2019-07-24

【Aiden in English】

        Up above there is heaven; down below there are Suzhou and Hangzhou.

        I asked my mom what the difference was between the four attractions*, we saw in Suzhou today and yesterday. She said that some were... bigger. Amazing. Imagine the most generic Asian temple in the most generic Asian setting. Alright, you've got a general outline of the events that occurred for the last two days. 

        Suzhou is a great city ─ or should I say, average. In my mind as an outsider, every city in China is full of culture, people, history, and old wooden buildings that somehow hold more architectural value than new ones. For a city to be out of the normal in China, it would have to probably first -- not be overpopulated and second -- not have a historical attraction; however, for a city to be above average, it would have to not host swarms of annoying tiny mosquitos and be below 95°F/35°C during the summer.

        Thus, average cities like Suzhou attract millions of visitors from other places in China. It's odd seeing only Asian tourists, but due to the big names of Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, not a lot of Americans go. “Hey, why don't we take a trip to Suzhou this summer?" As a matter of fact, Suzhou is a fabulous city. There is a surprising amount of history as well, not that I care much for history after a year of AP US History (someone explains to me why I chose AP World History next year). In the backyard of Pan Pacific Hotel where we stayed, the Pan Gate Scenic Area filled with many historical landmarks beckoned tourists. As soon as I first entered it, I thought, "Wow, that is a massive backyard." Luckily, they shared, so people like mom and I could enter.

        A few notable things about Chinese historical architecture. First, if the building in question is a tower, not only must it be an odd number of floors tall, but they're also must be an even number of faces. The tour guide described the relationship to be a yin and yang. I wondered why they didn't have even-numbered floors and odd-numbered sides. Perhaps it was too difficult to create heptagon floors, and the architects gave up. Towers could also not be above nine floors, as an emperor took the number nine and declared it "unavailable" to everyone else, allowing only those with special permission to use the number. It's a miracle Chinese ever got good at math -- they were missing an entire digit. 

        Of course, it wasn't that bad. Common folk could use nine's in daily life, but when it comes to significant objects of size or value, you could get in big trouble. Nine doors? Watch out. Nine windows? Be careful. Nine children? Depends on gender. Speaking of gender, historically religion favored men, particularly in deities and figures. However, if you asked me about certain Buddhist deified people, I would've assumed them to be women (Bodhisattva, for those who understand where I'm coming from). Little did I know, sexism existed before the 1960s and dominated Asian culture. Those Bodhisattvas were once male, but Chinese folk with political correctness viewed the gender disparity and decided, "Hey, since genders can be changed nowadays, why not switch a few make gods into goddesses?" Well, I would say it worked, even though the images given to those goddesses were still stereotypical. 

        Among the massive gardens are these big Taihu rocks. In the US, we call them "boulders" -- big, smooth, and bulky, just like Americans. In China, big rocks normally come with holes and craggily shapes, like someone took a hole-puncher and went crazy on a poor limestone. These large sponge-like rocks create many interesting phenomena: deadly cornfield mazes that cut and scrape your elbows, creepy looking depictions of faces, and somehow cast shade that doesn't actually block sunlight. Regarding the second aspect, the guide pointed to a taller rock and stated it to resemble a hunched woman. I did not see a hunched woman. I saw a standing shark. Perhaps that's why I'm not an artist.

        Suzhou comes to a close on fire. Rather, I was the one on fire. In a blazing, 100% humidity, 100°F/37.8°C sunny day, I never wanted an 85°F/29.4°C Philadelphian afternoon more. Heck, that'll beat even the mornings here. Unfortunately, fat does not actually burn, to my disappointment. I really need to burn off these soup dumplings I keep having.

