Saturday, March 9, 2013

Words on a Hangzhou Street: Books and Travels in China (1)

Chinese on the Walkways

As I venture into the world of Chinese culture and Chinese books, I want to give you a taste of the many blogposts to come, based on my trip to China last summer.  Here, you will see a couple photographs I took, while walking in the city of Hangzhou, in the West Lake Region.  It was in an area of old shops, where a stream went through the town.  I found, as I was walking on the path, this series of "stone texts" embossed on the ground.  The letters are emblematic of an ancient press, and if you can read Chinese, or recognize its characters, you will realize that this piece of art in the photos below is a representation of an ancient printing press.  You can tell this, because the Chinese characters are all backwards!


It is an interesting representation of the "written arts," and many more examples will be shared as I go through the countless photos I took this last summer.  Well, words "under foot" may explain or confound us, but they are still there.  Keep your eye on the path.


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