16 | Thursday, March 26, 2020 HONG KONG EDITION | CHINA DAILY LIFE Mystery neighbor’s sporadic performances give pointers on excellence It has happened a few times in er, the pyrotechnics leave plenty of The only problem is, unlike my pianist, he or she must be Chinese, many more of these young piano ago about the great Polish Ameri- the three years I’ve been living in room for expressivity. neighbor, I have no skill whatsoever. because, aside from my family, I’ve lions. can pianist Arthur Rubinstein. my apartment. My guess — because it’s not a fre- Maybe that’s a bit harsh. Let’s just not seen any other foreigners in the But not all great Chinese pianists If memory serves me, Rubinstein I’ll be sitting in the back room, quent occurrence, but with months say that my playing continues to compound where I live. are young. This is a trend that has was touring Asia many years ago usually with the between each time I’ve heard it — is advance to ever-more complicated I’m often amazed at how readily been going on for some time. and agreed to an acquaintance’s windows open, and that this must be a gifted, advanced pieces that I’m unable to play. Chinese and other Asian peoples Five or six years ago, I had the request that he give a lecture-per- suddenly hear the conservatory student practicing on It’s taken me years to get there. have stepped to the forefront of great privilege of hearing a grand formance for piano students at the faint tones of a the family piano during a visit Nowadays, I’m able to mercilessly Western classical music concert sta- tone poet among pianists, Fou Shanghai Conservatory. piano fluidly rip- home. butcher concert hall staples like ges. It’s a foreign culture, one devel- Ts’ong, perform in Beijing. Fou On the appointed day, he played pling from the bot- I can’t tell if it’s in my building or Chopin etudes and Rachmaninoff oped mostly in Italy, France, must have been around 80 years for them some virtuosic pieces tom to top of the the one next door, but I’d love to preludes. Germany and Austria in the 18th old at the time. His program includ- meant to dazzle listeners and was keyboard and back find out so I could pay my compli- That doesn’t mean that other, and 19th centuries. ed a group of short pieces written in surprised that they looked bored. John Lydon again. ments to the musician. somewhat less technically demand- If my amazement seems mis- the mid 18th century by the Italian Second When he finished, one of the stu- Thoughts Each time, that You see, I’m a pianist, too. I’m ing music is now beneath me. I reg- placed, try turning the situation composer to the Spanish court, dents thanked him, and then hesi- was merely the devoted to it and plan my life ularly go back to maim early around. How many French, Ger- Domenico Scarlatti. tantly added, but all of us can do prelude. It’s usually around having ample time to prac- Beethoven sonatas and Bach’s Well- man or Austrian erhu maestros or The simple, but hauntingly beau- that; we were hoping to learn more followed by one or tice. I’ve been playing for years and Tempered Clavier. I’m not above Peking Opera divas have you heard tiful works were composed as study about the poetry of piano playing. another lightning-fast study piece had the good fortune to have been mangling Brahms intermezzos. of? material for the Spanish queen, an Who knows? Maybe Fou was where the player’s fingers race over trained by skilled teachers — not And occasionally, for old time’s But look at all the great Chinese amateur harpsichordist. And in there, too. the keys as though they’re being just in piano playing, but also music sake, I’ll mutilate a Mozart sonata pianists nowadays. People like Li Fou’s hands, they were exquisite. chased by flames, and after that history, theory, composition, aes- or two. Yundi, Lang Lang, Wang Yuja, just It reminded me at the time of an Contact the writer at another florid work where, howev- thetics, the whole shebang. But getting back to the mystery to mention a few — and there are so anecdote I heard maybe 30 years [email protected] Candid camera: Lifting the lid Cole flowers bloom as spring finally emerges NANJING — After scanning the severely affected due to the pan- health QR codes, Wang Yanhong demic, but we will hold on until it and her friend had their body ends and we are also confident in temperatures checked and the tourism market in the future,” clothes disinfected before enter- Lu says. ing the Qianduo Cole Flower Sce- The tourist area receives 2,000 nic Area in the city of Xinghua, visitors a day on average, about East