*Note:

1) Humble Administrator's Garden

2) Lion Grove Garden

3) Cold Hill Temple

4) Tiger Hill Pagoda

【紅霞譯文】

        上有天堂，下有蘇杭。 

        我問媽媽昨天與今天在蘇州看過的四大名勝*到底有啥區別，她說有着……明顯差異，讓我跌破眼鏡，殊不知東方寺廟總體上大同小異。至此，恐怕你基本掌握過去兩天到底發生了什麼事情。

        蘇州是一座非常了不起──或者應說成不錯的城市，在我這樣的外來人眼裡，中國每座城市無不集文化、人口、歷史以及超越現代建築價值的老木製結構於一體，若想在國內超群絕倫，首先表現出──沒有人口過剩；其次──缺乏名勝古蹟；另外，作為中等偏上的城市，它不得擁有大量喪心病狂的小蚊子，其夏季溫度必須維持在95°F/35°C以下。

        因此，全中國跟蘇州勢均力敵的城市吸引了數以百萬計的外地觀光客。奇怪的是，不像北京、上海、香港，到此遊覽的只有亞裔同胞，並沒見到多少美國人來這裡打卡。“嘿，那麼今年暑假我們何必要跑來一趟呢？”其實蘇州相當漂亮，它的歷史底蘊又出奇地濃厚，只不過本人剛學完一年《美國歷史》大學預修課（有人說這才是我下一學年選修《世界歷史》大學預科的原因），對歷史有點麻木。這次我們入居吳宮泛太平洋酒店，其後院緊挨着盤門景區，裡面不少歷史古蹟都挺吊人胃口，難怪一走進景區我立刻心有感觸，“哇塞，這個後院可真夠氣派”，住在酒店的客人允許免費參觀，我和媽媽藉機溜達一圈。

        針對中國古建築問題，有幾個地方值得談及一番。先以塔樓為例，不僅塔身一定得建成單數，而且塔面必須要修成雙數，導遊說這跟陰陽學有關，我納悶何不把樓層變偶數並讓樓面變奇數，也許造七邊形樓面難度過大，建築師懶得瞎折騰。塔高嚴禁超過九層，因為皇帝早已把九字化為己有，臣民們“不” 准擅自濫用這個數字，除非享有特權者，中國人精明擅長算數──對其它號碼視而不見。

        當然，說歸說做歸做。日常生活中老百姓可以用“九”，只是一旦牽扯上重要建築的大小或規格，便會給自己帶來麻煩，九樘門？當心。九扇窗？慎重。九個娃？取決於男女性別。說到性別，宗教歷史上向來偏愛男性，特別表現在神像供奉方面。不過，如果你問起佛祖問題，我權當祂們是女性化身即菩薩（對於那些知道我來自何方的人來說）。我了解的不多，但性別歧視早在上個世紀六十年代之前便已出現，並且主導亞洲文化，菩薩曾一度全為男性，但中國人以政治正確眼光看待性別歧視並決定：“嘿，既然時下性別可以相互改變，為什麼不把神靈變成菩薩呢？”得嘞，果然美夢成真，雖說菩薩模樣千篇一律。

        大型花園少不了大塊太湖石，在美國，人們稱之為“巨石”── 碩大、光滑、笨重，像美國佬似的。在中國，太湖石通常伴帶有窟窿，而且皺漏瘦透，宛若有人手持打孔器瘋狂地在可憐巴巴的石灰岩上鑿洞，結果讓這些海綿狀石頭產生很多有趣的現象：盤根錯節的假山迷宮把你的胳膊肘劃得傷痕累累，直觀太湖石面不免叫人毛骨悚然，假山背陰處照樣能感覺出陽光照射。鑑於第二個特點，導遊指向比較高的假山，說它形如駝背的婦人，我橫豎沒看出來，反倒覺得像一條站立的鯊魚，也許這就是為什麼我當不了藝術家的原因。

        蘇州即將收宮，我反倒情緒激昂。在驕陽似火、空氣濕度達到百分之百、溫度高達100°F/37.8°C的晴天裡，我已不再稀罕費城85°F/29.4°C午後美景，乾脆讓那邊午後氣溫破這裡早起記錄罷了。悲催的是，脂肪一點都消耗不掉，令我大失所望，我真需要把接連下肚的湯包排泄乾淨。

*註：

1) 拙政園

2) 獅子林

3) 寒山寺

4) 虎丘塔

Today in History(歷史上的今天):

2015: PSC B-Ball Camp─Laser Tag(費城運動俱樂部籃球營─激光追身戰)

2014: YMCA Camp—Flag Football-1(基督教青年會營奪旗式橄欖球之一)

2013: 費城管弦樂團“體育大觀”(Sports-tacular)

Crosslink(相關博文):

China(出遊中國)