Four Years of Living, Learning, Teaching, and Becoming Half-Chinese in Suzhou, China
| Home Page ABOUT THE BOOK Why a Memoir? Meaning of the Title Book Format What/Where Is Suzhou? Why Suzhou Is So Fitting for This Book Where Can I Buy the Book? SELECTED PREVIEWS Chapter 5: Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? Chapter 20: A Precious Belt Chapter 29: A City Shuts Down UPDATES SINCE 2006 Our Story Suzhou's Story EXTRA PHOTOS Related to the Book Suzhou 2001-2006 Suzhou Since 2006 ABOUT: The Author My Next Book My SuzhouPlus Website |
  
WHAT'S THE MEANING OF THE TITLE?
I went through dozens of title ideas, from the obvious (Suzhou Chronicle) to the metaphorical (In the Sky, There Is Heaven -- taken from a famous Chinese saying that describes Suzhou as a paradise on earth: "In the sky there is heaven; here on earth we have Suzhou and Hangzhou"), and from the obscure (Red Thread in a Silk City) to the temporally astrological (Year of the Dragon, Year of the Monkey). In the end, I chose CHINA, HEART AND SOUL because it was the only one that captured both my own story and that of Suzhou’s. At the personal level, the title captures both my evolving relationship with Ping Ping and my deepening understanding of and appreciation for classical Chinese culture. My heart and soul, as it were. On a different level, the title describes Suzhou’s place in the hearts of Chinese people. Often described as China’s paradise on earth, Suzhou has long occupied a special place in its countrymen’s hearts for its physical charms, the renowned beauty of its fairer sex, and the mellifluous flow of its local dialect. At the same time, the city’s extraordinary intellectual and artistic contributions over many centuries – garden design, opera, ballad singing, painting, calligraphy, silk embroidery – marks Suzhou arguably as the seat of China’s cultural soul. |