China’s Jiangsu province. one-twentieth of the number in As a postgraduate student from normal years. the University of Shanghai for Sci- Yan Zhonghe, deputy general ence and Technology, Wang has manager of the scenic spot, says been stranded at home in the city tourist numbers have been rising of Nantong for over two months since reopening earlier this since the new semester was sus- month. pended due to the novel coronavi- Lu has been benefiting from the rus outbreak. local ecology since the local gov- “We chose to visit this tourist ernment began to develop rural spot for its natural beauty and agricultural tourism in 2008. because it is only a couple of hours’ “First, I can get a monthly salary drive away,” says Wang. “The staff of about 3,000 yuan ($422) as a here take many measures to avoid boat driver. Secondly, the govern- mass gatherings and potential ment will pay us subsidies as we cross-infection, so we are not wor- transfer our land to develop tour- ried about safety.” ism. Thirdly, we can also make From March to April, much of profits by processing rapeseeds the countryside across southern when they mature,” Lu says. China is carpeted in yellow cole Rural tourism also drives the flowers, making this traditional development of the catering crop a must-see. industry in the surrounding areas. Covering an area of about 3 Liu Feng, a local farmer, has reno- square kilometers, the Qianduo vated his house into a small hotel Cole Flower Scenic Area, set amid to offer special local dishes and a network of lush green rivers and accommodation for tourists. lakes, is reputed to be one of the “Tourists come to taste our most beautiful spots to enjoy cole local rice, fish and taro in particu- Urns containing soybean mixture are exposed to sunlight in Rugao, a county-level city in Nantong, Online flowers in the whole country. lar for their fresh and delicious Jiangsu province, on Tuesday. The fermentation process can often take years and the arrival of spring Scan the QR code for Cole flowers here are planted on taste,” says Liu. “During this spe- heralds a key point when soybean is turned within the urns. The technique has been classified as an subscription or to get a a duotian, which is the local name cial period, we pay more attention intangible cultural heritage in Rugao, and dates back 1,000 years. XU HUI / FOR CHINA DAILY copy of today’s paper. for “raised field”, formed in ancient to food security and take a slew of times when local farmers living control measures such as provid- near rivers and lakes dug up the ing serving chopsticks and disin- soil from the riverbeds to form fecting the house twice a day.” farmland where they could grow China’s oilseed rape crop covers crops and vegetables. more than 7.33 million hectares Waiting for end of COVID-19 in Wuxi The Xinghua Duotian Agrosys- each year, ranking second in the tem was selected as one of the “glo­ world, and the total rapeseed out- bally important agricultural put exceeds 13 million metric By JAMES SKINNER eign residents. Many expats I know heritage systems” by the Food and tons, the world’s highest. in Wuxi, Jiangsu province had questions and concerns, with Agriculture Organization of the “The mutual development of everyone anxious to understand the United Nations for its unique agriculture and tourism can A “black swan” event is one that new travel restrictions and how gov- water-land utilization method in boost the economy of rural areas seemingly comes out of nowhere ernment services would be provided low-lying areas and its splendid in China,” says Zhang Hui, a pro- and has significant, sometimes life- during the epidemic. In Jiangsu, a raised field landscape. fessor from Nanjing Forestry Uni- changing consequences. In my life- multilingual hotline was set up, any- Tourists can meander through versity. “The pandemic provides a time, I have experienced my own one could call with questions. An the picturesque sea of flowers by gap period for some rural scenic share of black swans, from the 9/11 automatic two-month extension of boat and catch a glimpse of the vil- spots to upgrade and highlight terrorist attacks to the 2008 “Great expiring resident permits has lage culture. “We require tourists characteristics to attract more Recession” — both of which had undoubtedly helped soothe anxieties. to sit at one-meter intervals to tourists with better services and enormous consequences, including Now, life here is returning to nor- reduce gathering,” says Lu Guo- environments in the future,” some that were not apparent until mal — or a form of normal.