Giorgio Bassani

Postcard SG-171940 from Singapore shows a portrait of Giorgio Bassani by artist L. Lee. Giorgio Bassani (March 4, 1916 – April 13, 2000) was an Italian writer, poet, and editor. He was best known for the Oscar Award winning movie The Garden of the Finzi-Continis in 1970, based on his 1962 novel Il giardino dei Finzi-Contini exploring the city of Ferrara with its Christian and Jewish elements of life.

Try to be a Rainbow in Someone’s Cloud

USPS unveiled the Dr. Maya Angelou Forever Stamp image today on March 4, 2015, and announced that the stamp's First-Day-of-Issue as April 7, 2015 with the dedication ceremony at the Warner Theater in Washington, DC.

Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American author, poet, dancer, actress, singer, and champion of civil rights. One of the most dynamic voices in 20th-century American literature, she was known for her series of autobiographies. The first of the seven in the series, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” published in 1969, gave a vivid account for her childhood against the African-American life in the South as the background.

Postcard BY-892970 from Belarus shows a rainbow over the National Library in Minsk. Although unrelated, it does remind me a quote from Dr. Maya Angelou: "Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud." In "the Letter to My Daughter" in 2009, She said "You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them." Dr. Maya Angelou recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at President Bill Clinton's inauguration in 1993. I can't wait to see the stamp.

The Answer

When I was assigned postcard US-2921298 to Maine, the recipient stated her loves of poetry in the profile and asked to include a line of a poem on the card. What came to my mind was from the Answer by a Chinese poet Bei Dao (北岛, born August 2, 1949 in Beijing): "卑鄙是卑鄙者的通行证，高尚是高尚者的墓志铭" that would be directly translated into: "Despicable acts are the passport for the Villain; Honorable deeds are the tombstone for the Noble." As Bei Dao is the most notable representative of the Misty Poets (朦胧诗), a group of Chinese poets who reacted against the restrictions of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) in China, he opens his 1976 poem by reflecting what a twisted world was where the Villain got a free pass and the Noble was met with death. You can read the full poem with English translation in a blog on sciencenet.cn or a blog on sina.com.cn.

Bei Dao has won numerous awards, including the Swedish PEN Tucholsky Prize, International Poetry Argana Award from the House of Poetry in Morocco, and the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award. He is a foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, elected in 1996. He has been nominated several times for the Nobel Prize in Literature.

While China is moving toward a more open and free society, thanks to many advocates like Bei Dao, it is not lost on me that such a twisted world could exist anywhere where the power is absolute and without supervision. That's why we need to vigorously safeguard our civil rights and civil liberties so that we can maintain a society where the Villain will be punished and the Noble will be honored.

Poet Su Shi from China

Postcard CN-769662 received last year was a handmade card of Su Shi (蘇軾/苏轼) (January 8, 1037 – August 24, 1101), a writer, poet, artist, calligrapher, pharmacologist, gastronome, and statesman of the Song Dynasty in China. One online collection site in Chinese has his more than 3400 poems.

My favorite piece was 念奴嬌: 赤壁懷古 "Remembrance of the Tale of the Red Cliff" that he wrote during his exile due to the political conflicts with the Prime Minister Wang An Shi.

大江東去 浪淘盡 千古風流人物
Eastward flows the great river, whose waves have washed away gallant heroes of eternity.
故壘西邊 人道是 三國周郎赤壁
West of the old fort stands the red cliff where General Zhou of the Three Kingdoms was said to have won his early fame.
亂石崩雲 驚濤裂岸 捲起千堆雪
Jagged rocks pierce the clouds, towering waves dash on the shore, rolling up thousands of piles of snow-like foams.
江山如畫 一時多少豪傑
While the river and mountains are picturesque today, I wonder how many heroes have battled with the landscape as the backdrop.
遙想公瑾當年 小喬初嫁了 雄姿英發
Imagine Zhou in his prime time, with Xiao Qiao the newly-wedded bride, He looked so handsome, brave and bright.
羽扇綸巾談笑間 檣櫓灰飛煙滅
With a plumed fan in hand and a silk cap on his head, he was laughing and jesting while the masts and sculls of Wei's navy went up in smoke and turned into ashes
故國神遊 多情應笑我
Wandering through the old kingdom like a dream, I might get laughed at for such sentiments.
早生華髮 人生如夢 一尊還酹江月
With my hair turning early gray, my life has been such a dream. Let me toast to the moon over its reflection in the great river.

Duanwu Festival

Duanwu Festival, also known as Dragon Boat Festival, is a traditional and statutory holiday originated in China, celebrated on the 5th day of the 5th month of the Lunisolar Calendar. The date varies on the Gregorian calendar; it happens to be June 12 in 2013.

Duanwu Festival is to commemorate Qu Yuan, a great Chinese poet from 343–278 BCE. He committed ritual suicide in a river as a form of protest against the corruption of the era. Popular legends state that villagers rushed their boats to the river and tried to save him. When that was too late, they dropped rice dumplings to the river in order to keep fish and evil spirits away from his body. Gradually, it became traditions for people to eat Zongzi, rice balls wrapped in reed leaves, and to race dragon boats on the  anniversary of his death.