Sunday and Chinese poems

No Sunday adventures to tell you. After having been two weeks on the road, I just relaxed.

I also admired a new present from a Chinese person I know, a mobile phone bag in the form of a dog (see photo). Well, isn't it lovely, especially together with my Chinese mobile which my colleagues decorated with pink shamrocks (German: Kleeblatt)!

Apart from that I want to write a little bit about Chinese poetry. Given the fact that China had a troublesome history in the past, also the poems reflect that. If you are interested I would just like to give you one example called 'Crossing the Han river':

' No news, no letters - all winter, all spring -
Beyond the mountains
With every homeward step more timid still

I dare not even inquire of passerby'

The context of the poem is interesting as well: ' Song Zhiwen, the author of the poem, was known as a unsavoury character who pandered to the empress Wu Zhao's lover Zhang Yibi, fell from power along with Zhang, and was eventually found guilty opf accepting bribes and executed. He really had good reason to fear returning home from exile...'