“April is the cruelest month, T.S. Eliot wrote;... I think he meant (among other things) that springtime makes people crazy. We expect too much, the world burgeons with promises it can't keep, ... and we're doomed to get our hearts broken yet again. I agree, and would further add: Who cares?" Barbara Kingsolver. Read more...
Read MoreOld summer palace in winter
While outside of Beijing, I paid a visit to Yuan Ming, the old summer palace. I expected a beautiful royal garden. Descriptions led me to expect ruins surrounded by a garden; how beautiful I thought. Instead I found something quite different. An unsettling reminder of the complex history between China and the West...
Read MoreYear of the Monkey
Happy Lunar New Year! In the spirit of the holiday, join me on this visit to one of the oldest scholar gardens in Suzhou, China – Master of Nets Garden. A wonderful example of what can be done in a relatively small space.
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