Taiwan Writer Visits Zhejiang

The 75-year-old Taiwan writer Li Ao and his family started their visit to Zhejiang at Zhejiang Pavilion in World Expo in Shanghai at 10 o’clock on the morning of August 27， 2010. It was his second visit to the mainland， five years after his first trip in September 2005.

Wearing a pair of light-blue sunglass， a red jacket， a white shirt and a blue checked tie， the Taiwan writer looked healthy and energetic.

Li was impressed by the overall appearance of the pavilion， which resembles a grove of bamboos. He commented: “How beautiful! How beautiful!”

The centerpiece in Zhejiang Pavilion is a giant celadon bowl， which serves as a silver screen and a three-dimensional showcase where miniature models and visual effects play out as an introduction to Zhejiang unfolds. Here journalists of the mainland and Taiwan media had waited for the family. The show in the giant bowl displays the scenic beauty， history， culture， prosperity of the coastal province. Li Ao spoke highly of the originality of the show.

In the back exhibition hall， Li Ao was attracted to the photo stories and exhibits that relate life stories of six typical families in Zhejiang. These photographs and exhibits span generations of the families in different social strata over the past decades.

Before their visit to the pavilion ended， they sipped a cup of Dragon Well tea. At the request of the Zhejiang Pavilion， Li Ao wrote an inscription which reads “Zhejiang without Chiang Kai-shek is remarkable indeed!”

On the morning of August 30， Li Ao and his family traveled by fast train from Shanghai to Hangzhou. With the accompaniment of Liu Changle， president of Hong Kong Phoenix Television， Li Ao took his first step on the soil of Zhejiang.

At 11 o’clock， Zhao Hongzhu， the chief of CPC Zhejiang Committee and president of Zhejiang People’s Congress， met with Li Ao and his family at Villa Number One of West Lake State Guesthouse.

In the evening， Li Ao and his son Li Kan attended a press conference. The senior said that he had lived in Taiwan for 61 years and spent 12 days visiting the mainland during this period. Of the 12 days， he would spend just one night in Hangzhou. He came to Hangzhou not for the purpose of watching people or of being watched by other people. His purpose was to view “Scroll of Remaining Mountains”， a remnant part of “Mountain Dwelling on Fuchun River”， a masterpiece created by Huang Gongwang (1269-1354) of the Yuan Dynasty(1271-1368). The treasure is now in the collection of Zhejiang Museum.

Zhejiang Museum on the West Lake became the media focus on the afternoon of August 30th. The press flocked to the museum， waiting the arrival of the celebrity and his family. Some local residents also came to meet Li Ao. An old couple appeared on the scene. The journalists ignored them until the old man came up with a few photos and explained that his father was an acquaintance of the famed writer. All the journalists sat up and scrambled to interview the old man.

Around ten minutes past three o’clock， Li Ao arrived. Yang Jianxin， the director of Zhejiang Administration of Culture， welcomed the guests. They were ushered into the VIP room of the museum， where the scroll was spread on a long table， covered by a piece of red velvet. A museum worker gave a thorough narration of the genesis and the legend of the painting. Treated as a VIP guest， Li Ao spent the next hour viewing other nine paintings and calligraphic masterpieces created by ancient heavy-weight artists， the best in the collection of Zhejiang Museum.

After the visit to the museum， the Li family visited the Memorial Temple of General Yue Fei (1103-1141)， a national hero who got framed and sentenced to death. It was during this visit that Li Ao forwarded his unique understanding of the death sentence. It has been understood for centuries that the general was executed for no charge at all， but he was charged of pointing to the emperor’s carriage and airing his criticism. The writer explained that he had figured this out after consulting essays written by the people in the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127).

Then the family went to visit the Lingyin Temple， a famed Buddhist retreat in the mountains west of the West Lake. The abbot welcomed the Lis personally at the gate and showed them around. Li did not enter the depository of Buddhist texts nor did he visit minor halls in the compound. He explained that he had sipped wine at lunch， hitting he thought it would have been blasphemous to visit gods when slightly drunk.

After the visit to the temple， the family were treated a boat banquet on the West Lake. The pleasure boat toured the lake slowly. A highlight of Yueju Opera was staged. Hangzhou dishes were presented.

About 10 o’clock on the morning of August 31st， the family came to the railway station. They were ready to go back to Shanghai. From Shanghai， Li Ao and his daughter were flying back to Taiwan whereas Li Kan and his mother would go to Beijing where the son would check into Beijing University as a freshman.

Before Li Ao came to Hangzhou， he said that it might be his last visit to the mainland. But after his visit to Zhejiang Pavilion at the World Expo and Hangzhou， he commented twice on the beauty of Hangzhou in privacy to Liu Changle. His last words to the government officials and the journalists seeing him off at the railway station were a line from a Tang poet: “When will you come back?”

Behind the quotation， some people guess， is probably Li Ao’s wish to revisit Hangzhou in the future. Only future will tell if he will be back.