Brian Eng from The China Business Network, co-producer of the China 20 took this shot of me at the Summer Palace in Beijing. It was one of my favorite moments. The woman was aming several people who come to the Summer Palace to practice calligraphy, using the tool in the photo above. They dip buckets into the lake and inscribe quotes and poetry.
Then their work dries and disappears, which seemed to me to be very Zen. I watched the woman in red stripes above studiously etch a few watery characters. Then she offered me a try. Apparently, I did OK. She smiled and nodded. Several Chinese took pictures and one patted me on the back then shook my hand.
As an aside, like the woman in this photo, the Chinese generally love having their picture taken. When you point a picture at them, the often beam and pose. Another part is that they greatly enjoyed us as American visitors to landmarks. When our China 2.0 tour paused for a group shot at the Forbidden Palace, about a dozen Chinese also clicked photos of us. When we then, whipped out our cameras and clicked them, they all posed and beamed.
