the time of Queen Qin. It is square at the bottom but round on top. It's 46cm high and 58cm across and made of rare and precious BLACK jade. The stone is engraved with a detailed description of the dead Queen.. It's considered an archeological treasure for its great antiquity as well as the fact it's made of black jade. The unhappy duo were dobbed in by a dealer/collector who needed some guanxi with the local constabulary. Handing over the boys and the muzhi got him plenty. But where is the muzhi now? That's what I want to know. Over the hols I'm going to check out the Shaanxi museum. |
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gengrant
SuperBarfly!
Hao, Bu Hao?
Posts: 1,818
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Post by gengrant on Jul 3, 2005 11:53:08 GMT 7
wow...were you Perry Mason in a past life? when you get the poo, you REALLY get the poo! That's fills in a lot of blanks...let us know if you find the muzhi at the museum. |
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Post by Mr Nobody on Jul 3, 2005 16:56:19 GMT 7
Yes, you definitely get the chicken scaring award. Well done!
(Oh, and don't let my whining inhibit your writing. Just ingnore it like I do)
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Post by acjade on Jul 3, 2005 17:51:49 GMT 7
Yes, you definitely get the chicken scaring award. Well done! (Oh, and don't let my whining inhibit your writing. Just ingnore it like I do) Your whining is charming. It doesn't inhibit me. The fear of loss of power before I let you guys into the the-as-much as-I-know-so- far was the reason for the abridged version.  And GG: I'll keep you posted as to the whereabouts of the muzhi. |
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Post by con's fly is open on Jul 3, 2005 20:29:31 GMT 7
Well, then kiddo, NEVER let the peanut gallery interfere with a good tale. Cut-and-paste your entries onto an MSWord file, and write it out the way it's meant to be told.
All kudos.
con
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Post by acjade on Jul 3, 2005 20:55:38 GMT 7
Hey man, thankyou. Thanks a lot. Now this is weird. One of my English Majors father is a high ranking police detective. So far I haven't sat down to talk with him about this particular case. But I will over the hols. I have lots of guanxi with this family. I spend a lot of time with their daughter and taught the women how to make jam. Next Autumn I've promised them I'll show them how to make red sauce and preserves. This is why I really want Millana to come to Xian. Woza too. These guys are seriously into dogs. They breed dogs to sell to the affluent to supplement the constabulary income. It would be easy to say oh he's a copper. Must be corrupt. But he's one of the few who is not. I know a corrupt copper when I meet him. I grew up in country Victorian pubs before late night closing. Say no more.  I'm keeping a writing journal and I think I'll put some extra work into this story because it seems to be somehow given to me in a way that a lot of my creative efforts have been just practise. Know what I mean? |
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